Interventions for enhancing medication adherence

BACKGROUND

People who are prescribed self-administered medications typically take less than half the prescribed doses. Efforts to assist patients with adherence to medications might improve the benefits of prescribed medications, but also might increase their adverse effects.

OBJECTIVES

To update a review summarizing the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions to help patients follow prescriptions for medications for medical problems, including mental disorders but not addictions.

SEARCH STRATEGY

We updated searches of The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), PsycINFO (all via OVID) and Sociological Abstracts (via CSA) in January 2007 with no language restriction. We also reviewed bibliographies in articles on patient adherence and articles in our personal collections, and contacted authors of relevant original and review articles.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Articles were selected if they reported an unconfounded RCT of an intervention to improve adherence with prescribed medications, measuring both medication adherence and treatment outcome, with at least 80% follow-up of each group studied and, for long-term treatments, at least six months follow-up for studies with positive initial findings.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Study design features, interventions and controls, and results were extracted by one review author and confirmed by at least one other review author. We extracted adherence rates and their measures of variance for all methods of measuring adherence in each study, and all outcome rates and their measures of variance for each study group, as well as levels of statistical significance for differences between study groups, consulting authors and verifying or correcting analyses as needed. The studies differed widely according to medical condition, patient population, intervention, measures of adherence, and clinical outcomes. Therefore, we did not feel that quantitative analysis was scientifically justified; rather, we conducted a qualitative analysis.

MAIN RESULTS

For short-term treatments, four of ten interventions reported in nine RCTs showed an effect on both adherence and at least one clinical outcome, while one intervention reported in one RCT significantly improved patient adherence, but did not enhance the clinical outcome. For long-term treatments, 36 of 81 interventions reported in 69 RCTs were associated with improvements in adherence, but only 25 interventions led to improvement in at least one treatment outcome. Almost all of the interventions that were effective for long-term care were complex, including combinations of more convenient care, information, reminders, self-monitoring, reinforcement, counseling, family therapy, psychological therapy, crisis intervention, manual telephone follow-up, and supportive care. Even the most effective interventions did not lead to large improvements in adherence and treatment outcomes.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

For short-term treatments several quite simple interventions increased adherence and improved patient outcomes, but the effects were inconsistent from study to study with less than half of studies showing benefits. Current methods of improving adherence for chronic health problems are mostly complex and not very effective, so that the full benefits of treatment cannot be realized. High priority should be given to fundamental and applied research concerning innovations to assist patients to follow medication prescriptions for long-term medical disorders.

Proteolytic 18O labeling for comparative proteomics: model studies with two serotypes of adenovirus

A new method for proteolytic stable isotope labeling is introduced to provide quantitative and concurrent comparisons between individual proteins from two entire proteome pools or their subfractions. Two 18O atoms are incorporated universally into the carboxyl termini of all tryptic peptides during the proteolytic cleavage of all proteins in the first pool. Proteins in the second pool are cleaved analogously with the carboxyl termini of the resulting peptides containing two 16O atoms (i.e., no labeling). The two peptide mixtures are pooled for fractionation and separation, and the masses and isotope ratios of each peptide pair (differing by 4 Da) are measured by high-resolution mass spectrometry. Short sequences and/or accurate mass measurements combined with proteomics software tools allow the peptides to be related to the precursor proteins from which they are derived. Relative signal intensities of paired peptides quantify the expression levels of their precursor proteins from proteome pools to be compared, using an equation described in the paper. Observation of individual (unpaired) peptides is mainly interpreted as differential modification or sequence variation for the protein from the respective proteome pool. The method is evaluated here in a comparison of virion proteins for two serotypes (Ad5 and Ad2) of adenovirus, taking advantage of information already available about protein sequences and concentrations. In general, proteolytic 18O labeling enables a shotgun approach for proteomic studies with quantitation capability and is proposed as a useful tool for comparative proteomic studies of very complex protein mixtures.

