Effects of de-escalated bisphosphonate therapy on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Pain, Brief Pain Inventory and bone biomarkers.

Background: The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Pain (FACT-BP) are commonly used measures of patient reported pain outcomes. We report on the performance of the FACT-BP in comparison to the BPI within a small, randomized trial.

Methods: Patients with biochemically defined low risk bone metastases were randomized to 4 weekly (control arm) or 12 weekly (de-escalating arm) pamidronate for 1 year.

Oral care and the use of bone-targeted agents in patients with metastatic cancers: A practical guide for dental surgeons and oncologists.

Background: Bone-targeted agents such as bisphosphonates and the RANKL antibody have revolutionised the care of patients with bone metastases. There has, however been increasing concern about the oral health of these patients and in particular osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), especially with the increasing use of these agents at higher potencies for greater periods of time.

Methods: A review of the published data in PubMed and meeting abstracts was performed to examine incidence, risk factors, pathogenesis, clinical course and management of osteonecrosis of the jaw with focus on cancer patients treated with bone-targeted agents (BTA) for bone metastases.

The absence of SIR2alpha protein has no effect on global gene silencing in mouse embryonic stem cells.

The yeast sir2 gene plays a central role in mediating gene silencing and DNA repair in this organism. The mouse sir2alpha gene is closely related to its yeast homologue and encodes a nuclear protein expressed at particularly high levels in embryonic stem (ES) cells. We used homologous recombination to create ES cells null for sir2alpha and found that these cells did not have elevated levels of acetylated histones and did not ectopically express silent genes.