Association of ZNF644, GRM6, and CTNND2 genes with high myopia in the Han Chinese population: Jiangsu Eye Study

AimsHigh myopia is a common visual disorder in the world. The ZNF644, GRM6, and CTNND2 genes are expressed in the retina. This study aims to investigate the associations of these genes with high myopia in Han Chinese population.MethodsThe case-control association included high myopia cases (n=430) and controls (n=430) recruited from a population-based study, 'Jiangsu Eye Study'. Fourteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in three genes were genotyped by the TaqMan method using the real-time PCR system.ResultsThree SNPs GRM6-rs11746675, GRM6-rs2067011, and GRM6-rs2645339 were associated with high myopia (odds ratio (OR)=0.74, P=0.003; OR=0.78, P=0.018; and OR=0.78, P=0.023; respectively). The significances of rs2067011 and rs2645339 disappeared after multiple testing corrections. Rs11746675 remained significant after correction for multiple testing. The genetic model analysis found that GRM6-rs11746675 and GRM6-rs2067011 were suggestively associated with high myopia in the recessive model (OR=0.54, P=0.004; OR=0.52, P=0.003; respectively). Haplotype GAT for GRM6 markers rs2067011-rs2645339-rs762724 showed significance (P=0.0239), but such association did not remain significant after multiple testing corrections.ConclusionsOur data suggested that genetic variants in GRM6 are associated with high myopia. The mechanism of GRM6 in the development of high myopia need to be further investigated.

Abstract P6-10-10: Association between mammographic density and breast cancer subtypes among Chinese women

Epidemiological studies have shown that associations between breast cancer risk and risk factors vary by tumor pathology such as estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. Mammographic density (MD) is a strong risk factor for breast cancer, but data on the association between MD and breast cancer subtypes have been inconsistent and most studies have been conducted among Western women. The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between MD and breast cancer subtypes in an Asian population where the proportion of dense breast tissue is higher but the overall breast cancer incidence rate is much lower compared with Western countries. Breast cancer cases from a cancer hospital in Beijing, China with MD and ER, PR, and HER2 immunohistochemical (IHC) data were included in this analysis. To reduce subtype misclassification, we excluded cases that were HER2 2+ for IHC but had no FISH data. Tumor subtypes were defined as Luminal A (ER+ or PR+ and HER2-, N=376), Luminal B (ER+ or PR+ and HER2+, N=97), HER2-overexpressing (ER- and PR- and HER2+, N=71), and triple negative (TN, ER- and PR- and HER2-, N=66). MD was assessed on digital mammograms and categorized into four levels using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) scoring system (a=almost entirely fat, b=scattered fibroglandular densities, c=heterogeneously dense, and d=extremely dense). Because there were few cases with almost entirely fat breasts, we combined MD levels "a" and "b" as our reference group. Polychotomous logistic regression was used to assess the association between MD and breast cancer subtypes with the adjustment of age, menopausal status, parity, age at menarche, and body mass index (BMI) since all these variables showed significant inverse associations with MD (P=0.002 for age at menarche and P<0.0001 for all others). Compared with luminal A cases, cases with HER2-overexpressing tumors were significantly more likely to have extremely dense breasts (Odds ratio [OR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-5.7). Cases with luminal B (OR, 2.1, 95% CI, 1.2-3.9) and TN (OR, 2.9, 95% CI, 1.5-5.8) tumors had significantly higher proportions of heterogeneously dense but not extremely dense tissue compared with luminal A cases. Our data suggest that higher MD is associated with more aggressive tumor subtypes, particularly the HER2-overexpressing subtype among Chinese breast cancer cases. If confirmed in larger studies, these results may provide insight into the higher incidence rates of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer seen among young Asian American and Asian women.

Citation Format: Yang XR, Li J, Li E-N, Guida JL, Li M, Sung H, Lu N, Hu N, Gierach GL. Association between mammographic density and breast cancer subtypes among Chinese women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-10-10.