Involvement of mouse Mlh1 in DNA mismatch repair and meiotic crossing over

Mice that are deficient in either the Pms2 or Msh2 DNA mismatch repair genes have microsatellite instability and a predisposition to tumours. Interestingly, Pms2-deficient males display sterility associated with abnormal chromosome pairing in meiosis. Here mice deficient in another mismatch repair gene, Mlh1, possess not only microsatellite instability but are also infertile (both males and females). Mlh1-deficient spermatocytes exhibit high levels of prematurely separated chromosomes and arrest in first division meiosis. We also show that Mlh1 appears to localize to sites of crossing over on meiotic chromosomes. Together these findings suggest that Mlh1 is involved in DNA mismatch repair and meiotic crossing over.

Inherited human Caspase 10 mutations underlie defective lymphocyte and dendritic cell apoptosis in autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome type II

Caspases are cysteine proteases that mediate programmed cell death in phylogenetically diverse multicellular organisms. We report here two kindreds with autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) type II, characterized by abnormal lymphocyte and dendritic cell homeostasis and immune regulatory defects, that harbor independent missense mutations in Caspase 10. These encode amino acid substitutions that decrease caspase activity and interfere with death receptor-induced apoptosis, particularly that stimulated by Fas ligand and TRAIL. These results provide evidence that inherited nonlethal caspase abnormalities cause pleiotropic apoptosis defects underlying autoimmunity in ALPS type II.

The PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in osteoarthritis: a narrative review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complicated degenerative disease that affects whole joint tissue. Currently, apart from surgical approaches to treat late stage OA, effective treatments to reverse OA are not available. Thus, the mechanisms leading to OA, and more effective approaches to treat OA should be investigated. According to available evidence, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway is essential for normal metabolism of joint tissues, but is also involved in development of OA. To provide a wide viewpoint to roles of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in osteoarthritis, a comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed terms 'PI3K OR AKT OR mTOR' and 'osteoarthritis'. This review highlights the role of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling in cartilage degradation, subchondral bone dysfunction, and synovial inflammation, and discusses how this signaling pathway affects development of the disease. We also summarize recent evidences of therapeutic approaches to treat OA by targeting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, and discuss potential challenges in developing these strategies for clinical treatment of OA.

Polyglutamine-expanded human huntingtin transgenes induce degeneration of Drosophila photoreceptor neurons

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder. Disease alleles contain a trinucleotide repeat expansion of variable length, which encodes polyglutamine tracts near the amino terminus of the HD protein, huntingtin. Polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin, but not normal huntingtin, forms nuclear inclusions. We describe a Drosophila model for HD. Amino-terminal fragments of human huntingtin containing tracts of 2, 75, and 120 glutamine residues were expressed in photoreceptor neurons in the compound eye. As in human neurons, polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin induced neuronal degeneration. The age of onset and severity of neuronal degeneration correlated with repeat length, and nuclear localization of huntingtin presaged neuronal degeneration. In contrast to other cell death paradigms in Drosophila, coexpression of the viral antiapoptotic protein, P35, did not rescue the cell death phenotype induced by polyglutamine-expanded huntingtin.

CENP-E forms a link between attachment of spindle microtubules to kinetochores and the mitotic checkpoint

Here we show that suppression of synthesis of the microtubule motor CENP-E (centromere-associated protein E), a component of the kinetochore corona fibres of mammalian centromeres, yields chromosomes that are chronically mono-orientated, with spindles that are flattened along the plane of the substrate. Despite apparently normal microtubule numbers and the continued presence at kinetochores of other microtubule motors, spindle poles fragment in the absence of CENP-E, which implicates this protein in delivery of components from kinetochores to poles. CENP-E represents a link between attachment of spindle microtubules and the mitotic checkpoint signalling cascade, as depletion of this motor leads to profound checkpoint activation, whereas immunoprecipitation reveals a nearly stoichiometric association of CENP-E with the checkpoint kinase BubR1 during mitosis.

