Impact of Non-Invasive Physical Plasma on Heat Shock Protein Functionality in Eukaryotic Cells

Recently, biomedical research has increasingly investigated physical plasma as an innovative therapeutic approach with a number of therapeutic biomedical effects. It is known from radiation and chemotherapy that these applications can lead to the induction and activation of primarily cytoprotective heat shock proteins (HSP). HSP protect cells and tissues from physical, (bio)chemical, and physiological stress and, ultimately, along with other mechanisms, govern resistance and treatment failure. These mechanisms are well known and comparatively well studied in drug therapy. For therapies in the field of physical plasma medicine, however, extremely little data are available to date. In this review article, we provide an overview of the current studies on the interaction of physical plasma with the cellular HSP system.

Retrospective analysis of a VACM (vacuum-assisted closure and mesh-mediated fascial traction) treatment manual for temporary abdominal wall closure - results of 58 consecutive patients

Introduction: The optimal treatment concept for temporary abdominal closure (TAC) in critically ill visceral surgery patients with open abdomen (OA) continues to be unclear. The VACM (vacuum-assisted closure and mesh-mediated fascial traction) therapy seems to permit higher delayed primary fascial closure rates (FCR) than other TAC procedures.

Material and methods: Patients of our clinic (n=58) who were treated by application of a VAC/VACM treatment manual in the period from 2005 to 2008 were retrospectively analysed.

Results: The overall FCR of all patients was 48.3% (95% confidence interval: 34.95–61.78). An FCR of 61.3% was achieved in patients who had a vicryl mesh implanted at the fascial level (VACM therapy) in the course of treatment. Mortality among patients treated with VACM therapy was 45.2% (95% CI: 27.32–63.97).

Conclusions: The results of our own study confirm the results of previous studies which showed an acceptable FCR among non-trauma patients who were treated with VACM therapy. VACM therapy currently appears to be the treatment regime of choice for patients with OA requiring TAC.

Combined determination of plasma MMP2, MMP9, and TIMP1 improves the non-invasive detection of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

Background

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs) play a major role in the maintenance of extracellular matrix homeostasis and are involved in the process of tumour invasion and metastasis in several malignant tumour entities. The goal of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of various circulating MMPs and TIMPs in blood plasma for a non-invasive detection of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCC).

Methods

In this study the concentrations of MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, MMP9, their inhibitors TIMP1, TIMP2, and the MMP1/TIMP1-complex (MTC1) were quantified in blood plasma with the sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Blood plasma samples were investigated from 68 patients (non-metastasized, n = 57 and metastasized, n = 11) with TCC of the bladder and from 79 healthy controls. The mROC program was used to calculate the best two- and three- marker combinations. The diagnostic values for all single markers and the marker combinations were estimated both by the overall diagnostic performance index area under the ROC curve (AUC) and the sensitivity and specificity at cutoff limits with the highest diagnostic accuracy and at the 90% and 95% limits of sensitivity and specificity, respectively.

Results

The median MMP2 concentration was elevated in blood plasma in all patient groups with TCC in comparison to the controls (p < 0.001). The concentrations of TIMP1, TIMP2, and MTC1 in plasma probes were significantly lower from patients with non-metastasized TCC compared to the controls. MMP2 tested alone reached the highest sensitivity and specificity at 75%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity increased when tested in combination with MMP9 and TIMP1 (97%, 94%, respectively). The combination of MMP9 and TIMP1 also showed an improved sensitivity (80%) and specificity (99%) than tested alone.

Conclusion

MMP2 is a statistically significant marker in blood plasma for bladder cancer detection with an increased diagnostic value in combination with MMP9 and TIMP1. This study showed that the highest sensitivities and specificities are not obtained by testing each marker alone. As shown by the best two-marker combination, which includes MMP9 and TIMP1, the optimized combination does not always include the best single markers.