Effects of hypophyseal or thymic allograft on thymus development in partially decerebrate chicken embryos: expression of PCNA and CD3 markers

Changes in chicken embryo thymus after partial decerebration (including the hypophysis) and after hypophyseal or thymic allograft were investigated. Chicken embryos were partially decerebrated at 36–40 h of incubation and on day 12 received a hypophysis or a thymus allograft from 18-day-old donor embryos. The thymuses of normal, sham-operated and partially decerebrate embryos were collected on day 12 and 18. The thymuses of the grafted embryos were collected on day 18. The samples were examined with histological method and tested for the anti-PCNA and anti-CD3 immune-reactions. After partial decerebration, the thymic cortical and medullary compartments diminished markedly in size. Anti-PCNA and anti-CD3 revealed a reduced immunereaction, verified also by statistical analysis. In hypophyseal or grafted embryos, the thymic morphological compartments improved, the anti-PCNA and anti-CD3 immune-reactions recovered much better after the thymic graft, probably due to the thymic growth factors and also by an emigration of thymocytes from the same grafted thymus.

Clinical, serologic and instrumental data of ten patients affected by sclerodermatous chronic graft versus host disease: similarities and differences in respect to systemic sclerosis

Chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD), the most common late complication of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), may present with sclerodermatous lesions resembling in some cases the cutaneous involvement of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Certain pathogenetic findings connect the two diseases. In this report we describe ten subjects affected by cGVHD who underwent the examinations routinely carried out to stage SSc patients. Demographic, clinical, serologic and instrumental data were recorded. These patients showed differences in appearance, extent and progression of the sclerodermatous lesions with greater involvement of the trunk and proximal part of the limbs than the extremities. In seven subjects ANA test was positive; scleroderma-associated autoantibodies were not detected in any of the cases. Moreover, typical organ involvement of SSc was not found. Only one patient developed Raynauds phenomenon after HSCT and only one patient demonstrated a nailfold videocapillaroscopic scleroderma pattern. Except for cutaneous involvement of cGVHD, that may resemble SSc, the clinical features of the two diseases are quite different, suggesting that the fibrotic process characterizing cGVHD and SSc has different etiologies and different initial pathobiologic events.

Temporal lobe grey matter volume in schizophrenia is associated with a genetic polymorphism influencing glycogen synthase kinase 3-β activity

At the crossroad of multiple pathways regulating trophism and metabolism, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)3 is considered a key factor in influencing the susceptibility of neurons to harmful stimuli (neuronal resilience) and is a target for several psychiatric drugs that directly inhibit it or increase its inhibitory phosphorylation. Inhibition of GSK3 prevents apoptosis and could protect against the neuropathological processes associated with psychiatric disorders. A GSK3-beta promoter single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs334558) influences transcriptional strength, and the less active form was associated with less detrimental clinical features of mood disorders. Here we studied the effect of rs334558 on grey matter volumes (voxel-based morphometry) of 57 patients affected by chronic schizophrenia. Carriers of the less active C allele variant showed significantly higher brain volumes in an area encompassing posterior regions of right middle and superior temporal gyrus, within the boundaries of Brodmann area 21. The temporal lobe is the brain parenchymal region with the most consistently documented morphometric abnormalities in schizophrenia, and neuropathological processes in these regions develop soon at the beginning of the illness. These results support the interest for GSK3-beta as a factor affecting neuropathology in major behavioural disorders, such as schizophrenia, and thus as a possible target for treatment.

Changes in medial prefrontal cortex neural responses parallel successful antidepressant combination of venlafaxine and light therapy

Few pilot prospective studies performed BOLD fMRI before and after treatment in order to define the neural correlates of antidepressant response. To determine how antidepressant treatment influences the pattern of neural response to a task targeting the depressive biases in information processing (moral valence decision), eight depressed inpatients were treated with combined venlafaxine and light therapy for four weeks. Brain BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging on a 3.0 Tesla scanner was performed before and after treatment. Treatment and moral value of the stimuli showed the most significant interaction in right medial frontal gyrus (BA 10), where also clinical status was found to be inversely correlated with response to negative stimuli after treatment. A significant interaction of treatment and valence of the stimuli was also detected in other areas that have been widely associated with the depressive illness.