Tumour susceptibility and spontaneous mutation in mice deficient in Mlh1, Pms1 and Pms2 DNA mismatch repair

Germline mutations in the human MSH2, MLH1, PMS2 and PMS1 DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene homologues appear to be responsible for most cases of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC; refs 1-5). An important role for DNA replication errors in colorectal tumorigenesis has been suggested by the finding of frequent alterations in the length of specific mononucleotide tracts within genes controlling cell growth, including TGF-beta receptor type II (ref. 6), BAX (ref. 7) and APC (ref. 8). A broader role for MMR deficiency in human tumorigenesis is implicated by microsatellite instability in a fraction of sporadic tumours, including gastric, endometrial and colorectal malignancies. To better define the role of individual MMR genes in cancer susceptibility and MMR functions, we have generated mice deficient for the murine homologues of the human genes MLH1, PMS1 and PMS2. Surprisingly, we find that these mice show different tumour susceptibilities, most notably, to intestinal adenomas and adenocarcinomas, and different mutational spectra. Our results suggest that a general increase in replication errors may not be sufficient for intestinal tumour formation and that these genes share overlapping, but not identical functions.

Erythrocyte-cancer hybrid membrane-camouflaged melanin nanoparticles for enhancing photothermal therapy efficacy in tumors

Cell membrane coating has emerged as an intriguing biomimetic strategy to endow nanomaterials with functions and properties inherent to source cells for various biomedical applications. Hybrid membrane of different types of cells could be coated onto nanoparticle surface to achieve additional functions. Herein, we fused red blood cell (RBC) membrane together with MCF-7 cell membrane and fabricated an erythrocyte-cancer (RBC-M) hybrid membrane-camouflaged melanin nanoparticle (Melanin@RBC-M) platform for enhancing therapeutic efficacy of photothermal therapy (PTT). The fused RBC-M hybrid membrane vesicles retained both RBC and MCF-7 cell membrane proteins and the resultant Melanin@RBC-M exhibited prolonged blood circulation and homotypic targeting to source MCF-7 cells simultaneously. Interestingly, increasing MCF-7 membrane components in RBC-M significantly enhanced the homotypic targeting function of Melanin@RBC-M while increasing RBC membrane components in RBC-M effectively reduced the cellular uptake of Melanin@RBC-M by macrophages and improved their circulation time in the blood. After intravenous injection into MCF-7 tumor-bearing athymic nude mice, Melanin@RBC-M with 1:1 membrane protein weight ratio of RBC to MCF-7 exhibited significantly higher tumor accumulation and better PTT efficacy compared with other Melanin@RBC-M with different membrane protein weight ratios as well as pristine melanin nanoparticles, due to the optimal balance between prolonged blood circulation and homotypic targeting. In addition, in vitro photoacoustic results revealed that Melanin@RBC-M had a photoacoustic signal enhancement with the increase of nanoparticle size (64 → 148 nm) and the photoacoustic amplitudes increased linearly with nanoparticle concentration at the excitation wavelength ranged from 680 nm to 800 nm, which could be used for quantification of Melanin@RBC-M in vivo. Looking forward, coating hybrid membrane onto nanoparticles could add flexibility and controllability in enhancing nanoparticles functionality and offer new opportunities for biomedical applications.

Graphene Quantum Dots-Capped Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles as a Multifunctional Platform for Controlled Drug Delivery, Magnetic Hyperthermia, and Photothermal Therapy

A multifunctional platform is reported for synergistic therapy with controlled drug release, magnetic hyperthermia, and photothermal therapy, which is composed of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as caps and local photothermal generators and magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MMSN) as drug carriers and magnetic thermoseeds. The structure, drug release behavior, magnetic hyperthermia capacity, photothermal effect, and synergistic therapeutic efficiency of the MMSN/GQDs nanoparticles are investigated. The results show that monodisperse MMSN/GQDs nanoparticles with the particle size of 100 nm can load doxorubicin (DOX) and trigger DOX release by low pH environment. Furthermore, the MMSN/GQDs nanoparticles can efficiently generate heat to the hyperthermia temperature under an alternating magnetic field or by near infrared irradiation. More importantly, breast cancer 4T1 cells as a model cellular system, the results indicate that compared with chemotherapy, magnetic hyperthermia or photothermal therapy alone, the combined chemo-magnetic hyperthermia therapy or chemo-photothermal therapy with the DOX-loaded MMSN/GQDs nanosystem exhibits a significant synergistic effect, resulting in a higher efficacy to kill cancer cells. Therefore, the MMSN/GQDs multifunctional platform has great potential in cancer therapy for enhancing the therapeutic efficiency.

