Hematopoietic differentiation of umbilical cord blood-derived very small embryonic/epiblast-like stem cells

A population of CD133⁺lin⁻CD45⁻ very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) has been purified by multiparameter sorting from umbilical cord blood (UCB). In order to speed up isolation of these cells, we employed anti-CD133-conjugated paramagnetic beads followed by staining with Aldefluor to detect aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity; we subsequently sorted CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^high and CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^low cells, which are enriched for VSELs, and CD45⁺/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^high and CD45⁺/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^low cells, which are enriched for hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). While freshly isolated CD45⁻ VSELs did not grow hematopoietic colonies, the same cells, when activated/expanded over OP9 stromal support, acquired hematopoietic potential and grew colonies composed of CD45⁺ hematopoietic cells in methylcellulose cultures. We also observed that CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^high VSELs grew colonies earlier than CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^low VSELs, which suggests that the latter cells need more time to acquire hematopoietic commitment. In support of this possibility, real-time PCR analysis confirmed that, while freshly isolated CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^high VSELs express more hematopoietic transcripts (e.g., c-myb), CD45⁻/GlyA⁻/CD133⁺/ALDH^low VSELs exhibit higher levels of pluripotent stem cell markers (e.g., Oct-4). More importantly, hematopoietic cells derived from VSELs that were co-cultured over OP9 support were able to establish human lympho-hematopoietic chimerism in lethally irradiated NOD/SCID mice 4–6 weeks after transplantation. Overall, our data suggest that UCB-VSELs correspond to the most primitive population of HSPCs in UCB.

Comparison of Three Low Dielectric Constant Organic Polymers

Three low dielectric constant organic polymers are being investigated for possible use in a conventional, subtractive etch, multi-level metal process with PVD Al plugs. Material properties, physical properties, planarization ability and etch chemistries are compared, as well as the possibility of using these materials in a low temperature PVD A1 plug process.

Ciprofloxacin inhibits advanced glycation end products-induced adhesion molecule expression on human monocytes

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) subtypes, proteins or lipids that become glycated after exposure to sugars, can induce complications in diabetes. Among the various AGE subtypes, glyceraldehyde-derived AGE (AGE-2) and glycolaldehyde-derived AGE (AGE-3) are involved in inflammation in diabetic patients; monocytes are activated by these AGEs. Ciprofloxacin (CIP), a fluorinated 4-quinolone, is often used clinically to treat infections associated with diabetis due to its antibacterial properties. It also modulates immune responses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) therefore we investigated the involvement of AGEs in these effects. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, B7.1, B7.2 and CD40 was examined by flow cytometry. The production of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interferon (IFN)-gamma, prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) and cAMP were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression was determined by Western blot analysis. Lymphocyte proliferation was determined by [(3)H]-thymidine uptake. KEY RESULTS CIP induced PGE(2) production in monocytes, irrespective of the presence of AGE-2 and AGE-3, by enhancing COX-2 expression; this led to an elevation of intracellular cAMP in monocytes. Non-selective and selective COX-2 inhibitors, indomethacin and NS398, inhibited CIP-induced PGE(2) and cAMP production. In addition, CIP inhibited AGE-2- and AGE-3-induced expressions of ICAM-1, B7.1, B7.2 and CD40 in monocytes, the production of TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma and lymphocyte proliferation in PBMC. Indomethacin, NS398 and a protein kinase A inhibitor, H89, inhibited the actions of CIP. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS CIP exerts immunomodulatory activity via PGE(2), implying therapeutic potential of CIP for the treatment of AGE-2- and AGE-3-induced inflammatory responses.

Replication study of SNP associations for colorectal cancer in Hong Kong Chinese

BACKGROUND

Recent genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer (CRC) have identified common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to 10 independent loci that confer modest increased risk. These studies have been conducted in European populations and it is unclear whether these observations generalise to populations with different ethnicities and rates of CRC.

METHODS

An association study was performed on 892 CRC cases and 890 controls recruited from the Hong Kong Chinese population, genotyping 32 SNPs, which were either associated with CRC in previous studies or are in close proximity to previously reported risk SNPs.

RESULTS

Twelve of the SNPs showed evidence of an association. The strongest associations were provided by rs10795668 on 10p14, rs4779584 on 15q14 and rs12953717 on 18q21.2. There was significant linear association between CRC risk and the number of independent risk variants possessed by an individual (P=2.29 × 10(-5)).

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that some previously reported SNP associations also impact on CRC risk in the Chinese population. Possible reasons for failure of replication for some loci include inadequate study power, differences in allele frequency, linkage disequilibrium structure or effect size between populations. Our results suggest that many associations for CRC are likely to generalise across populations.