The role of learning in nocebo and placebo effects

The nocebo effect consists in delivering verbal suggestions of negative outcomes so that the subject expects clinical worsening. Here we show that nocebo suggestions, in which expectation of pain increase is induced, are capable of producing both hyperalgesic and allodynic responses. By extending previous findings on the placebo effect, we investigated the role of learning in the nocebo effect by means of a conditioning procedure. To do this, verbal suggestions of pain increase were given to healthy volunteers before administration of either tactile or low-intensity painful electrical stimuli. This nocebo procedure was also carried out after a pre-conditioning session in which two different conditioned visual stimuli were associated to either pain or no-pain. Pain perception was assessed by means of a Numerical Rating Scale raging from 0=tactile to 10=maximum imaginable pain. We found that verbal suggestions alone, without prior conditioning, turned tactile stimuli into pain as well as low-intensity painful stimuli into high-intensity pain. A conditioning procedure produced similar effects, without significant differences. Therefore, in contrast to placebo analgesia, whereby a conditioning procedure elicits larger effects compared to verbal suggestions alone, learning seems to be less important in nocebo hyperalgesia. Overall, these findings indicate that, by defining hyperalgesia as an increase in pain sensitivity and allodynia as the perception of pain in response to innocuous stimulation, nocebos can indeed produce both hyperalgesic and allodynic effects. These results also suggest that learning is not important in nocebo hyperalgesia compared to placebo analgesia.

Prospective, multicenter, randomized GITMO-IIL trial comparing intensive (R-HDS) to conventional chemoimmunotherapy (CHOP-R) in high-risk follicular lymphoma (FL) at diagnosis

8006

Background: The GITMO-IIL trial evaluated if an intensified treatment with ASCT is better than conventional chemotherapy (both supplemented with Rituximab) in high-risk FL at diagnosis. Methods: Eligibility required a FL with aaIPI>1 or IIL>2 score and an age of 18–60. Primary endpoint was EFS. The analysis was intention to treat. Secondary endpoints were PFS, DFS, OS, rate and prognostic value of MR. R-HDS and CHOP-R have been already described (Ladetto et al ASH 2005, Rambaldi et al Blood 2002). Planned sample size was 240 to detect a 20% absolute increase in the 3-years EFS. However the trial was stopped at 136 pts due to R-HDS superiority in EFS at a planned interim analysis. Cross-over was allowed after CHOP-R failure. Centralized PCR-based molecular analysis was planned on BM cells. Results: Age, stage, LDH, bulky disease, B-symptoms ECOG PS, extranodal disease aaIPI, IIL and retrospectively assigned FLIPI were similar in the two arms. CRs were 59% with CHOP-R and 85% with R-HDS (p<0.001). At a median follow-up of 39 months EFS and PFS are 36% and 38% for CHOP-R and 66% and 72% for R-HDS. OS is 83% in each arm. 67% of relapsed R-CHOP pts underwent R- HDS. MRs were 44% after CHOP-R and 80% after R-HDS (p<0.001). MR was associated to a better PFS (p<0.001). Of note, 3yrs PFS of pts with or without MR was similar in the two arms (MR: 67% with CHOP-R and 76% with R-HDS) (no MR: 25% for CHOP-R and 32% for R-HDS). MR was the strongest independent prognostic factor for PFS, EFS and DFS by multivariate analysis. Conclusions: This is the first phase III trial including MR analysis in a high proportion of pts and comparing intensified versus conventional therapy in the rituximab age. This trial indicates that: a) R-HDS has a better EFS and PFS in truly high-risk FL patients; b) MR is the strongest outcome predictor available in FL; c) the similar outcome in pts achieving (or not achieving) MR, regardless of treatment received, indicates that the superior performance of R-HDS is mostly due to its superior MR rate.

[Table: see text]

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8123

Background: The high-dose sequential (HDS) chemotherapy approach, including early dose-intensification and autograft with peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC), was introduced several years ago (Gianni & Bonadonna, 1989); subsequently, it has been broadly used in the management of both non-Hodgkin s (NHL) and Hodgkin s Lymphoma (HL). The outcome of a large series of lymphoma patients treated with the HDS approach at 10 GITIL Centers is reported. Methods: Data have been collected on 1,266 patients, who received either the original or slightly modified HDS regimens. There were 213 HL and 1,053 NHL (630 intermediate/high-grade, 423 low-grade); median age was 46 yrs. Overall, 671 (53%) patients had refractory/relapsed disease, 595 (47%) were at diagnosis. Most patients were autografted with PBPC; 158 (12%) patients did not undergo autografting due to toxicity, disease progression or poor harvests. Results: Overall, 1,013 (80%) patients reached Complete Remission (CR) following HDS. As to December 2006, 93 (7%) patients died for early/late toxicities, 328 (26%) died for lymphoma, 844 are known to be alive. At a lead follow-up of 18 years, and a median follow-up of 5 yrs, the 5-yr Overall Survival (OS) projection is 64% (S.E.: 2%). The long-term survival was quite favorable in patients achieving a Complete Remission (CR), with a 5-yr OS projection of 76%. The prolonged OS in patients achieving CR was consistent in all lymphoma subtypes, i.e. both low and high-grade NHL (5-yr OS: 77% in both), and HL (5-yr OS: 72%). Patients at diagnosis had a significantly better outcome compared to patients treated for relapsed/refractory disease, again CR achievement was associated with prolonged survival in both subgroups (82% and 69%, respectively, at 5 yrs.). On multivariate Cox survival analysis, CR achievement was the most powerful predictor of long-term survival (HR 0.13, c.i.: 0.10–0.17). Lastly, achieving substantial tumor reduction before autografting had a major influence on the clinical outcome. Conclusions: 1. the HDS program is feasible in a multicenter setting; 2. the long-term outcome is well influenced by the CR status after HDS; 3. the influence of CR achievement on the long-term survival holds true in all lymphoma subtypes, including indolent lymphomas; 4. an adequate pre-autograft tumor debulking may contribute to a favorable long-term outcome.

