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Reece Stage posted an update 6 months, 1 week ago
Future research directions are outlined.Radiogenomics is a specific application of radiomics where imaging features are linked to genomic profiles. We aim to develop a radiogenomics model based on ovarian US images for predicting germline BRCA1/2 gene status in women with healthy ovaries. From January 2013 to December 2017 a total of 255 patients addressed to germline BRCA1/2 testing and pelvic US documenting normal ovaries, were retrospectively included. Feature selection for univariate analysis was carried out via correlation analysis. Multivariable analysis for classification of germline BRCA1/2 status was then carried out via logistic regression, support vector machine, ensemble of decision trees and automated machine learning pipelines. Data were split into a training (75%) and a testing (25%) set. The four strategies obtained a similar performance in terms of accuracy on the testing set (from 0.54 of logistic regression to 0.64 of the auto-machine learning pipeline). Data coming from one of the tested US machine showed generally higher performances, particularly with the auto-machine learning pipeline (testing set specificity 0.87, negative predictive value 0.73, accuracy value 0.72 and 0.79 on training set). The study shows that a radiogenomics model on machine learning techniques is feasible and potentially useful for predicting gBRCA1/2 status in women with healthy ovaries.Desorption electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) can image hundreds of molecules in a 2D tissue section, making it an ideal tool for mapping tumour heterogeneity. Tumour lipid metabolism has gained increasing attention over the past decade; and here, lipid heterogeneity has been visualised in a glioblastoma xenograft tumour using 3D DESI-MS imaging. The use of an automatic slide loader automates 3D imaging for high sample-throughput. Glioblastomas are highly aggressive primary brain tumours, which display heterogeneous characteristics and are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is therefore important to understand biochemical contributions to their heterogeneity, which may be contributing to treatment resistance. Adjacent sections to those used for DESI-MS imaging were used for H&E staining and immunofluorescence to identify different histological regions, and areas of hypoxia. Comparing DESI-MS imaging with biological staining allowed association of different lipid species with hypoxic and viable tissue within the tumour, and hence mapping of molecularly different tumour regions in 3D space. This work highlights that lipids are playing an important role in the heterogeneity of this xenograft tumour model, and DESI-MS imaging can be used for lipid 3D imaging in an automated fashion to reveal heterogeneity, which is not apparent in H&E stains alone.Indoxyl sulfate (IS) is associated with either chronic kidney disease or renal failure, which may predict cardiovascular events via cardiorenal syndrome. The present study aimed to elucidate whether the plasma levels of IS can predict the occurrence of cardiovascular events in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and investigate which causes of CHF leading to cardiovascular events are highly influenced by plasma IS levels. We measured the plasma IS levels in 165 patients with CHF admitted to our hospital in 2012, and we followed up these patients for more than 5 years (the median follow-up period 5.3 years). We measured the plasma IS level in 165 patients with CHF, and Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that high plasma IS levels (≥ 0.79 µg/mL, the median value) could predict the occurrence of cardiovascular events, i.e., cardiovascular death or rehospitalization due to the worsening of CHF. The sub-analyses showed that the high IS level could predict cardiovascular events in patients with CHF due to HCM and that the plasma IS levels were closely associated with left ventricular (LV) dimension, LV systolic dysfunction, and plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels, rather than LV diastolic dysfunction. Plasma IS level predicts cardiovascular events in patients with CHF, especially those with HCM along with cardiac dysfunction. Besides, IS may become a proper biomarker to predict cardiovascular events in patients with CHF.CD300e is a surface receptor, expressed by myeloid cells, involved in the tuning of immune responses. CD300e engagement was reported to provide the cells with survival signals, to trigger the expression of activation markers and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Hence, CD300e is considered an immune activating receptor. In this study, we demonstrate that the ligation of CD300e in monocytes hampers the expression of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II, affecting its synthesis. This effect, which is associated with the transcription impairment of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1), overcomes the capacity of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) to promote the expression of the antigen-presenting molecules. Cenicriviroc concentration Importantly, the decreased expression of HLA-II on the surface of CD300e-activated monocytes negatively impacts their capacity to activate T cells in an antigen-specific manner. Notably, unlike in vitro- differentiated macrophages which do not express CD300e, the immune receptor is expressed by tissue macrophages. Taken together, our findings argue against the possibility that this molecule should be considered an activating immune receptor sensu stricto. Moreover, our results support the notion that CD300e might be a new player in the regulation of the expansion of T cell-mediated responses.Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a serious cancer in East and Southeast Asia. Patients are often diagnosed at advanced stages, rendering treatment failure due to high potential of metastasis. This study identified lectin-binding glycoproteins with a potential role in NPC metastasis. Cell lysate and culture medium in highly metastatic 5-8F, and lowly-metastatic 6-10B NPC cell lines were fractionated by ConA- and WGA-affinity chromatography, and subjected to GeLC-MS/MS. A total of 232 and 197 proteins were identified in ConA-enriched fraction of 5-8F and 6-10B cell lysates respectively. In WGA-enriched fraction, 65 and 164 proteins were found in 5-8F and 6-10B cell lysates respectively. Proteins identified in culture medium for both cell lines were 223 and 85 for ConA-enriched fraction, and 94 and 124 for WGA-enriched fraction from 5-8F and 6-10B respectively. Differentially expressed proteins were functionally categorized into cell-cell adhesion, extracellular matrix, glycolysis, protein homeostasis and/or glycosylation enzymes, and lipid metabolism.