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Inhibition of microbial production of the malodorous substance isovaleric acid by 4,4' dichloro 2-hydroxydiphenyl ether (DCPP).
Mayer, S, Hazenkamp, M, Kluttig, M, Ochs, D
MicrobiologyOpen. 2021;(2):e1174
Abstract
Human body malodour is a complex phenomenon. Several types of sweat glands produce odorless secretions that are metabolized by a consortium of skin-resident microorganisms to a diverse set of malodorous substances. Isovaleric acid, a sweaty-smelling compound, is one major malodorous component produced by staphylococci with the skin-derived amino acid L-leucine as a substrate. During wearing, fabrics are contaminated with sweat and microorganisms and high humidity propagates growth and microbial malodour production. Incomplete removal of sweat residues and microorganisms from fabrics during laundry with bleach-free detergents and at low temperatures elevate the problem of textile malodour. This study aimed to analyze the inhibitory effect of the antimicrobial 4,4' dichloro 2-hydroxydiphenyl ether (DCPP) on the formation of isovaleric acid on fabrics. Therefore, GC-FID- and GC-MS-based methods for the analysis of isovaleric acid in an artificial human sweat-mimicking medium and in textile extracts were established. Here, we show that antimicrobials capable to deposit on fabrics during laundry, such as DCPP, are effective in growth inhibition of typical malodour-generating bacteria and prevent the staphylococcal formation of isovaleric acid on fabrics in a simple experimental setup. This can contribute to increased hygiene for mild laundry care approaches, where bacterial contamination and malodour production represent a considerable consumer problem.
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Characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation prescribed edoxaban in Belgium and The Netherlands: insights from the ETNA-AF-Europe study.
de Vries, TAC, Hemels, MEW, Cools, F, Crijns, HJGM, Yperzeele, L, Vanacker, P, Blankoff, I, Lancellotti, P, Mairesse, GH, de Veer, A, et al
Acta cardiologica. 2021;(4):431-439
Abstract
BACKGROUND Studies on the use of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in unselected patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) show that clinical characteristics and dosing practices differ per region, but lack data on edoxaban. METHODS With data from Edoxaban Treatment in routiNe clinical prActice for patients with AF in Europe (ETNA-AF-Europe), a large prospective observational study, we compared clinical characteristics (including the dose reduction criteria for edoxaban: creatinine clearance 15-50 mL/min, weight ≤60 kg, and/or use of strong p-glycoprotein inhibitors) of patients from Belgium and the Netherlands (BeNe) with those from other European countries (OEC). RESULTS Of all 13,639 patients in ETNA-AF-Europe, 2579 were from BeNe. BeNe patients were younger than OEC patients (mean age: 72.3 vs 73.9 years), and had lower CHA2DS2-VASc (mean: 2.8 vs 3.2) and HAS-BLED scores (mean: 2.4 vs 2.6). Patients from BeNe less often had hypertension (61.6% vs 80.4%), and/or diabetes mellitus (17.3% vs 23.1%) than patients from OEC. Moreover, relatively fewer patients in BeNe were prescribed the reduced dose of 30 mg edoxaban (14.8%) than in OEC (25.4%). Overall, edoxaban was dosed according to label in 83.1% of patients. Yet, 30 mg edoxaban was prescribed in the absence of any dose reduction criteria in 36.9% of 30 mg users (5.5% of all patients) in BeNe compared with 35.5% (9.0% of all patients) in OEC. CONCLUSION There were several notable differences between BeNe and OEC regarding clinical characteristics and dosing practices in patients prescribed edoxaban, which are relevant for the local implementation of dose evaluation and optimisation. TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT02944019; Date of registration: October 24, 2016.
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Identification of Oxygen-Independent Pathways for Pyridine Nucleotide and Coenzyme A Synthesis in Anaerobic Fungi by Expression of Candidate Genes in Yeast.
