Comparison of three different methods for the detection of human papillomavirus infected in cervical lesions

e22166

Background: Several techniques are in use for HPV DNA detection: Hybrid Capture IIR(HCIIR) assay, PCR-based DNA microarray and Luminex-based assay. This study was aimed to examine the performances of three validated HPV assays. We compared the concordance between the three methods for detecting HPV in cervical specimen. Methods: Cervical samples of 189 Korean women (21∼77 ages, average 41.2 age) were tested for HPV detection in this study. We examined the performances of three validated HPV assays according to each method's instructions : 1) Hybrid Capture IIR (HCIIR) assay (HCIIR; Digene Corporation, USA) was used to test for detection of 18 types of HPV (high-risk types: HPV16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68 and low-risk types types: HPV 6, 11, 42, 43, 44). 2) HPV DNA Chip, PCR-based DNA microarray system (MyGene Co., Seoul, South Korea) was used to test for genotyping of 24 types of HPV: 15 types of high-risk types (HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68) and 9 types of low-risk types (HPV6, 11, 34, 40, 42, 43, 44, 54, 70). 3) Luminex-based HPV test (YBT, Seoul, Korea) was performed for genotyping 26 types of HPV including 15 high-risk HPV types (HPV-16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68) and 11 low-risk types (HPV-6, 11, 34, 40, 42, 43, 44, 54, 55, 67, 70). Results: We compared HPV detection results obtained by the HC II assay with those from the Luminex assay. 51 cases were discordant: 29 samples were HC II negative/Luminex positive and 22 samples were HCII positive/Luminex negative. We also compared HPV detection results obtained by the DNA chip assay with those from the Luminex assay. 37 cases were discordant: 5 samples were DNA chip negative/Luminex positive and 32 samples were DNA chip positive/Luminex negative. Conclusions: The distribution of the HPV detection results obtained for 91 samples using three different methods suggested that the results of DNA chip assay are more often discordant (17.9% instead of 5.1% for Luminex assay and 5.1% for the HC II assay).

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Proteome analysis of malignant pleural effusion

e22194

Background: Because pleural effusion contains proteins of potential diagnostic value, a comprehensive proteomic analysis of the pleural effusion is worthy to discover a new biomarker. Malignant pleural effusion and tuberculous pleural effusion are sometimes diagnositc challenge due to their similarity like lymphocyte-dominant effusion. Herein, we tried to identify differentially expressed proteins in both effusion using proteomic anlaysis. Methods: Twenty microliters of pleural effusions(PEs) from 3 patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) and 3 patients with tuberculous pleurisy(TBC) were used for proteome analysis. After depletion of high abundant proteins including albumin, IgG with MARS Hu-6(Agilent), proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and subject to in-gel tryptic digestion. The resulting peptides were analyzed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The MS/MS spectra were analyzed by Spectrum Mill against normal and reversed human protein databases. Results: In the total of 6 samples, 90 proteins were identified with more than 2 peptides and less than 1% of false positive rate. Among the identified pleural proteins, 57 proteins were detected both in PEs of NSCLS and TBC, 19 and 14 proteins were identified only in the PE of NSCLC and TBC, respectively. We analysed molecular functions, molecular composition and molecular processes of identified proteins with FindGo software. Among the identified proteins, we found the biomarker candidates that significantly have different expression levels in malignant effusion; apolipoprotein B precursor, vitronectin, complement factor B, histidine-rich glycoprotein precursor, coagulation factor II precursor variant. Conclusions: We found that several pleural effusion proteins may serve as potential biomarker candidates for differential diagnosis between maligant and tuberculous pleural effusion. We'll confirm these proteins through the proteomic method(MRM) and immunological method(Western bolt).

