Ultrasensitive detection of intact SARS-CoV-2 particles in complex biofluids using microfluidic affinity capture.

Measuring virus in biofluids is complicated by confounding biomolecules coisolated with viral nucleic acids. To address this, we developed an affinity-based microfluidic device for specific capture of intact severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Our approach used an engineered angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 to capture intact virus from plasma and other complex biofluids.

The isolation of VCAM-1 endothelial cell-derived extracellular vesicles using microfluidics.

Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) endothelial cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EC-EVs) are augmented in cardiovascular disease, where they can signal the deployment of immune cells from the splenic reserve. Endothelial cells in culture activated with pro-inflammatory tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-a) also release VCAM-1 EC-EVs. However, isolating VCAM-1 EC-EVs from conditioned cell culture media for subsequent in-depth analysis remains challenging.

Aryl-diazonium salts offer a rapid and cost-efficient method to functionalize plastic microfluidic devices for increased immunoaffinity capture.

Microfluidic devices have been used for decades to isolate cells, viruses, and proteins using on-chip immunoaffinity capture using biotinylated antibodies, proteins, or aptamers. To accomplish this, the inner surface is modified to present binding moieties for the desired analyte. While this approach has been successful in research settings, it is challenging to scale many surface modification strategies.

Exosomes, microvesicles, and other extracellular vesicles-a Keystone Symposia report.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small, lipid-bilayer-bound particles released by cells that can contain important bioactive molecules, including lipids, RNAs, and proteins. Once released in the extracellular environment, EVs can act as messengers locally as well as to distant tissues to coordinate tissue homeostasis and systemic responses. There is a growing interest in not only understanding the physiology of EVs as signaling particles but also leveraging them as minimally invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers (e.

Correction: Phase II Study Evaluating 2 Dosing Schedules of Oral Foretinib (GSK1363089), cMET/VEGFR2 Inhibitor, in Patients with Metastatic Gastric Cancer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Satellite repeat RNA expression in epithelial ovarian cancer associates with a tumor-immunosuppressive phenotype.

Aberrant expression of viral-like repeat elements is a common feature of epithelial cancers, and the substantial diversity of repeat species provides a distinct view of the cancer transcriptome. Repeatome profiling across ovarian, pancreatic, and colorectal cell lines identifies distinct clustering independent of tissue origin that is seen with coding gene analysis. Deeper analysis of ovarian cancer cell lines demonstrated that human satellite II (HSATII) satellite repeat expression was highly associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and anticorrelated with IFN-response genes indicative of a more aggressive phenotype.

Correction: Phase II Study Evaluating 2 Dosing Schedules of Oral Foretinib (GSK1363089), cMET/VEGFR2 Inhibitor, in Patients with Metastatic Gastric Cancer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Tumor Extracellular Vesicles Regulate Macrophage-Driven Metastasis through CCL5.

Purpose: To understand how tumor cells alter macrophage biology once they are recruited to triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors by CCL5.

Method: Mouse bone marrow derived macrophage (BMDMs) were isolated and treated with recombinant CCL5 protein alone, with tumor cell conditioned media, or with tumor extracellular vesicles (EVs). Media from these tumor EV-educated macrophages (TEMs) was then used to determine how these macrophages affect TNBC invasion.

Isolation of intact extracellular vesicles from cryopreserved samples.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as promising candidates in biomarker discovery and diagnostics. Protected by the lipid bilayer, the molecular content of EVs in diverse biofluids are protected from RNases and proteases in the surrounding environment that may rapidly degrade targets of interests. Nonetheless, cryopreservation of EV-containing samples to -80°C may expose the lipid bilayer to physical and biological stressors which may result in cryoinjury and contribute to changes in EV yield, function, or molecular cargo.

Compression treatment in acute symptomatic proximal deep venous thrombosis - Results of a worldwide survey.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to illustrate how compression is performed worldwide in proximal DVT and if compression management has changed recently.

Methods: A global online survey, consisting of 36 questions, was used. The survey was solicited from membership lists of Union Internationale de Phlébologie (UIP) membership societies.

Ultrahigh-throughput magnetic sorting of large blood volumes for epitope-agnostic isolation of circulating tumor cells.

Circulating tumor cell (CTC)-based liquid biopsies provide unique opportunities for cancer diagnostics, treatment selection, and response monitoring, but even with advanced microfluidic technologies for rare cell detection the very low number of CTCs in standard 10-mL peripheral blood samples limits their clinical utility. Clinical leukapheresis can concentrate mononuclear cells from almost the entire blood volume, but such large numbers and concentrations of cells are incompatible with current rare cell enrichment technologies. Here, we describe an ultrahigh-throughput microfluidic chip, CTC-iChip, that rapidly sorts through an entire leukapheresis product of over 6 billion nucleated cells, increasing CTC isolation capacity by two orders of magnitude (86% recovery with 10 enrichment).

Effective breast cancer combination therapy targeting BACH1 and mitochondrial metabolism.

Mitochondrial metabolism is an attractive target for cancer therapy. Reprogramming metabolic pathways could improve the ability of metabolic inhibitors to suppress cancers with limited treatment options, such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Here we show that BTB and CNC homology1 (BACH1), a haem-binding transcription factor that is increased in expression in tumours from patients with TNBC, targets mitochondrial metabolism.

Gene expression in local stroma reflects breast tumor states and predicts patient outcome.

