Immunosenescence in testicular cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy

e16037

Background: Cytotoxic (Ctx) chemotherapy can cure patients with advanced testicular cancer. Notwithstanding, Ctx agents could promote molecular aging and induce cellular senescence in vivo. This phenomenon has been studied in breast cancer patients exposed to adjuvant chemotherapy, however, the potential induction of premature immunosenescence in testicular cancer survivors (TCS) exposed to chemotherapy remains unknown. Methods: Case-control study. Cases were 18-55 yo TCS, treated with chemotherapy (≥3 BEP cycles), disease-free for ≥3 m. Controls were healthy subjects matched by sex and age ± 1 y. Selected subpopulations of isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) depicted in Table, were analyzed flow cytometry. Statistics: Adjusted counts or relative percentage for each population were compared using student-t test or Mann-Whitney U test as appropriate. Results: We included 15 TCS and 15 controls. Mean age was 32.6 yo (24-54 y). Mean time since last chemotherapy was 53.13 months (3-192 m). All 15 patients were treated with at least 3 BEP cycles ± TIP/VIP cycles. There were no differences in total leucocyte (5128 ± 1917 vs 5850 ± 2141, p=0.36), and lymphocyte (1539 ± 592 vs 1889 ± 825, p=0.4) counts among cases and controls. Cases have a diminished percentage of CD3+ (63 ± 10 vs 71 ± 11, p=0.05) and CD4+ cells (36±8 vs 43 ± 9, p=0.03). There were no differences in pct of CD8+ or CD19+. However, there was an increase in late differentiated CD8+/CD57+ cells (31 ± 14% vs 20 ± 11%, p=0.02); and a decrease in CD4+/CD28+ cells (90 ± 9% vs 97 ± 4%, p=0.02) in cases. We observed paradoxical changes in B cell subpopulations with an increment in naïve (79 ±10 vs 67% ± 14% p=0.02) and a decrease in memory (18 ± 9 vs 31 ± 13%, p=0.01) B cells. Conclusions: TCS after chemo develop changes compatible with immunesenescence in T cell (CD3+) compartment, and an increment in naïve B cells. [Table: see text]

[Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity predicts function of ABCB1 (P-gp) and ABCG2 (BCRP1) drug-efflux transporters]

BACKGROUND

P-gp and BCRP1 are transporter proteins that may confer drug resistance.

OBJECTIVE

To compare P-gp and BCRP1 function in rheumatoid arthritis patients with active and inactive disease and to define their relation with disease activity.

METHODS

We included 17 active patients paired (age, gender, disease duration) to 17 inactive patients. All had baseline evaluations and 27 had additional six-month follow-up. P-gp and BCRP1 functional activity was measured in peripheral mononuclear cells by flow cytometry. Percentage of lymphocytes able to extrude substrates for P-gp and BCRP1 were recorded in the presence/absence of selective inhibitors. Informed consent was obtained. Descriptive statistics and linear regression model were applied.

RESULTS

Active patients had higher efflux function of both transporters than inactive patients: median (25-75 IQR) P-gp of 7.1% (1.4-29.3) vs. 1.6% (0.7-3.5), p = 0.02 and BCRP1 of 6.2% (1.3-22.4) vs. 1.3% (0.7-2), p = 0.007. At baseline, disease activity was the only predictor of both transporter functions. At follow-up, changes in disease activity correlated with shift in P-gp (r = 0.35, p = 0.07) and BCRP1 (r = 0.33, p=0.09) function.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with active rheumatoid arthritis had a higher efflux function of P-gp and BCRP1 compared to inactive patients. The behavior of P-gp and BCRP1 appeared to be conditioned by disease activity.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Is Determinant for ABCB1 and ABCG2 Drug-Efflux Transporters Function

OBJECTIVE

To compare drug efflux function of ABCB1 and ABCG2 transporters in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with active disease and in remission.

