OncoSNIPE® Study Protocol, a study of molecular profiles associated with development of resistance in solid cancer patients.

Background: Nowadays, evaluation of the efficacy and the duration of treatment, in context of monitoring patients with solid tumors, is based on the RECIST methodology. With these criteria, resistance and/or insensitivity are defined as tumor non-response which does not allow a good understanding of the diversity of the underlying mechanisms. The main objective of the OncoSNIPE® collaborative clinical research program is to identify early and late markers of resistance to treatment.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among the staff and patients of a French cancer centre after first lockdown: The canSEROcov study.

Background: In view of the potential gravity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection for patients with cancer, epidemiological data are vital to assess virus circulation among patients and staff of cancer centres. We performed a prospective study to investigate seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among staff and patients with cancer at a large cancer centre, at the end of the period of first national lockdown in France and to determine factors associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: After the first lockdown, all medical and non-medical staff, as well as all patients attending the medical oncology department were invited to undergo serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 between 11 May and 30 June 2020.

5-FU therapeutic drug monitoring as a valuable option to reduce toxicity in patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

Aims: 5-FU is used as the main backbone of chemotherapy regimens for patients with colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancers. Despite development of new strategies that allowed enhancing clinical effectiveness and tolerability of 5-FU, 10-30% of patients treated with 5-FU-based regimens experience severe treatment-related toxicity. In our study, we evaluated the 5-FU exposure-toxicity relationship and investigated the efficacy of PK-guided dosing in increasing tolerability of 5-FU-based chemotherapy.

TSPO ligands stimulate ZnPPIX transport and ROS accumulation leading to the inhibition of P. falciparum growth in human blood.

After invading red blood cells (RBCs), Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) can export its own proteins to the host membrane and activate endogenous channels that are present in the membrane of RBCs. This transport pathway involves the Voltage Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC). Moreover, ligands of the VDAC partner TranSlocator PrOtein (TSPO) were demonstrated to inhibit the growth of the parasite.

Assessment of the interest of the geriatric oncology consultation among French general practitioners.

Objective: We assessed the interest of the geriatric oncology (GO) consultation (GOC) among general practitioners (GPs).

Materials And Methods: We conducted a survey among GPs whose patients had had a GOC in 2012. A questionnaire was sent to GPs.

Mapping of failures after radiochemotherapy in patients with non-metastatic esophageal cancer: A posteriori analysis of the dose distribution in the sites of loco-regional relapse.

Background And Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the patterns of loco-regional failure (LRF) after exclusive chemoradiotherapy (eCRT) for esophageal cancer with respect to planned dose and/or the incidental (unplanned) dose outside target volumes.

Materials And Methods: Co-image registration of CT or (18)F-FDG PET-CT at the time of failure (tf) and at the time of CRT (t0) was performed in 34 patients with LRF. Dosimetric parameters with regard to local failure (LF), nodal failure (NF) and involved nodal stations (NS) were derived.

FOLFIRINOX for locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma: results of an AGEO multicenter prospective observational cohort.

Background: First-line treatment with FOLFIRINOX significantly increases overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) compared with gemcitabine. The aim of this observational cohort was to evaluate the tolerability and efficacy of this regimen in unresectable locally advanced PA (LAPA).

Patients And Methods: From February 2010 to February 2012, all consecutive patients from 11 French centers treated by FOLFIRINOX for a histologically proven LAPA were prospectively enrolled.

Pattern of occult nodal relapse diagnosed with (18)F-fluoro-choline PET/CT in prostate cancer patients with biochemical failure after prostate-only radiotherapy.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to describe the pattern of nodal relapse with (18)F-fluoro-choline (FCH) Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography (PET/CT) in prostate cancer patients after radiotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-three patients had a FCH PET/CT at time of biochemical failure. Of 65 patients with positive findings, 33 had positive nodes.

Stereotactic Body radiation therapy for liver tumors with or without rotational intensity modulated radiation therapy.

Background: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for primary liver lesions and liver metastases treated with linear accelerators with or without rotational Intensity Modulated RadioTherapy (IMRT).

