Int J Med Sci
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Observational Study
A clinical study on plasma biomarkers for deciding the use of adjuvant corticosteroid therapy in bronchopulmonary dysplasia of premature infants.
Objective: The study was designed to investigate some plasma markers which help us to decide the use of adjuvant corticosteroid therapy in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) of premature infants. Methods: Thirty BPD infants were treated by dexamethasone. Among these cases, dexamethasone was significant effective in 10 cases, and no significant effective in 20 cases. ⋯ S100A8, as an indicator of plasma inflammation, was significantly higher in BPD than the control group. Unlike LRP1, there was no significantly difference between the SE and NE group (P=0.279) before dexamethasone treatment. Conclusion: Elevated plasma LRP1 and S100A8 in BPD infants are two indicators that correlated with the efficacy of dexamethasone, and might be used as biomarkers for deciding the use of adjuvant corticosteroids therapy in the BPD.
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Lung cancer remains a global challenge due to high morbidity and mortality rates and poor response to treatment, and there are still no effective strategies to solve it. The bispecific antibody (BsAb) is a novel antibody, which can target two different antigens and mediate specific killing effects by selectively redirecting effector cells to the target cells. In this study, we combined two BsAbs to achieve a dual-target therapy strategy of EpCAM+ and MUC-1+ with high affinity and specificity. ⋯ The superior antitumor effect of two BsAbs could be attributable to enhanced CTL and increased production of type I IFNs. At the same time, the combination of EpCAM/CD3 BsAb and MUC-1/CD3 BsAb significantly regulated T population in the TDLNs. Therefore, we have found a potential immunotherapeutic strategy, which was the combination therapy with EpCAM/CD3 BsAb and MUC-1/CD3 BsAb for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
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Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. Remodeling of the scleral extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in the development of glaucoma. The aim of this study was to identify the key genes and pathways for the ECM remodeling of sclera in glaucoma by bioinformatics analysis and to explore potential therapeutic agents for glaucoma management. ⋯ We found that 11 of the 13 selected genes could be targeted by 26 existing drugs. Conclusions: The results showed that VEGFA, TGFB1, TGFB2, TGFB3, IGF2, IGF1, EGF, FN1, KNG1, TIMP1, SERPINE1, THBS1, and VWF were potential key genes involved to scleral ECM remodeling. Furthermore, 26 drugs were identified as potential therapeutic agents for glaucoma treatment and management.
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NIR fluorescence imaging using bisphosphonate-Indocyanine green has been indicated for early interproximal caries detection. This study assessed diagnostic accuracy of caries detection by NIR fluorescence imaging with OsteoSense 750® (OS750) in vitro and ex vivo, and to analyze the therapeutic efficacy of a bisphosphonate (Etidronate) in inhibiting enamel caries progression in vitro. Methods: Four experiments were conducted using extracted human teeth; 1) to calculate the infiltration rate of OS750 into interproximal white spot lesions using fluorescence microscope, 2) to assess diagnostic accuracy of interproximal natural white spot lesions using desktop NIR fluorescence imaging device in vitro setting, 3) to assess diagnostic accuracy of artificially created deeper enamel carious lesion (0.5 mm~1.0 mm) using NIR fluorescence image through the head-mount display in ex vivo setting, 4) to compare the progression on the enamel caries lesions treated by Etidronate, NaF and distilled-water. ⋯ The average of area under the ROC curves (AUC) was 0.883 ± 0.059 indicating excellent performance. 3) The mean sensitivity and specificity in ex vivo setting was 82.97% ± 15% and 76.78% ± 13.27% respectively. 4) The carious lesion volume treated by Etidronate was significantly smaller at post treatment-1 (p<0.05) and treatment-2 (p<0.01) than the control. There was no significant difference in lesion volume in the Etidronate and NaF group at the time point of post treatment-1. Conclusion: This study suggests that bisphosphonates contribute to both early diagnosis of enamel caries and inhibition of caries progression.
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Dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy has been a promising strategy for colon cancer therapy, but the efficacy of dendritic cell vaccines is in part limited by immunogenicity of loaded antigens. In this study, we aimed to identify a putative tumor antigen that can generate or enhance anti-tumor immune responses against colon cancer. CD44+ colon cancer stem cells (CCSCs) were isolated from mouse colorectal carcinoma CT-26 cell cultures and induced to form defective ribosomal products-containing autophagosome-rich blebs (DRibbles) by treatment with rapamycin, bortezomib, and ammonium chloride. ⋯ A lactate dehydrogenase test indicated a strong cytolytic activity of cytotoxic T-cells derived from mice vaccinated with CCSC-derived DRibbles against CT-26 cells. Furthermore, flow cytometry analyses showed that the percentages of IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cells were increased in SD-DC group compare with the other groups. These findings provide a rationale for novel immunotherapeutic anti-tumor approaches based on DRibbles derived from colon cancer stem cells.