Phase 2 trial of oxaliplatin and pemetrexed as an induction regimen in locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Background: This phase 2 trial evaluated the tolerability and clinical efficacy of the combination of oxaliplatin and pemetrexed as an induction chemotherapy regimen in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methods: Forty-two patients were enrolled in the study. Patients received pemetrexed 300 mg/m(2) intravenously (IV) and oxaliplatin 85 mg/m(2) IV every 14 days for a total of 4 cycles.

Regulation of heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor by miR-212 and acquired cetuximab-resistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: We hypothesized that chronic inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) by cetuximab, a monoclonal anti-EGFR antibody, induces up-regulation of its ligands resulting in resistance and that microRNAs (miRs) play an important role in the ligand regulation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methodology/principal Findings: Genome-wide changes in gene and miR expression were determined in cetuximab-sensitive cell line, SCC1, and its resistant derivative 1Cc8 using DNA microarrays and RT-PCR. The effects of differentially expressed EGFR ligands and miRs were examined by MTS, colony formation, ELISA, and western blot assays.

Human-in-mouse modeling of primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Objectives/hypothesis: To develop a reliable modeling system for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Study Design: Laboratory-based translational study.

Methods: HNSCC tissue was obtained from patients at biopsy/resection, cultured, and implanted into mice.

Imaging mass spectrometry of intact proteins from alcohol-preserved tissue specimens: bypassing formalin fixation.

Imaging mass spectrometry is becoming a key technology for the investigation of the molecular content of biological tissue sections in direct correlation with the underlying histology. Much of our work has been done with fresh-frozen tissue sections that has undergone minimal protein degradation between the time a tissue biopsy is sampled and the time it is snap-frozen so that no preserving or fixing agents need to be added to the frozen biopsy. However, in many sampling environments, immediate flash freezing may not be possible and so we have explored the use of ethanol-preserved, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens for proteomic analyses.

The right start.

Susquehanna Health System, a three-hospital healthcare system based in Williamsport, Pa., reengineered its business processes and introduced new technology to capture patient information more accurately at the time of service. Set to go live in July, the new system already is reducing staff training needs and promises to significantly ease registration burdens.

Gastric graft-versus-host disease revisited: does proton pump inhibitor therapy affect endoscopic gastric biopsy interpretation?

Accurate diagnosis of gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is important, as it contributes significantly to postallogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) morbidity and mortality. To test the hypothesis that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy may interfere with histologic evaluation of gastric GvHD by inducing apoptosis, we evaluated epithelial apoptotic body counts in antral and fundic biopsies from SCT recipients and control patients, both taking and not taking PPIs at the time of endoscopic biopsy. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of gastric biopsies from 130 patients (75 allogeneic SCT with GvHD on clinical and histologic grounds, and a comparison group of 55 age- and sex-matched nontransplant patients with histologically normal gastric biopsies) were reviewed.

Transforming growth factor beta receptor type II inactivation promotes the establishment and progression of colon cancer.

Deregulation of members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signaling pathway occurs often in colon cancers and is believed to affect the formation of primary colon cancer. Mutational inactivation of TGFBR2 is the most common genetic event affecting the TGF-beta signaling pathway and occurs in approximately 20-30% of all colon cancers. By mating Fabpl(4xat-132) Cre mice with Tgfbr2(flx/flx) mice, we have generated a mouse model that is null for Tgfbr2 in the colonic epithelium, and in this model system, we have assessed the effect of loss of TGF-beta signaling in vivo on colon cancer formation induced by azoxymethane (AOM).