Thickness and elasticity of gram-negative murein sacculi measured by atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy was used to measure the thickness of air-dried, collapsed murein sacculi from Escherichia coli K-12 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. Air-dried sacculi from E. coli had a thickness of 3.0 nm, whereas those from P. aeruginosa were 1.5 nm thick. When rehydrated, the sacculi of both bacteria swelled to double their anhydrous thickness. Computer simulation of a section of a model single-layer peptidoglycan network in an aqueous solution with a Debye shielding length of 0.3 nm gave a mass distribution full width at half height of 2.4 nm, in essential agreement with these results. When E. coli sacculi were suspended over a narrow groove that had been etched into a silicon surface and the tip of the atomic force microscope used to depress and stretch the peptidoglycan, an elastic modulus of 2.5 x 10(7) N/m(2) was determined for hydrated sacculi; they were perfectly elastic, springing back to their original position when the tip was removed. Dried sacculi were more rigid with a modulus of 3 x 10(8) to 4 x 10(8) N/m(2) and at times could be broken by the atomic force microscope tip. Sacculi aligned over the groove with their long axis at right angles to the channel axis were more deformable than those with their long axis parallel to the groove axis, as would be expected if the peptidoglycan strands in the sacculus were oriented at right angles to the long cell axis of this gram-negative rod. Polar caps were not found to be more rigid structures but collapsed to the same thickness as the cylindrical portions of the sacculi. The elasticity of intact E. coli sacculi is such that, if the peptidoglycan strands are aligned in unison, the interstrand spacing should increase by 12% with every 1 atm increase in (turgor) pressure. Assuming an unstressed hydrated interstrand spacing of 1.3 nm (R. E. Burge, A. G. Fowler, and D. A. Reaveley, J. Mol. Biol. 117:927-953, 1977) and an internal turgor pressure of 3 to 5 atm (or 304 to 507 kPa) (A. L. Koch, Adv. Microbial Physiol. 24:301-366, 1983), the natural interstrand spacing in cells would be 1.6 to 2.0 nm. Clearly, if large macromolecules of a diameter greater than these spacings are secreted through this layer, the local ordering of the peptidoglycan must somehow be disrupted.

Interventions to enhance medication adherence

BACKGROUND

People who are prescribed self-administered medications typically take less than half the prescribed doses. Efforts to assist patients with adherence to medications might improve the benefits of prescribed medications, but also might increase their adverse effects.

OBJECTIVES

To update a review summarizing the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions to help patients follow prescriptions for medications for medical problems, including mental disorders but not addictions.

SEARCH STRATEGY

Computerized searches were updated to September 2004 without language restriction in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), PsycINFO and SOCIOFILE. We also reviewed bibliographies in articles on patient adherence and articles in our personal collections, and contacted authors of original and review articles on the topic.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Articles were selected if they reported an unconfounded RCT of an intervention to improve adherence with prescribed medications, measuring both medication adherence and treatment outcome, with at least 80% follow-up of each group studied and, for long-term treatments, at least six months follow-up for studies with positive initial findings.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Study design features, interventions and controls, and results were extracted by one reviewer and confirmed by at least one other reviewer. We extracted adherence rates and their measures of variance for all methods of measuring adherence in each study, and all outcome rates and their measures of variance for each study group, as well as levels of statistical significance for differences between study groups, consulting authors and verifying or correcting analyses as needed.

MAIN RESULTS

For short-term treatments, four of nine interventions reported in eight RCTs showed an effect on both adherence and at least one clinical outcome, while one intervention reported in one RCT significantly improved patient compliance, but did not enhance the clinical outcome. For long-term treatments, 26 of 58 interventions reported in 49 RCTs were associated with improvements in adherence, but only 18 interventions led to improvement in at least one treatment outcome. Almost all of the interventions that were effective for long-term care were complex, including combinations of more convenient care, information, reminders, self-monitoring, reinforcement, counseling, family therapy, psychological therapy, crisis intervention, manual telephone follow-up, and supportive care. Even the most effective interventions did not lead to large improvements in adherence and treatment outcomes. Six studies showed that telling patients about adverse effects of treatment did not affect their adherence.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Improving short-term adherence is relatively successful with a variety of simple interventions. Current methods of improving adherence for chronic health problems are mostly complex and not very effective, so that the full benefits of treatment cannot be realized. High priority should be given to fundamental and applied research concerning innovations to assist patients to follow medication prescriptions for long-term medical disorders.