The surrounding microenvironment has been implicated in the progression of breast tumors to metastasis. However, the degree to which metastatic breast tumors locally reprogram stromal cells as they disrupt tissue boundaries is not well understood. We used species-specific RNA sequencing in a mouse xenograft model to determine how the metastasis suppressor RKIP influences transcription in a panel of paired tumor and stroma tissues.

Tumor and Plasma Met Levels in Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Objective: To measure Met protein content in prostate biopsies guided by fused magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging, and to measure soluble Met (sMet) protein concentration in plasma samples from patients presenting evidence of prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: 345 patients had plasma samples drawn prior to image-guided biopsy of the prostate. Of these, 32% had benign biopsies.

Metastasis Suppressors Regulate the Tumor Microenvironment by Blocking Recruitment of Prometastatic Tumor-Associated Macrophages.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients have the highest risk of recurrence and metastasis. Because they cannot be treated with targeted therapies, and many do not respond to chemotherapy, they represent a clinically underserved group. TNBC is characterized by reduced expression of metastasis suppressors such as Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP), which inhibits tumor invasiveness.

Expression array analysis of the hepatocyte growth factor invasive program.

Signaling by human hepatocyte growth factor (hHGF) via its cell surface receptor (MET) drives mitogenesis, motogenesis and morphogenesis in a wide spectrum of target cell types and embryologic, developmental and homeostatic contexts. Oncogenic pathway activation also contributes to tumorigenesis and cancer progression, including tumor angiogenesis and metastasis, in several prevalent malignancies. The HGF gene encodes full-length hHGF and two truncated isoforms known as NK1 and NK2.

Phase II study evaluating 2 dosing schedules of oral foretinib (GSK1363089), cMET/VEGFR2 inhibitor, in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

Purpose: The receptors for hepatocyte and vascular endothelial cell growth factors (MET and VEGFR2, respectively) are critical oncogenic mediators in gastric adenocarcinoma. The purpose is to examine the safety and efficacy of foretinib, an oral multikinase inhibitor targeting MET, RON, AXL, TIE-2, and VEGFR2 receptors, for the treatment of metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma.

Patients And Methods: Foretinib safety and tolerability, and objective response rate (ORR) were evaluated in patients using intermittent (240 mg/day, for 5 days every 2 weeks) or daily (80 mg/day) dosing schedules.

Inhibition of hypoxia inducible factor-2 transcription: isolation of active modulators from marine sponges.

Renal or kidney cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancer cases reported each year in the U.S. Molecular signatures that define the cancer, such as the loss of functional VHL, are found in both sporadic and familial cases of cancer.

Targeted disruption of heparan sulfate interaction with hepatocyte and vascular endothelial growth factors blocks normal and oncogenic signaling.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) regulate normal development and homeostasis and drive disease progression in many forms of cancer. Both proteins signal by binding to receptor tyrosine kinases and heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans on target cell surfaces. Basic residues comprising the primary HS binding sites on HGF and VEGF provide similar surface charge distributions without underlying structural similarity.

A new hypoxia inducible factor-2 inhibitory pyrrolinone alkaloid from roots and stems of Piper sarmentosum.

A new trimethoxycinnamoyl-2-pyrrolinone alkaloid, langkamide (1), along with the known compounds piplartine (2) and 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid (3) were isolated from the roots and stems of the shrub Piper sarmentosum ROXB. The structures were established by spectroscopic analyses and comparison of their spectral data with values reported in the literature. The compounds were tested for their ability to modulate hypoxia inducible factor-2 (HIF-2) transcription activity and all three showed HIF-2 inhibitory activity with EC₅₀ values of 14.

Identification and evaluation of soft coral diterpenes as inhibitors of HIF-2α induced gene expression.

Kidney cancer was the cause of almost 13,000 deaths in the United States in 2009. Loss of function of the VHL tumor suppressor gene (von Hippel-Lindau disease) dramatically increases the risk of developing clear cell kidney cancer. The VHL protein is best understood for its regulation of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF).

The Hepatocyte Growth Factor Receptor: Structure, Function and Pharmacological Targeting in Cancer.

Under normal conditions, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-induced activation of its cell surface receptor, the Met tyrosine kinase (TK), is tightly regulated by paracrine ligand delivery, ligand activation at the target cell surface, and ligand activated receptor internalization and degradation. Despite these controls, HGF/Met signaling contributes to oncogenesis and tumor progression in several cancers and promotes aggressive cellular invasiveness that is strongly linked to tumor metastasis. The prevalence of HGF/Met pathway activation in human malignancies has driven rapid growth in cancer drug development programs.

Targeting the HGF/Met signalling pathway in cancer.

Under normal conditions, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-induced Met tyrosine kinase (TK) activation is tightly regulated by paracrine ligand delivery, ligand activation at the target cell surface, and ligand activated receptor internalisation and degradation. Despite these controls, HGF/Met signalling contributes to oncogenesis and tumour progression in several cancers and promotes aggressive cellular invasiveness that is strongly linked to tumour metastasis. The prevalence of HGF/Met pathway activation in human malignancies has driven rapid growth in cancer drug development programmes.

JP-8 jet fuel exposure induces inflammatory cytokines in rat skin.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has identified that one of the main complaints of personnel exposed to JP-8 jet fuel is irritant dermatitis. The purpose of this investigation is to describe the JP-8-induced inflammatory cytokine response in skin. JP-8 jet fuel or acetone control (300 microl) was applied to the denuded skin of rats once a day for 7 days.