Abstract P2-18-01: Treatment of Human Breast Tumors by Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in the world, although current therapies have improve the outcome, the breast cancer deaths are still the second highest among cancers in women. Metastasis to the lung frequently results in severe complications, and currently, there are no curative treatment options available for patients with metastetic breast cancer. Oncolytic viral therapy is a new strategy for treating cancers. Replication-competent herpes simplex virus (HSV) can infect, replicate and kill tumor cells by a direct cytopathic effect and then spread within the tumor cells. In this study, the cytotoxicity of HSV vectors, G47Δ were examined on different human breast cancer cell lines, immortalized human breast cell lines, and primary culture normal human breast cells. Pulmonary metastasis model of breast cancer was constructed and the treatment effect of G47D was evaluated. Methods: Human BC cell lines SK-BR-3, MDA-MB-453, and MCF-7, immortalized breast cells MCF-10A and 76N-tert, and cultured primary normal breast cells HMEC1 and HMEC2 were cultured in vitro and infected with G47Δ at different multiplicities of infection (MOIs). The viability of infected cells was measured. G47Δ-infected cells were identified using X-gal histochemistry for LacZ expression. A pulmonary metastatic BC model was established with Balb-c nude mice by tail vein injection of MDA-MB-435 cells. Treatment was initiated 21 days after injection of tumor cells, with the virus group treated twice weekly with four total i.v. administrations of G47Δ (2*107pfu/100ul) and on day 60 mice were sacrificed and tumor nodules on the surface of the lung counted after Indian ink staining.

Results: G47Δ was highly cytotoxic to BC cells and 76N-tert in vitro at very low MOI (0.01). For all of these cell lines, more than 85% and 95% cells were killed at MOI=0.01 and MOI=0.1 respectively on the fifth day after infection. However, both HMEC1 and HMEC2 cells were viable even 5 days after infection. A slight effect was found with MCF-10A, of which only 7% and 24.5% were killed at MOI=0.01 and MOI=0.1 respectively on day 5. In the pulmonary metastatic model, the average number of surface lung tumor nodules in the G47Δ group was one, but ten in the control group. X-gal staining illustrated viral replication and spread in the tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

Conclusions: Recently constructed oncolytic HSV vector G47Δ was effective at killing human breast cancer cells and immortalized breast cells, but didn't infect the normal breast cells. The i.v. administrations of G47Δ could effectively cure metastatic breast cancer. Our studies demonstrated that as a novel therapeutic agents, G47Δ was safe and exhibited superior antitumor effects, thereby making it appropriate for human clinical trials. It is worth noting that G47Δ was effective for lung metastatic breast cancer, which could assure the long survival rate of patients with advance breast cancer. The efficiency of G47Δ warrants consideration of clinical application.

(Key words) breast cancer; cancer therapy; herpes simplex virus; oncolytic virus; gene therapy;

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-18-01.

Histamine inhibits adhesion molecule expression in human monocytes, induced by advanced glycation end products, during the mixed lymphocyte reaction

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Post-transplant diabetes mellitus is a frequent complication among transplant recipients. Ligation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) with their receptor on monocytes/macrophages plays important roles in the genesis of diabetic complications. The enhancement of adhesion molecule expression on monocytes/macrophages activates T-cells, reducing allograft survival. Out of four distinct AGE subtypes (AGE-2, AGE-3, AGE-4 and AGE-5), only AGE-2 and AGE-3 induced expression of intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs), output of cytokines and proliferation of lymphocytes, during the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Here we have assessed the role of histamine in the actions of AGEs during the MLR.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

Human peripheral blood cells were used in these experiments. Flow cytometry was used to examine the expression of the ICAM-1, B7.1, B7.2 and CD40. Production of the cytokine interferon-gamma, and levels of cAMP were determined by elisa. Lymphocyte proliferation was determined by [(3)H]-thymidine uptake.

KEY RESULTS

Histamine concentration dependently inhibited the action of AGE-2 and AGE-3. The actions of histamine were antagonized by an H(2)-receptor antagonist, famotidine, and mimicked by H(2)/H(4)-receptor agonists, dimaprit and 4-methylhistamine. The effects of histamine were reversed by a protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, H89, and mimicked by dibutyryl cAMP and an adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Histamine down-regulated AGE-2- and AGE-3-induced expression of adhesion molecules, cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation via histamine H(2) receptors and the cAMP/PKA pathway.