[Table: see text]

When words are painful: Unraveling the mechanisms of the nocebo effect

The nocebo effect is a phenomenon that is opposite to the placebo effect, whereby expectation of a negative outcome may lead to the worsening of a symptom. Thus far, its study has been limited by ethical constraints, particularly in patients, as a nocebo procedure is per se stressful and anxiogenic. It basically consists in delivering verbal suggestions of negative outcomes so that the subject expects clinical worsening. Although some natural nocebo situations do exist, such as the impact of negative diagnoses upon the patient and the patient's distrust in a therapy, the neurobiological mechanisms have been understood in the experimental setting under strictly controlled conditions. As for the placebo counterpart, the study of pain has been fruitful in recent years to understand both the neuroanatomical and the neurochemical bases of the nocebo effect. Recent experimental evidence indicates that negative verbal suggestions induce anticipatory anxiety about the impending pain increase, and this verbally-induced anxiety triggers the activation of cholecystokinin (CCK) which, in turn, facilitates pain transmission. CCK-antagonists have been found to block this anxiety-induced hyperalgesia, thus opening up the possibility of new therapeutic strategies whenever pain has an important anxiety component. Other conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, although less studied, have been found to be affected by nocebo suggestions as well. All these findings underscore the important role of cognition in the therapeutic outcome, and suggest that nocebo and nocebo-related effects might represent a point of vulnerability both in the course of a disease and in the response to a therapy.

Clock genes beyond the clock: CLOCK genotype biases neural correlates of moral valence decision in depressed patients

Gene polymorphisms in the mammalian biological clock system influence individual rhythms. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 3' flanking region of CLOCK (3111 T/C; rs1801260) influenced diurnal preference in healthy humans and caused sleep phase delay and insomnia in patients affected by bipolar disorder. Genes of the biological clock are expressed in many brain structures other than in the 'master clock' suprachiasmatic nuclei. These areas, such as cingulate cortex, are involved in the control of many human behaviors. Clock genes could then bias 'nonclock' functions such as information processing and decision making. Thirty inpatients affected by a major depressive episode underwent blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The cognitive activation paradigm was based on a go/no-go task. Morally connoted words were presented. Genotyping of CLOCK was performed for each patients. We measured activity levels through actimetry during the day before the fMRI study. CLOCK 3111 T/C SNP was associated with activity levels in the second part of the day, neuropsychological performance and BOLD fMRI correlates (interaction of genotype and moral valence of the stimuli). Our results support the hypothesis that individual clock genotype may influence several variables linked with human behaviors in normal and psychopathological conditions.

Placebo and endogenous mechanisms of analgesia

The discovery of the endogenous systems of analgesia has produced a large amount of research aimed at investigating their biochemical and neurophysiological mechanisms and their neuroanatomical localization. Nevertheless, the neurobiological acquisitions on these mechanisms have not been paralleled by behavioural correlates in humans--in other words, by the understanding of when and how these endogenous mechanisms of analgesia are activated. Until recent times one of the most studied behavioural correlates of endogenous analgesia was stress-induced analgesia, in which the activation of endogenous opioid systems is known to be involved. By contrast, today the placebo analgesic effect represents one of the best-described situations in which this endogenous opioid network is naturally activated in humans. Therefore, not only is placebo research helpful towards improving clinical trial design and medical practice, but it also provides us with a better understanding of the endogenous mechanisms of analgesia.

