Patient-Reported Quality of Life Before and After Chemoradiation for Intact Pancreas Cancer: A Prospective Registry Study

PurposeOur purpose was to determine the effect of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on patient-reported quality of life (QOL) for patients with intact pancreas cancer.Methods and MaterialsWe reviewed a prospective QOL registry for patients with intact, clinically localized pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treated with CRT between June 2015 and November 2018. QOL was assessed pre-CRT (immediately before CRT, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy) and at the completion of CRT with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) and its component parts: FACT-General (FACT-G) and hepatobiliary cancer subscore (HCS). A minimally important difference from pre-CRT was defined as ≥ 6, 5, and 8 points for FACT-G, HCS, and FACT-Hep, respectively.ResultsOf 157 patients who underwent CRT, 100 completed both pre- and post-CRT surveys and were included in the primary analysis. Median age at diagnosis was 65 years (range, 23-90). National Comprehensive Cancer Network resectability status was resectable (3%), borderline resectable (40%), or locally advanced (57%). Folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) (75%) or gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (42%) were given for a median of 6 cycles (range, 0-42) before CRT. Radiation therapy techniques included 3-dimensional conformal (22%), intensity modulated photon (55%), and intensity modulated proton (23%) radiation therapy to a median dose of 50 Gy (range, 36-62.5). Concurrent chemotherapy was most commonly capecitabine (82%). Sixty-three patients (63%) had surgery after CRT. The mean decline in FACT-G, HCS subscale, and FACT-Hep from pre- to post-CRT was 3.5 (standard deviation [SD], 13.7), 1.7 (SD 7.8), and 5.2 (SD 19.4), respectively. Each of these changes were statistically significant, but did not meet the minimally important difference threshold. Pancreatic head tumor location was associated with decline in FACT-Hep. Nausea was the toxicity with the greatest increase from pre- to post-CRT by both physician-assessment and patient-reported QOL.ConclusionsFor patients with intact pancreatic adenocarcinoma, modern CRT is well tolerated with minimal decline in QOL during treatment.     

Synthesis and biological activities of novel 5-(2-acylethynyl)uracils

5-(2-Acylethynyl)-2,4-dimethoxypyrimidines (3-6) were synthesized in excellent yields from 2,4-dimethoxy-5-[2-(trimethylsilyl)ethynyl]pyrimidine (2) by treatment with acid chlorides in the presence of anhydrous aluminum chloride. Compounds 3-6 were deblocked with chlorotrimethylsilane and sodium iodide in acetonitrile to the corresponding 5-[(2-acyl-1-iodo)vinyl]uracils (7-10), which on treatment with potassium hydroxide in dioxane yielded the corresponding 5-(2-acylethynyl)uracils (11-14). The 5-(2-acylethynyl)uracils were found to be active against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells in vivo, the most active compounds being 5-(2-benzoylethynyl)uracil (11) and 5-(2-p-toluoylethynyl)uracil (12). The T/C values of 281 and 300 were obtained for compounds 11 and 12, respectively, in the case of mice bearing EAC cells. The 5-(2-acylethynyl)uracils have also shown in vitro activity against CCRF-CEM and L1210/0 tumor cell lines. The lead compound 5-(2-p-toluoylethynyl)uracil effectively inhibited thymidylate synthetase.     

Role for interleukin-1 (IL-1) in benzene-induced hematotoxicity: inhibition of conversion of pre-IL-1 alpha to mature cytokine in murine macrophages by hydroquinone and prevention of benzene-induced hematotoxicity in mice by IL-1 alpha

Chronic exposure of humans to benzene (BZ), a myelotoxin, causes aplastic anemia and acute leukemia. The stromal macrophage that produces interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine essential for hematopoiesis, is a target of BZ's toxicity. Monocyte dysfunction and decreased IL-1 production have been shown to be involved in aplastic anemia in humans. Hydroquinone (HQ), a toxic bone marrow (BM) metabolite of BZ, causes time- and concentration-dependent inhibition of processing of the 34-Kd pre-interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) to the 17-Kd mature cytokine in murine P388D1 macrophages and BM stromal macrophages, as measured by Western immunoblots of cell lysate proteins using a polyclonal rabbit antimurine IL-1 alpha antibody. HQ over a 10-fold concentration range had no effect on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of pre- IL-1 alpha precursor or on cell viability or DNA and protein synthesis. Stromal macrophages obtained from the femoral BM of C57Bl/6 mice exposed to BZ (600 or 800 mg/kg body weight) for 2 days were incapable of processing the 34-Kd pre-IL-1 alpha to the mature 17-Kd cytokine when stimulated in culture with LPS. Stromal macrophages from mice coadministered BZ and indomethacin, a prostaglandin H synthase (PHS) inhibitor that has been shown to prevent BZ-induced myelotoxic and genotoxic effects in mice when coadministered with benzene were able to convert the pre-IL-1 alpha to mature cytokine. Administration of recombinant murine IL-1 alpha (rMuIL-1 alpha) to mice before a dose of BZ that causes severe depression of BM cellularity completely prevents BM depression, most probably by bypassing the inability of the stromal macrophage in BZ-treated animals to process pre-IL-1 alpha to the mature cytokine.     