The microtubule-dependent motor centromere-associated protein E (CENP-E) is an integral component of kinetochore corona fibers that link centromeres to spindle microtubules

Centromere-associated protein E (CENP-E) is a kinesin-related microtubule motor protein that is essential for chromosome congression during mitosis. Using immunoelectron microscopy, CENP-E is shown to be an integral component of the kinetochore corona fibers that tether centromeres to the spindle. Immediately upon nuclear envelope fragmentation, an associated plus end motor trafficks cytoplasmic CENP-E toward chromosomes along astral microtubules that enter the nuclear volume. Before or concurrently with initial lateral attachment of spindle microtubules, CENP-E targets to the outermost region of the developing kinetochores. After stable attachment, throughout chromosome congression, at metaphase, and throughout anaphase A, CENP-E is a constituent of the corona fibers, extending at least 50 nm away from the kinetochore outer plate and intertwining with spindle microtubules. In congressing chromosomes, CENP-E is preferentially associated with (or accessible at) the stretched, leading kinetochore known to provide the primary power for chromosome movement. Taken together, this evidence strongly supports a model in which CENP-E functions in congression to tether kinetochores to the disassembling microtubule plus ends.

Evolutionary artificial neural networks

Evolutionary artificial neural networks (EANNs) can be considered as a combination of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and evolutionary search procedures such as genetic algorithms (GAs). This paper distinguishes among three levels of evolution in EANNs, i.e. the evolution of connection weights, architectures and learning rules. It first reviews each kind of evolution in detail and then analyses major issues related to each kind of evolution. It is shown in the paper that although there is a lot of work on the evolution of connection weights and architectures, research on the evolution of learning rules is still in its early stages. Interactions among different levels of evolution are far from being understood. It is argued in the paper that the evolution of learning rules and its interactions with other levels of evolution play a vital role in EANNs.

Ensemble learning via negative correlation

This paper presents a learning approach, i.e. negative correlation learning, for neural network ensembles. Unlike previous learning approaches for neural network ensembles, negative correlation learning attempts to train individual networks in an ensemble and combines them in the same learning process. In negative correlation learning, all the individual networks in the ensemble are trained simultaneously and interactively through the correlation penalty terms in their error functions. Rather than producing unbiased individual networks whose errors are uncorrelated, negative correlation learning can create negatively correlated networks to encourage specialisation and cooperation among the individual networks. Empirical studies have been carried out to show why and how negative correlation learning works. The experimental results show that negative correlation learning can produce neural network ensembles with good generalisation ability.

Effect sizes can be calculated for studies reporting ranges for outcome variables in systematic reviews

OBJECTIVE

To develop a method by which studies reporting the ranges (or maxima and minima) of observed outcomes can be included in systematic reviews, along with other studies reporting in the more usual way by using standard deviations (SDs).

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

An approach is proposed to allow a numerical conversion of a reported range from a continuous outcome into an equivalent SD.

RESULTS

The SD is estimated from the observed range times an appropriate conversion factor. Two examples (the first concerning a patient education program on adherence to drug treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and the second investigating if cognitive behavior therapy could improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy and then lead to suppression of human immunodeficiency virus replication) demonstrate the calculations.

CONCLUSION

This note provides a simple method to allow studies that report outcome variability in terms of ranges to be included in systematic reviews by conversion to equivalent SDs. The method is entirely valid if the outcome variable is normally distributed, but for nonnormal data, some caution may be needed.

