Development of an opto-electronic fiber device with multiple nano-probes

We present the fabrication and characterization of an opto-electronic fiber device which can allow for both electromechanical functionality and optical waveguiding capability. The air holes of a photonic crystal fiber are selectively sealed and then pumped with molten metal under pressure. The metal filled holes act as electrodes to which individual carbon nanotubes (CNT) are attached precisely by a laser-welding technique or a focused ion beam assisted pick-and-bond technique. The optical modal profile and the group velocity dispersion of the fabricated device are studied both numerically and experimentally. We also present preliminary experimental proof showing the feasibility of electric actuation of a pair of nanotubes by applying up to 40 V potential difference between the filled electrodes. Furthermore, numerical simulations are carried out which agree with the experimentally observed displacement of the CNT upon electric actuation. The unique aspect of our device is that it provides optical waveguiding and electromechanical nano-probing capability in a single package. Such combined functionality can potentially enable simultaneous electrical and optical manipulation and interrogation at the nanoscale.

Conditioned medium from neural stem cells inhibits glioma cell growth

Malignant glioma is one of the most common brain tumors in the central nervous system. Although the significant progress has been made in recent years, the mortality is still high and 5-year survival rate is still very low. One of the leading causes to the high mortality for glioma patients is metastasis and invasion. An efficient method to control the tumor metastasis is a promising way to treat the glioma. Previous reports indicated that neural stem cells (NSCs) were served as a delivery vector to the anti-glioma therapy. Here, we used the conditioned medium from rat NSCs (NSC-CM) to culture the human glioblastoma cell lines. We found that NSC-CM could inhibit the glioma cell growth, invasion and migration in vitro and attenuate the tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, this anti-glioma effect was mediated by the inactivation of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Above all, this study provided the direct evidence to put forward a simple and efficient method in the inhibition of glioma cells/tumor growth, potentially advancing the anti-glioma therapy.

Clinical application of whole-genome low-coverage next-generation sequencing to detect and characterize balanced chromosomal translocations

Individuals carrying balanced translocations have a high risk of birth defects, recurrent spontaneous abortions and infertility. Thus, the detection and characterization of balanced translocations is important to reveal the genetic background of the carriers and to provide proper genetic counseling. Next-generation sequencing (NGS), which has great advantages over other methods such as karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), has been used to detect disease-associated breakpoints. Herein, to evaluate the application of this technology to detect balanced translocations in the clinic, we performed a parental study for prenatal cases with unbalanced translocations. Eight candidate families with potential balanced translocations were investigated using two strategies in parallel, low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS) followed-up by Sanger sequencing and G-banding karyotype coupled with FISH. G-banding analysis revealed three balanced translocations, and FISH detected two cryptic submicroscopic balanced translocations. Consistently, WGS detected five balanced translocations and mapped all the breakpoints by Sanger sequencing. Analysis of the breakpoints revealed that six genes were disrupted in the four apparently healthy carriers. In summary, our result suggested low-coverage WGS can detect balanced translocations reliably and can map breakpoints precisely compared with conventional procedures. WGS may replace cytogenetic methods in the diagnosis of balanced translocation carriers in the clinic.

Beneficial effects of cornel iridoid glycoside on behavioral impairment and senescence status in SAMP8 mice at different ages

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of cornel iridoid glycoside (CIG) on behavioral changes and senescent status in senescence-accelerated mouse-prone 8 (SAMP8) mice at different ages (6, 10, and 14 months old). The learning and memory ability, the motor function and the aging conditions of SAMP8 mice were evaluated after CIG treatment in this study. Results showed that intragastrical administration of CIG (100 and 200mg/kg) for two months obviously improved the impaired cognitive ability of SAMP8 mice at the age of 6 months and 10 months, respectively. The treatment with CIG significantly increased the motor function of SAMP8 mice at 10 months and 14 months of age, respectively. CIG also evidently decreased the high grading score of senescence and increased the low surviving rate of SAMP8 mice at the age of 14 months. In addition, CIG treatment inhibited tau hyperphosphorylation in the hippocampus and striatum of SAMP8 mice at different ages. Together, these results indicate that CIG represent a potentially useful treatment for ameliorating the impaired cognitive ability, the motor dysfunction, aging conditions and hyperphosphorylation of tau in aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Single-agent capecitabine as maintenance therapy after induction of XELOX (or FOLFOX) in first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: randomized clinical trial of efficacy and safety

BACKGROUND

The optimal strategy of maintenance therapy for patients with mCRC is controversial. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of maintenance therapy with capecitabine versus observation following inductive chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this randomized, open-label, multicenter, phase III trial, patients who received 18-24 weeks of induction chemotherapy with XELOX or FOLFOX and achieved disease control were randomly assigned centrally (1:1) to receive maintenance therapy of capecitabine or only observation until disease progression. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS) from randomization; the secondary end points included overall survival (OS), PFS from induction treatment (PFS2) and safety. Analyses were done by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02027363.