METHODS

Twenty two active RA patients (DAS28 ≥3.2) and 22 patients in remission (DAS28<2.6) were selected from an early RA clinic. All patients were evaluated at study inclusion and six months later. ABCB1 and ABCG2 functional activity was measured in peripheral lymphocytes by flow cytometry. The percentage of cells able to extrude substrates for ABCB1 and ABCG2 was recorded.

RESULTS

Active patients had higher ABCB1 and ABCG2 activity compared with patients in remission (median [interquartile range]): 3.9% (1.4-22.2) vs (1.3% (0.6-3.2), p = 0.003 and 3.9% (1.1-13.3) vs 0.9% (0.5-1.9) p = 0.006 respectively. Both transporters correlated with disease activity assessed by DAS28, rho = 0.45, p = 0.002 and rho = 0.47, p = 0.001 respectively. Correlation was observed between the time from the beginning of treatment and transporter activity: rho = 0.34, p = 0.025 for ABCB1 and rho = 0.35, p = 0.018 for ABCG2. The linear regression model showed that DAS28 and the time from the onset of treatment are predictors of ABCB1 and ABCG2 functional activity, even after adjustment for treatment. After six months we calculated the correlation between change in DAS28 and change in the functional activity in both transporters and found a moderate and significant correlation for ABCG2 (rho = 0.28, p = 0.04) and a non-significant correlation for ABCB1 (rho = 0.22, p = 0.11).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with active RA have an increased function of ABCB1 and ABCG2, and disease activity is the main determinant of this phenomena.

Five Measurement Bases Determine Pure Quantum States on Any Dimension

A long-standing problem in quantum mechanics is the minimum number of observables required for the characterization of unknown pure quantum states. The solution to this problem is especially important for the developing field of high-dimensional quantum information processing. In this work we demonstrate that any pure d-dimensional state is unambiguously reconstructed by measuring five observables, that is, via projective measurements onto the states of five orthonormal bases. Thus, in our method the total number of different measurement outcomes (5d) scales linearly with d. The state reconstruction is robust against experimental errors and requires simple postprocessing, regardless of d. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of our scheme through the reconstruction of eight-dimensional quantum states, encoded in the momentum of single photons.

Anomalous cutaneous absorption of allergens as cause of skin prick testing adverse reactions in adult patients. Clinical and experimental evidence

BACKGROUND

Paediatric age, active eczema and high number of allergens tested in poly-sensitized patients have been pinpointed as possible risk factors of systemic reactions by skin prick testing. As far as atopic eczema concerns, the higher penetration of the allergens into the skin because of the scraping or micro-injuries is an intuitive rationalization. Purpose of the present study is to provide documentary evidence that adverse reactions elicited by anomalous absorption of allergens can occur also in adult patients with apparently normal skin.

METHODS

Report of some exemplifying clinical and experimental observations. Measuring the inoculum volume into impaired skin and its variability in relation to the variation of the chemical-physical characteristic of the solutions used for the tests by means of a method of direct assay based on the use of a gamma-camera.

RESULTS

Localized impairments of the skin permeability can cause a significant increase in inoculum volume by prick-test. Critical amounts of allergens can be introduced into the skin because of the possibility of direct absorption, also without pricking, of allergy diagnostic solutions. The greater water content of the solutions used for prick-testing can significantly increase the inoculum volume.

CONCLUSIONS

This study adds clinical and experimental evidences that localized impairments of permeability can occur in adult patients with apparently normal skin. Special precautions should be taken when a change of the drops' normal shape and cohesion is seen, because allergy prick-testing in such areas is potentially associated with increased risk of large local or systemic reactions.