Methods: Patients with either hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma or metastatic liver lesions who had one to three lesions treated with SBRT in a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Tumor response was evaluated according to EASL criteria 3 months after SBRT completion using MRI and/or abdominal CT scan.

Impact on overall survival of radioactive iodine in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

Context: American Thyroid Association and European Thyroid Association guidelines cannot recommend for or against radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation after surgery in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess the survival benefit of RAI for these patients.

Design: We identified 1298 DTC patients at low risk treated between 1975 and 2005.

Erythrocyte peripheral type benzodiazepine receptor/voltage-dependent anion channels are upregulated by Plasmodium falciparum.

Plasmodium falciparum relies on anion channels activated in the erythrocyte membrane to ensure the transport of nutrients and waste products necessary for its replication and survival after invasion. The molecular identity of these anion channels, termed "new permeability pathways" is unknown, but their currents correspond to up-regulation of endogenous channels displaying complex gating and kinetics similar to those of ligand-gated channels. This report demonstrates that a peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor, including the voltage dependent anion channel, is present in the human erythrocyte membrane.

Ion channels in human red blood cell membrane: actors or relics?

During the past three decades, electrophysiological studies revealed that human red blood cell membrane is endowed with a large variety of ion channels. The physiological role of these channels, if any, remains unclear; they do not participate in red cell homeostasis which is rather based on the almost total absence of cationic permeability and minute anionic conductance. They seem to be inactive in the "resting cell.

Anion conductance of the human red cell is carried by a maxi-anion channel.

Historically, the anion transport through the human red cell membrane has been perceived to be mediated by Band 3, in the two-component concept with the large electroneutral anion exchange accompanied by the conductance proper, which dominated the total membrane conductance. The status of anion channels proper has never been clarified, and the informations obtained by different groups of electrophysiologists are rather badly matched. This study, using the cell-attached configuration of the patch-clamp technique, rationalizes and explains earlier confusing results by demonstrating that the diversity of anionic channel activities recorded in human erythrocytes corresponds to different kinetic modalities of a unique type of maxi-anion channel with multiple conductance levels and probably multiple gating properties and pharmacology, depending on conditions.

Local membrane deformations activate Ca2+-dependent K+ and anionic currents in intact human red blood cells.

Background: The mechanical, rheological and shape properties of red blood cells are determined by their cortical cytoskeleton, evolutionarily optimized to provide the dynamic deformability required for flow through capillaries much narrower than the cell's diameter. The shear stress induced by such flow, as well as the local membrane deformations generated in certain pathological conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, have been shown to increase membrane permeability, based largely on experimentation with red cell suspensions. We attempted here the first measurements of membrane currents activated by a local and controlled membrane deformation in single red blood cells under on-cell patch clamp to define the nature of the stretch-activated currents.

Effects of elevated intracellular calcium on the osmotic fragility of human red blood cells.

High throughput methodologies that measure the distribution of osmotic fragilities in red blood cell populations have enabled the investigation of dynamic changes in red cell homeostasis and membrane permeability in health and disease. The common assumption in the interpretation of dynamic changes in osmotic fragility curves is that left or right shifts reflect a decreased or increased hydration state of the cells, respectively, allowing direct inferences on membrane transport from osmotic fragility measurements. However, the assumed correlation between shifts in osmotic fragility and hydration state has never been directly explored, and may prove invalid in certain conditions.

Characterization of three human sec14p-like proteins: alpha-tocopherol transport activity and expression pattern in tissues.

Three closely related human sec14p-like proteins (hTAP1, 2, and 3, or SEC14L2, 3, and 4, respectively) have been described. These proteins may participate in intracellular lipid transport (phospholipids, squalene, tocopherol analogues and derivatives) or influence regulatory lipid-dependent events. Here, we show that the three recombinant hTAP proteins associate with the Golgi apparatus and mitochondria, and enhance the in vitro transport of radioactively labeled alpha-tocopherol to mitochondria in the same order of magnitude as the human alpha-tocopherol transfer protein (alpha-TTP).

Sea urchin embryo as a model for analysis of the signaling pathways linking DNA damage checkpoint, DNA repair and apoptosis.