MFG-E8, a clearance glycoprotein of apoptotic cells, as a new marker of disease severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Milk fat globule epidermal growth factor 8 (MFG-E8) is an opsonin involved in the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), apoptotic cell clearance is defective. However, whether aberrant MFG-E8 expression is involved in this defect is unknown. In this study, we examined the expression of MFG-E8 in COPD patients. MFG-E8, interleukin (IL)-1β and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β levels were measured in the plasma of 96 COPD patients (93 males, 3 females; age range: 62.12±10.39) and 87 age-matched healthy controls (85 males, 2 females; age range: 64.81±10.11 years) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Compared with controls, COPD patients had a significantly lower plasma MFG-E8 levels (P<0.01) and significantly higher plasma TGF-β levels (P=0.002), whereas there was no difference in plasma IL-1β levels between the two groups. Moreover, plasma MFG-E8 levels decreased progressively between Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) I and GOLD IV stage COPD. Multiple regression analysis showed that the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁ % predicted) and smoking habit were powerful predictors of MFG-E8 in COPD (P<0.01 and P=0.026, respectively). MFG-E8 was positively associated with the FEV₁ % predicted and negatively associated with smoking habit. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.874 (95% confidence interval: 0.798-0.95; P<0.01). Our findings demonstrated the utility of MFG-E8 as a marker of disease severity in COPD and that cigarette smoke impaired MFG-E8 expression in these patients.

Improvement of l-citrulline production in Corynebacterium glutamicum by ornithine acetyltransferase

In this study, Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032 was engineered to produce l-citrulline through a metabolic engineering strategy. To prevent the flux away from l-citrulline and to increase the expression levels of genes involved in the citrulline biosynthesis pathway, the argininosuccinate synthase gene (argG) and the repressor gene (argR) were inactivated. The engineered C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 ∆argG ∆argR (CIT 2) produced higher amounts of l-citrulline (5.43 g/L) compared to the wildtype strain (0.15 g/L). To determine new strategies for further enhancement of l-citrulline production, the effect of l-citrulline on ornithine acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.35; OATase; ArgJ) was first investigated. Citrulline was determined to inhibit Ornithine acetyltransferase; for 50 % inhibition, citrulline concentration was 30 mM. The argJ gene from C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 was cloned, and the recombinant shuttle plasmid pXMJ19-argJ was constructed and expressed in C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 ∆argG ∆argR (CIT 2). Overexpression of the argJ gene exhibited increased OAT activity and resulted in a positive effect on citrulline production (8.51 g/L). These results indicate that OAT plays a vital role during l-citrulline production in C. glutamicum.

BST-2 expression in human hepatocytes is inducible by all three types of interferons and restricts production of hepatitis C virus

Bone marrow stromal cell antigen 2 (BST-2, also known as tetherin, CD317, or HM1.24) has recently been identified as a host restriction factor against diverse families of enveloped viruses. However, the effects of BST-2 on the life cycle of hepatitis C virus (HCV), an enveloped RNA virus, remain unclear and controversial. Here we demonstrated that human hepatocytes including Huh7.5.1 cells, primary human hepatocytes (PHHs), and HepG2 cells constitutively expressed low to moderate levels of endogenous BST-2 on the cell surface, which could be robustly up-regulated by all three types of interferons (IFNs) such as IFN-α, IFN-γ, and IFN-λ. IFN-α and IFN-γ showed a synergistic effect in induction of BST-2 expression on human hepatocytes. Over-expression of BST-2 by BST-2-expressing vector transfection or up-regulation of BST-2 by IFN stimulation markedly suppressed HCV production, whereas shRNA-mediated depletion of endogenous BST-2 significantly enhanced HCV production in infected Huh7.5.1 cells. IFN-mediated anti-HCV activity was partially but significantly diminished by shRNA-mediated knockdown of BST-2 expression, indicating that BST- 2 upregulation is directly involved in IFN-mediated inhibition of HCV production. We also found that both BST-2 and HCV core co-localized with intracellular lipid droplets (LDs), suggesting that BST-2-HCV interaction may take place around LDs as LDs constitute an important intracellular organelle for HCV assembly and replication. Taken together, our data suggest that BST-2 is a host restriction factor against HCV, and induction of BST-2 in hepatocytes could be one of the mechanisms by which current HCV standard therapy (IFN-α plus ribavirin) achieves a sustained virological response (SVR).

