Background And Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the plan quality of our deep learning-based automated treatment planning method for robustly optimized intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plans in patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC). The assessment was conducted through a retrospective and prospective study, blindly comparing manual plans with deep learning plans.
Materials And Methods: A set of 95 OPC patients was split into training (n = 60), configuration (n = 10), test retrospective study (n = 10), and test prospective study (n = 15).
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate an automated treatment planning method for robustly optimized intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plans for oropharyngeal carcinoma patients and to compare the results with manually optimized robust IMPT plans.
Methods And Materials: An atlas regression forest-based machine learning (ML) model for dose prediction was trained on CT scans, contours, and dose distributions of robust IMPT plans of 88 oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients. The ML model was combined with a robust voxel and dose volume histogram-based dose mimicking optimization algorithm for 21 perturbed scenarios to generate a machine-deliverable plan from the predicted dose distribution.
Objectives: In breast diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) protocol standardization, it is recently shown that no breast tumor tissue selection (BTTS) method outperformed the others. The purpose of this study is to analyze the feasibility of three fixed-size breast tumor tissue selection (BTTS) methods based on the reproducibility, accuracy and time-measurement in comparison to the largest oval and manual delineation in breast diffusion weighted imaging data.
Methods: This study is performed with a consecutive dataset of 116 breast lesions (98 malignant) of at least 1.
Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive serosal tumor associated with asbestos exposure. We previously demonstrated that mesothelial cells differentiate into cells of different mesenchymal lineages and hypothesize that osseous tissue observed in a subset of MM patients is due to local differentiation of MM cells. In this study, the capacity of human and mouse MM cells to differentiate into osteoblast-like cells was determined in vitro using a functional model of bone nodule formation and in vivo using an established model of MM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the clear paradoxes in tumor immunology is the fact that cross-presentation of cell-associated tumor antigens to CD8(+) T cells is efficient, yet CTL generation is weak, and tumors continue to grow. We examined, for the first time whether this may be due to alterations in the phenotype or function of cross-presenting DC using a solid tumor model expressing a membrane bound neo-antigen (hemagglutinin, HA). Tumor antigen was constitutively cross-presented in the tumor-draining LN throughout tumor progression by CD11c(+) DC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive, uniformly fatal tumor. Serum markers would be useful for the diagnosis of this disease. One potential marker is mesothelin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough it has been clear for >40 years that mesothelioma can be caused by asbestos, not all patients with this disease have a history of asbestos exposure. Other factors, including non-asbestos fibers and ionizing radiation, are known to cause malignant transformation of mesothelial cells. In addition, it is likely that genetics will play some role in susceptibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Treatments evaluated for malignant mesothelioma (MM), including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are of limited efficacy. Immunotherapy has shown some promise in MM but optimal vaccination conditions are yet to be defined. Autologous tumour vaccines have the advantage of containing both 'self'- and 'neo'-tumor antigens but they are not commonly used in any cancer, and never in MM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResection alone is rarely curative for advanced tumors, but the outcome generally improves with adjuvant therapy. We have previously shown that a combination of traditional chemotherapy (gemcitabine) and immunotherapy (anti-CD40/FGK-45) without surgery is synergistic and can lead to long-term cure when applied to small tumors. Such cured animals have immunologic memory and are protected from rechallenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors have previously shown that cytokines delivered directly into malignant mesothelioma (MM) tumors can retard tumor growth and mediate tumor regression under certain conditions. In this report the authors compared the efficacy of serial intratumoral injections of three cytokines, GM-CSF, IL-12, and IL-2, to their sustained release using a single injection in a poly-N-acetyl glucosamine gel. IL-2 combined with the polymer gel gave optimal antitumor results when MM tumors were accessible as either subcutaneous deposits or as masses spread throughout the peritoneal cavity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDendritic cell (DC) therapies using DC presenting tumor antigen/s can induce CD8(+) CTL that mediate tumor eradication, nonetheless many patients remain unresponsive. Thus, cytokine gene vectors applied to DC may amplify these responses. Herein, we examined the responses that monocyte-derived DC (at different maturational stages) make when infected with a vaccinia virus-interleukin-2 (VV-IL-2) vector in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalignant mesothelioma (MM) is a solid tumor largely unresponsive to conventional therapies. Immunological gene therapy shows promise in murine models and human clinical trials; however, the role of surgery in combination with gene therapy has not been widely studied. The aim of this study was to determine if debulking surgery improved the effectiveness of gene therapy in a murine MM model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To demonstrate the value of environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) when used in combination with immunogold/silver enhancement methods as a valuable tool in ocular research, and to determine the phenotype of macrophages associated with the tunica vasculosa lentis while maintaining a topographical view of the lens surface.