Perli, T, Vos, AM, Bouwknegt, J, Dekker, WJC, Wiersma, SJ, Mooiman, C, Ortiz-Merino, RA, Daran, JM, Pronk, JT
mBio. 2021;(3):e0096721
Abstract
Neocallimastigomycetes are unique examples of strictly anaerobic eukaryotes. This study investigates how these anaerobic fungi bypass reactions involved in synthesis of pyridine nucleotide cofactors and coenzyme A that, in canonical fungal pathways, require molecular oxygen. Analysis of Neocallimastigomycetes proteomes identified a candidate l-aspartate-decarboxylase (AdcA) and l-aspartate oxidase (NadB) and quinolinate synthase (NadA), constituting putative oxygen-independent bypasses for coenzyme A synthesis and pyridine nucleotide cofactor synthesis. The corresponding gene sequences indicated acquisition by ancient horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events involving bacterial donors. To test whether these enzymes suffice to bypass corresponding oxygen-requiring reactions, they were introduced into fms1Δ and bna2Δ Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. Expression of nadA and nadB from Piromyces finnis and adcA from Neocallimastix californiae conferred cofactor prototrophy under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. This study simulates how HGT can drive eukaryotic adaptation to anaerobiosis and provides a basis for elimination of auxotrophic requirements in anaerobic industrial applications of yeasts and fungi. IMPORTANCE NAD (NAD+) and coenzyme A (CoA) are central metabolic cofactors whose canonical biosynthesis pathways in fungi require oxygen. Anaerobic gut fungi of the Neocallimastigomycota phylum are unique eukaryotic organisms that adapted to anoxic environments. Analysis of Neocallimastigomycota genomes revealed that these fungi might have developed oxygen-independent biosynthetic pathways for NAD+ and CoA biosynthesis, likely acquired through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from prokaryotic donors. We confirmed functionality of these putative pathways under anaerobic conditions by heterologous expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This approach, combined with sequence comparison, offers experimental insight on whether HGT events were required and/or sufficient for acquiring new traits. Moreover, our results demonstrate an engineering strategy for enabling S. cerevisiae to grow anaerobically in the absence of the precursor molecules pantothenate and nicotinate, thereby contributing to alleviate oxygen requirements and to move closer to prototrophic anaerobic growth of this industrially relevant yeast.
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Synthesis and Characterization of Bis-Triazolyl-Pyridine Derivatives as Noncanonical DNA-Interacting Compounds.
Di Porzio, A, Galli, U, Amato, J, Zizza, P, Iachettini, S, Iaccarino, N, Marzano, S, Santoro, F, Brancaccio, D, Carotenuto, A, et al
International journal of molecular sciences. 2021;(21)
Abstract
Besides the well-known double-helical conformation, DNA is capable of folding into various noncanonical arrangements, such as G-quadruplexes (G4s) and i-motifs (iMs), whose occurrence in gene promoters, replication origins, and telomeres highlights the breadth of biological processes that they might regulate. Particularly, previous studies have reported that G4 and iM structures may play different roles in controlling gene transcription. Anyway, molecular tools able to simultaneously stabilize/destabilize those structures are still needed to shed light on what happens at the biological level. Herein, a multicomponent reaction and a click chemistry functionalization were combined to generate a set of 31 bis-triazolyl-pyridine derivatives which were initially screened by circular dichroism for their ability to interact with different G4 and/or iM DNAs and to affect the thermal stability of these structures. All the compounds were then clustered through multivariate data analysis, based on such capability. The most promising compounds were subjected to a further biophysical and biological characterization, leading to the identification of two molecules simultaneously able to stabilize G4s and destabilize iMs, both in vitro and in living cells.
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Circulating tumor cells and palbociclib treatment in patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer: results from a translational sub-study of the TREnd trial.
Galardi, F, De Luca, F, Biagioni, C, Migliaccio, I, Curigliano, G, Minisini, AM, Bonechi, M, Moretti, E, Risi, E, McCartney, A, et al
Breast cancer research : BCR. 2021;(1):38
Abstract
BACKGROUND Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are prognostic in patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC). However, no data exist about their use in patients treated with palbociclib. We analyzed the prognostic role of CTC counts in patients enrolled in the cTREnd study, a pre-planned translational sub-study of TREnd (NCT02549430), that randomized patients with ABC to palbociclib alone or palbociclib plus the endocrine therapy received in the prior line of treatment. Moreover, we evaluated RB1 gene expression on CTCs and explored its prognostic role within the cTREnd subpopulation. METHODS Forty-six patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative ABC were analyzed. Blood samples were collected before starting palbociclib treatment (timepoint T0), after the first cycle of treatment (timepoint T1), and at disease progression (timepoint T2). CTCs were isolated and counted by CellSearch® System using the CellSearch™Epithelial Cell kit. Progression-free survival (PFS), clinical benefit (CB) during study treatment, and time to treatment failure (TTF) after study treatment were correlated with CTC counts. Samples with ≥ 5 CTCs were sorted by DEPArray system® (DA). RB1 and GAPDH gene expression levels were measured by ddPCR. RESULTS All 46 patients were suitable for CTCs analysis. CTC count at T0 did not show significant prognostic value in terms of PFS and CB. Patients with at least one detectable CTC at T1 (n = 26) had a worse PFS than those with 0 CTCs (n = 16) (p = 0.02). At T1, patients with an increase of at least three CTCs showed reduced PFS compared to those with no increase (mPFS = 3 versus 9 months, (p = 0.004). Finally, patients with ≥ 5 CTCs at T2 (n = 6/23) who received chemotherapy as post-study treatment had a shorter TTF (p = 0.02). Gene expression data for RB1 were obtained from 19 patients. CTCs showed heterogeneous RB1 expression. Patients with detectable expression of RB1 at any timepoint showed better, but not statistically significant, outcomes than those with undetectable levels. CONCLUSIONS CTC count seems to be a promising modality in monitoring palbociclib response. Moreover, CTC count at the time of progression could predict clinical outcome post-palbociclib. RB1 expression analysis on CTCs is feasible and may provide additional prognostic information. Results should be interpreted with caution given the small studied sample size.