Simvastatin induced ferroptosis for triple-negative breast cancer therapy

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a management of aggressive breast cancer, remains an unmet medical challenge. Although a wave of efforts had spurred to design novel therapeutic method of TNBC, unpredictable prognosis with lacking effective therapeutic targets along with the resistance to apoptosis seriously limited survival benefits. Ferroptosis is a non-apoptotic form of cell death that is induced by excessive lipid peroxidation, which provide an innovative way to combat cancer. Emerging evidence suggests that ferroptosis plays an important role in the treatment of TNBC cells. Herein, a novel ferroptosis nanomedicine was prepared by loading simvastatin (SIM), a ferroptosis drug, into zwitterionic polymer coated magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@PCBMA) to improve the therapeutic effect of TNBC. The as-obtained Fe3O4@PCBMA-SIM nanoparticles demonstrated more cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 than MCF-7 due to the higher expression of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR), which demonstrated that statins could effectively kill TNBC. Further experiments showed that SIM could inhibit the expression of HMGCR to downregulate the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), thereby inducing cancer cell ferroptosis. What's more, PCBMA endows Fe3O4@PCBMA longer blood circulation performance to enhance their accumulation at tumor sites. Given that Fe3O4 have proven for clinical applications by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and SIM could induce cancer cell ferroptosis, the developed Fe3O4@PCBMA-SIM nanosystem would have great potential in clinics for overcoming the drug resistance brought about by apoptotic drugs to cancer cells.

Biochemical characterization of ezrin-actin interaction

The highly related actin isoforms are thought to have different functions. We recently demonstrated a polarized distribution of actin isoforms in gastric parietal cells and association of gastric ezrin with the cytoplasmic beta-actin isoform (Yao, X., Chaponnier, C., Gabbiani, G., and Forte, J. G. (1995) Mol. Biol. Cell. 6, 541-557). Here we used ultrastructural immunocytochemistry to verify that beta-actin is located within canalicular microvilli and the apical cortex of parietal cells, similar to the localization reported for ezrin. Furthermore, we tested whether ezrin binds preferentially to cytoplasmic beta-actin compared with the skeletal muscle alpha-actin isoform. Purified cytoplasmic beta-actin (from erythrocytes) and skeletal alpha-actin were assembled with gastric ezrin. Co-sedimentation experiments showed that gastric ezrin selectively co-pelleted with the beta-actin isoform and only very poorly with alpha-actin. Binding of erythrocytic beta-actin to ezrin is saturable with a molar ratio of approximately 1:10 (ezrin:actin) and a dissociation constant approximately 4.6 x 10(-8) M. In addition, ezrin promoted pyrene-labeled actin assembly, with predominant effects on filament elongation and a distinct preference for beta-actin compared with alpha-actin. Given these isoform-selective associations, we speculate that actin isoforms might segregate into different functional domains and exert specificity by interacting with isoform-orientated binding proteins.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma with aberrant expression of CD79a and CD20: a diagnostic pitfall

Immunohistochemical studies are increasingly used for the routine diagnosis of lymphomas as it is widely accepted that lymphomas of different cell lineages vary in their prognosis and response to therapy. A case of peripheral T-cell lymphoma with aberrant expression of B-cell-associated antigens L-26 (CD20) and mb-1 (CD 79a) is described. The disease pursued an aggressive clinical course, and the patient died of disease 6 weeks after presentation. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated expression of both T- and B-cell-associated antigens, including CD3, CD8, CD43, TIA-1, CD20, and CD79a. Other markers expressed by the tumor cells included CD56 and S-100. Of interest, betaF-1 staining for the beta chain of T-cell receptor (TCR) complex was positive in the small admixed T lymphocytes but was negative in the tumor cells, raising the possibility of a gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma. Molecular studies by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) demonstrated clonal TCR-gamma chain gene rearrangement without evidence for a clonal rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene. PCR for HHV-8 related sequences was negative. Mb-1 is an IgM-associated protein that was thought to be restricted to normal and neoplastic B cells. Although its coexpression has been reported in up to 10% cases of precursor T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, the coexpression of both CD20 and CD79a has not been described in mature T-cell malignancies. Biphenotypic lymphomas associated with HHV-8 have been reported in immunodeficiency, but no evidence of immune deficiency was identified, and studies for EBV and HHV-8 were negative. This case illustrates that no marker has absolute lineage specificity and that immunophenotypic studies should always be performed with panels of monoclonal antibodies. Moreover, cases with ambiguous phenotypes may require genotypic studies for precise lineage assignment.

