A New Treatment for Dialysis-Related Amyloidosis with β 2-Microglobulin Adsorbent Column

Dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA) is characterized by the presence of β 2-microglobulin (β 2-m) in the plasma. In order to eliminate β 2-m from the circulating blood, the β 2-m selective adsorbent for direct hemoperfusion (DHP) was developed. A DHP column (BM-01), containing 350 ml of the adsorbent, was subjected to clinical trials. The column was connected with a PAN (AN69) membrane dialyzer in series and used 3 times a week for 1 week (11 patients), 4 weeks (5 patients), 6 months (1 patient) and 12 months (2 patients). The percent reduction (%) of β 2-m was for 16 patients (for 1 or 4 weeks), more than 65, and for 3 patients (for more than 6 months), 76.5 ± 4.9, 73.5 ± 5.7, 72.2 ± 6.2. At the end of each session, β 2-m plasma levels were found to be below 10 mg/L, with 3.4 mg/L being the lowest. The total amounts of β 2-m removed were 172.5 ± 22.3, 257.0 ± 75.6, 157.6 ± 32.2 and 429.8 mg/session at max. Two out of these three patients had a favorable effect on joint symptoms and ocular fundus. It can be concluded that this selective adsorption therapy may delay the progression of DRA, and is worth considering for wide application.

Microscopic Investigation into the Electric Field Effect on Proximity-Induced Magnetism in Pt

Electric field effects on magnetism in metals have attracted widespread attention, but the microscopic mechanism is still controversial. We experimentally show the relevancy between the electric field effect on magnetism and on the electronic structure in Pt in a ferromagnetic state using element-specific measurements: x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Electric fields are applied to the surface of ultrathin metallic Pt, in which a magnetic moment is induced by the ferromagnetic proximity effect resulting from a Co underlayer. XMCD and XAS measurements performed under the application of electric fields reveal that both the spin and orbital magnetic moments of Pt atoms are electrically modulated, which can be explained not only by the electric-field-induced shift of the Fermi level but also by the change in the orbital hybridizations.

Comparisons of Porcine Hepatocyte Spheroids and Single Hepatocytes in the Non-Woven Fabric Bioartificial Liver Module

We previously developed a new bioreactor of the bioartificial liver composed of non-woven fabric. We have also experimented with hepatocyte spheroids, with the aim of improving the efficiency of this NWF bioreactor. In this study, we compared the efficiencies of NWF bioreactors employing hepatocyte spheroids versus single hepatocytes. Hepatocytes were isolated from a whole pig liver by Seglen's method. 1.0 × 1010 single hepatocytes were immobilized in the NWF bioreactor. Another 1.0 × 1010 hepatocytes were allowed to form spheroids by 24 hr suspension culture in a 4-L culture vessel, before being immobilized in the bioreactor. Hepatocyte spheroids were found to be functionally superior, on a per-cell basis, to single hepatocytes in the NWF bioreactor. However, the NWF bioreactor employing hepatocyte spheroids exhibited lower efficiency than that employing single hepatocytes, because the total number of the hepatocytes had decreased during the 24 hr suspension culture.

Large-Scale Preparation and Function of Porcine Hepatocyte Spheroids

To obtain a large number of porcine hepatocyte aggregates (spheroids) that have great potential in a bioartificial liver (BAL), we performed spheroid formation at a high cell density in a 1-L-scale spinner flask fitted with a silicon tubing apparatus for oxygen supply. We thereby obtained, within 24 hours, approximately fifty times more porcine hepatocyte spheroids as compared with the results of previous reports. The amount obtained corresponds to 2.5×109 cells and to roughly one-sixth of the cell number required for a BAL for a human patient. When we cultured spheroids continuously in suspension, they expressed three times more albumin secretion and twice the ammonium removal as compared with conventional monolayers during 10 days culture. Collagen gel entrapment of spheroids particularly lowered albumin secretion. We therefore conclude that the supension culture vessel of porcine hepatocyte spheroids is one of the most promising module types.

Abstract P6-15-05: Randomized controlled trial of neoadjuvant eribulin mesylate versus paclitaxel in women with operable breast cancer (JONIE-3 study)

Background:

Although treatment of eribulin mesylate (E) improved overall survival in metastatic breast cancer (BC) patients, little is known about the efficacy in early BC. The hypothesis of this study is that sequential administration of E followed by FEC would have less toxic, particularly peripheral neuropathy, and also have similar effect compared to paclitaxel (P) followed by FEC as primary systemic therapy (PST) for woman with operable BC.

Methods:

This is a phase II multicenter open label study (UMIN000012817). Patients (pts) were randomly assigned to either E (1.4mg/m2, d1 and d8, q21 days, 4 cycles) + FEC (fluorouracil 500 mg/m2, epirubicin 100 mg/m2, and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2) or P (80mg/m2, weekly, 12 cycles) + FEC as PST. HER2+ patients were allowed to receive trastuzumab. Stratification factors were ER, HER2, and menopausal status. Primary endpoint was the incidence of peripheral sensory and motor neuropathy (PSN and PMN) with Grade 1 or higher according to CTCAE ver.4.0. Secondary endpoints were pathological complete response (pCR) rates (ypT0/is/ypN0), clinical response rates (CR+PR), and adverse events. Safety was assessed in all pts who received at least one dose of the study drug.