Absence of salivary CCL28 in primary Sjögren's syndrome

CCL28 is a mucosa-associated epithelial-cell-produced chemokine involved in oral defense. We assessed the level of CCL28 in saliva of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) patients in comparison with healthy controls and correlated it with IgA salivary levels. We included 30 non-smoker pSS patients and 30 non-smoker healthy controls paired by age (±5 years). Saliva samples were collected during the morning and kept frozen at -86 °C until the analysis. Fifty microliters of saliva was diluted 3:1 with water and analyzed for CCL28 salivary levels by ELISA method. The samples were tested in triplicate. IgA salivary levels were tested by ELISA method. We used descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and Kendall's tau correlation coefficients. pSS patients were mostly females (93.3 %), mean age 54.5 ± 13.3 years and median disease duration of 7.6 years (0.5-33). Patients with pSS had lower levels of salivary CCL28 when compared with controls [0 (0-1,272 pg/ml) vs. 94.4 (0-5,810) pg/ml, p < 0.0001]. pSS patients also had lower median levels of salivary IgA [72.55 μg/ml (0.40-297.4)] than controls [131.9 μg/ml (6.8-281.8)], although the latter results did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.51). Among the SS group, there was no correlation between CCL28 and IgA salivary levels nor between salivary IgA and disease duration, salivary flow, serum immunoglobulins or dental loss. CCL28 was absent in saliva of pSS patients; however, this finding did not correlate with salivary IgA levels.

Renal transplant recipient with advanced HIV infection: graft and peripheral cell population analysis

The scenario of a renal transplant recipient who is diagnosed with HIV infection in the late post transplant period is very uncommon. The viral infection effect on immunologic stability, regulatory cells, and allogeneic response during immune quiescence and graft acceptance provides a fertile ground in organ transplantation research and translational immunology.

High-resolution HLA analysis of primary and secondary Sjögren's syndrome: a common immunogenetic background in Mexican patients

To compare the distribution of HLA-A, B, DRB1 and DQB1 alleles among Mexican patients with primary Sjögren Syndrome (pSS), secondary SS (sSS), connective tissue disease (CTD) without (w/o) SS and historical ethnically healthy controls. We included 28 pSS, 30 sSS, 96 CTD w/o SS patients and 234 controls. HLA-A, B, DRB1 and DQB1 were amplified and sequenced using the Allele SEQR Sequenced Based Typing Kits and analyzed on the ABI Prism*3130 DNA Analyzer using the Assign software. Gene frequencies were obtained by direct counting. Contingence tables of 2 × 2 were generated and analyzed by the Mantel-Haenzel χ (2) or Fisher's test (EPIINFO program). We reported odds ratios (OR) and corrected p values. SS patients showed increased frequencies of A*68:01 and DRB1*14:06 alleles when compared to CTD w/o SS (OR 4.43, 95 % CI 1.35-14.14, p = 0.007 and OR 14, 95 % CI 1.68-116, p = 0.001, respectively) and a higher prevalence of DRB1*01:01 (OR 5.9, 95 % CI 2.13-16.56, p = 0.003) and HLA-B*35:01 (OR 3.70, 95 % CI 1.92-7.12, p = 0.004) when compared with controls. pSS patients had a higher frequency of DRB1*14:06 allele than sSS (OR 16, 95 % CI 1.59-390, p = 0.001). Anti-Ro/SSA positivity was associated with B*51:01 (OR 10.11, 95 % CI 1.09-245, p = 0.02) and DRB1*03:01 alleles (OR 4.26, 95 % CI 1.01-18.89, p = 0.029), whereas the A*01:01 allele was associated with anti-La/SSB positivity (OR 4.75, 95 % CI 1.32-16.92, p = 0.003). In our population, the DRB1*14:06 allele was associated with primary and secondary SS implying that both varieties bear a similar immunogenetic background.