Different mutator phenotypes in Mlh1- versus Pms2-deficient mice

Deficiencies in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) result in increased mutation rates and cancer risk in both humans and mice. Mouse strains homozygous for knockouts of either the Pms2 or Mlh1 MMR gene develop cancer but exhibit very different tumor spectra; only Mlh1(-/-) animals develop intestinal tumors. We carried out a detailed study of the microsatellite mutation spectra in each knockout strain. Five mononucleotide repeat tracts at four different chromosomal locations were studied by using single-molecule PCR or an in vivo forward mutation assay. Three dinucleotide repeat loci also were examined. Surprisingly, the mononucleotide repeat mutation frequency in Mlh1(-/-) mice was 2- to 3-fold higher than in Pms2(-/-) animals. The higher mutation frequency in Mlh1(-/-) mice may be a consequence of some residual DNA repair capacity in the Pms2(-/-) animals. Relevant to this idea, we observed that Pms2(-/-) mice exhibit almost normal levels of Mlh1p, whereas Mlh1(-/-) animals lack both Mlh1p and Pms2p. Comparison between Mlh1(-/-) animals and Mlh1(-/-) and Pms2(-/-) double knockout mice revealed little difference in mutator phenotype, suggesting that Mlh1 nullizygosity is sufficient to inactivate MMR completely. The findings may provide a basis for understanding the greater predisposition to intestinal cancer of Mlh1(-/-) mice. Small differences (2- to 3-fold) in mononucleotide repeat mutation rates may have dramatic effects on tumor development, requiring multiple genetic alterations in coding regions. Alternatively, this strain difference in tumor spectra also may be related to the consequences of the absence of Pms2p compared with the absence of both Pms2p and Mlh1p on as yet little understood cellular processes.

Photocatalysis-mediated drug-free sustainable cancer therapy using nanocatalyst

Drug therapy unavoidably brings toxic side effects and drug content-limited therapeutic efficacy although many nanocarriers have been developed to improve them to a certain extent. In this work, a concept of drug-free therapeutics is proposed and defined as a therapeutic methodology without the use of traditional toxic drugs, without the consumption of therapeutic agents during treatment but with the inexhaustible therapeutic capability to maximize the benefit of treatment, and a Z-scheme SnS1.68-WO2.41 nanocatalyst is developed to achieve near infrared (NIR)-photocatalytic generation of oxidative holes and hydrogen molecules for realizing combined hole/hydrogen therapy by the drug-free therapeutic strategy. Without the need of any drug and other therapeutic agent assistance, the nanocatalyst oxidizes/consumes intratumoral over-expressed glutathione (GSH) by holes and simultaneously generates hydrogen molecules in a lasting and controllable way under NIR irradiation. Mechanistically, generated hydrogen molecules and GSH consumption inhibit cancer cell energy and destroy intratumoral redox balance, respectively, to synergistically damage DNA and induce tumor cell apoptosis. High efficacy and biosafety of combined hole/hydrogen therapy of tumors are achieved by the nanocatalyst. The proposed catalysis-based drug-free therapeutic strategy breaks a pathway to realize high efficacy and low toxicity of cancer treatment.

Metal-Organic Framework/Graphene Quantum Dot Nanoparticles Used for Synergistic Chemo- and Photothermal Therapy

In this study, a simple one-pot method was used to prepare a multifunctional platform for synergistic chemo- and photothermal therapy,, which is composed of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) as drug nanocarriers and the embedded graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as local photothermal seeds. The structure, drug release behavior, photothermal effect, and synergistic therapeutic efficiency of the ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles were systematically investigated. Using doxorubicin (DOX) as a model anticancer drug, the results showed that monodisperse ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles with a particle size of 50-100 nm could encapsulate DOX during the synthesis procedure and trigger DOX release under acidic conditions. The DOX-loaded ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles could efficiently convert near-infrared (NIR) irradiation into heat and thereby increase the temperature. More importantly, with breast cancer 4T1 cells as a model cellular system, the results indicated that the combined chemo- and photothermal therapy with DOX-ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles exhibited a significant synergistic effect, resulting in a higher efficacy to kill cancer cells compared with chemotherapy and photothermal therapy alone. Hence, ZIF-8/GQD nanoparticles would be promising as versatile nanocarriers for synergistic cancer therapy.