Epigenetic Activation of Plasmacytoid DCs Drives IFNAR-Dependent Therapeutic Differentiation of AML.

Unlabelled: Pharmacologic inhibition of epigenetic enzymes can have therapeutic benefit against hematologic malignancies. In addition to affecting tumor cell growth and proliferation, these epigenetic agents may induce antitumor immunity. Here, we discovered a novel immunoregulatory mechanism through inhibition of histone deacetylases (HDAC).

Correction to: Combining the differentiating effect of panobinostat with the apoptotic effect of arsenic trioxide leads to significant survival benefit in a model of t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Discovery of biomarkers for the presence and progression of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and HEart faiLure with Preserved ejection Fraction in patients at risk for cardiovascular disease: rationale and design of the HELPFul case-cohort study in a Dutch cardiology outpatient clinic.

Introduction: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is a common condition in both sexes that may deteriorate into heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (pEF), although this seems to happen more often in women than in men. Both LVDD and HFpEF often go unrecognised, necessitating the discovery of biomarkers that aid both the identification of individuals with LVDD at risk of developing HF and identification of individuals most likely to benefit from treatment.

Methods And Analysis: HELPFul is an ongoing case-cohort study at a Dutch cardiology outpatient clinic enrolling patients aged 45 years and older without history of cardiovascular disease, who were referred by the general practitioner for cardiac evaluation.

Population distribution of traditional and the emerging cardiovascular risk factors carotid plaque and IMT: the REFINE-Reykjavik study with comparison with the Tromsø study.

Objectives: Population statistics for carotid plaque and cardiovascular risk factors reported in scientific journals are usually presented as averages for the population or age and sex adjusted, rather than sex and age groups. Important population differences about atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors may thus be missed. We compare the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors, carotids plaque and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in two population-based studies.

Long-term clinical parameters after switching to nocturnal haemodialysis: a Dutch propensity-score-matched cohort study comparing patients on nocturnal haemodialysis with patients on three-times-a-week haemodialysis/haemodiafiltration.

Objectives: Nocturnal haemodialysis (NHD), characterised by 8-hour sessions ≥3 times a week, is known to improve clinical parameters in the short term compared with conventional-schedule haemodialysis (HD), generally 3×3.5-4 hours a week. We studied long-term effects of NHD and used patients on conventional HD/haemodiafiltration (HDF) as controls.

Clustering of risk factors and the risk of incident cardiovascular disease in Asian and Caucasian populations: results from the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration.

Objective: To assess the relationship between risk factor clusters and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence in Asian and Caucasian populations and to estimate the burden of CVD attributable to each cluster.

Setting: Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration.

Participants: Individual participant data from 34 population-based cohorts, involving 314 024 participants without a history of CVD at baseline.

Prognosis of patients with dementia: results from a prospective nationwide registry linkage study in the Netherlands.

Objective: To report mortality risks of dementia based on national hospital registry data, and to put these risks into perspective by comparing them with those in the general population and following cardiovascular diseases.

Design: Prospective cohort study from 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2010.

Setting: Hospital-based cohort.

Two novel haemoglobin variants that affect haemoglobin A1c measurement by ion-exchange chromatography.

Background: Haemoglobin (Hb) variants are well-known factors interfering with accurate HbA1c testing. This report describes two novel Hb variants leading to inappropriate quantification of HbA1c by ion-exchange chromatography.

Methods: Glycated forms of novel Hb variants were recognised in the blood of two patients with diabetes mellitus screened by HbA1c ion-exchange chromatography.

HDAC1 and HDAC2 collectively regulate intestinal stem cell homeostasis.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are posttranslational modifiers that deacetylate proteins. Despite their crucial role in numerous biological processes, the use of broad-range HDAC inhibitors (HDACi), has shown clinical efficacy. However, undesired side effects highlight the necessity to better understand the biology of different HDACs and target the relevant HDACs.

Combining the differentiating effect of panobinostat with the apoptotic effect of arsenic trioxide leads to significant survival benefit in a model of t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia.

