Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in assessing early response among patients with invasive breast cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Background One of the big challenges in onco-radiology is to find a reliable imaging method that may predict early response during the first cycles of any neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Purpose To evaluate the use of real-time harmonic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in predicting early response in breast cancer tumors under neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) treatment. Material and Methods Nineteen consecutive patients with invasive breast cancer were evaluated with a bolus dose of 2.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound using real-time contrast harmonic imaging in invasive breast cancer: comparison of enhancement dynamics with three different doses of contrast agent.

Background: In the last few years new potential applications have been developed for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and the management of breast diseases, but there is still some debate concerning the optimal dose to evaluate breast lesions, especially as a diagnostic tool.

Purpose: To compare different CEUS doses of injected contrast agent in order to establish an optimal dose for the diagnosis of invasive breast cancer.

Material And Methods: In Group A we compared the bolus dose of 1.

Elevated levels of PPAR-gamma in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), a ligand-activated transcriptional factor involved in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, has gained interest as a potential therapeutic target in multiple sclerosis (MS) due to its potent immunoregulatory properties and the therapeutic efficacy of its ligands in experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE). Elevated expression of PPARγ has been observed in the spinal cord of EAE mice and in an in vitro model of antigen-induced demyelination; however, no reports have yet been available on the PPARγ status in the central nervous system of human individuals with MS. Aiming to identify a possible alteration, the present study assessed the levels of PPARγ protein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of MS patients via ELISA technique.

Correlation of contrast-enhanced ultrasound kinetics with prognostic factors in invasive breast cancer.

Objectives: To correlate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) kinetic parameters with traditional and molecular prognostic factors in invasive breast cancer.

Methods: Seventy-five invasive breast cancers were evaluated with contrast harmonic imaging after the injection of a bolus dose of 2.4 ml sulphur hexafluoride microbubble contrast agent.

Tumour topoisomerase II alpha protein expression and outcome after adjuvant dose-dense anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

There is a need for the selection of those breast cancers where benefit may be attained from the addition of an anthracycline to the adjuvant chemotherapy. The expression of topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) protein in 3 cohorts of breast cancers treated with adjuvant dose-dense anthracycline-based chemotherapy was determined retrospectively. The TOP2A status was analysed in relation with the other standard tumour features and the outcome.

Treatment of therapy-refractive ulcera cruris of various origins with autologous keratinocytes in fibrin sealant.

Background: Evaluation of the effects of cultivated, subconfluent, autologous keratinocytes in fibrin sealant (BioSeed-S) on the healing of therapy-refractive chronic wounds.

Patients And Methods: Open observational study in 60 patients with chronic leg ulcers and impaired wound healing of various origins. After whole-skin excision and cultivation of the autologous keratinocytes, the suspended cells were applied to the preconditioned wound in fibrin sealant.

[Continuous delivery of epidermal growth factor to wounds in vivo by genetically modified fibroblasts transfected with a novel chimeric construct].

Objective: This paper aims to explore the new method of continuous delivery of epidermal growth factor to wounds by transfected fibroblasts to promote wound repair.

Methods: It was constructed a novel chimeric expression plasmid in which the biologically active portion of the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) gene was fused in-frame to the human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor signal sequence.

Results: Clonally selected human fibroblasts transfected with this construct could secrete biologically active EGF.

[Treatment of chronic wounds with cultured autologous keratinocytes as suspension in fibrin glue].

Cultivated keratinocytes have been used for treatment of chronic wounds. Our group developed a new application form, using a suspension of subconfluently cultivated keratinocytes in fibrin glue (keratinocyte-fibrin-glue-suspension = KFGS), which has successfully been used in burn patients. Altogether 8 patients (average: 57 yrs.

[Gene therapy perspectives in modulation of wound healing].

A variety of reasons can afflict wound healing. Current research is focussed on the acceleration of wound healing by stimulating molecular processes. Gene therapy may offer completely new ways to treat chronic wounds.

[Keratinocyte transplantation and tissue engineering. New approaches in treatment of chronic wounds].

Cultured keratinocytes have been used for the treatment of extensive burns since disease lethality is reduced. Consequently, the treatment of chronic wounds with keratinocytes may be promising. Cell culture technology allows to expand keratinocytes up to 6000-fold in vitro after taking a single biopsy from patient.

[Free microsurgical flap-plasty in reconstructive therapy of diabetic foot ulcer].

The diabetic foot ulcer is a significant clinical problem often resulting in frustranous conservative treatment or early amputation. In certain cases transfer of well vascularized tissue can improve wound healing and lead to a length-spearing therapy. In this study the concept of microsurgical tissue transfer in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers is introduced.

[Biological wound tissue glue systems in wound healing].

Tissue engineering relies on in vitro cell culture, biocompatible matrix materials and genetic engineering with growth and differentiation factors for guided tissue regeneration. Biogenic or semisynthetic biomaterials are an alternative as cell carriers: To circumvent the disadvantages of conventional keratinocyte sheet grafts, a keratinocyte fibrin glue suspension KFGS (H. W.

Prefabrication of bilaminar-epithelialized composite flap with tissue expander and cultured keratinocytes.

This study investigated the feasibility of prefabrication of a bilaminar-epithelialized flap by using a tissue expander and cultured keratinocytes, for reconstruction of perforate defects in the oral cavity and upper aerodigestive tract. In each of six rats, a 10-ml volume expander was implanted under the inferior epigastric flap and a thin silicon catheter was introduced into periexpander space. Seven days after implantation, 10 x 10(6) cultured keratinocytes, isolated from inbred donor rats, were suspended in fibrin glue and injected into the periexpander space through the catheter (n = 4 of 6).

High CD44 surface expression on primary tumours of malignant melanoma correlates with increased metastatic risk and reduced survival.

The cell surface glycoprotein CD44 has been implicated in the progression and metastasis of certain human tumours including malignant melanoma (MM). In animal models, certain MM cell lines, expressing high levels of CD44, displayed an augmented capacity for haematogenous metastasis, compared to those with low CD44 levels. To determine whether, in vivo, the level of CD44 expressed by primary tumours of MM (PMM) is related to their metastatic potential, CD44 expression on PMM was studied in 92 patients, classified by their metastatic risk based on histological measurement of vertical tumour thickness (VT): in situ PMM, low-risk PMM (VT < or = 0.

Paracrine stimulation of keratinocytes in vitro and continuous delivery of epidermal growth factor to wounds in vivo by genetically modified fibroblasts transfected with a novel chimeric construct.

Background: Growth factors play an important role in tissue repair. While the effectiveness of growth factor therapy in animal wound healing models and limited human clinical trials has been demonstrated, the ideal method for their administration to the wound remains unclear. Experimental data suggest that the continuous presence in the early stages of wound repair is beneficial.

Detection of CD44 splice variants in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of human skin cancer.

The standard form of CD44 (CD44s) and CD44 isoforms, containing sequences encoded by one or several of 10 different variant CD44 exons (v1-v10), are thought to play a crucial role in the growth and metastasis of certain human tumors. Recently, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against all CD44 isoforms (panCD44), or against epitopes encoded by specific variant exons (CD44v) have been developed, which unfortunately only stain cryopreserved tissues. We wished to develop a technique to unmask chemically CD44s and CD44v epitopes in paraffin-embedded specimens of human skin cancers, so that they would be accessible for these mAbs.

In situ expression of B7 and CD28 receptor families in human malignant melanoma: relevance for T-cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity.

Work in animal models has suggested that interactions of members of the B7 receptor family (e.g., B7-1, B7-2) on tumor cells with their ligands CD28 and CTLA-4 on cytotoxic T cells (CTL) are important for the induction of anti-tumor immunity against malignant melanoma (MM).

CD44 isoforms containing exon V3 are responsible for the presentation of heparin-binding growth factor.

Glycosaminoglycan-modified isoforms of CD44 have been implicated in growth factor presentation at sites of inflammation. In the present study we show that COS cell transfectants expressing CD44 isoforms containing the alternatively spliced exon V3 are modified with heparan sulfate (HS). Binding studies with three HS-binding growth factors, basic-fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF), heparin binding-epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), and amphiregulin, showed that the HS-modified CD44 isoforms are able to bind to b-FGF and HB-EGF, but not AR.

Prolongation of the QTc-interval reflects the severity of autonomic neuropathy in primary biliary cirrhosis and in other non-alcoholic liver diseases.

It was the aim of our study to prove a potential correlation (a) between laboratory findings of cholestasis and autonomic neuropathy (AN) and (b) between the severity of AN and the prolongation of the corrected QT-time (QTc). The five standard tests of autonomic cardiac neuropathy were investigated. QTc was calculated according to Bazett's formula.