Normobaric hyperoximia increases hypoxia-induced cerebral injury: DTI study in rats

Perinatal hypoxia affects normal neurological development and can lead to motor, behavioral and cognitive deficits. A common acute treatment for perinatal hypoxia is oxygen resuscitation (hyperoximia), a controversial treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), was performed in a P7 rat model of perinatal hypoxia to determine the effect of hyperoximia. These studies were performed on two groups of animals: 1) animals which were subjected to ischemia followed by hypoxia (HI), and 2) HI followed by hyperoximic treatment (HHI). Lesion volumes on high resolution MRI and DTI derived measures, fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and axial and radial diffusivities (lambda(l) and lambda(t), respectively) were measured in vivo one day, one week, and three weeks after injury. Most significant differences in the MRI and DTI measures were found at three weeks after injury. Specifically, three weeks after HHI injury resulted in significantly larger hyperintense lesion volumes (95.26 +/- 50.42 mm(3)) compared to HI (22.25 +/- 17.62 mm(3)). The radial diffusivity lambda(t) of the genu of corpus callosum was significantly larger in HHI (681 +/- 330 x 10(-6) mm(2)/sec) than in HI (486 +/- 96 x 10(-6) mm(2)/sec). Over all, most significant differences in all the DTI metrics (FA, MD, lambda(t), lambda(l)) at all time points were found in the corpus callosum. Our results suggest that treatment of perinatal hypoxia with normobaric oxygen does not ameliorate, but exacerbates damage.

Facile synthesis of porous Fe7Co3/carbon nanocomposites and their applications as magnetically separable adsorber and catalyst support

A facile co-gelation route has been developed to synthesize novel porous Fe(7)Co(3)/carbon composites with Fe(7)Co(3) nanoparticles embedded in the porous carbon matrix. The sol-gel process of this route simultaneously involves the hydrolysis of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and the polymerization of furfuryl alcohol (FA) within an ethanol solution containing TEOS, FA, and metal nitrates, which led to the inorganic/organic hybrid xerogel, accompanying metal salts spontaneously captured in the xerogel, mostly in the framework of poly(furfuryl alcohol) (PFA). Compared to the nanocasting route, the advantage of this method is that the formation of silica template and the impregnation of carbon precursor and metal salts were simultaneously carried out in one co-gelation process, which makes the synthesis very simple and eliminates the time-consuming synthesis of the silica template and multistep impregnation process. Different amounts of Fe(7)Co(3) can be introduced into the composites, which led to different pore structures and magnetic properties. The composites have large surface areas (as high as 651.4 m(2)/g) and high saturation magnetizations (as high as 31.2 emu/g). The Fe(7)Co(3)/carbon composites prepared were successfully applied to the removal of dyes from water and catalysis of hydrogenation as efficient magnetically separable adsober and catalyst support. The facile co-gelation route makes the scalable synthesis of magnetic porous carbon possible for application, and it also provides a promising path to the synthesis of nanoscale metal or alloy embedded in the porous carbon materials.

Abstract 335: Therapeutic targeting of EphB4 with a novel monoclonal antibody

Objective: EphB4 is a transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase that plays an important role in neural plasticity and angiogenesis. Its biological and clinical relevance in ovarian cancer is the focus of this study.

Methods: Benign ovarian (ML5 and ML10) and ovarian cancer (Hey, SKOV3ip1, A2780-par, A2780-cp20, and IGROV-af1) cell lines, 7 normal ovarian and 85 invasive ovarian cancer samples were evaluated for EphB4 expression by Western blot or immunohistochemistry. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for clinical correlation. EphB4 blockade was accomplished using a novel EphB4-targeted monoclonal antibody (EphB4-131). Systemic delivery of EphB4-131 antibody was utilized in vivo to target EphB4 in orthotopic mouse models of ovarian cancer.

Results: By Western blot analysis, all five malignant cell lines overexpressed EphB4, whereas the two benign cell lines had low EphB4 expression. All of the normal ovarian tissues had low or absent EphB4 expression. Among the invasive ovarian carcinomas (mean age of patients was 59.4 years), 73 (86%) had some level of EphB4 expression and overexpression (moderate or strong) was noted in 58% of all samples. EphB4 overexpression significantly correlated with advanced stage (III or IV; p<0.001) and presence of ascites (p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, EphB4 overexpression (p=0.04) and stage (p=0.03) were independent predictors of poor survival. EphB4-131 antibody led to decreased EphB4 expression in A2780-cp20 and IGROV-af1 cell lines, lasting for over 5 days. Compared to controls, EphB4-131 antibody alone significantly decreased tumor growth in A2780-cp20 (83%, p<0.01) and IGROV-af1 (80%, p<0.001) orthotopic ovarian cancer models. Combination therapy with EphB4-131 antibody and docetaxel resulted in the greatest tumor reduction in both A2780-cp20 and IGROV-af1 cell lines (94-98% reduction versus controls; p<0.01).

Conclusions: EphB4 overexpression is predictive of poor clinical outcome in ovarian cancer patients and is associated with aggressive features. Therapeutic targeting of EphB4 with the novel antibody EphB4-131 is an attractive strategy for further development.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 335.