Sacituzumab govitecan: breakthrough targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer

Introduction: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype associated with an increased risk of recurrence and cancer-related death. Unlike hormone receptor-positive or HER2-positive breast cancers, there are limited targeted therapies available to treat TNBC and cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment. Sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132) is an antibody-drug conjugate targeting Trop-2 expressing cells and selectively delivering SN-38, an active metabolite of irinotecan.

Areas covered: This review covers the mechanism of action, safety and efficacy of sacituzumab govitecan in patients with previously treated, metastatic TNBC. Additionally, efficacy data in other epithelial malignancies is included based on a PubMed search for ‘sacituzumab govitecan’ and ‘clinical trial’.

Expert opinion: Sacituzumab govitecan has promising anti-cancer activity in patients with metastatic TNBC previously treated with at least two prior lines of systemic therapy based on a single arm Phase I/II clinical trial. A confirmatory Phase III randomized clinical trial is ongoing. Sacituzumab govitecan has a manageable side effect profile, with the most common adverse events being nausea, neutropenia, and diarrhea. The activity of sacituzumab govitecan likely extends beyond TNBC with promising early efficacy data in many other epithelial cancers, including hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.     

Correlation between regional myasthenic weakness and mental aspects of quality of life

Here we report how the different types of regional muscle involvement, i.e. bulbar, ocular or generalized, in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) influence the mental aspects of quality of life. Clinical examination according to Osserman was performed in 48 MG patients (45 women, three men; mean age 54, SD 12 years). Each patient was at the time for clinical evaluation asked to fill out the disease-specific Myasthenia Gravis Questionnaire (MGQ) and the Short-Form 36-item questionnaire for health survey (SF-36) as patient-oriented tools. We related the regional domains (generalized domain, bulbar domain and ocular domain) of the MGQ and the clinical findings, respectively, with mental quality of life as assessed by SF-36. Bulbar and generalized involvement results in impairment of mental aspects of quality of life, whereas ocular involvement does not.     

锗元素与抗肿瘤药物(Ⅱ)(续上期)

综述了有机锗抗肿瘤药物，对β－羧乙基锗倍半氧化物（Ｇｅ－１３２）和螺锗在肿瘤学中的作用以及抗癌效应机制作出评价。自８０年代起至今，又有含硫杂、柠檬酸、氨基酸、苯基的锗化合物，以及锗酵母、含锗中草药等被先后合成出来。在几类具有生物活性的有机锗化合物中，仍首推Ｇｅ－１３２，螺锗及其衍生物为低毒有效抗肿瘤候选药物，然而对于锗导致的毒性及其机理仍需进一步加以探讨。     

Single fiber electromyography of extraocular muscles: A sensitive method for the diagnosis of ocular myasthenia gravis

We performed single fiber electromyography (SFEMG) in the superior rectus and levator palpebralis (SR-LP) muscles of 17 patients with pure ocular myasthenia gravis (MG) and 9 controls. Thirteen patients were also assessed with SFEMG in the orbicularis oculi (OO) muscle. All the MG patients but none of the control subjects showed abnormal SFEMG jitter in the SR-LP muscles. On the other hand, only 62% of the MG patients had abnormal SFEMG jitter in the OO muscle. The procedure was well tolerated by the patients, and complications were minor. We conclude that SFEMG of the SR–LP muscles is a safe and highly sensitive technique for the diagnosis of ocular MG. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

有机锗对大鼠实验性矽肺形成及脂质过氧化水平的影响

采用硫代巴比妥酸比色法和亚硝酸盐形成法，分别测定了实验性矽肺大鼠血清过氧化脂质（ＬＰＯ）及超氧化物歧化酶（ＳＯＤ）同工酶活力，同时观察了β羧乙基锗倍半氧化物（Ｇｅ－１３２）对实验性大鼠矽肺形成的阻断作用及对自由基代谢的影响。结果显示矽肺大鼠血清ＬＰＯ含量显著高于对照组，而血清总ＳＯＤ和ＣｕＺｎＳＯＤ活力显著下降。提示矽肺的发生可能与机体自由基代谢的失衡有关。使用Ｇｅ－１３２可显著提高大鼠机体的抗氧化能力，降低脂质过氧化作用，并可明显干预矽肺病变的形成。     

AN-132 block of cardiac sodium channels: A gate-related receptor analysis

Summary Based on the gate-related receptor hypothesis, an analysis of kinetics of AN-132, a new antiarrhythmic agent, blockade of cardiac sodium channels and the gate-related receptor which is bound by the drug was performed by computer simulation. Model-predicted apparent rates of onset of AN-132 (30 μmol/L) blocking were 0.051, 0.038, and 0.034 AF⁻¹ at stimulation frequencies of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 Hz, respectively. The time constant of recovery from block by AN-132 at resting potential -90 mV was 39.5 s. These findings are in agreement with those experimental data documented. The analysis of gate-related receptor shows that AN-132 binds the inactivation gate-related receptor, and the binding and unbinding are modulated by the inactivation process.     