Results:

Between 12/2013 to 3/2016, 121 pts were randomly assigned equally to E + FEC and P + FEC. Excluding 5 pts from the primary assessment, 116 pts (58 in each group) were included in the full analysis set. The characteristics of the pts were similar in the two arms. At the end of E or P administration, the incidences of PSN were 55.4% and 92.9% in E and P arm, respectively (p<0.001). The incidences of PMN were 25.9% and 44.9% in E and P arm, respectively (p=0.049). At the end of E or P + FEC, PSN accounts for 38.9% in E arm and 85.2% in P arm (p<0.001), and PMN accounts for 20.7% in E arm and 32.8% in P arm (p=0.201). The pCR rates in E and P arm were 20.7% and 29.8% (p=0.092). The clinical response rates in E and P arm were 82.2% and 91.0% (p=0.108). No statistical significant difference was found in efficacy of PST between E and P.

Conclusion:

This randomized phase II study revealed that eribulin had favorable peripheral neuropathy profile with modest efficacy in the neoadjuvant setting, compared with paclitaxel.

Citation Format: Miura D, Hasegawa Y, Ishikawa T, Tachibana A, Horiguchi J, Hayashi M, Miyashita M, Kubota T, Narui K, Suzuki M, Akazawa K, Kohno N. Randomized controlled trial of neoadjuvant eribulin mesylate versus paclitaxel in women with operable breast cancer (JONIE-3 study) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-15-05.

Tailored Raman-resonant four-wave-mixing processes

Nonlinear optical processes are strongly dominated by phase relationships among electromagnetic fields involved. In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally show that in a Raman-resonant four-wave-mixing process, the first anti-Stokes and Stokes generations can be tailored in a variety of ways by manipulating the phase relationships among the relevant electromagnetic fields.

Observations of cavity polaritons in one-dimensional photonic crystals containing a liquid-crystalline semiconductor based on perylene bisimide units

We investigated the optical transmission properties of one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PC) microcavity structures containing the liquid-crystalline (LC) perylene tetracarboxylic bisimide (PTCBI) derivative. We fabricated the microcavity structures for this study by two different methods and observed the cavity polaritons successfully in both samples. For one sample, since the PTCBI molecules were aligned in the cavity layer of the 1D-PC by utilizing a friction transfer method, vacuum Rabi splitting energy was strongly dependent on the polarization of the incident light produced by the peculiar optical features of the LC organic semiconductor. For the other sample, we did not utilize the friction transfer method and did not observe such polarization dependence. However, we did observe a relatively large Rabi splitting energy of 187 meV, probably due to the improvement of optical confinement effect.

Plasma Amino Acid Concentrations Are Associated with Muscle Function in Older Japanese Women

BACKGROUND

Although several previous studies have found benefits for amino acid supplementation in terms of muscle function, the role of plasma amino acid concentrations on sarcopenia are not well addressed yet.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to compare the amino acid concentrations at each stage of sarcopenia (normal, pre-sarcopenia, dynapenia, and sarcopenia) in community-dwelling older Japanese adults.

SETTING AND SUBJECTS

Community-dwelling older Japanese women (n=232, 79.4±7.0 years) participated in this study.

MEASUREMENTS

We measured plasma amino acid concentrations, 5-m walking speed, grip strength, and skeletal muscle mass using a bioelectrical impedance data acquisition system and compared them among participants at each stage of sarcopenia.

RESULTS

The proportions of normal, pre-sarcopenia, dynapenia, and sarcopenia patients were 40.5% (n=94), 12.1% (n=28), 26.3% (n=61), and 21.1% (n=49), respectively. Significant differences were observed for concentrations of leucine, branched-chain amino acid (BCAAs), and essential amino acid (EAAs) among the four groups (p<0.05), and the dynapenia and sarcopenia groups showed significantly lower concentrations of leucine than the normal group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study indicated a positive relationship between plasma leucine, BCAA and EAA concentrations and muscle function. A longitudinal study is needed to determine the causal relationship between leucine/BCAA concentrations and muscle function.

A clustering approach to identify and characterize the asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap phenotype

BACKGROUND

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are heterogeneous diseases. The phenotypes that have clinical features of both asthma and COPD are still incompletely understood.

OBJECTIVE

To clarify the best discriminators of the asthma-COPD overlap phenotype from asthma and COPD subgroups using a clustering approach.

METHODS

This study assessed pathophysiological parameters, including mRNA expression levels of T helper cell-related transcription factors, namely TBX21 (Th1), GATA3 (Th2), RORC (Th17) and FOXP3 (Treg), in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in asthma patients (n=152) and in COPD patients (n=50). Clusters were determined using k-means clustering. Exacerbations of asthma and COPD were recorded during the 1-year follow-up period.

RESULTS

The cluster analysis revealed four biological clusters: cluster 1, predominantly patients with COPD; cluster 2, patients with an asthma-COPD overlap phenotype; cluster 3, patients with non-atopic and late-onset asthma; and cluster 4, patients with early-onset atopic asthma. Hazard ratios for exacerbation were 2.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-5.6) in cluster 1 and 2.3 (95% CI, 1.0-5.0) in cluster 2 compared with patients in other clusters. Cluster 2 was discriminated from other clusters by total serum IgE level ≥310 IU/mL, blood eosinophil counts ≥280 cells/μL, a higher ratio of TBX21/GATA3, FEV₁ /FVC ratio <0.67 and smoking ≥10 pack-years with an area under the curve of 0.94 (95% CI, 0.90-0.98) in the receiver operating characteristic analysis.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

The asthma-COPD overlap phenotype was characterized by peripheral blood eosinophilia and higher levels of IgE despite the Th2-low endotype.