New remarkable records of microfungi from Sardinia (Italy)

In June 2009 we organized a botanical student excursion to the eastern part of Sardinia, Italy. On this occasion we were able to collect and identify over 80 species of microfungi growing on higher plants. The collecting sites were spread over a large area, among them were La Caletta, Capo Comino, Monte Albo, Cala Gonone, Monte Maccione, San Teodoro, Capo Testa. The collected microfungi were parasitic or saprophytic; Basidiomycotina (Uredinales), Ascomycotina and Deuteromycotina (Hyphomycetes, Coelomycetes) were predominant. Examples are Pezicula corticola (Jörg.) NANNF. (new for Sardinia), on Pyrus communis. Puccinia chamaecyparissi TROTT. (new for Sardinia), on Santolina insularis. Sphaceloma oleae CICC. and GRANITI (new for Sardinia) and Phlyctema vagabunda DESM. (new for Sardinia), on Olea europaea and Arbutus unedo. Puccinia pseudosphaeria MONT. (new for Sardinia), on Sonchus oleraceus. Discula umbrinella (BERK. and BR.) SUTTON (new for Sardinia)(D. quercina WEST. and BARK), on Quercus coccifera. Zaghouania phillyreae PAT. (new for Sardinia), on Phillyrea angustifolia. Phymatotrichum omnivorum (DUGGAR) HENNEBERT, new on Verbascum thapsus for Sardinia. Guignardia punctoidea (COOKE) SCHROTER (new for Sardinia), on Quercus ilex. Many of the collected species are rare or unknown for the area of investigation until now. All specimens are located in the Herbarium ESS, Mycotheca Parva collection G.B. Feige and N. Ale-Agha.

Combining HSP90 Inhibition with Standard Therapies for HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Background: HSP90 is required for the stability and activity of HER2 and downstream proteins, such as Akt, which play a key role in cell survival. We aimed to assess the anti-tumor effects of the HSP90 inhibitor NVP-AUY922 in HER-2 positive breast cancer cell lines.Methods: HER2 positive breast cancer cell lines with varied sensitivity to trastuzumab (Sensitive: BT474, SKBR3, MDA-MB-361; acquired resistance: BT474Res, SKBR3Res; innate resistance: HCC1419, HCC1954, MDA-MB-453) were treated with the HSP90 inhibitor NVP-AUY922 (Novartis) and trastuzumab. IC50s were determined using the acid phosphatase assay. HER2, Akt and HSP90 levels were determined by immunoblotting after treatment with NVP-AUY922. Combinations of NVP-AUY922 with trastuzumab were tested in BT474, BT474Res, SKBR3, SKBR3Res, HCC1954, and MDA-MB-361 cells. Combinations with docetaxel, cisplatin and 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5-DFUR) were tested in BT474, SKBR3, HCC1954, MDA-MB-453 and MDA-MB-361 cells.Results: All of the HER2 positive cells were sensitive to NVP-AUY922, with IC50s ranging from 5.5 to 16.4 nM and NVP-AUY922 treatment reduced HER2 and Akt levels in a dose dependent manner. Combined treatment with NVP-AUY922 (10 nM) and trastuzumab (10 nM) showed significantly greater inhibition of growth than either trastuzumab or NVP-AUY922 alone in BT474 and BT474Res cell lines (p<0.005). In SKBR3, SKBR3Res, HCC1954, MDA-MB-453 and MDA-MB-361 cells, dual treatment with NVP-AUY922 and trastuzumab did not significantly increase response compared to NVP-AUY922 alone (Table 1). Combinations of docetaxel, cisplatin or 5-DFUR with NVP-AUY922 were antagonistic in all cell lines tested (CI values >1).Conclusions: This study demonstrates that NVP-AUY922 has anti-tumour activity in HER2 positive breast cancers regardless of sensitivity to trastuzumab. The antagonistic interactions observed for combinations of NVP-AUY922 with chemotherapy do not favour clinical evaluation of concurrent administration of NVP-AUY922 with chemotherapy. However, alternative scheduling or combinations with other targeted therapies warrants further investigation.Table 1: Percentage growth in response to NVP-AUY922 and trastuzumab. BT474BT474ResSKBR3SKBR3ResHCC1954MDA-MB-361Trastuzumab53.3 +/- 4.990.4 +/- 7.669.5 +/- 16.179.5 +/- 8.2102.9 +/- 15.558.4 +/- 3.3AUY92255.0 +/- 1.192.6 +/- 11.933.3 +/- 9.719.1 +/- 6.152.2 +/- 13.88.2 +/- 6.2Tras+AUY92222.0 +/- 2.3*59.7 +/- 17.5*30.6 +/- 7.518.3 +/- 4.347.2 +/- 3.42.5 +/- 2.2 

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 5055.