Background: One of the most frequently found abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the t(8;21)(q22;q22) translocation, which is seen in around 15% of patients. This translocation results in the production of the AML1/ETO (A/E) fusion protein and commonly involves cooperating activating mutations of RAS. AE9a encodes a C-terminally truncated A/E protein of 575 amino acids that retains the ability to recruit histone deacetylases (HDACs).

Measuring apoptosis in mammals in vivo.

Apoptosis is a mode of cell death that is essential in multicellular organisms for the removal of superfluous, damaged, or potentially dangerous cells during development, infection, or normal tissue homeostasis. To prevent inflammation, cells undergoing apoptosis produce "find-me" signals that trigger the recruitment of phagocytes, which clear the apoptotic cells on recognition of "eat-me" signals. Despite the loss of billions of cells per day by apoptosis in the human body, the number of apoptotic cells found in healthy tissue is surprisingly low and reflects the efficiency of this process.

Detection of apoptotic cells using propidium iodide staining.

Flow cytometry assays are often used to detect apoptotic cells in in vitro cultures. Depending on the experimental model, these assays can also be useful in evaluating apoptosis in vivo. In this protocol, we describe a propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometry assay to evaluate B-cell lymphomas that have undergone apoptosis in vivo.

Detection of apoptotic cells using immunohistochemistry.

Immunohistochemistry is commonly used to show the presence of apoptotic cells in situ. In this protocol, B-cell lymphoma cells are injected into recipient mice and, on tumor formation, the mice are treated with the apoptosis inducer vorinostat (a histone deacetylase inhibitor). Tumor samples are fixed and sectioned, and fragmented DNA (a feature of apoptotic cells) is end-labeled by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL).

Fluorodeoxyglucose-based positron emission tomography imaging to monitor drug responses in solid tumors.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to monitor the uptake of the labeled glucose analogue fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) by solid tumor cells, a process generally believed to reflect viable tumor cell mass. The use of ¹⁸F-FDG exploits the high demand for glucose in tumor cells, and serves to document over time the response of a solid tumor to an inducer of apoptosis. The apoptosis inducer crizotinib is a small-molecule inhibitor of c-Met, a receptor tyrosine kinase that is often dysregulated in human tumors.

Fluorodeoxyglucose-based positron emission tomography imaging to monitor drug responses in hematological tumors.

Positron emission tomography (PET) can be used to monitor the uptake of the labeled glucose analog fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG), a process that is generally believed to reflect viable tumor cell mass. The use of ¹⁸F-FDG PET can be helpful in documenting over time the reduction in tumor mass volume in response to anticancer drug therapy in vivo. In this protocol, we describe how to monitor the response of murine B-cell lymphomas to an inducer of apoptosis, the anticancer drug vorinostat (a histone deacetylase inhibitor).

Differentiation therapy for the treatment of t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia using histone deacetylase inhibitors.

Epigenetic modifying enzymes such as histone deacetylases (HDACs), p300, and PRMT1 are recruited by AML1/ETO, the pathogenic protein for t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia (AML), providing a strong molecular rationale for targeting these enzymes to treat this disease. Although early phase clinical assessment indicated that treatment with HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) may be effective in t(8;21) AML patients, rigorous preclinical studies to identify the molecular and biological events that may determine therapeutic responses have not been performed. Using an AML mouse model driven by expression of AML1/ETO9a (A/E9a), we demonstrated that treatment of mice bearing t(8;21) AML with the HDACi panobinostat caused a robust antileukemic response that did not require functional p53 nor activation of conventional apoptotic pathways.

Regulation of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation by Wnt and Notch are conserved throughout the adenoma-carcinoma sequence in the colon.

Background: Colon cancer stem cells are shown to be the self-renewing cells within a tumor that give rise to all lineages of more differentiated tumor cells. In this respect they are remarkably similar to their non-malignant counterparts that orchestrate the intestinal lining. This suggests that, despite the numerous genetic aberrations and morphological changes that have occurred during cancer initiation and progression, a remnant homeostatic regulation persists.

