肝细胞癌中miR-942-5p的表达及其与患者恶性特征及不良预后的关系

目的:探讨微小RNA-942-5p(miR-942-5p)在肝细胞癌(HCC)组织中的表达及其功能。方法:用实时定量PCR检测西安交通大学第一附属医院样本库保存的73例HCC组织和对应癌旁组织中miR-942-5p的表达。分析miR-942-5p表达与HCC患者临床病理资料的关系,同时分析TCGA数据库中miR-942-5p表达与HCC患者总生存率的关系。Transwell小室检测干扰miR-942-5p表达后HCC细胞迁移和侵袭能力的变化,StarBase V3.0网站和荧光素酶报告基因质粒预测分析miR-942-5p的下游靶点,并用Western blot验证。结果:miR-942-5p表达量在HCC组织中明显高于对应癌旁组织(2.390 vs. 1.764,P0.05)。miR-942-5p表达量与HCC患者肿瘤数目、血管浸润和临床分期明显有关(均P0.05)。miR-942-5p高表达HCC患者总生存率明显低于miR-942-5p低表达HCC患者(19.535%vs. 53.873%,P0.05)。沉默miR-942-5p表达后,肝癌HCCLM3和MHCC97H细胞迁移和侵袭能力明显减弱(均P0.05)。预测与分析结果显示,扣针蛋白5(FBLN5)是miR-942-5p的直接下游靶点(P0.05),沉默miR-942-5p表达导致HCCLM3和MHCC97H细胞中FBLN5表达增加。结论:miR-942-5p在HCC组织中表达异常升高并与恶性临床特征和不良预后密切相关,机制可能与miR-942-5p抑制FBLN5表达促进HCC细胞迁移和侵袭有关。     

A Very Long-term Longitudinal Study on the Evolution and Clinical Outcomes of Persistent Iatrogenic Atrial Septal Defect After Cryoballoon Ablation

Background

Persistent iatrogenic atrial septal defect (iASD) is a common but poorly characterized complication after cryoballoon (CB) pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) procedures. We therefore investigate its prevalence, evolution, risk factors, and clinical outcomes in a prospective longitudinal study.

Proteases and their inhibitors as prognostic factors for high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Ovarian carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies, but only very few prognostic biomarkers are known. The degradome, comprising proteases, protease non-proteolytic homologues and inhibitors, have been involved in the prognosis of many cancer types, including ovarian carcinoma. The prognostic significance of the whole degradome family has not been specifically studied in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. A targeted DNA microarray known as the CLIP-CHIP microarray was used to identify potential prognostic factors in ten high-grade serous ovarian cancer women who had early recurrence (<1.6 years) or late/no recurrence after first line surgery and chemotherapy. In women with early recurrence, we identified seven upregulated genes (TMPRSS4, MASP1/3, SPC18, PSMB1, IGFBP2, CFI – encoding Complement Factor I – and MMP9) and one down-regulated gene (ADAM-10). Using immunohistochemistry, we evaluated the prognostic effect of these 8 candidate genes in an independent cohort of 112 high-grade serous ovarian cancer women. Outcomes were progression, defined according to CA-125 criteria, and death. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were done to estimate the associations between each protein and each outcome. High ADAM-10 expression (intensity of 2–3) was associated with a lower risk of progression (adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29-0.87). High complement factor I expression (intensity 2–3) was associated with a higher risk of progression (adjusted HR: 2.30, 95% CI: 1.17–4.53) and death (adjusted HR: 3.42; 95% CI: 1.72–6.79). Overall, we identified the prognostic value of two proteases, ADAM-10 and complement factor I, for high-grade serous ovarian cancer which could have clinical significance.     

The efficacy and toxicity of immune checkpoint inhibitors in a real-world older patient population

ImportanceImmunotherapy has emerged as an effective treatment option for the management of advanced cancers. The effects of these immune checkpoint inhibitors in the older patient population has not been adequately assessed.ObjectiveTo understand the impact of aging on CTLA-4 and PDL-1 inhibitors efficacy and immune-related adverse events (irAE) in the context of real-world management of advanced solid cancers.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis retrospective study involved all non-study patients with histologically-confirmed metastatic or inoperable solid cancers receiving immunotherapy at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. We defined ‘older patient’ as age ≥ 75. All statistical analyses were conducted under SPSS IBM for Windows version 24.0.Main Outcomes and MeasuresStudy outcomes included immunotherapy treatment response, survival, as well as number, type, and severity of irAEs.ResultsOur study (N = 78) had 29 (37%) patients age <65, 26 (33%) patients age 65–74, and 23 (30%) patients age ≥75. Melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma accounted for 70%, 22%, and 8% of the study population, respectively. Distributions of ipilimumab (32%), nivolumab (33%), and pembrolizumab (35%) were similar in the study. The response rates were 28%, 27%, and 39% in the age <65, age 64–74, age ≥75 groups, respectively (P = 0.585). Kaplan-Meier curve showed a median survival of 28 months (12.28–43.9, 95% CI) and 17 months (0–36.9, 95% CI) in the age <65 and age 64–74 groups, respectively; the estimated survival probability did not reach 50% in the age ≥75 group (P = 0.319). There were no statistically significant differences found in terms of irAEs, multiple irAEs, severity of grade 3 or higher, types of irAEs, and irAEs resolution status when comparing between different age groups.Conclusion and RelevanceOur results suggest that patients age ≥75 are able to gain as much benefit from immunotherapy as younger patients, without excess toxicity. Our findings suggest that single agent immunotherapy is generally well-tolerated across different age groups with no significant difference in the type, frequency or severity of irAEs. Future studies evaluating aging and combination immunotherapy are warranted.     

Redox active or thiol reactive? Optimization of rapid screens to identify less evident nuisance compounds

Compounds that exhibit assay interference or undesirable mechanisms of bioactivity are routinely encountered in assays at various stages of drug discovery. We observed that assays for the investigation of thiol-reactive and redox-active compounds have not been collected in a comprehensive review. Here, we review these assays and subject them to experimental optimization to improve their reliability. We demonstrate the usefulness of our assay cascade by assaying a library of bioactive compounds, chemical probes, and a set of approved drugs. These high-throughput assays should complement the array of wet-lab and in silico assays during the initial stages of hit discovery campaigns to pursue only hit compounds with tractable mechanisms of action.     

Moving Knowledge to Action: Aware,Adopt, Adapt (A3)

This article begins with an overview of the knowledge translation (KT) process, introduces commonly used KT terms and the Aware-Adopt-Adapt (A³) KT map. The A³ was created by a nurse practitioner (NP) for practitioners and NP students to provide a map for those who wish to move existing knowledge to practice, yet do not know where to start or do not have the time to take a deeper dive into specific KT theories.