Prolonged survival and low incidence of late toxic sequelae in advanced follicular lymphoma treated with a TBI-free autografting program: updated results of the multicenter consecutive GITMO trial

This study provides an updated report of the consecutive multicenter Gruppo Italiano Trapianto Midollo Osseo trial employing an intensified, purging-free, total body irradiation-free, high-dose sequential chemotherapy schedule with peripheral blood stem cell autograft (i-HDS) in advanced-stage follicular lymphoma (FL). Special interest has been devoted to late toxicities and outcome in terms of molecular status. Ninety-two untreated FL patients aged <or=60 were enrolled by 20 Italian centers and evaluated on an intention-to-treat basis. Main findings are as follows: (1) 5.5-years overall survival projection of 80% (median follow-up: 68 months), with no differences related to age-adjusted IPI score; (2) 46 (50%) of 92 patients presently in continuous complete remission; (3) projected long-term progression-free survival exceeding 80% for patients collecting PCR-negative stem cell harvests or achieving molecular remission within the first 2 years from the end of therapy; (4) actuarial 5-years risk of developing secondary myelodysplasia and acute myeloid leukemia of 3.7%, with most of these events occurring in patients re-treated for recurrent lymphoma. These results demonstrate that i-HDS is feasible, effective and safe even in terms of long-term outcome. As the HDS schedule can be easily supplemented with Rituximab, it is one of the best options for random comparison with Rituximab-supplemented conventional chemotherapy.

Rituximab-supplemented high-dose sequential chemotherapy (R-HDS) has better EFS and PFS than R-CHOP in poor risk follicular lymphoma (FL) at diagnosis: A multicenter randomized GITMO/IIL trial

7525

Background: HDS with ASCT is effective and feasible in FL at the multicenter level and suitable for Rituximab supplementation (R-HDS). This randomized trial compared R-HDS with Rituximab-supplemented CHOP (R-CHOP) in poor risk FL patients (pts) <60 yrs. Methods: Between 2000 and 2005, 136 pts have been randomized (68/arm). Eligibility required age-adjusted IPI ≥2 (125 pts) or, in the absence of this criterion, ≥3 IIL adverse factors (11 pts). Primary endpoint was EFS. Clinical features were: median age 50 yrs (22–60), stage III-IV 98%, elevated LDH 78%, bulky disease 66%, B symptoms 47%, extranodal disease (other than BM) 45%, ECOG PS >1 47%. R-HDS consisted of: i. 2 APO and 2 DHAP; ii. sequential administration of Etoposide 2g/sqm, 2 Rituximab, Cyclophosphamide 7 g/sqm with PBPC collection (in vivo-purged with 2 additional Rituximab); iii. Mitoxantrone (60 mg/sqm) + L-Pam (180 mg/sqm) followed by 5–8 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg. R-CHOP consisted of 6 CHOP courses followed by 4–6 doses of Rituximab. Cross-over was allowed. bcl-2/I gH-based minimal residual disease analysis was planned. Assessement was “intention to treat”-based. Results: Current data are updated at 31/5/05. Next closing date will be April 2006. The two arms were balanced. 68% patients concluded R-CHOP (failures were due to progression 29% and toxicity 3%) and 78% R-HDS (failures due to progression 9%, toxicity 5%, poor mobilization/refusal 8%). Toxic deaths were 4 (2 in each arm); in addition 1 gastric cancer and 1 AML occurred in the R-HDS arm. Progressions and non-responses were 31% with R-CHOP and 11% with R-HDS (p < 0.05) CRs were 58% and 87% respectively. Current median follow-up is 24 months. EFS and PFS at 24 months are 41% and 48% for R-CHOP and 66% and 75% for R-HDS (p < .001). At present OS is similar. Salvage treatment following R-CHOP is currently known in 22 pts: 16 received R-HDS, with 10 achieving CR. Molecular remission, (two PCR-neg BM samples at 6 months intervals), was observed in 54% of R-CHOP and 77% of R-HDS pts Conclusions: R-HDS induces more CRs and has better EFS and PFS than R-CHOP in this rare and aggressive population of high-risk FL patients. These results cannot be extrapolated to standard-risk pts.

[Table: see text]

Placebo analgesia

The placebo effect is the effect that follows the administration of an inert treatment (the placebo), be it pharmacological or not. It is important to understand that a placebo procedure simulates a therapy through the surrounding psychosocial context. Therefore, the study of the placebo effect is the study of the psychosocial context around the patient and its effects on the patient's brain. The real placebo response is a psychobiological phenomenon that can be due to different mechanisms, for example expectation and conditioning. Thus, there is not a single placebo effect but many, so that we have to look for different mechanisms in different conditions and in different systems and apparatuses. Today we are beginning to understand some of the neurobiological mechanisms of the placebo response, and this knowledge may help better understand the top-down control of the incoming sensory input, like pain, and the intricate interaction between mind and body.

[Gastric lipoma presenting as intestinal obstruction]

Gastric lipoma is a rare benign tumor. The symptoms are correlated with the size and the dimensions of neoplasm. It can be the cause of bleeding, gastroduodenal intussusception and intestinal obstruction, as in case reported and surgically treated. The Authors make a literature review to define the better diagnostic and surgical approach.