Diagnostic value of serum M30 and M65 in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Guidelines for Regulated Cell Death Assays: A Systematic Summary, A Categorical Comparison, A Prospective

Over the past few years, the field of regulated cell death continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple regulated cell death pathways are being unveiled. Meanwhile, researchers are focused on targeting these regulated pathways which are closely associated with various diseases for diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. However, the complexity of the mechanisms and the difficulties of distinguishing among various regulated types of cell death make it harder to carry out the work and delay its progression. Here, we provide a systematic guideline for the fundamental detection and distinction of the major regulated cell death pathways following morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Moreover, a comprehensive evaluation of different assay methods is critically reviewed, helping researchers to make a reliable selection from among the cell death assays. Also, we highlight the recent events that have demonstrated some novel regulated cell death processes, including newly reported biomarkers (e.g., non-coding RNA, exosomes, and proteins) and detection techniques.

Selection of potential cytokeratin-18 monoclonal antibodies following IGH repertoire evaluation in mice

Cytokeratin 18 (CK18), the main scaffold protein of keratinocyte, is distributed in epithelial cells. This structural protein maintains the integrity and continuity of epithelial tissue. Cytokeratin is also frequently used as an immunohistochemical marker of tumor growth. In recent years, immune repertoire (IR) evaluation using next-generation sequencing (NGS) have become increasingly efficient. Here we deep sequenced the mouse IR of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) after CK18 immunization. We comprehensively analyzed the IR based on complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) abundance, germline gene usage polarization, clone diversity, and lineage. We found many convergence characteristics after CK18 immunization. Convergence represents a phenomenon that antigen stimulation or pathogen exposure induces the antigen specific clone expansion and enrichment. The convergence could be used for the immune evaluation and antibody screen. After immunization, the IGHV5 gene clusters became preponderant. The abundance and length of the most frequent CDR3 both increased, nevertheless the IR diversity level decreased. From the convergent IGH repertoires, we selected and expressed six antibodies with the most frequent CDR3s and IGH V-J combinations. The ELISA results suggested all screened six antibodies bound CK18 specifically. The most potential antibody had 9.424E-10M M affinity for the interaction with the CK18. Therefore, this is the NGS platform has been first used for anti-CK18 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) discovery. These analyses methods could also be used for vaccine evaluation.

Identification of two microRNA signatures in whole blood as novel biomarkers for diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background

Early diagnosis is critical to reduce the mortality caused by nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are dysregulated and play important roles in carcinogenesis. Therefore, this study aimed to identify diagnostically relevant circulating miRNA signatures in patients with NPC.

Methods

Total RNA was extracted from whole blood samples obtained from 120 patients with NPC, 30 patients with head-neck tumors (HNT), and 30 healthy subjects (HSs), and examined by using a custom microarray. The expression levels of four miRNAs identified by using the microarray were validated with quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The 120 patients with NPC and 30 HSs were randomly assigned to training group-1 and validation group-1, respectively. By using significance analysis of microarray (SAM), the specific miRNA expression profiles in whole blood from patients with NPC are obtained. By using lasso regression and adaptive boosting, a diagnostic signature was identified in training group-1, and its accuracy was verified in validation group-1. By using the same methods, another signature to distinguish patients with NPC from those with HNT and HSs was identified in training group-2 and confirmed in validation group-2.

Results

There were 117 differentially expressed miRNAs (upregulated and downregulated fold change ≥ 1.5) between the patients with NPC and HSs, among which an 8-miRNA signature was identified with 96.43% sensitivity and 100% specificity [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.995] to diagnose NPC in training group-1 and 86.11% sensitivity and 88.89% specificity (AUC = 0.941) in validation group-1. Compared with traditional Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) seromarkers, this signature was more specific for NPC. Furthermore, a 16-miRNA signature to differentiate NPC from HNT and HS (HNT-HS) was established from 164 differentially expressed miRNAs, which diagnosed NPC and HNT-HS with 100% accuracy (AUC = 1.000) in training group-2 and 87.04% (AUC = 0.924) in validation group-2.

Conclusions

The present study identified two miRNA signatures for the highly accurate diagnosis and differential diagnosis of patients with NPC from HSs and patients with HNT. The identified miRNAs might represent novel serological biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for NPC.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-019-1923-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

M30/M65 ratio predicts the outcome of paclitaxel chemotherapy for NSCLC

PURPOSE

Paclitaxel is an effective treatment for some of the non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, prediction of the outcome of paclitaxel treatment at the early stage of the chemotherapy is difficult. M30 and M65 are circulating fragments of cytokeratin 18 released during apoptosis or necrosis, respectively, and have been used as markers to evaluate chemotherapy in some cancers. Here, we aimed to examine M30 and M65 values for predicting the therapeutic outcome of paclitaxel treatment of NSCLC.

METHODS

The serum levels of M30 and M65 before and after paclitaxel treatment in advance-stage NSCLC patients were analyzed, and compared to those in healthy controls. The importance of the M30 and M65 levels to the outcome of chemotherapy was analyzed.

RESULT

We found that the serum M30 and M65 levels were higher in patients with NSCLC (n = 44) than in control healthy subjects (n = 56) (p < 0.001). Two days after paclitaxel treatment, the serum levels of both M30 and M65 significantly increased in NSCLC patients (p < 0.001). Neither marker alone significantly correlated with overall patient survival, but the ratio of M30 vs M65 appeared to be an important prognostic factor for the overall survival of the patients (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the serum M30/M65 ratio may be a prognostic factor for the outcome of paclitaxel treatment in NSCLC.