DNA integrity checkpoint control was studied in the sea urchin early embryo. Treatment of the embryos with genotoxic agents such as methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) or bleomycin induced the activation of a cell cycle checkpoint as evidenced by the occurrence of a delay or an arrest in the division of the embryos and an inhibition of CDK1/cyclin B activating dephosphorylation. The genotoxic treatment was shown to induce DNA damage that depended on the genotoxic concentration and was correlated with the observed cell cycle delay.

Cytotoxicity of diatom-derived oxylipins in organisms belonging to different phyla.

The cytotoxicity of several saturated and unsaturated marine diatom-derived aldehydes and an oxo-acid have been screened in vitro and in vivo against different organisms, such as bacteria, algae, fungi, echinoderms, molluscs and crustaceans. Conjugated unsaturated aldehydes like 2E,4E-decadienal, 2E,4E-octadienal, 5E,7E-9-oxo-nonadienoic acid and 2E-decenal were active against bacteria and fungi and showed weak algicidal activity. By contrast, the saturated aldehyde decanal and the non-conjugated aldehyde 4Z-decenal had either low or no significant biological activity.

Evidence for a direct link between stress and immunity in the mollusc Haliotis tuberculata.

Stress is thought to cause increased disease outbreaks and mortality in a number of invertebrates but currently very little information is available on mechanisms linking physiological states of stress and reduced disease resistance in these organisms. In the present study, we examined the possibility that stress alters immune functions, the principal line of defense against pathogens, in a molluscan model, the abalone Haliotis turbeculata. Immune parameters were investigated in abalones subjected to a 15 min mechanical disturbance which, as indicated by noradrenaline and dopamine hemolymphatic levels, resulted in a transient state of physiological stress.

P35-sensitive caspases, MAP kinases and Rho modulate beta-adrenergic induction of apoptosis in mollusc immune cells.

Apoptosis is an important mechanism for the preservation of a healthy and balanced immune system in vertebrates. Little is known, however, about how apoptotic processes regulate invertebrate immune defenses. In the present study, we show that noradrenaline, a catecholamine produced by the neuroendocrine system and by immune cells in molluscs, is able to induce apoptosis of oyster Crassostrea gigas hemocytes.

Stress-induced immune changes in the oyster Crassostrea gigas.

Information concerning the effect of stress on invertebrate immune functions are scarce. The present study investigated the consequences of a 15-min mechanical disturbance on immune parameters in oysters Crassostrea gigas. As indicated by noradrenaline and dopamine measurements, the mechanical disturbance caused a transient state of stress in oysters.

Noradrenaline and alpha-adrenergic signaling induce the hsp70 gene promoter in mollusc immune cells.

Expression of heat shock proteins (hsp) is a homeostatic mechanism induced in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells in response to metabolic and environmental insults. A growing body of evidence suggests that in mammals, the hsp response is integrated with physiological responses through neuroendocrine signaling. In the present study, we have examined the effect of noradrenaline (NA) on the hsp70 response in mollusc immune cells.

A Vibrio splendidus strain is associated with summer mortality of juvenile oysters Crassostrea gigas in the Bay of Morlaix (North Brittany, France).

Juvenile oysters Crassostrea gigas cultured in the Bay of Morlaix (France) have suffered unexplained summer mortalities for over a decade. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that a bacterial pathogen could be responsible for this phenomenon. A first attempt failed to isolate a bacterial pathogen from moribund or weak oysters.

Noradrenaline modulates oyster hemocyte phagocytosis via a beta-adrenergic receptor-cAMP signaling pathway.

Catecholamines (CA) regulate several physiological processes in molluscs. Experiments have been conducted to determine the effects of noradrenaline (NA), the principal CA circulating in bivalve hemolymph, on oyster hemocytephagocytosis. Results show that NA had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on phagocytosis at physiological concentrations of 0.

New evidence of the copepod maternal food effects on reproduction.

Failure of female reproductive capacity in the copepod Calanus helgolandicus was related to number and combination of the phytoplankton species in the diets. The maternal food effects were detectable at different levels: fecundity, oogenesis and hatching. Fecundity and hatching were normal with two single (ca.