Antimetastatic activity and low systemic toxicity of tetradecyl gallate in a preclinical melanoma mouse model

Gallates with eight or more carbon atoms in the lateral chain show potent anticancer activity against various cell lines. However, studies regarding the in vivo antimelanoma activity of tetradecyl gallate (C₁₄) have not yet been reported. In this study an evaluation of the ability of C₁₄ to inhibit metastasis, using lung metastases as a model, was carried out. The experimental mouse melanoma model was established by intravenous injection of metastatic B16F10 melanoma cells. The systemic toxicity of C₁₄ was evaluated in vivo by monitoring the weight, survival, biochemical and hematological parameters, and through histological analysis. It was observed that C₁₄ decreased lung metastasis in vivo by 80% and increased the survival rate of the animals without toxic effects. Additionally, C₁₄ induced cytotoxic effects on B16F10 cells, inhibited the inter-cellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) expression, and significantly decreased cell adhesion. These results reveal that C₁₄ has potent antimetastatic ability and is a good candidate for further study as a potential therapeutic agent for tumor metastases.     

Analytical validation of anti-toxoplasma IgG immunoassays

There are often discrepancies when using different methods to measure anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG levels in patient samples. The diagnostic performance of a chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) and an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA) used as confirmatory tests for samples identified as positive or equivocal by an electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (ECLIA) were examined. Cut-off values were those stated by the manufacturer, and Western blot was used to confirm the results of all methods. All samples identified as positive by ECLIA (n = 93) were confirmed as positive by Western blot, as were 14 of the 28 samples identified as equivocal. When these 121 samples were retested, the sensitivities of CLIA and ELFA were 64.4% and 73.8%, respectively. Both methods exhibited a specificity of 100%. This study confirms that the results obtained from the different immunoassays are not comparable, and neither CLIA nor ELFA should be used to confirm ECLIA results, which should instead be confirmed by methods such as Western blot or Sabin-Feldman dye test.