Multiple Pharmacotherapy Adaptations for Smoking Cessation Based on Treatment Response in Black Adults Who Smoke: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Adapting to different smoking cessation medications when an individual has not stopped smoking has shown promise, but efficacy has not been tested in racial and ethnic minority individuals who smoke and tend to have less success in quitting and bear a disproportionate share of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To evaluate efficacy of multiple smoking cessation pharmacotherapy adaptations based on treatment response in Black adults who smoke daily.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This randomized clinical trial of adapted therapy (ADT) or enhanced usual care (UC) included non-Hispanic Black adults who smoke and was conducted from May 2019 to January 2022 at a federally qualified health center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Protocol from a randomized clinical trial of multiple pharmacotherapy adaptations based on treatment response in African Americans who smoke.

Background: The standard of care in tobacco treatment is to continue individuals who smoke on the same cessation medication, even when they do not stop smoking. An alternative strategy is to adapt pharmacotherapy based on non-response. A handful of studies have examined this approach, but they have adapted pharmacotherapy only once and/or focused on adaptation distal rather than proximal to a failed quit attempt.

Questions to guide cancer evolution as a framework for furthering progress in cancer research and sustainable patient outcomes.

We appear to be faced with 'two truths' in cancer-one of major advances and successes and another one of remaining short-comings and significant challenges. Despite decades of research and substantial progress in treating cancer, most patients with metastatic cancer still experience great suffering and poor outcomes. Metastatic cancer, for the vast majority of patients, remains incurable.

Menthol versus non-menthol flavouring and switching to e-cigarettes in black and Latinx adult menthol combustible cigarette smokers: secondary analyses from a randomised clinical trial.

Background: As the US Food and Drug Administration takes regulatory action on menthol cigarettes, debate continues about how restricting menthol e-liquids might impact adult menthol smokers in switching to e-cigarettes.

Methods: Switching patterns and e-cigarette acceptability were assessed at week 6 among 64 black and Latinx menthol cigarette smokers who used JUUL menthol (n=39) or non-menthol e-cigarettes ((n=25), primarily mint or mango) as part of a randomised switching trial.

Results: No clear evidence of effects was found between menthol versus non-menthol e-cigarettes on use or subjective effects/acceptability, effect sizes for all comparisons were small (effect size=0.

Effects of Marijuana Use on Smokers Switching to E-Cigarettes in a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Introduction: Co-use of tobacco and marijuana is common, and research suggests that marijuana use may be a barrier to smoking cessation. Research to date has not evaluated how marijuana use affects e-cigarette switching behaviors and related outcomes in a harm reduction trial.

Aims And Methods: This secondary analysis includes African American (48%) and Latinx (52%) adult smokers randomized to the e-cigarette group (N = 114) of a harm reduction clinical trial from 2018 to 2019.

Optical biosensing of markers of mucosal inflammation.

We report the design and adaptation of iron/iron oxide nanoparticle-based optical nanobiosensors for enzymes or cytokine/chemokines that are established biomarkers of lung diseases. These biomarkers comprise ADAM33, granzyme B, MMP-8, neutrophil elastase, arginase, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 and interleukin-6. The synthesis of nanobiosensors for these seven biomarkers, their calibration with commercially available enzymes and cytokines/chemokines, as well as their validation using bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) obtained from a mouse model of TLR3-mediated inflammation are discussed here.

How extent of Barrett's metaplasia influences the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Purpose Of Review: This review will focus on how the extent of Barrett's metaplasia influences the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). More specifically, this review will discuss the concepts of long and short-segment Barrett's metaplasia and irregular Z line as they relate to EAC risk.

Recent Findings: The Prague classification can standardize reporting of Barrett's metaplasia.

Defining the Hallmarks of Metastasis.

Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. The process involves a complex interplay between intrinsic tumor cell properties as well as interactions between cancer cells and multiple microenvironments. The outcome is the development of a nearby or distant discontiguous secondary mass.

The second genome: Effects of the mitochondrial genome on cancer progression.

The role of genetics in cancer has been recognized for centuries, but most studies elucidating genetic contributions to cancer have understandably focused on the nuclear genome. Mitochondrial contributions to cancer pathogenesis have been documented for decades, but how mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) influences cancer progression and metastasis remains poorly understood. This lack of understanding stems from difficulty isolating the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes as experimental variables, which is critical for investigating direct mtDNA contributions to disease given extensive crosstalk exists between both genomes.

Meeting report: Metastasis Research Society (MRS) 17th Biennial conference and associated Young Investigator Satellite Meeting (YISM) on cancer metastasis.

The Metastasis Research Society (MRS) 17th Biennial conference on metastasis was held on the 1st to the 5th of August 2018 at Princeton University, NJ, USA. The meeting was held around themes addressing notable aspects of the understanding and treatment of metastasis and metastatic disease covering basic, translational, and clinical research. Importantly, the meeting was largely supported by our patient advocate partners including Susan G.

GdO-doped silica @ Au nanoparticles for in vitro imaging cancer biomarkers using surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

There has been an interest in developing multimodal approaches to combine the advantages of individual imaging modalities, as well as to compensate for respective weaknesses. We previously reported a composite nano-system composed of gadolinium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticle and gold nanoparticle (Gd-Au NPs) as an efficient MRI contrast agent for in vivo cancer imaging. However, MRI lacks sensitivity and is unsuitable for in vitro cancer detection.