Artificial pneumothorax in CT-guided radioactive iodine-125 seed implantation in the treatment of mediastinal tumors

OBJECTIVE

To explore the efficacy and safety of CT-guided radioactive Iodine-125 seed implantation in treating mediastinal tumors in the thorax with artificial pneumothorax.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Artificial pneumothorax was created using the 22 G thoracic puncture needle in 36 patients with mediastinal tumors, followed by CT-guided radioactive Iodine-125 seed implantation. An equal volume of gas was extracted after the treatment.

RESULTS

The treatment was completed in 35 patients. The tumor target volumes for the radiation treatment were not significantly different before and after the artificial pneumothorax (p = 0.265). No severe complications such as refractory pneumothorax, hemoptysis, or diffuse hemorrhage in the implantation area was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Artificial pneumothorax can reduce the CT image interference caused by the needle tract bleeding during the radioactive Iodine-125 implantation.

The aberrant expression of stimulatory and inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors in NK- and NKT-cells contributes to lupus

BACKGROUND

Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple auto-immune diseases via the modulation of NK-, NKT- and T-cells. Thus, we want to know whether the expression pattern of KIR is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility.

METHODS

Here, real-time quantitative PCR and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) were used to measure the stimulatory KIR (sKIR) and inhibitory KIR (iKIR) mRAN and protein levels on NK-, NKT- and T-cells in both SLE patients and healthy controls.

RESULTS

In SLE patients, CD158a/h (KIR2DL1/S1) was highly expressed while CD158b/i/j (KIR2DL2/L3/S2, iKIR/iKIR/sKIR) was lowly expressed in NK- and NKT-cells in patients. The expression levels of KIR2DL1 and KIR2DL2 (iKIRs) were decreased while the expression levels of KIR2DS1 (sKIR) were increased in NK- and NKT-cells in the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that SLE patients represent aberrant expression of stimulatory and inhibitory KIRs in NK- and NKT-cells. Consequently, these different expression levels of KIRs may contribute to the abnormal function of these cells, which lead to the risk of SLE.

Invisible bleeding from clean-shave haircuts: detection with blood specific RNA markers

BACKGROUND

'Haircut-associated bleeding' is a newly recognized entity that affects at least a quarter of African men who wear shiny clean-shave ('chiskop') haircuts.

AIM

This pilot study aimed to elucidate whether invisible haircut-associated bleeding was detectable using blood specific RNA markers (16 participants, 5 with unknown HIV status) and whether surface virus could be detected using PCR from scalp swabs (of 11 known HIV-positive participants).

METHODS

Haircuts were performed professionally and scalps examined by a dermatologist to exclude injury. Serum samples for viral loads were also collected at the same time.

RESULTS

In all, 6/16 (37%) samples tested positive (>100 relative fluorescent units) for hemoglobin beta and albumin, confirming evidence of blood; of these, only 1/11 was HIV-positive but had an undetectable serum viral load. No surface HIV was detected from any scalp samples.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms the entity of haircut-associated bleeding but goes further to show for the first time that invisible bleeding from clean-shave haircuts is also common. Both a high serum viral load and evidence of bleeding should ideally be present prior to surface HIV detection. Future investigations for potential HIV (and hepatitis B) transmission through clean-shave haircuts are warranted but should not delay public education for disease prevention.

Innovative estimation of survival using log-normal survival modelling on ACCENT database

Background:

The ACCENT database, with individual patient data for 20 898 patients from 18 colon cancer clinical trials, was used to support Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of 3-year disease-free survival as a surrogate for 5-year overall survival. We hypothesised substantive differences in survival estimation with log-normal modelling rather than standard Kaplan–Meier or Cox approaches.

Methods:

Time to relapse, disease-free survival, and overall survival were estimated using Kaplan–Meier, Cox, and log-normal approaches for male subjects aged 60–65 years, with stage III colon cancer, treated with 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy regimens (with 5FU), or with surgery alone (without 5FU).

Results:

Absolute differences between Cox and log-normal estimates with (without) 5FU varied by end point. The log-normal model had 5.8 (6.3)% higher estimated 3-year time to relapse than the Cox model; 4.8 (5.1)% higher 3-year disease-free survival; and 3.2 (2.2)% higher 5-year overall survival. Model checking indicated greater data support for the log-normal than the Cox model, with Cox and Kaplan–Meier estimates being more similar. All three model types indicate consistent evidence of treatment benefit on both 3-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival; patients allocated to 5FU had 5.0–6.7% higher 3-year disease-free survival and 5.3–6.8% higher 5-year overall survival.

Conclusion:

Substantive absolute differences between estimates of 3-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival with log-normal and Cox models were large enough to be clinically relevant, and warrant further consideration.

Pharmacokinetics of verapamil in diabetic rats induced by combination of high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of type 2 diabetes on the pharmacokinetics of verapamil after intravenous administration. Diabetes mellitus (DM) rats were induced by combination of high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin. Plasma concentrations of verapamil in DM rats, rats fed with HFD, and control (CON) rats were measured after intravenous administration of 1 mg/kg verapamil and corresponding pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated. Area under the plasma concentration in DM rats was significantly smaller than that in CON rats. In vitro microsomal study showed that intrinsic clearance of verapamil in DM rats was significantly higher than those in CON rats. Compared to CON rats, higher intrinsic clearance was also observed in HFD rats. Western blot results demonstrated higher levels of CYP3A2 in DM and HFD rats, which was in line to activity of CYP3A. All the results gave a conclusion that diabetes may enhance metabolism of verapamil in rat, and the enhancement may partly result from induction of CYP3A.

Abstract P2-06-11: Ramifications of HER2/ER/PR Guidelines from ASCO/CAP for Translational Cancer Research Using a Cohort from a Tertiary Care Centre in Ontario

Background: A transdisciplinary team from basic science, pathology, clinical and biostatistics was assembled to establish a framework with which to take novel laboratory biomarkers and targets to clinical validation. Human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2), estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptor are of important prognostic and predictive value and drivers of systemic therapy for breast cancer (BC). As a first step, the current ASCO/CAP guidelines were used to re-assign centrally reviewed tumour specimens and compare to the clinically assigned scores for ER/PR and HER2.

Methods: With REB approval, a cohort of 62 cases of non-metastatic invasive BC with banked tumour specimens was assembled between 2005 and 2007. Clinico-pathological information for each case was retrospectively obtained from the medical file and entered into an anonymized database. Full section slides were originally stained by routine immunohistochemistry (IHC). Categorical clinical scores for ER/PR (negative-neg/weak/positive-pos) were compared to the continuous scores assigned in a blinded fashion using ASCO/CAP criteria (% pos/H-score). Categorical clinical scores obtained with duplicate IHC antibody staining of full sections for HER2 (neg/equivocal-eq/pos) were compared to those obtained from IHC assessments of triplicate 6mm cores in a tissue microarray (TMA) that were assigned to be neg/eq/pos using ASCO/CAP criteria. A senior breast pathologist adjudicated discordant specimens. Exact Fisher tests were used to compare the two sets of categorical assessments.

Results: Mean age was 43.5 years, (range 29-49). The majority of the cohort (59.7%) had N0 disease and received adjuvant chemotherapy (74.2%); 72.6% of the cohort was alive at the time of this analysis. Score means and ranges of ER/PR are displayed below. Two of 16 clinically ER neg cases (12.5%) were rescored as pos and 0/43 clinically ER pos cases were rescored as neg, P&lt;0.0001. Two of 13 clinically PR neg cases (15.4%) were rescored as pos and 4/46 clinically PR pos cases (8.7%) were rescored as neg, (P&lt;0.0001). HER2 status was reassessed for 51 cases, 41 of which (80%) had concordant scores (P&lt;0.0001). Thirty-nine (76%) cases were classified as HER2 neg on TMA, 7 of which (18%) were eq on routine IHC and neg by fluorescence in situ hybridization. In routine IHC, 15.7% of tumours were eq. Four TMA cases were eq (7.8%%); with routine IHC, one of these was neg, one eq, and two were pos. Eight patients were HER2 pos in both assessments.

ER/PR scores

Conclusions: Systemic therapy recommendations could be impacted in a small but substantive number of cases by the methodology used for biomarker assessment and scoring, particularly near threshold values. This study illustrates that the scoring criteria used may be an important contributor to variability in correlative biomarker studies. Consideration should be given to routine systematic reassessment with continuous scoring for biomarker data proposed for use in correlative science studies.