First Report of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. pisi as Causal Agent of Root and Crown Rot on Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in Southern Italy

Epidemiological investigations in representative chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) fields in southern Italy (Larino, Campobasso, 41°50'45″ N, 14°55'28″ E) identified severe withering (25 to 51%) of plants during flowering. Diseased plants showed a reduced total root biomass associated with less vigorous and chlorotic foliage. Browning and necrosis of subcortical and xylematic tissues of the crown and main roots were observed in affected plants. Symptomatic root and stem portions from 50 plants were sampled, surface disinfected with a sodium hypochlorite water solution (2% v/v for 2 min), rinsed with sterile distilled water, and placed in petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar with streptomycin sulfate (200 mg/l) and incubated at 25°C for 10 days. The most frequent fungal colony isolated showed macro- and microscopic characters specific of the genus Fusarium (3), with falcate and three-septate macroconidia (24.0 to 43.8 μm long) and microconidia (6.8 to 10.4 μm long) with zero or one septa. The ribosomal DNA of the fungal isolate processed by PCR using the ITS1F/ITS4 primers (2) produced an amplicon of 545 bp (ENA, Accession No. HG423346). A BLAST search with the amplified sequence in the database of the International Mycological Association ( www.mycobank.org ) revealed 99% identity with F. oxysporum sequences. Additional molecular analysis using the specific primers Foc0-12/Foc0-12rf for F. oxysporum f.sp. ciceris (Foc) produced an amplicon only in the chickpea virulent strain Foc-7952, race 0 (1) used as control; furthermore, PCR amplification for the Pisatin Demetylase gene by using the specific primers PDAF2a and PDAR3a (4) yielded the expected amplicon only for the new isolate, whereas no amplification was obtained with the control strain Foc-7952. Pathogenicity assays were carried out to complete Koch's postulates. To this aim, horticultural peat was infested with a conidial suspension (1 × 10⁴ conidia/g of soil) from the new fungal pathogen, dispensed in plastic pots, and sown with surface sterilized seeds of chickpea (cv. Real, ISEA, Italy). Uncontaminated peat was used as control. For both treatments, 3 replicates of 10 seeds were used and experiments repeated twice. The plastic pots were kept in a growth chamber (28°C; 70% RH; 15/9 h light/dark) where the first disease symptoms on plants appeared 20 days after sowing. At the end of the experiments, all plants inoculated with the new isolate showed a high disease severity (98%), whereas non-inoculated plants remained healthy. The seedlings from infested soil demonstrated the same symptoms previously observed in the field, and after re-isolation, the causal agent demonstrated the same morphological features of the isolate used for inoculation. Pathogenicity tests were performed on pea, faba bean, melon, and tomato by using three cultivars for each crop. The results demonstrated high virulence of the new isolate of F. oxysporum f.sp. pisi (Fop) on both chickpea and pea with seed germination reduction, rot on main and secondary roots and cotyledonary leaves, and root biomass reduction and foliage chlorosis. No symptoms were observed on other inoculated vegetal species. Collectively, data of our investigation allow us to affirm that this is the first report of Fop as a new pathogen of chickpea. This result has great economic importance since it enables specific monitoring and management plans for this new disease caused by Fop on chickpea, a key crop for human and animal nutrition. References: (1) M. M. Jiménez-Gasco and R. M. Jiménez-Díaz, Phytopathology 93:201, 2003. (2) I. Larena et al. J. Biotechnol. 75:187, 1999. (3) J. F. Leslie and B. A. Summerell. The Fusarium Laboratory Manual. Blackwell Publishing, Ames, IA, 2006. (4) N. A. Milani et al. Fungal Genet. Biol. 933:942, 2012.

Quantum key distribution session with 16-dimensional photonic states

The secure transfer of information is an important problem in modern telecommunications. Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides a solution to this problem by using individual quantum systems to generate correlated bits between remote parties, that can be used to extract a secret key. QKD with D-dimensional quantum channels provides security advantages that grow with increasing D. However, the vast majority of QKD implementations has been restricted to two dimensions. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of using higher dimensions for real-world quantum cryptography by performing, for the first time, a fully automated QKD session based on the BB84 protocol with 16-dimensional quantum states. Information is encoded in the single-photon transverse momentum and the required states are dynamically generated with programmable spatial light modulators. Our setup paves the way for future developments in the field of experimental high-dimensional QKD.