Clinical outcome in 520 consecutive Danish rectal cancer patients treated with short course preoperative radiotherapy

AIM

The purpose of this study was to analyse the results of preoperative short course radiotherapy in a consecutive, national cohort of patients with rectal cancer.

METHODS

Through a validated, prospective national database we identified 520 Danish patients who presented with high-risk mobile tumours in the lower two thirds of the rectum and were referred for preoperative radiotherapy with 5 x 5 Gy. The inclusion period was 56 months. Radiotherapy data was retrospectively collected.

RESULTS

Of the 520 patients, 514 completed radiotherapy and 506 had surgery. Surgery was considered curative in 439 patients. The 3-year local recurrence rate was 4.0% (95% CI 2.5-6.5%) and the distant recurrence rate at 3 years was 18.7% (95% CI 15.4-22.5%). The 5-year disease free survival rate was 40.2% (95% CI 27.0-53.1%) and overall survival 50.4% (95% CI 36.1-63.1%). Most tumours (61%) were classified as T3 or T4 and 41% of the local recurrences occurred in patients with a fixed tumour at surgery.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms data from randomised studies that the short course 5 x 5 Gy regime is a feasible treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer even when applied in a population outside clinical trials.

Prediction of responsiveness to adjuvant anthracyclines in high-risk breast cancer patients

597

Background: HER-2, TOP2A, and TIMP-1 have shown predictive properties regarding benefit from anthracyclines in patients with breast cancer. In the present study, TIMP-1 IHC was integrated with TOP2A FISH and HER-2 status in two separate profiles. Methods: The DBCG 89-D trial randomized 980 high-risk Danish breast cancer patients to nine series of CMF or CEF. CEF was superior to CMF in terms of DFS and OS (Ejlertsen et al, EJC 2007). HER-2 status and TOP2A copy number changes were determined as described previously (Knoop et al, J Clin Oncol. 2005). TMA s were constructed and analyzed centrally for TIMP-1 expression by IHC (± tumor cell immunoreactivity). TIMP-1 was combined with HER-2 into a joint HT marker (HT-non-responsive (HT-NR): HER-2 normal and TIMP-1 positive or HT-responsive (HT-R): HER-2 positive and/or TIMP-1 negative) and with TOP2A into a joint 2T marker (2T-NR: TOP2A normal and TIMP-1 positive or 2T-R: TOP2A abnormal and/or TIMP-1 negative). Relationships between IDFS, OS and the HT/2Tprofiles were analyzed using multivariate regression analysis. Results: Among patients with a HT-R profile CEF was superior to CMF in terms of both invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) (HR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45–0.86; p = 0.004) and overall survival (OS) (HR 0.63; 95% CI, 0.45–0.87; p = 0.005). In patients with a HT-NR profile, no significant differences between CEF and CMF were demonstrated for IDFS or OS. A significant HT profile (HT-R or HT-NR) versus treatment (CEF or CMF) interaction was detected by the Wald-test for both IDFS (p = 0.036) and OS (p = 0.047). An even more pronounced separation was observed regarding the 2T profile, and in patients with a 2T-R profile treatment with CEF was superior to CMF in terms of IDFS (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.34–0.69; p < 0.001) and OS (HR 0.54; 95% CI, 0.38–0.77; p < 0.001). No significant difference was observed in patients with a 2T-NR profile. A highly significant 2T profile versus treatment interaction was detected for IDFS (p < 0.001) and OS (p = 0.004). Conclusions: Profiles created by joining TIMP-1 with either HER-2 status or TOP2A gene status seems advantageous compared to the use of a single marker.

[Table: see text]

Lack of TIMP-1 tumor cell immunoreactivity predicts effect of adjuvant anthracycline based chemotherapy in patients (n=647) with primary breast cancer