RESULTS

Between 30 July 2010 and 15 September 2013, 274 patients were enrolled in the study from 11 sites in China and randomly assigned to maintenance group (n = 136) or observation group (n = 138). Clinicopathological characteristics were balanced in two groups. The median follow-up time from randomization was 29.0 months [interquartile range (IQR) 21-36 months]. The primary end point of PFS was statistically significantly longer in capecitabine maintenance group than in observation group {6.43 [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.26-7.71] versus 3.43 (2.83-4.16) months, HR 0.54 (0.42-0.70), P < 0.001}. The median OS of capecitabine maintenance group was longer than that of observation group, but not statistically significant [25.63 (22.46-27.80) versus 23.30 (19.68-26.92) months; HR 0.85 (0.64-1.11), P = 0.2247]. Similar safety profiles were observed in both arms. The most common grade 3 or 4 toxicities in capecitabine maintenance group versus observation group were neutropenia, hand-foot syndrome, and mucositis.

CONCLUSIONS

Maintenance therapy with a single agent of capecitabine can be considered an appropriate option following the induction of XELOX or FOLFOX in mCRC patients with acceptable toxicities.

CLINICAL TRIALS NUMBER

NCT02027363.

Abstract P2-07-03: Nomograms to estimate long-term overall survival and breast cancer-specific survival of patients with luminal breast cancer

Purpose

Luminal breast cancer (estrogen receptor [ER] and/or progesterone receptor [PR] positive) represents approximately two-thirds of all breast cancer. This type of cancer constitutes a group of highly heterogeneous diseases with a sustained high risk of late recurrence. In this study, we aimed to develop comprehensive and practical nomograms for the first time to better estimate the long-term survival of luminal breast cancer. Thus, those patients with high risk of late recurrence and poor prognosis could be screened out and individualized treatments can be applied.

Methods

Patients with luminal breast cancer diagnosed between 1990 and 2006 were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and randomly divided into the training (n=87,867) and validation (n=88,215) cohorts. The inclusion criteria we used to identify eligible patients were as follows: female; aged 18 to 79 years old at diagnosis; known time of diagnosis from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2006; unilateral breast cancer; breast cancer as the first and only cancer diagnosis; diagnosis not obtained from a death certificate or autopsy; surgical treatment with either mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery; pathologic confirmation of invasive carcinoma; AJCC stages I-III; histological grade I-III and known ER and PR statuses. Patients with inflammatory breast cancer or Paget's disease and lack of data on the above inclusion criteria were also excluded. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were applied to identify prognostic factors for overall survival (OS). The cumulative incidence function (CIF) and a competing-risks model were used to estimate the probability of breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and death from other causes. We integrated significant prognostic factors to build nomograms, and subjected the nomograms to bootstrap internal validation and external validation.

Results

We screened 176,082 luminal breast cancer cases. The mean age at diagnosis was 57.5 years, and mean survival time was 107.4 months. By the end of the last follow-up, 36,911 (21.0%) patients had died, including 17,855 (10.1%) died from breast cancer and 19,056 (10.8%) from other causes. The 5- and 10-year probabilities of overall death were 0.089 and 0.202, respectively. The 5- and 10-year probabilities of breast cancer specific-mortality (BCSM) were 0.053 and 0.112, respectively. Independent prognostic factors for both OS and BCSS were integrated to construct the nomograms, including age at diagnosis, race, tumor size, histology, grade, positive lymph nodes, ER/PR status and radiation. The calibration curves for the probabilities of 5- and 10-year OS and BCSS showed excellent agreement between the nomogram prediction and actual observation. The C-indexes of the nomograms were high in both internal validation (0.732 for OS and 0.800 for BCSS) and external validation (0.731 for OS and 0.794 for BCSS).

Conclusion

We established and validated nomograms that accurately predict OS and BCSS of luminal breast cancer based on a large, population-based cohort with long-term follow-up. The nomograms can identify patients with higher risk of late overall mortality and BCSM, helping physicians in facilitating individualized treatment.

Citation Format: Sun W, Jiang Y-Z, Liu Y-R, Ma D, Shao Z-M. Nomograms to estimate long-term overall survival and breast cancer-specific survival of patients with luminal breast cancer. [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 P2-07-03.

