Clinical implications of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and MDSC kinetics in gastric cancer patients treated with ramucirumab plus paclitaxel.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in gastric cancer patients treated with second-line ramucirumab plus paclitaxel.

Methods: A total of 116 patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer who receive ramucirumab plus paclitaxel were prospectively enrolled. Fresh blood samples were collected before and after treatment, and flow cytometry was performed to assess the proportions of monocytic (mMDSCs) and granulocytic MDSCs (gMDSCs).

The role of novel fusion genes in human GIST cell lines derived from imatinib-resistant GIST patients: A therapeutic potential of fusion gene.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common sarcoma in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Approximately 85% of the GIST is associated with a c-KIT mutation. A few GISTs show mutations in the gene encoding platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFR α or PDGFRA) without c-KIT gene mutation.

Establishment of patient-derived xenografts from patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors: analysis of clinicopathological characteristics related to engraftment success.

Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) can represent the heterogeneity and histological characteristics of tumors and are thus useful for testing the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs; however, PDXs are difficult to generate, especially for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). We analyzed the clinicopathologic factors associated with the successful establishment of GIST PDX in NOD.Cg-Prkdc IL2rg/SzJ mice.

Clinical significance of gene amplification in metastatic or locally advanced gastric cancer treated with first-line fluoropyrimidine and platinum combination chemotherapy.

Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of gene amplification in patients with gastric cancer in the palliative setting.

Methods: amplification was assessed using fluorescence hybridization (FISH) in 50 patients and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in 326 patients; 259 patients treated with first-line fluoropyrimidine and platinum were included for survival analysis.

Results: The results of FISH and qPCR indicated that the c-/CEP7 ratio was correlated with gene copy number.

Establishment and characterization of patient-derived xenograft models of gastrointestinal stromal tumor resistant to standard tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) with or platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha () oncogenic driver gene mutations, respond to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) including imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib. However, most patients develop TKI resistance; therefore, novel agents are required. We established three TKI-resistant GIST patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models for effective drug development.

Prognostic impact of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 gene amplification in patients receiving fluoropyrimidine and platinum chemotherapy for metastatic and locally advanced unresectable gastric cancers.

Although Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 2 gene amplification and its prognostic significance have been reported in resectable gastric cancers, information on these features remains limited in the metastatic setting. The presence of FGFR2 amplification was assessed in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues using a quantitative PCR-based gene copy number assay with advanced gastric cancer cohorts. A total of 327 patients with tumor portion of ≥70% were analyzed for clinical features.

Vorinostat in combination with capecitabine plus cisplatin as a first-line chemotherapy for patients with metastatic or unresectable gastric cancer: phase II study and biomarker analysis.

Background: Vorinostat, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, was investigated in combination with capecitabine plus cisplatin (XP) as a first-line chemotherapy for patients with unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer (GC).

Methods: Eligible patients received 400 mg vorinostat once daily on days 1-14, 1000 mg m(-2) capecitabine twice daily on days 1-14, and 60 mg m(-2) cisplatin on day 1 every 3 weeks. Plasma levels of acetyl-H3, HDAC2, and p21 were measured for correlative analysis.

FGFR2 Assessment in Gastric Cancer Using Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization, and Immunohistochemistry.

Objectives: Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) amplification has been reported to be a target for treatment in gastric cancer. However, an optimal tissue source and method for evaluating FGFR2 have yet to be established.

Methods: Copy numbers were compared by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) using frozen vs formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue and biopsy vs surgical specimens.

Successful control of heavily pretreated metastatic gastric cancer with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (RAD001) in a patient with PIK3CA mutation and pS6 overexpression.

Background: Everolimus (RAD001) is an orally administered mTOR inhibitor that is well known for its antitumor efficacy and that has been approved for the treatment of several solid tumors, including renal cell carcinoma. In gastric cancer (GC), despite previous preclinical and phase I/II studies suggesting the promising efficacy of everolimus in previously treated AGC, more recent trials revealed that only certain subsets of patients might benefit from treatment with everolimus.