Abstract #6042

Background: Randomized trials have in general demonstrated that anthracycline-based chemotherapy prolongs disease-free and overall survival as compared to CMF-based regimens. In the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) 89D randomised trial a 21% improvement in overall survival was observed from substitution of methotrexate in the CMF combination with epirubicin. This suggests that the additional effect of anthracyclines is confined to a subset of the patients. We have previously shown that in vitro grown cancer cells devoid of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) are more sensitive towards chemotherapy than cells expressing TIMP-1 (Davidsen et al., Br J Cancer, 2005). In addition, we have recently published (Schrohl et al., Clin Cancer Res., 2006), that patients with metastatic breast cancer and high levels of TIMP-1 in their primary tumor tissues, have a significantly reduced likelihood of obtaining an objective response to chemotherapy.&#x2028; Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate if Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinses-1 (TIMP-1) tumor cell immunoreactivity could be used to identify a subset of patients who benefits from adjuvant chemotherapy.&#x2028; Patients and Methods: Formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue micro arrays from 647 patients who were enrolled in the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group randomized trial 89D comparing adjuvant CMF versus adjuvant CEF were analysed for tumor cell TIMP-1 immunoreactivity. The primary end-point was invasive disease free survival (IDFS). Immunohistochemistry was performed using the anti-TIMP-1 monoclonal antibody VT7 as described previously (Sørensen et al., J. Hist. Cytochem., 2006) and the slides were scored as + or – for positive immunoreactivity.&#x2028; Results: Tumor cell TIMP-1 immunoreactivity was found in 75% of the tumor samples. In the CEF treated patients, individuals with TIMP-1 negative tumors had a significant longer IDFS than patients with TIMP-1 positive tumors (p=0.047). The multivariate Cox regression analysis of IDFS showed that CEF was superior to CMF among patients with TIMP-1 negative tumors (HR: 0.51; 95%CI: 0.31 to 0.84, p=0.008), while no significant difference could be demonstrated among patients with TIMP-1 positive tumors (HR: 0.86; 95%CI: 0.66 to 1.11, p=0.24). However, only a non-significanct trend could be demonstrated between TIMP-1 status and CEF versus CMF (p=0.07 for interaction).&#x2028; Conclusion: Lack of TIMP-1 tumor cell immunoreactivity seems to predict a favourable effect of epirubicin containing adjuvant therapy in primary breast cancer. However, an independent study is awaited to validate the potential predictive value of TIMP-1 immunoreactivity.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 6042.

Sustainable production of orphan radionuclides at Wisconsin

Over a hundred proton-induced reactions have been studied at the University of Wisconsin Medical Physics department since the installation of the first CTI RDS 112 in 1985. The focus has been to measure thick target yields at 11 MeV, in an effort to concentrate on the practical production of positron emitting radionuclides that have favorable decay characteristics, high yields and the potential for labeling pivotal biological tracers. This review covers our recent advances to scale-up the production of the heavy halogens and transition metals as feed-stock for non-conventional PET tracers that are currently attracting increased attention in oncology.

[Pigmentation and pigmented lesions of the gingival mucosa]

The pigmentation is the physiological or pathological accumulation of a pigment in a tissue. Physiological pigmentation in gingiva which is a part of masticatory mucous membranes depends on the activity of the melanocytes. These non keratinocytic cells include the melanosoma where an endogenous pigment, the melanin, is synthesized. Quantitative or qualitative disruption of mucous pigmentation leads to the apparition of pigmented lesions. When melanocytes are directly concerned, the lesions can be of intrinsic origin, such as oral mucosa melanoma, the nevus, pigmented oral lichen planus etc. Pigmented lesions can be also of extrinsic origin caused by medicaments, dental materials, tobacco etc. In this article, gingival pigmentations are described to allow practitioner to elaborate a differential and positive diagnosis of gingival pigmented lesions and to facilitate an early detection of these lesions particularly the gingival melanoma.

Survey of microfungi in the Kleinwalsertal (Austrian alps)

During an excursion to the Alps near the German/Austrian border (Kleinwalsertal) in August 2007, we were able to collect more than 40 species of microfungi as parasites or saprophytes on different parts of wild plants. Some of them have been observed only rarely until now. Most of the species collected belong to the classes Ascomycotina, Basidiomycotina, and Deuteromycotina. For example: -Leptosphaeria jaceae Holm on Centaurea jacea L.; -Mycosphaerella equiseticola Bond.-Mont. on Equisetum telmateia Ehrh.; -Erysiphe cichoracearum DC. on Adenostyles alliariae (Gouan) Kerner, Centaurea phrygia, Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr.; -Podosphaera fusca (Fr.) U. Braun comb. nov. on Petasites paradoxus (Retz.) Baumg. and Senecio alpinus (L.) Scop.; -Pirottaea veneta Sacc. and Speg. on Lamium maculatum L.; -Coleosporium tussilaginis (Pers.) Kleb. on Adenostyles alliariae, Petasites paradoxus; -Puccinia mulgedii (West.) Syd. on Cicerbita alpinl; -Titleospora equiseti (Desm.) Vassil., -Stagonospora equiseti Fautr. on Equisetum telmateia, -Valdensia heterodoxa Peyronel on Cicerbita alpina.