First application of the Automated QUantitative Analysis (AQUA) technique to quantify PTEN protein expression in ovarian cancer: A correlative study of NCIC CTG OV.16

BACKGROUND

Platinum resistance is a dominant cause of poor outcomes in advanced ovarian cancer (OC). A mechanism of platinum resistance is the inhibition of apoptosis through phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway activation. The role of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), a negative regulator of this pathway, as a tumor biomarker is unclear. Quantitative analysis of PTEN expression as an alternative to immunohistochemistry has not been considered.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In 238 patient tumors from the NCIC-CTG trial OV.16, PTEN protein expression was quantified by Automated QUantitative Analysis (AQUA). Cox model was used to study the association between PTEN expression and clinical outcomes using a minimum p-value approach in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis was used to adjust for clinical and pathological parameters.

RESULTS

PTEN scores (range 13.9-192.3) of the 202 samples that passed quality control were analyzed. In univariate analysis, there was a trend suggesting an association between PTEN expression by AQUA as a binary variable (low ≤61 vs high >61) and progression free survival (HR=0.77, p=0.083), and in multivariate analysis, this association approached significance (HR=0.74, p=0.059). The relationship between quantitative PTEN expression and PFS differed (p=0.01 for interaction) by the extent of surgical debulking (residual disease (RD) <1cm or ≥1cm), with a numerically superior PFS in patients with high PTEN (23.5 vs 14.9m) only when RD<1cm (p=0.19). There was no association between PTEN levels and overall survival.

CONCLUSIONS

AQUA is a novel method to measure PTEN expression. Further study of PTEN as a biomarker in OC is warranted.

Outcome of patients with relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who fail second-line salvage regimens in the International CORAL study

Salvage chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is the standard second-line treatment for relapsed and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, the strategy is less clear in patients who require third-line treatment. Updated outcomes of 203 patients who could not proceed to scheduled ASCT in the Collaborative Trial in Relapsed Aggressive Lymphoma (CORAL) are herein reviewed. In the intent-to-treat analysis, overall response rate to third-line chemotherapy was 39%, with 27% CR or CR unconfirmed, and 12% PR. Among the 203 patients, 64 (31.5%) were eventually transplanted (ASCT 56, allogeneic SCT 8). Median overall survival (OS) of the entire population was 4.4 months. OS was significantly improved in patients with lower tertiary International Prognostic Index (IPI), patients responding to third-line treatment and patients transplanted with a 1-year OS of 41.6% compared with 16.3% for the not transplanted (P<0.0001). In multivariate analysis, IPI at relapse (hazard ratio (HR) 2.409) and transplantation (HR 0.375) independently predicted OS. Third-line salvage chemotherapy can lead to response followed by transplantation and long-term survival in DLBCL patients. However, improvement of salvage efficacy is an urgent need with new drugs.

Role of necroptosis in the pathogenesis of solid organ injury

Necroptosis is a type of regulated cell death dependent on the activity of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein (RIP) kinases. However, unlike apoptosis, it is caspase independent. Increasing evidence has implicated necroptosis in the pathogenesis of disease, including ischemic injury, neurodegeneration, viral infection and many others. Key players of the necroptosis signalling pathway are now widely recognized as therapeutic targets. Necrostatins may be developed as potent inhibitors of necroptosis, targeting the activity of RIPK1. Necrostatin-1, the first generation of necrostatins, has been shown to confer potent protective effects in different animal models. This review will summarize novel insights into the involvement of necroptosis in specific injury of different organs, and the therapeutic platform that it provides for treatment.

Effects of β-hydroxybutyricacid on the synthesis and assembly of very low-density lipoprotein in bovine hepatocytes in vitro

β-Hydroxybutyricacid (BHBA) is an important metabolite that involved in the development of ketosis and fatty liver in dairy cows. Dairy cows with fatty liver displayed high blood concentration of BHBA and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) assembly. The effects of BHBA on VLDL synthesis and assembly in hepatocytes of cows were unclear. In this study, bovine hepatocytes were cultured and treated with different concentrations of BHBA. We found that BHBA treatment upregulated the mRNA and protein levels of apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB 100), apolipoprotein E (ApoE) and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP) and showed in a firstly increased and then decreased trend. Meanwhile, the mRNA and protein levels of LDLR showed in a reverse trend. Consequently, VLDL content was significantly increased in medium-dose BHBA treatment group, while decreased in high-dose group. These results indicate that the effects of BHBA on the VLDL synthesis showed in a dose-dependent manner that low levels of BHBA increase VLDL synthesis and high levels of BHBA decrease VLDL synthesis.