Case Presentation: A 26-year-old man with metastatic gastric cancer with multiple liver lesions was treated with everolimus after failure of 1st-line and 2nd-line chemotherapy.

Association of ABCG2 polymorphism with clinical efficacy of imatinib in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Purpose: Imatinib is a substrate of drug transporters and metabolizing enzymes, including members of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system. Differences in imatinib pharmacokinetics among individuals might be influenced by genetic polymorphisms and be associated with variable clinical imatinib efficacy. This study sought to test how genetic polymorphisms can affect the clinical efficacy of imatinib and its blood levels in GIST patients.

8-hydrocalamenene, derived from Reynoutria elliptica, suppresses constitutive STAT3 activation, inhibiting proliferation and enhancing chemosensitization of human multiple myeloma cells.

The identification of the active compounds of herbal medicines and the molecular targets of those compounds is an attractive therapeutic objective. Reynoutria elliptica has been used for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases as a Korean folk remedy. Based on the evidence that anti-inflammatory agents frequently exert antiproliferative activity, we tested two sesquiterpene derivatives, 8-hydrocalamenene (HC) and 8,14-dihydrocalamenene (DHC), for their ability to induce apoptosis and suppress signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) activation in multiple myeloma (MM) U266 cells.

Capillarisin inhibits constitutive and inducible STAT3 activation through induction of SHP-1 and SHP-2 tyrosine phosphatases.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)-3 is a latent cytosolic transcription factor that has been closely associated with survival, proliferation, chemoresistance, and metastasis of tumor cells. Whether the anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, and anti-metastatic effects of capillarisin (CPS), derived from Artemisia capillaris (Compositae), are linked to its capability to inhibit STAT3 activation was investigated. We found that CPS specifically inhibited both constitutive and inducible STAT3 activation at tyrosine residue 705 but not at serine residue 727 in human multiple myeloma cells.

Phase I and pharmacodynamic study of vorinostat combined with capecitabine and cisplatin as first-line chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer.

A phase I trial of first-line vorinostat, an orally bio-available histone deacetylase inhibitor, in combination with capecitabine plus cisplatin (XP) was performed to assess recommend phase II trial dose in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Five dose levels of three-weekly vorinostat-XP were tested; vorinostat was dosed at 300-400 mg once daily on Days 1-14, capecitabine at 800-1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily on Days 1-14, and cisplatin at 60-80 mg/m(2) on Day 1. To assess the pharmacodynamics of vorinostat, histone H3 acetylation was assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells before the study treatment and at Day 8 of cycle 1.

YM155 induces EGFR suppression in pancreatic cancer cells.

YM155, which inhibits the anti-apoptotic protein survivin, is known to exert anti-tumor effects in various cancers, including prostate and lung cancer. However, there are few reports describing the inhibitory effect of YM155 on human pancreatic cancers that highly express survivin. Here, we tested the effects of YM155 on a variety of cancer cell lines, including pancreatic cancer cells.

Ring finger protein 149 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase active on wild-type v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF).

Members of the RAF family (ARAF, BRAF, and CRAF/RAF-1) are involved in a variety of cellular activities, including growth, survival, differentiation, and transformation. An oncogene encodes BRAF, the function of which is linked to MEK activation. BRAF is the most effective RAF kinase in terms of induction of MEK/ERK activity.

Genetic polymorphisms of FcγRIIa and FcγRIIIa are not predictive of clinical outcomes after cetuximab plus irinotecan chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Objective: The anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody cetuximab has been shown to be effective in patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Fragment C γ receptor (FcγR) polymorphisms may predict the effectiveness of cetuximab, but this has not been established. This study investigated the clinical relevance of FcγR gene polymorphisms and KRAS status in iri-notecan-refractory mCRC patients treated with cetuximab.

Decursin chemosensitizes human multiple myeloma cells through inhibition of STAT3 signaling pathway.

