Principles of good practice for translation of electronic clinical outcome assessments.

Background: While many publications have outlined good practice recommendations for translation and electronic implementation of clinical outcome assessments (COAs), they are often treated as independent processes. The scientific literature currently lacks recommended guidelines on the process of concurrent translation, cultural adaptation and electronic implementation of COAs for clinical research. In response to this need, the ISOQOL Translation and Cultural Adaptation Special Interest Group (TCA-SIG) sought to identify actionable steps for addressing the scientific and operational intricacies in this concurrent process.

Injectable Biocompatible Zeolite Nanocrystals for Enhanced Tumor Oxygenation and MRI Imaging.

Tumor hypoxia significantly limits the effectiveness of radiotherapy, as oxygen is crucial for producing cancer-killing reactive oxygen species. To address this, we synthesized nanosized faujasite (PBS-Na-FAU) zeolite crystals using clinical-grade phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as the solvent, ensuring preserved crystallinity, microporous volume, and colloidal stability. The zeolite nanocrystals showed enhanced safety profiles and , and studies showed no apparent toxicity to animals.

Polymeric nanocapsules loaded with poly(I:C) and resiquimod to reprogram tumor-associated macrophages for the treatment of solid tumors.

Background: In the tumor microenvironment (TME), tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a key immunosuppressive role that limits the ability of the immune system to fight cancer. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) ligands, such as poly(I:C) or resiquimod (R848) are able to reprogram TAMs towards M1-like antitumor effector cells. The objective of our work has been to develop and evaluate polymeric nanocapsules (NCs) loaded with poly(I:C)+R848, to improve drug stability and systemic toxicity, and evaluate their targeting and therapeutic activity towards TAMs in the TME of solid tumors.

An in vitro model for osteoarthritis using long-cultured inflammatory human macrophages repeatedly stimulated with TLR agonists.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by an abundance of inflammatory M1-like macrophages damaging local tissues. The search for new potential drugs for OA suffers from the lack of appropriate methods of long-lasting inflammation. Here we developed and characterized an in vitro protocol of long-lasting culture of primary human monocyte-derived macrophages differentiated with a combination of M-CSF+GM-CSF that optimally supported long-cultured macrophages (LC-Mϕs) for up to 15 days, unlike their single use.

Important functional role of the protein osteopontin in the progression of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Background: Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive cancer of the mesothelial lining associated with exposure to airborne non-degradable asbestos fibers. Its poor response to currently available treatments prompted us to explore the biological mechanisms involved in its progression. MPM is characterized by chronic non-resolving inflammation; in this study we investigated which inflammatory mediators are mostly expressed in biological tumor samples from MPM patients, with a focus on inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and matrix components.