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

A phase II study of gefitinib in patients with metastatic melanoma

9057

Background: Gefitinib is an inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is frequently expressed on both choroidal and non-choroidal melanoma cells. We evaluated the clinical efficacy of gefitinib in patients (pts) with metastatic melanoma. Methods: Pts with stage IV or unresectable or recurrent stage III melanoma and Zubrod performance status of 0 to 2 were eligible. For non-choroidal melanoma, pts must have received systemic cytotoxic therapy, but no more than 2 regimens; for choroidal melanoma, pts could be either chemo-naïve or have received up to 2 systemic cytotoxic therapies. The dose of oral gefitinib was 250 mg daily, and tumor response was evaluated every 6 weeks per RECIST. Ten patients with cutaneous disease were also consented for paired biopsies and blood collection for correlative studies at baseline and after 3 weeks of treatment. Results: Fifty-two pts (46 non-choroidal; 6 choroidal primay) were treated and evaluated for toxicity, and 50 pts were evaluable for response. Median age of pts was 62.5 years, with median Zubrod PS Score of 1. The median number of prior systemic treatments was 1. Forty-one pts (79%) had stage M1c disease. There were no drug-related grade 4 or 5 adverse events (AEs), and fatigue was the only grade 3 AEs in >5% of the patients. There were 2 (4%) partial responses, including a pt with metastatic choroidal melanoma, and 13 pts (26%) had disease stabilization. A median duration of response was 9.5 months among the responders. Median time to progression was 6 weeks, and median overall survival was 4.6 months. Among 7 pts with sufficient tissue on paired biopsies, there were no notable trends in the changes of the expression of pERK1/2, pAKT, or pPAK1 with treatment. Additionally, no trends were identified in serum VEGF or IL-8 levels after treatment. Conclusions: Gefitinib was well tolerated, but had minimal clinical efficacy as a single-agent therapy for metastatic melanoma of cutaneous origin. There were no consistent changes in the expressions of downstream kinase proteins with gefitinib treatment.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Precise measurement of the neutron magnetic form factor G(M)n in the few-GeV2 region

The neutron elastic magnetic form factor was extracted from quasielastic electron scattering on deuterium over the range Q;{2}=1.0-4.8 GeV2 with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. High precision was achieved with a ratio technique and a simultaneous in situ calibration of the neutron detection efficiency. Neutrons were detected with electromagnetic calorimeters and time-of-flight scintillators at two beam energies. The dipole parametrization gives a good description of the data.

Phase II study of arsenic trioxide and ascorbic acid for relapsed or refractory lymphoid malignancies: a Wisconsin Oncology Network study

Arsenic trioxide (As(2)O(3)) has established clinical activity in acute promyelocytic leukaemia and has pre-clinical data suggesting activity in lymphoid malignancies. Cell death from As(2)O(3) may be the result of oxidative stress. Agents which deplete intracellular glutathione, such as ascorbic acid (AA), may potentiate arsenic-mediated apoptosis. This multi-institution phase II study investigated a novel dosing schedule of As(2)O(3) and AA in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoid malignancies. Patients received As(2)O(3) 0.25 mg/kg iv and AA 1000 mg iv for five consecutive days during the first week of each cycle followed by twice weekly infusions during weeks 2-6. Cycles were repeated every 8 weeks. The primary end point was objective response. In a subset of patients, sequential levels of intracellular glutathione and measures of Bcl-2 and Bax gene expression were evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells during treatment. Seventeen patients were enrolled between March 2002 and February 2004. The median age was 71, and the majority of enrolled patients had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (12/17). Sixteen patients were evaluable, and one patient with mantle cell lymphoma achieved an unconfirmed complete response after five cycles of therapy for an overall response rate of 6%. The trial, which had been designed as a two-stage study, was closed after the first stage analysis due to lack of activity. Haematologic toxicities were the most commonly reported events in this heavily pre-treated population, and comprised the majority of grade 3 and 4 toxicities. Intracellular depletion of glutathione was not consistently observed during treatment. As(2)O(3) and AA in this novel dosing strategy was generally well tolerated but had limited activity in patients with relapsed and refractory lymphoid malignancies.

Experimental determination of proton-induced cross-sections on natural zirconium

We measured cross-sections for the formation of (86g,87m,87g)Y, (88,89g)Zr, and (90,92m)Nb radionuclides for proton-induced reactions on natural zirconium by using a conventional stacked-foil activation technique in the energy range between 1 and 40MeV at the MC-50 cyclotron of the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science. We compared the measured data with the available literature data and the theoretical calculation by the model codes TALYS and ALICE-IPPE. We also deduced the integral yields for thick targets from the measured cross-sections of the produced radionuclides. The optimum production possibility of the medically important (89g)Zr and (86)Y radionuclides were discussed elaborately.

Realization of the quantum Toffoli gate with trapped ions

Gates acting on more than two qubits are appealing as they can substitute complex sequences of two-qubit gates, thus promising faster execution and higher fidelity. One important multiqubit operation is the quantum Toffoli gate that performs a controlled NOT operation on a target qubit depending on the state of two control qubits. Here we present the first experimental realization of the quantum Toffoli gate in an ion trap quantum computer, achieving a mean gate fidelity of 71(3)%. Our implementation is particularly efficient as the relevant logic information is directly encoded in the motion of the ion string.

Absolute frequency measurement of the 40Ca+ 4s(2)S_(1/2)-3d(2)D_(5/2) clock transition

We report on the first absolute transition frequency measurement at the 10;{-15} level with a single, laser-cooled 40Ca+ ion in a linear Paul trap. For this measurement, a frequency comb is referenced to the transportable Cs atomic fountain clock of LNE-SYRTE and is used to measure the 40Ca+ 4s ;{2}S_{1/2}-3d ;{2}D_{5/2} electric-quadrupole transition frequency. After the correction of systematic shifts, the clock transition frequency nu_{Ca;{+}}=411 042 129 776 393.2(1.0) Hz is obtained, which corresponds to a fractional uncertainty within a factor of 3 of the Cs standard. In addition, we determine the Landé g factor of the 3d;{2}D_{5/2} level to be g_{5/2}=1.200 334 0(3).

Evaluation of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in primary breast cancer using PET

Abstract #4019

Purpose
 To estimate the usefulness of PET scan to assess the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, PET scan results were compared with conventional imaging modalities(US and MRI).
 Patients and Methods
 Fourty-one patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy between December 2004 and March 2008 were included. PET scan was performed before and after chemotherapy. Pathologic results were classified into two groups; pathological complete response(pCR) and non-pCR. Clinical responses were assessed with the results of imaging modalities such as post-chemotherapy size or pSUV(postTx), size difference between treatment(delta) and reduction rate(RR) of size or pSUV, and they are compared with postoperative pathologic results.
 Results
 7 out of 41 patients (17.1%) had pCR. The results of US shows that postTx size (1.7±1.5cm) of pCR was not dfferent from those of non-pCR (3.6±3.0cm), and the delta (3.1±1.9cm) and RR (67.7±29.1%) of pCR were higher than those of non-pCR (1.3±1.3cm, 31.0±25.4%), respectively. As a result of MRI, postTx size, delta, RR of pCR was differ from those of non-pCR (1.0±1.7cm vs 2.8±1.7cm p<0.05; 4.5±1.0cm vs 2.3±1.8cm, p<0.05; 88.0±20.8% vs 44.6±24.7%, p<0.01). In PET scan, only postTx pSUV of pCR was differ from that of non-pCR (1.4±1.3 vs 5.3±8.3cm, p<0.05). As a result of receiver operating characteristic curve analyses for the prediction of pathological response of breast cancer, area under curve values (95% confidence interval) of US, MRI, PET for delta were 0.83(0.69∼0.98), 0.91(0.80∼1.01), 0.62(0.38∼0.86), and those of RR were 0.80(0.60∼0.99), 0.90(0.77∼1.02), 0.72(0.47∼0.96), respectively
 Conclusions
 We suggest that MRI is useful method to evaluate the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Although PET scan shows less effective for evaluating the response of chemotherapy than MRI, PET scan with the ability to detect the distant metastatic lesions may be helpful to decide the proper management plans for advanced breast cancer.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 4019.

A novel laboratory cultivation method to examine antibiotic-resistance-related microbial risks in urban water environments

Although microbial risk due to antibiotic-resistant microbes in water has been a serious public health concern, the current culture-dependent detecting methods using nutrient-rich conditions may not be suitable for evaluating microbial risk. In the present study, a novel cultivation method was developed to detect antibiotic-resistant microbes at various nutrient levels. A nutrient-rich medium Luria-Bertani broth (LB) was diluted at a wide range of dilution factors (10(0)-10(4)) and amended with either tetracycline or vancomycin. A standard environmental cultivation medium, R2A, was also used by amending with antibiotics. The diluted LB with antibiotics was able to detect previously known oligotrophic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in drinking water and swine manure samples, respectively. These results validate the capability of the new method to detect antibiotic-resistant microbes in various environmental water samples. Using the developed method in assessing microbial risk due to antibiotic-resistant microbes in river and municipal wastewater plants, we found that the viable counts and antibiotic resistance fraction were significantly influenced by the type and concentration level of antibiotic exposure and the cultivation medium conditions. This suggests a further need to standardize cultivation method procedures, to assess microbial risk in water samples.