Stability of Drugs, Drug Candidates, and Metabolites in Blood and Plasma.

Determination of drug or drug metabolite concentrations in biological samples, particularly in serum or plasma, is fundamental to describing the relationships between administered dose, route of administration, and time after dose for achieving the optimal clinical response. While a well-characterized, accurate analytical method is needed to define these parameters, it must also be established that the analyte concentration in the sample at the time of analysis is identical to the concentration at sample acquisition. This is necessitated by the fact that drugs and their metabolites are susceptible to degradation in samples due to metabolism or to physical and chemical processes, resulting in a lower measured concentration than was in the original sample.

CHARTing a Path to Pragmatic Tobacco Treatment Research.

Introduction: It is important to consider the degree to which studies are explanatory versus pragmatic to understand the implications of their findings for patients, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. Pragmatic trials test the effectiveness of interventions in real-world conditions; explanatory trials test for efficacy under ideal conditions. The Consortium of Hospitals Advancing Research on Tobacco (CHART) is a network of seven NIH-funded trials designed to identify effective programs that can be widely implemented in routine clinical practice.

Warm Handoff Versus Fax Referral for Linking Hospitalized Smokers to Quitlines.

Introduction: Few hospitals treat patients' tobacco dependence. To be effective, hospital-initiated cessation interventions must provide at least 1 month of supportive contact post-discharge.

Study Design: Individually randomized clinical trial.

Cyclin-dependent kinase-mediated phosphorylation of breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) affects cell migration.

Expression of Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 (BRMS1) reduces the incidence of metastasis in many human cancers, without affecting tumorigenesis. BRMS1 carries out this function through several mechanisms, including regulation of gene expression by binding to the mSin3/histone deacetylase (HDAC) transcriptional repressor complex. In the present study, we show that BRMS1 is a novel substrate of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2 (CDK2) that is phosphorylated on serine 237 (S237).

biophysical, microspectroscopic and cytotoxic evaluation of metastatic and non-metastatic cancer cells in responses to anti-cancer drug.

The Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 (BRMS1) is a nucleo-cytoplasmic protein that suppresses cancer metastasis without affecting the growth of the primary tumor. Previous work has shown that it decreases the expression of protein mediators involved in chemoresistance. This study measured the biomechanical and biochemical changes in BRMS1 expression and the responses of BRMS1 to drug treatments on cancer cells .

Essential Components of Cancer Education.

Modern cancer therapy/care involves the integration of basic, clinical, and population-based research professionals using state-of-the-art science to achieve the best possible patient outcomes. A well-integrated team of basic, clinical, and population science professionals and educators working with a fully engaged group of creative junior investigators and trainees provides a structure to achieve these common goals. To this end, the structure provided by cancer-focused educational programs can create the integrated culture of academic medicine needed to reduce the burden of cancer on society.

Mitochondrial Genetics Regulate Breast Cancer Tumorigenicity and Metastatic Potential.

Current paradigms of carcinogenic risk suggest that genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors influence an individual's predilection for developing metastatic breast cancer. Investigations of tumor latency and metastasis in mice have illustrated differences between inbred strains, but the possibility that mitochondrial genetic inheritance may contribute to such differences in vivo has not been directly tested. In this study, we tested this hypothesis in mitochondrial-nuclear exchange mice we generated, where cohorts shared identical nuclear backgrounds but different mtDNA genomes on the background of the PyMT transgenic mouse model of spontaneous mammary carcinoma.

Imaging of epidermal growth factor receptor on single breast cancer cells using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is widely used as a biomarker for pathological grading and therapeutic targeting of human cancers. This study investigates expression, spatial distribution as well as the endocytosis of EGFR in single breast cancer cells using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). By incubating anti-EGFR antibody conjugated SERS nanoprobes with an EGFR-over-expressing cancer cell line, A431, EGFR localization was measured over time and found to be located primarily at the cell surface.

MCF-7 cells expressing nuclear associated lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) exhibit an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype and are highly invasive in vitro.

LOXL2 is a copper- and lysine tyrosylquinone-dependent amine oxidase that has been proposed to function both extracellularly and intracellularly to activate oncogenic signaling pathways leading to EMT and invasion of breast cancer cells. In this study, we selected MCF-7 cells that stably express forms of recombinant LOXL2 differing in their subcellular localizations and catalytic competencies. This enabled us to dissect the molecular functions of intracellular and extracellular LOXL2s and examine their contributions to breast cancer metastasis/invasion.

Identifying and exploiting defects in the Fanconi anemia/BRCA pathway in oncology.

Defects in components of DNA repair pathways are responsible for numerous hereditary cancer syndromes and are also common in many sporadic malignancies. Inherited mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 or components of the Fanconi anemia (FA) complex incite genomic instability and predispose to malignancy. The products of the BRCA and FA genes participate in a conserved DNA damage repair pathway that is responsible for repairing interstrand crosslinks and double-strand DNA breaks by homologous recombination.

Genetic and epigenetic signatures of breast cancer subtypes.

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease at both the histological and molecular levels. The current model of breast tumorigenesis suggests that the normal mammary stem cell and the various progenitors that arise thereof can be transformed and generate lineage-restricted tumor phenotypes. This model is supported by observations that the different subtypes of breast cancer share transcriptional signatures intrinsic to normal components of the mammary epithelium.