Methods: Prenatal and postnatal rat eyes were investigated by conventional scanning electron microscopy and ESEM. In the latter case tissues were prestained with a panel of antileucocyte monoclonal antibodies and visualised with colloidal gold conjugated secondary antibody followed by silver enhancement.
DNA fragmentation in murine monocytes and freshly harvested resident peritoneal macrophages (RPM) was assessed. Similar proportions of fragmented DNA were present in both cell types indicating that apoptosis is a significant occurrence in these cells and may provide a mechanism for controlling the numbers of mononuclear phagocytes in the tissues that house them. Culturing both of these cell types at 41 degrees C for 5 hr revealed a significant increase in the proportion of fragmented DNA only in cultures containing RPM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring short term culture of murine resident peritoneal macrophages, increasing the temperature from 37 to 39 degrees C resulted in an increased activity of several surface receptors (FcR and receptor for gluteraldehyde-fixed sheep red blood cells), enhanced phagocytosis of yeast particles, improved spreading, and an accelerated reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium. At 41 degrees C, however, significant reduction of several functional properties (endocytosis of colloidal gold and horseradish peroxidase, phagocytosis of yeast particles) and a decrease in the reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium, the incorporation of tritiated uridine, and Fc and C3b surface receptor activity were observed. In addition morphological evidence of apoptosis, observed in a small number of cells cultured at 39 degrees C and in the majority of macrophages maintained at 41 degrees C, was confirmed by DNA electrophoresis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural and functional changes were studied in murine peritoneal macrophages infected with murine cytomegalovirus by using centrifugal enhancement to achieve a high-level (greater than 90%) pulsed infection. During 3 d of culture the infected cells became enlarged and rounded with smooth surface contours. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated various stages of viral maturation in the nucleus and cytoplasm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferences were detected between peritoneal macrophages (both resident and elicited) from mice on a low protein diet and from normal animals. The concentration of resident peritoneal macrophages was lower in animals on low protein diets than in normal controls. Although total protein (and therefore cell mass) of resident macrophages from malnourished mice was increased, their contents of thiamine pyrophosphatase, succinate dehydrogenase, and non-specific esterase were disproportionately reduced.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo investigate the role of extracellular calcium in bupivacaine-induced muscle injury, the effects of the drug on creatine kinase (CK) release and muscle ultrastructure were studied in the isolated rat soleus in the presence and absence of calcium and of the Ca-channel blockers verapamil and nifedipine. Control muscles maintained a constant CK release rate and normal morphology for at least 3 hours. CK release rates increased markedly after exposure to 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMurine multinucleate giant cells and mononuclear phagocytes were examined with various quantitative cytochemical and autoradiographic techniques. No evidence was found that multinucleate giant cells were metabolically effete, in fact they compared favourably with mononuclear phagocytes. In addition, rat multinucleate giant cells consistently expressed surface Ia antigens and to a lesser degree fibronectin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe kinetics of macrophage infiltration into a transplantable rat fibrosarcoma were investigated. Monocytes obtained from normal rats and labelled with 51Cr were injected into normal or fibrosarcoma-bearing rats which had previously been implanted with cotton pellets impregnated with BCG, B. pertussis carrageenan or levan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComputerised scanning cytophotometry was used to evaluate the phagocytic and pinocytic performance of single resident and exudate macrophages. The results indicate that both receptor mediated phagocytosis and fluid phase pinocytosis are more efficiently performed by activated than resident murine peritoneal macrophages. Exudate macrophages phagocytise at approximately twice the rate of resident macrophages while pinocytosis is five times more prominent in exudate than in resident macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantitative cytochemical investigations have detected individual variations between murine peritoneal macrophages and have shown distinct difference between resident and exudate populations. The latter generally contain greater amounts of protein, RNA, acid phosphatase, succinate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and NADH dehydrogenase. On te other hand, no differences were detected in the cellular content of DNA, not-specific esterase, and NADPH dehydrogenase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytogenetic analysis and Feulgen--DNA cytophotometry were performed on murine resident and exudate peritoneal macrophages. A large proportion (14--36 per cent.) of metaphase profiles from cell populations rich in resident macrophages displayed chromosomal aberrations compared with 0--8 per cent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Tissue Kinet
January 1977
The genetic resistance to a parental bone marrow transplant as demonstrated, when transplantation was performed early after irradiation, failed to occur if the interval between irradiation and transplantation was increased to 4 days. A similar radiation induced weakening of genetic resistance to a parental bone marrow graft in spleen and bone marrow could be demonstrated in mice, which had been irradiated with a sublethal dose at 7 days prior to the lethal irradiation and transplantation. The pre-irradiation of the recipient with a sublethal dose induced an enhancement of the growth in spleen and bone marrow of isogeneic transplanted CFU.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF