Tropical forest clearance impacts biodiversity and function, whereas logging changes structure.

The impacts of degradation and deforestation on tropical forests are poorly understood, particularly at landscape scales. We present an extensive ecosystem analysis of the impacts of logging and conversion of tropical forest to oil palm from a large-scale study in Borneo, synthesizing responses from 82 variables categorized into four ecological levels spanning a broad suite of ecosystem properties: (i) structure and environment, (ii) species traits, (iii) biodiversity, and (iv) ecosystem functions. Responses were highly heterogeneous and often complex and nonlinear.

Biomarker screen for efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy in patient-derived pancreatic cancer cultures.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a tumour entity with unmet medical need. To assess the therapeutic potential of oncolytic virotherapy (OVT) against PDAC, different oncolytic viruses (OVs) are currently investigated in clinical trials. However, systematic comparisons of these different OVs in terms of efficacy against PDAC and biomarkers predicting therapeutic response are lacking.

The heterogeneous sensitivity of pediatric brain tumors to different oncolytic viruses is predicted by unique gene expression profiles.

Despite decades of research, the prognosis of high-grade pediatric brain tumors (PBTs) remains dismal; however, recent cases of favorable clinical responses were documented in clinical trials using oncolytic viruses (OVs). In the current study, we employed four different species of OVs: adenovirus Delta24-RGD, herpes simplex virus rQNestin34.5v1, reovirus R124, and the non-virulent Newcastle disease virus rNDV-F0-GFP against three entities of PBTs (high-grade gliomas, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors, and ependymomas) to determine their efficacy.

Preclinical evaluation of the gorilla-derived HAdV-B AdV-lumc007 oncolytic adenovirus 'GoraVir' for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy which shows unparalleled therapeutic resistance due to its genetic and cellular heterogeneity, dense stromal tissue, and immune-suppressive tumour microenvironment. Oncolytic virotherapy has emerged as a new treatment modality which uses tumour-specific viruses to eliminate cancerous cells. Non-human primate adenoviruses of the human adenovirus B (HAdV-B) species have demonstrated considerable lytic potential in human cancer cells as well as limited preexisting neutralizing immunity in humans.