Immunogenicity of biologics in inflammatory bowel disease.

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Treatment options include biologic therapies; however, a proportion of patients lose response to biologics, partly due to the formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADAbs). Concomitant immunosuppressive agents reduce the development of ADAbs.

The Impact of Biologics and Tofacitinib on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Outcomes in Patients with Rheumatic Disease: A Systematic Literature Review.

Introduction: Rheumatic diseases are autoimmune, inflammatory diseases often associated with cardiovascular (CV) disease, a major cause of mortality in these patients. In recent years, treatment with biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), either as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs, have become the standard of treatment. In this systematic literature review, we evaluated the effect of treatment with biologic or tofacitinib on the CV risk and outcomes in these patients.

A silicon-based biosensor for real-time toxicity testing in normal versus cancer liver cells.

The potentiometric alternating biosensor (PAB) system has been utilized to monitor the effects on normal versus cancer cells of Mitoxantrone, a potent inhibitor of nucleic acid synthesis commonly utilized in the clinical treatment of hepatocarcinomas. In this first series of toxicity tests, we have utilized a primary culture of rat hepatocytes and a stabilized line named HepG2 from a human hepatoma. Primary cultures of hepatocytes represent a unique tool in toxicology/pharmacology as shown in previous works.

Tumor angiogenesis: evidence of new blood channels from plasma infiltrations.

Stroma formation in Ehrlich carcinoma, studied with histochemical and TEM techniques, is similar to wound healing. In this tumour mast cells, macrophages, adipocytes, platelets and fibrin seem to co-operate locally with malignant cells in regulating stroma formation. The gaps opened in the tumor parenchyma by plasma outpouring from local blood vessels seem to offer easy routes for endothelial cell migration towards ill-nourished areas, and may explain the irregular aspect of tumor microvascularity.

In situ lactate dehydrogenase patterns as markers of tumour oxygenation.

The histochemical patterns of lactate dehydrogenase, LDH, are here proposed as indicators of the local levels of oxygenation of malignant tissue. This parameter has outstanding importance in determining the tumour aggressiveness and response to treatment. The tetrazolium salt reaction previously proposed for the mapping of hypoxia has been improved by the use of polyvinyl alcohol as a tissue stabilizer.