Purpose: We aimed to assess the role of liver stiffness measurement (LSM), evaluated using transient elastography (TE), for the diagnosis of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS)/veno-occlusive disease (VOD), a complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Methods: In this retrospective study, ultrasonography (US) and LSM were performed on 86 adult patients (55 men and 31 women) undergoing HSCT between January 2016 and December 2022. Characteristics and changes in liver stiffness (LS) were compared between patients with and without SOS/VOD.
Moderate oxidative stress induces temporal impairment in mitochondrial ATP production. As glutathione (GSH) content is reduced to eliminate oxidative stress by oxidation-reduction reaction, intracellular GSH content is crucial for maintaining mitochondrial function under oxidative stress. GSH precursors such as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and cysteine are known to suppress oxidative stress based on the supply of cysteine residues being rate-limiting for GSH synthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntestinal oxidative stress produces pro-inflammatory cytokines, which increase tight junction (TJ) permeability, leading to intestinal and systemic inflammation. Cystine (Cys2) is a substrate of glutathione (GSH) and inhibits inflammation, however, it is unclear whether Cys2 locally improves intestinal barrier dysfunction. Thus, we investigated the local effects of Cys2 on oxidative stress-induced TJ permeability and intestinal inflammatory responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe optimal conditioning regimen for stem cell transplantation in elderly patients remains to be established. We developed a novel preparative regimen using fludarabine 180 mg/m, intravenous busulfan 12.8 mg/m, cytarabine 8 g/m, and 4-Gy total body irradiation before cord blood transplantation (CBT) in patients older than 55 years with various hematological malignancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssemblies of actin and its regulators underlie the dynamic morphology of all eukaryotic cells. To understand how actin regulatory proteins work together to generate actin-rich structures such as filopodia, we analyzed the localization of diverse actin regulators within filopodia in Drosophila embryos and in a complementary in vitro system of filopodia-like structures (FLSs). We found that the composition of the regulatory protein complex where actin is incorporated (the filopodial tip complex) is remarkably heterogeneous both in vivo and in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCdc42-GTP is required for apical domain formation in epithelial cells, where it recruits and activates the Par-6-aPKC polarity complex, but how the activity of Cdc42 itself is restricted apically is unclear. We used sequence analysis and 3D structural modeling to determine which Drosophila GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) are likely to interact with Cdc42 and identified RhoGAP19D as the only high-probability Cdc42GAP required for polarity in the follicular epithelium. RhoGAP19D is recruited by α-catenin to lateral E-cadherin adhesion complexes, resulting in exclusion of active Cdc42 from the lateral domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe efficiency of upfront consolidation with high-dose chemotherapy/autologous stem-cell transplantation (HDCT/ASCT) for newly diagnosed high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may be influenced by induction chemotherapy. To select better induction chemotherapy regimens for HDCT/ASCT, a randomized phase II study was conducted in high-risk DLBCL patients having an age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (aaIPI) score of 2 or 3. As induction chemotherapy, 6 cycles of R-CHOP-14 (arm A) or 3 cycles of R-CHOP-14 followed by 3 cycles of CHASER (arm B) were planned, and patients who responded proceeded to HDCT with LEED and ASCT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fungal infections are a major complication of neutropaenia following chemotherapy. Their early diagnosis is difficult, and empirical antifungal treatment is widely used, and uses of less toxic drugs that reduce breakthrough infection are required.
Objective: We conducted a multicentre, open-label, randomised, non-inferiority trial to compare the safety and efficacy of intravenous itraconazole (ivITCZ) and liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) as empirical antifungal therapy in patients with haematological malignancies with neutropaenia and persistent fever.
There are few reports on allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) harboring t(1;19)(q23;p13.3). We used nationwide registry data of Japan for 2003-2016 to evaluate transplant outcomes and clarified prognostic factors among adult allo-HSCT recipients with B-ALL harboring t(1;19)(q23;p13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Oral administration of cystine and theanine (CT) may modulate antioxidant glutathione (GSH) metabolism, thereby improving outcomes after gut ischemia reperfusion.
Methods: Experiment 1: Institute of Cancer Research mice (n = 35) were assigned to a Vehicle (n = 11), a CT140 (n = 14), or a CT280 (n = 10) group. The CT140 and 280 groups were given CT at respective dosages of 140 and 280 mg/kg (cystine: theanine = 5: 2) once daily via gavage for 5 days.