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Bipolar Distribution of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of Q203 Across Mycobacterial Species.
Wang, J, Jing, W, Shi, J, Huo, F, Shang, Y, Wang, F, Chu, N, Pang, Y
Microbial drug resistance (Larchmont, N.Y.). 2021;(8):1013-1017
Abstract
In this study, we conducted an experimental study to evaluate in vitro susceptibility of Q203 against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as the major pathogenic nontuberculous mycobacterial species. A total of 344 nonduplicate mycobacterium isolates were randomly selected for in vitro susceptibility testing. Overall, Q203 exhibited excellent activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR-) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) isolates, whereas it showed high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for all nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolates tested. The MIC50 and MIC90 values were both 0.008 mg/L for MDR- and XDR-TB isolates, respectively. In contrast, the MIC50 and MIC90 values of four NTM species were all >16 mg/L. QcrB of M. tuberculosis, a component of the CytBC1 complex of the respiratory chain targeted by Q230, shared 89.7% amino acid sequence identity with Mycobacterium avium QcrB, 87.9% with that of Mycobacterium intracellulare, and 84.0% with that of Mycobacterium fortuitum, whereas with low sequence identity observed in QcrB sequence of Mycobacterium abscessus. Notably, the QcrBs of M. avium and M. intracellulare contained a 10-amino acid insertion in the linker between the eighth and ninth helical region. In conclusion, our data demonstrate the bipolar distribution of Q203 MICs across mycobacterial species. Compared with the high MICs in four clinically relevant mycobacterial species, MDR- and XDR-TB isolates have extremely low MICs, indicating that Q203 is a particularly promising candidate for TB treatment. In addition, the 10-amino acid insertion within QcrBs of M. avium and M. intracellulare may be a plausible explanation for the natural resistance to Q203 among these two species.
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Evaluation of [18F]-JNJ-64326067-AAA tau PET tracer in humans.
Baker, SL, Provost, K, Thomas, W, Whitman, AJ, Janabi, M, Schmidt, ME, Timmers, M, Kolb, HC, Rabinovici, GD, Jagust, WJ
Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. 2021;(12):3302-3313
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Abstract
The [18F]-JNJ-64326067-AAA ([18F]-JNJ-067) tau tracer was evaluated in healthy older controls (HCs), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) participants. Seventeen subjects (4 HCs, 5 MCIs, 5 ADs, and 3 PSPs) received a [11C]-PIB amyloid PET scan, and a tau [18F]-JNJ-067 PET scan 0-90 minutes post-injection. Only MCIs and ADs were amyloid positive. The simplified reference tissue model, Logan graphical analysis distribution volume ratio, and SUVR were evaluated for quantification. The [18F]-JNJ-067 tau signal relative to the reference region continued to increase to 90 min, indicating the tracer had not reached steady state. There was no significant difference in any bilateral ROIs for MCIs or PSPs relative to HCs; AD participants showed elevated tracer relative to controls in most cortical ROIs (P < 0.05). Only AD participants showed elevated retention in the entorhinal cortex. There was off-target signal in the putamen, pallidum, thalamus, midbrain, superior cerebellar gray, and white matter. [18F]-JNJ-067 significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with Mini-Mental State Exam in entorhinal cortex and temporal meta regions. There is clear binding of [18F]-JNJ-067 in AD participants. Lack of binding in HCs, MCIs and PSPs suggests [18F]-JNJ-067 may not bind to low levels of AD-related tau or 4 R tau.
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Efficacy and safety of apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel versus paclitaxel/docetaxel in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis.