Effect of dipyridamole on fluorodeoxyuridine cytotoxicity in vitro and in cancer patients

Summary Dipyridamole (DP) has previously been studied both in vitro and in vivo in combination with various antimetabolites, including methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (5FU). We evaluated in vitro and clinically the effects of adding DP to fluorodeoxyuridine (FUDR) in colorectal cancer. Using a human colony-forming assay, we observed that 0.05 M DP increased the cytotoxicity of FUDR by a median of 33.5-fold vs 1.5-fold for 5FU against human colon-cancer cell lines. The mechanism of the DP-enhanced antitumor activity of FUDR is not completely understood but appears to be related to a profound inhibition by DP of thymidine accumulation in and FUDR efflux from colon-cancer cell lines. On the basis of these in vitro results, 28 patients with metastatic colon cancer were entered in a clinical trial of monthly courses of 0.1 mg/kg FUDR daily for 14 days and 75 mg oral DP 5 times daily for 14 days starting on the 3rd day of continuous i.v. FUDR infusion. The pharmacokinetics of DP was studied in three patients; the results showed that 98% of total serum DP was protein-bound and that free DP levels were significantly lower than the concentrations necessary for the expected in vitro DP/FUDR modulation. Treatment was well tolerated, with only 12 patients developing mild to moderate toxicity. Of 27 evaluable patients, 4 achieved a partial response that lasted 2, 3, 5, and 6+ months. This relatively low response rate (15%), which is similar to that achieved with FUDR alone, may be explained by the low steady-state plasma concentrations of free DP achieved in our patients. Other means of DP administration, such as i.v., i.a., and i.p. injection, may be required to achieve free DP concentrations necessary for successful biochemical modulation of FUDR in patients.Supported in part by grants CA17094, CA23074, and CA39629 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md 20205, and a grant from the Arizona Chronic Disease Commission. HSG is a recipient of an American Cancer Society Career Development Award     

A Sequential splicing mechanism promotes selection of an optimal exon by repositioning a downstream 5' splice site in preprotachykinin pre-mRNA

To explore the structural basis of alternative splicing, we have analyzed the splicing of pre-mRNAs containing an optional exon, E4, from the preprotachykinin gene. This gene encodes substance P and related tachykinin peptides by alternative splicing of a common pre-mRNA. We have shown that alternative splicing of preprotachykinin pre-mRNA occurs by preferential skipping of optional E4. The competing mechanism that incorporates E4 into the final spliced RNA is constrained by an initial block to splicing of the immediate upstream intervening sequence (IVS), IVS3. This block is relieved by sequential splicing, in which the immediate downstream IVS4 is removed first. The structural change resulting from the first splicing event is directly responsible for activation of IVS3 splicing. This structural rearrangement replaces IVS4 sequences with E5 and its adjacent IVS5 sequences. To determine how this structural change promoted IVS3 splicing, we asked what structural change(s) would restore activity of IVS3 splicing-defective mutants. The most significant effect was observed by a 2-nucleotide substitution that converted the 5' splice site of E4 to an exact consensus match, GUAAGU. Exon 5 sequences alone were found not to promote splicing when present in one or multiple copies. However, when a 15-nucleotide segment of IVS5 containing GUAAGU was inserted into a splicing-defective mutant just downstream of the hybrid exon segment E4E5, splicing activity was recovered. Curiously, the 72-nucleotide L2 exon of adenovirus, without its associated 5' splice site, activates splicing when juxtaposed to E4. Models for the activation of splicing by an RNA structural change are discussed.     

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in repair of the injured lung

We sought to determine whether an intact bone marrow is essential to lung repair following bleomycin-induced lung injury in mice, and the mechanisms of any protective effects conferred by bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (BMDMSC) transfer. We found that myelosupression increased susceptibility to bleomycin injury and that BMDMSC transfer was protective. Protection was associated with the differentiation of engrafted BMDMSC into specific and distinct lung cell phenotypes, with an increase in circulating levels of G-CSF and GM-CSF (known for their ability to promote the mobilization of endogenous stem cells) and with a decrease in inflammatory cytokines. In vitro, cells from injured, but not from normal, mouse lung produced soluble factors that caused BMDMSC to proliferate and migrate toward the injured lung. We conclude that bone marrow stem cells are important in the repair of bleomycin-injured lung and that transfer of mesenchymal stem cells protects against the injury. BMDMSC localize to the injured lung and assume lung cell phenotypes, but protection from injury and fibrosis also involves suppression of inflammation and triggering production of reparative growth factors.     

Receptor-binding function of type 1 pili effects bladder colonization by a clinical isolate of Escherichia coli.

The role of type 1 pili in promoting bladder colonization was examined by constructing two mutant strains of a clinical Escherichia coli isolate. One mutant was isogenic to the parental strain save for a lesion in a gene required for pilus receptor binding; the other mutant was isogenic save for a lesion in the gene encoding the pilus structural subunit. Using mixed infections of the parental and mutant strains in an ascending rat cystitis model, we found that type 1-piliated mutants that lacked the receptor-binding function were as ineffective in bladder colonization as were mutants lacking the entire organelle.