Cells need to sense their environment to ensure accurate targeting to specific destinations. This occurs in developing muscles, which need to attach to tendon cells before muscle contractions can begin. Elongating myotube tips form filopodia, which are presumed to have sensory roles, and are later suppressed upon building the attachment site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA randomized phase II selection design study (JCOG0904) was carried out to evaluate the more promising regimen between bortezomib (Bor) plus dexamethasone (Dex; BD) and thalidomide (Thal) plus Dex (TD) in Bor and Thal-naïve patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Patients ≥20 and <80 years old with a documented diagnosis of symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) who received one or more prior therapies were randomized to receive BD (Bor 1.3 mg/m ) or TD (Thal 200 mg/d).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Blood Marrow Transplant
December 2016
We conducted a retrospective analysis to compare outcomes in adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) with conditioning regimens containing cyclophosphamide (CY) in combination with total body irradiation (TBI), oral busulfan (p.o. BU), or intravenous busulfan (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStrenuous exercise following overnight fasting increases fat oxidation during exercise, which can modulate training adaptation. However, such exercise induces muscle protein catabolism by decreasing blood insulin concentrations and increasing amino acid oxidation during the exercise. Leucine-enriched essential amino acids (LEAAs) enhance muscle protein synthesis (MPS) at rest and after exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMixed and collagen protein synthesis is elevated for as many as 3 days following exercise. Immediately after exercise, enhanced amino acid availability increases synthesis of mixed muscle protein, but not muscle collagen protein. However, the potential for synergic effects of amino acid ingestion with exercise on both mixed and collagen protein synthesis remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method has contributed to establishing protein and amino acid (AA) requirements by determining the optimal protein and AA intake that maximizes whole-body protein synthesis. However, it has not been used with endurance-trained subjects.
Objective: This study aimed to determine the optimal AA intake immediately after endurance exercise and at rest in endurance-trained rats by using the IAAO method.
Acute erythroid leukemia (FAB-M6) and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (FAB-M7) exhibit closely related properties in cells regarding morphology and the gene expression profile. Although allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is considered the mainstay of the treatment for both subtypes of leukemia due to their refractoriness to chemotherapy and high rates of relapse, it remains unclear whether allo-HSCT is curative in such cases due to their scarcity. We retrospectively examined the impact of allo-HSCT in 382 patients with M6 and 108 patients with M7 using nationwide HSCT data and found the overall survival (OS) and relapse rates of the M6 patients to be significantly better than those of the M7 patients after adjusting for confounding factors and statistically comparable with those of the patients with M0/M1/M2/M4/M5 disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEccentric exercise results in prolonged muscle damage that may lead to muscle dysfunction. Although inflammation is essential to recover from muscle damage, excessive inflammation may also induce secondary damage, and should thus be suppressed. In this study, we investigated the effect of leucine-enriched essential amino acids on muscle inflammation and recovery after eccentric contraction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEccentric exercise results in prolonged muscle weakness and muscle soreness, which are typical symptoms of muscle damage. Recovery from muscle damage is related to mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activity. Leucine-enriched essential amino acids (LEAAs) stimulate muscle protein synthesis via activation of the mTOR pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSkin collagen metabolism abnormalities induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are the major causes of skin photoaging. It has been shown that the one-time exposure of UV irradiation decreases procollagen mRNA expression in dermis and that chronic UV irradiation decreases collagen amounts and induces wrinkle formation. Amino acids are generally known to regulate protein metabolism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe high frequencies of recurrence and distant metastasis of adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) are significant obstacles for the long-term cure of patients with AdCC and emphasize the need for better understanding of the biological factors associated with these outcomes. To identify proteins that mediate AdCC metastasis, we established three AdCC cell lines expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the ACCS cell line using orthotopic transplantation and in vivo selection in nude mice: Parental ACCS-GFP, highly tumorigenic ACCS-T GFP and metastatic ACCS-M GFP. ACCS-GFP and ACCS-M GFP were subjected to DNA microarray analysis and the results were used for data mining studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report 2 cases of serum sickness after rituximab infusion. Case 1 is a patient with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, and case 2 is a patient with marginal-zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type and Sjögren's syndrome. Both patients had polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, were treated with rituximab monotherapy, developed serum sickness between 9 and 17 days after the first rituximab infusion, developed fever and arthralgia, and improved soon after corticosteroid treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is influenced by the presence of lymph node metastasis. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and the expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D in association with lymph node metastasis in oral SCC. Oral SCC biopsy specimens (160 cases) were examined for lymphatic vessel density (LVD) and the expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D immunohistochemically.
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