Recent reports have indicated that decursin can induce apoptosis, suppress tumor growth, and inhibit angiogenesis. In this experiment, we investigated how decursin could potentiate the cytotoxic effects of bortezomib in human multiple myeloma cells. We found that decursin inhibited cell viability in U266, MM.

The histone deacetylase inhibitor PXD101 increases the efficacy of irinotecan in in vitro and in vivo colon cancer models.

Purpose: Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs), such as PXD101 and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, inhibit proliferation and stimulate apoptosis of tumor cells. The enhanced effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiotherapy when combined with HDACIs has been observed in several cancers. In this study, we investigated the antitumor effect of PXD101 combined with irinotecan in colon cancer.

Effects of the HDAC inhibitor CG2 in combination with irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, or oxaliplatin on HCT116 colon cancer cells and xenografts.

Chemotherapies for colon cancer have recently advanced. However, there is still a need to develop agents and identify effective regimens for better treatments of colon cancer. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) have shown potential as anti-cancer agents.

Antifungal Effect of Brachyglottis repanda Ethanol Extract.

The crude ethanol extract of B. repanda showed the cytotoxic activity against Polio virus (25% activity at 150 μg/disk) and the minor cytotoxic activity against BSC cells (African green monkey kidney) . However, the crude ethanol extract of B.

Upregulation of SPRR3 promotes colorectal tumorigenesis.

Hereditary colorectal cancer develops through a series of well-defined genetic and histological changes. However, elucidation of the canonical pathway based on hereditary colorectal cancer has not provided a clear explanation of the molecular mechanisms of sporadic colorectal cancer. To identify the alterative pathways involved in sporadic colorectal tumorigenesis, we performed gene expression analysis in patients with sporadic colorectal tumors.

The role of KRAS mutations in predicting the efficacy of cetuximab-plus-irinotecan therapy in irinotecan-refractory Korean metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

Objective: This study evaluated the clinical relevance of KRAS and BRAF mutational status in 66 irinotecan-refrac- tory Korean metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with cetuximab-plus-irinotecan-based chemotherapy.

Methods: A total of 66 irinotecan-refractory mCRC patients treated with cetuximab-plus-irinotecan-based chemotherapy were included. Tumors were screened for KRAS mutations (codons 12 and 13) and a BRAF mutation (V600E) using direct sequencing and the Snapshot assay.

Alpha-synuclein enhances dopamine D2 receptor signaling.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by a selective loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), which in turn results in dopamine depletion in the striatum, and the presence of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions known as Lewy bodies (LBs). Alpha-synuclein is a presynaptic protein that accumulates abnormally in LBs and is seen predominantly in cases of dementia with LBs. Although the central role of alpha-synuclein in neurodegeneration has been previously demonstrated by the discovery of missense alpha-synuclein mutations in familial PD, the specific mechanism by which alpha-synuclein contributes to these diseases remains unclear.

The dopamine D2 receptor regulates the development of dopaminergic neurons via extracellular signal-regulated kinase and Nurr1 activation.

Because the dopaminergic pathways in the midbrain have been closely associated with serious neuropsychiatric disorders, the elucidation of the mechanisms underlying dopaminergic neuronal development should provide some important clues for related disorders. In mice lacking the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R-/-), stereological cell counting analysis showed that the number of mesencephalic tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) cells was significantly low during ontogeny, compared with that observed in wild-type (WT) mice, thereby indicating an alteration in dopaminergic neuronal development in the absence of D2R. The results of immunohistochemical and reverse transcription-PCR analyses revealed that the expression of Nurr1, an orphan nuclear receptor, as well as Ptx3 expression, was selectively reduced in D2R-/- mice during the embryonic stage.

Nef from a primary isolate of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 lacking the EE(155) region shows decreased ability to down-regulate CD4.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nef gene encodes a 27 kDa myristoylated cytosolic protein that has an important role in the pathogenesis of AIDS. One function of Nef is the down-regulation of CD4 and MHC class I surface molecules in HIV-infected cells. Nef directly isolated from an infected individual (KS2), who could be defined as a long-term non-progressor, was compared with Nef from a standard laboratory strain, HIV-1 NL4-3.