Li, Z, Liu, Z, Wu, Y, Li, H, Sun, Z, Han, C, Zhang, X, Zhang, J
Thoracic cancer. 2021;(21):2838-2848
Abstract
BACKGROUND To investigate the efficacy and safety of apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel versus paclitaxel/docetaxel in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through pooling of open published data. METHODS The electronic databases of Medline (1960-2021.5), Cochrane central register of controlled trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE(1980-2021.5) and Wan fang (1986-2021.5) were systematically searched by two reviewers to identify the relevant clinical trials related to the above subject. The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and drug relevant adverse reactions were pooled and demonstrated by risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The statistical heterogeneity across studies was assessed by I-square test. The publication bias was evaluated by Egger's line regression test and demonstrated by Begg's funnel plot. RESULTS Eleven prospective studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that the ORR (RR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.32-2.00, p < 0.05) and DCR (RR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.18-1.41, p < 0.05) of apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel was significantly higher than that of the paclitaxel/docetaxel group for advanced NSCLC, respectively. The drug-related adverse reaction was not statistically different between apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel with regard to the hand-foot syndrome, gastrointestinal reaction, thrombocytopenia, anemia and leukocytopenia (pall > 0.05) except for hypertension (RR = 3.60, 95% CI: 1.26-10.31, p < 0.05). Subgroup analysis also indicated that the hypertension and hand-foot syndrome in apatinib + paclitaxel/docetaxel were higher than that of the paclitaxel/docetaxel group with a statistical difference (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Apatinib alone or apatinib plus paclitaxel/docetaxel was superior to paclitaxel/docetaxel for ORR and DCR. However, combined treatment with apatinib appears to increase the risk of a patient developing an adverse reaction, especially hypertension and hand-foot syndrome.
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High Cytotoxic Effect by Combining Copper-64 with a NOTA-Terpyridine Platinum Conjugate.
Khosravifarsani, M, Ait-Mohand, S, Paquette, B, Sanche, L, Guérin, B
Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2021;(10):6765-6776
Abstract
Terpyridine platinum (TP)-based chemotherapeutic agents target three-dimensional structures on DNA known as G-quadruplexes. We report the rational design and synthesis of a TP conjugate combined with copper-64 (64Cu), the decay characteristics of which include emission of β- and Auger electrons for radiotherapy and β+ particles for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. The present experimental studies show that the novel [64Cu]Cu-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid (NOTA)-TP is stable, permitting selective killing of cancer cells. The antitumor activity of [64Cu]Cu-NOTA-TP at high apparent molar activity is in the low nanomolar range and 27,800-fold greater than that of natCu-NOTA-TP at 24 h post treatment. These results suggest that this combination of a cytotoxic TP agent with 64Cu has considerable potential for cancer treatment and PET imaging.
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A Randomized Phase II Study of Androgen Deprivation Therapy with or without Palbociclib in RB-positive Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer.
Palmbos, PL, Daignault-Newton, S, Tomlins, SA, Agarwal, N, Twardowski, P, Morgans, AK, Kelly, WK, Arora, VK, Antonarakis, ES, Siddiqui, J, et al
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2021;(11):3017-3027
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Abstract
PURPOSE Palbociclib, a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor, blocks proliferation in a RB and cyclin D-dependent manner in preclinical prostate cancer models. We hypothesized that cotargeting androgen receptor and cell cycle with palbociclib would improve outcomes in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 60 patients with RB-intact mHSPC were randomized (1:2) to Arm 1: androgen deprivation (AD) or Arm 2: AD + palbociclib. Primary endpoint was PSA response rate (RR) after 28 weeks of therapy. Secondary endpoints included safety, PSA, and clinical progression-free survival (PFS), as well as PSA and radiographic RR. Tumors underwent exome sequencing when available. Circulating tumor cells (CTC) were enumerated at various timepoints. RESULTS A total of 72 patients with mHSPC underwent metastatic disease biopsy and 64 had adequate tissue for RB assessment. A total of 62 of 64 (97%) retained RB expression. A total of 60 patients initiated therapy (Arm 1: 20; Arm 2: 40). Neutropenia was the most common grade 3/4 adverse event in Arm 2. Eighty percent of patients (Arm 1: 16/20, Arm 2: 32/40; P = 0.87) met primary PSA endpoint ≤4 ng/mL at 28 weeks. PSA undetectable rate at 28 weeks was 50% and 43% in Arms 1 and 2, respectively (P = 0.5). Radiographic RR was 89% in both arms. Twelve-month biochemical PFS was 69% and 74% in Arms 1 and 2, respectively (P = 0.72). TP53 and PIK3 pathway mutations, 8q gains, and pretreatment CTCs were associated with reduced PSA PFS. CONCLUSIONS Palbociclib did not impact outcome in RB-intact mHSPC. Pretreatment CTC, TP53 and PIK3 pathway mutations, and 8q gain were associated with poor outcome.