TSPAN33 is a novel marker of activated and malignant B cells

We have identified Tspan33 as a gene encoding a transmembrane protein exhibiting a restricted expression pattern including expression in activated B cells. TSPAN33 is a member of the tetraspanin family. TSPAN33 is not expressed in resting B cells, but is strongly induced in primary human B cells following activation. Human 2E2 cells, a Burkitt's lymphoma-derived B cell model of activation and differentiation, also upregulate TSPAN33 upon activation. TSPAN33 is expressed in several lymphomas including Hodgkin's and Diffuse large B cell lymphoma. TSPAN33 is also expressed in some autoimmune diseases where B cells participate in the pathology, including rheumatoid arthritis patients, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and in spleen B cells from MRL/Fas(lpr/lpr) mice (a mouse model of SLE). We conclude that TSPAN33 may be used as a diagnostic biomarker or as a target for therapeutic antibodies for treatment of certain B cell lymphomas or autoimmune diseases.

Long-distance distribution of genuine energy-time entanglement

Any practical realization of entanglement-based quantum communication must be intrinsically secure and able to span long distances avoiding the need of a straight line between the communicating parties. The violation of Bell's inequality offers a method for the certification of quantum links without knowing the inner workings of the devices. Energy-time entanglement quantum communication satisfies all these requirements. However, currently there is a fundamental obstacle with the standard configuration adopted: an intrinsic geometrical loophole that can be exploited to break the security of the communication, in addition to other loopholes. Here we show the first experimental Bell violation with energy-time entanglement distributed over 1 km of optical fibres that is free of this geometrical loophole. This is achieved by adopting a new experimental design, and by using an actively stabilized fibre-based long interferometer. Our results represent an important step towards long-distance secure quantum communication in optical fibres.

Subcutaneous administration of polymerized type I collagen downregulates interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-22 and transforming growth factor-β1 expression, and increases Foxp3-expressing cells in localized scleroderma

BACKGROUND

Localized scleroderma (LS) is a disfiguring inflammatory autoimmune disease of the skin and underlying tissue. As in systemic sclerosis, a key feature is the presence of T cells in inflammatory lesions.

AIM

To evaluate the effect of polymerized type I collagen vs. methylprednisolone (MP) in LS, and to determine the influence of this polymerized collagen (PC) on CD4+ peripheral T cells expressing interleukin (IL)-4, IL-17A, interferon-γ and Forkhead box protein (Foxp)3, and on cells expressing transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, IL-17A, IL-22 and Foxp3 in the skin.

METHODS

In total, 16 patients with LS were treated for 3 months with monthly subcutaneous intralesional injections of 0.1 mL MP (giving a total dose of 20 mg/mL each month) and 15 patients were treated, with weekly subcutaneous intralesional injections of PC, ranging from 0.2 mL (equivalent to 1.66 mg collagen) for a lesion of 50 mm in size, up to a maximum of 1.0 mL (8.3 mg collagen) for a lesion > 100 mm in size, and followed up for a further 6 months. Skin biopsies were obtained from lesions at baseline (before treatment) and 9 months later (6 months after treatment end). Tissue sections were evaluated by histology and immunohistochemistry (IL-17A, IL-22, TGF-β1 and Foxp3). CD4+ T-cell subsets were determined in peripheral blood by flow cytometry.

RESULTS

Abnormal tissue architecture was seen in the biopsies taken from patients treated with MP, whereas the PC treatment restored normal skin architecture. PC downregulated pro-inflammatory/profibrotic cytokine expression in peripheral cells, and upregulated the number of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in skin. PC was safe and well tolerated.

CONCLUSIONS

PC is not only an antifibrotic/fibrolytic agent but also an immunomodulator biodrug that restores the balance between T helper (Th)1, Th2, Th17 and Tregs, downregulates production of pro-inflammatory or profibrogenic cytokines (IL-17A, IL-22 and TGF-β1), and renews skin architecture, without adverse effects.