Molecular and biologic analysis of histone deacetylase inhibitors with diverse specificities.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are anticancer agents that induce hyperacetylation of histones, resulting in chromatin remodeling and transcriptional changes. In addition, nonhistone proteins, such as the chaperone protein Hsp90, are functionally regulated through hyperacetylation mediated by HDACis. Histone acetylation is thought to be primarily regulated by HDACs 1, 2, and 3, whereas the acetylation of Hsp90 has been proposed to be specifically regulated through HDAC6.

The mTORC1 inhibitor everolimus prevents and treats Eμ-Myc lymphoma by restoring oncogene-induced senescence.

Unlabelled: MYC deregulation is common in human cancer. IG-MYC translocations that are modeled in Eμ-Myc mice occur in almost all cases of Burkitt lymphoma as well as in other B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders. Deregulated expression of MYC results in increased mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling.

NKT cell adjuvant-based tumor vaccine for treatment of myc oncogene-driven mouse B-cell lymphoma.

Immunomodulators are effective in controlling hematologic malignancy by initiating or reactivating host antitumor immunity to otherwise poorly immunogenic and immune suppressive cancers. We aimed to boost antitumor immunity in B-cell lymphoma by developing a tumor cell vaccine incorporating α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) that targets the immune adjuvant properties of NKT cells. In the Eμ-myc transgenic mouse model, single therapeutic vaccination of irradiated, α-GalCer-loaded autologous tumor cells was sufficient to significantly inhibit growth of established tumors and prolong survival.

Promises and challenges of anticancer drugs that target the epigenome.

The occurrence of epigenetic aberrations in cancer and their role in promoting tumorigenesis has led to the development of various small molecule inhibitors that target epigenetic enzymes. In preclinical settings, many epigenetic inhibitors demonstrate promising activity against a variety of both hematological and solid tumors. The therapeutic efficacy of those inhibitors that have entered the clinic however, is restricted predominantly to hematological malignancies.

Granzyme B-dependent proteolysis acts as a switch to enhance the proinflammatory activity of IL-1α.

Granzyme B is a cytotoxic lymphocyte-derived protease that plays a central role in promoting apoptosis of virus-infected target cells, through direct proteolysis and activation of constituents of the cell death machinery. However, previous studies have also implicated granzymes A and B in the production of proinflammatory cytokines, via a mechanism that remains undefined. Here we show that IL-1α is a substrate for granzyme B and that proteolysis potently enhanced the biological activity of this cytokine in vitro as well as in vivo.

Deciphering the molecular events necessary for synergistic tumor cell apoptosis mediated by the histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat and the BH3 mimetic ABT-737.

The concept of personalized anticancer therapy is based on the use of targeted therapeutics through in-depth knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of action of these agents when used alone and in combination. We have identified the apoptotic proteins and pathways necessary for synergistic tumor cell apoptosis and in vivo antitumor responses seen when the HDAC inhibitor vorinostat is combined with the BH3-mimetic ABT-737 in lymphomas overexpressing Bcl-2. Vorinostat "primes" tumors overexpressing Bcl-2 for rapid ABT-737-mediated apoptosis by inducing expression of the BH3-only gene bmf.

Antitumor activities and on-target toxicities mediated by a TRAIL receptor agonist following cotreatment with panobinostat.

The recent development of novel targeted anticancer therapeutics such as histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) and activators of the TRAIL pathway provide opportunities for the introduction of new treatment regimens in oncology. HDACi and recombinant TRAIL or agonistic anti-TRAIL receptor antibodies have been shown to induce synergistic tumor cell apoptosis and some therapeutic activity in vivo. Herein, we have used syngeneic preclinical models of human solid cancers to demonstrate that the HDACi panobinostat can sensitize tumor cells to apoptosis mediated by the anti-mouse TRAIL receptor antibody MD5-1.