PCR detection of amplified 132 bp repeats in Marek's disease virus type 1 (MDV-1) DNA can serve as an indicator for critical genomic rearrangement leading to the attenuation of virus virulence

A radioactive PCR test was developed that amplified the very virulent Marek's disease virus-1 (vvMDV-1) DNA sequence containing the 132 bp repeats. In apathogenic MDV-1 (CVI 988, Rispens), amplified DNA bands containing multiple copies of 132 bp repeats were identified. In the present study this PCR technique was used to monitor the passage level of vvMDV-1 in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) in which the number of tandem 132 bp repeats was increased. It was found that at passage level 32 of vvMDV-1-B isolate, the 132 bp tandem repeat was already markedly amplified and its pattern resembled that of the MDV-1 (CVI 988, Rispens) vaccine virus DNA. In the vvMDV-1Z strain, amplification of the 132 bp repeat was not detectable at a similar passage level. The PCR test demonstrated that the apathogenic MDV-1 Md11/75c virus developed by extensive in vitro passaging has amplified 132 bp DNA repeats similar to those of the commercial vaccine virus (CVI 988, Rispense). It was also found that the pattern of viral RNA from infected cells detectable by Northern blot hybridization was markedly changed from a 2.4 kb RNA species in cells infected with vvMDV-1 viruses, to four RNA species (ranging from 2.2 to 4.4 kb) in cells infected with passage 32 of MDV-1-B strain, to a very large number of undefined RNA species synthesized in cells infected with attenuated MDV-1 viruses (CVI 988, Rispens and Md 11/75c).     

蛋白酶体抑制剂MG132诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡机制的研究进展

MG132(Z-Leu-Leu-Leu-CHO)是一种蛋白酶体抑制剂,能进入细胞中可逆性地抑制蛋白酶体的活性,从而抑制泛素—蛋白酶体通路所介导蛋白质的降解,进而影响细胞周期进程和诱导细胞凋亡。目前,许多文献报道MG132能够诱导多种肿瘤细胞发生凋亡,是一种潜在的抗肿瘤药物。     

基于 C/S与B/S混合模式的重症肌无力管理系统的设计与研制

重症肌无力临床医生在就诊过程中收集了大量的临床资料,但是面对庞大而又杂乱的临床资料,人工对其进行管理、查询、统计分析等显然不可取,费时费力且更不用说从中“挖掘”出有用的信息以辅助诊断;此外,对于病人服药情况、疗效的随访等也难于开展,更不用说在医院各科室内部、Internet上共享临床资料。基于此,本文开发了以C/S和B/S混合模式的重症肌无力信息系统,以期为临床和科研做出一定的贡献。     

Microdissection genotyping of archival fixative treated tissue for Gaucher disease

The genetic diagnosis of Gaucher disease by molecular methods is complicated by the existence of a highly homologous transcribed pseudogene (96% identity) that is found in close proximity to the true gene on chromosome 1q21. In addition, the pseudogene sequence can mimic disease-causing mutations in the true gene. Selective polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the true gene can be accomplished in extracted DNA from fresh-frozen samples by designing oligonucleotide primers to hybridize to defined regions that are not present in the pseudogene. This standard molecular approach, which entails amplification of relatively long segments of intact DNA, is not feasible in archival, paraffin-embedded, solid-tissue specimens in which the negative effects of chemical fixation result in DNA strand scission and breakdown of nucleic acid. A novel approach, specifically created for use with archival, fixative-treated tissue specimens, was developed for detection and characterization of common mutations of Gaucher disease. Three separate robust PCR reactions were formulated, 2 for selective amplification of portions of only the true gene exons 2 and 9, with a third reaction targeting exon 10, wherein both the true and pseudogene were coamplified. In the latter, DNA sequencing was used to determine the presence of true and pseudogene allele content in addition to identification of base sequence alterations. This method, requiring a single, 4-microm-thick histologic section, was successfully applied to archival paraffin block tissue specimens that had been in storage for up to 75 years. It was capable of accurately genotyping common Gaucher disease mutations as well as discovering a novel mutation and genetic polymorphism. We recommend our approach when only fixative-treated tis sue is available for molecular genotyping.