The somatopause: to treat or not to treat?

There is much evidence that some aspects of ageing are similar to those observed in selective hormone deficiencies during adulthood. Replacement therapy in hypogonadism and/or growth hormone (GH) deficiency in adulthood is very successful in reversing the related clinical symptomatology. However, preliminary studies of GH treatment in the normal elderly have been largely disappointing: an increase in muscle mass is only accompanied by improved muscle strength if exercise is also increased during this period. No real benefit of GH therapy, additional to that of exercise, has been reported. Epidemiological studies indicate a relationship between high-normal insulin-like growth factor-I levels and cancer development. No definitive answers can presently be given regarding the safety of long-term GH therapy in otherwise healthy individuals during the somatopause.     

Carob or St. John’s Bread

Carob is the large bean-like pod of a handsome evergreen tree of the same name. Containing 40% sugar and 6% protein, it is chiefly used for stock food and is manufactured into various forms of human food. From the seeds comes a valuable gum, in increasing demand in commerce. Carob trees thrive in parts of California without irrigation.     

From the editor’s desk

Improving cotton fibre quality is a major breeding goal for Upland cotton in China. To investigate the genetic mechanisms of fibre quality, a diverse panel of 403 Upland cotton accessions was grown, and the fibre quality traits were measured in six different environments. Genotyping was performed with genomewide simple sequence repeats. A total of 201 markers were polymorphic and generated 394 allele loci, and 403 accessions were arranged into two subgroups using Structure software. Of the marker loci, 18.94% showed significant linkage disequilibrium (\(P< 0.05\)). A mixed linear model in association mapping showed that 51 associations were significant between 39 polymorphic loci and five fibre quality traits, according to best linear unbiased prediction, and in at least three of six environments. Of the 39 associated marker loci, 12 were coincident with previous studies. There were 41 typical accessions identified as containing favourable allele loci related to fibre quality traits. The identified favourable QTL alleles and typical accessions for fibre quality are excellent genetic resources for future cotton breeding in China.     

Molecular pharming’s foot in the FDA’s door: Protalix’s trailblazing story

Objectives

This short commentary examines the factors that led to Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first plant-derived biologic.

Results

In 2012, the first plant-derived protein pharmaceutical (biologic) was approved for commercial use in humans. The product, a recombinant form of human β-glucocerebrosidase marketed as ELELYSO, was developed by Protalix Biotherapeutics (Carmiel, Israel). The foresight to select this particular therapeutic product for development, flawless production pipeline, and serendipity seem to provide the key in explaining how ELELYSO became the first plant-derived biologic to achieve approval by Food and Drug Administration.

Conclusions

While the circumstances that enabled Protalix and its scientists to become the first to arrive at this historic milestone are perhaps unique, it is anticipated that more biologics will follow suit in winning regulatory endorsement.

     

Predicting the Outcome of Sjogren’s Syndrome-Associated Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Patients

BackgroundNon-Hodgkin''s lymphoma (NHL) development in Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) remains a potentially lethal complication and efforts should focus on the identification of predictors that could aid in appropriate therapeutic decisions.MethodsIn order to identify potential prognostic factors for outcome in SS-associated NHL, we retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 77 patients, diagnosed with NHL according to WHO classification criteria and meeting the American-European Consensus Classification (AECC) criteria for SS and examined the effect of SS-activity (defined as the EULAR SS disease activity index-ESSDAI) in the prognosis of SS-related NHLs, as defined in terms of overall and event-free survivals (OS and EFS). An event was defined as lymphoma relapse, treatment failure, disease progression, histological transformation or death. The effect of NHL clinical and laboratory characteristics was also investigated.ResultsMALT lymphomas constituted the majority (66.2%) of lymphomas. During the follow-up (median = 57.93 months), the 5-year OS was 90.91% (95% CI: 82.14–95.80%) and the EFS was 77.92% (95% CI: 67.37–85.82%). Patients with high ESSDAI score at lymphoma diagnosis had a greater risk for death (OR = 5.241, 95% CI: 1.034–26.568) or for event (OR = 4.317, 95% CI: 1.146–9.699, p = 0.008). These patients had also significantly worse EFS (HR = 4.541, 95% CI: 1.772–11.637) and OS (HR = 5.946, 95% CI: 1.259–28.077). In addition, post-chemotherapy ESSDAI improvement was significantly lower in patients who had experienced an event (p = 0.005). An unfavorable International prognostic index (IPI) score (high-intermediate/high) was associated with high risk of death and event (OR = 13.867, 95% CI: 2.656–72.387 and OR = 12.589, 95% CI: 3.911–40.526, respectively), worse EFS (log-rank p<0.001, HR = 8.718, 95% CI: 3.477–21.858), as well as with worse OS (log-rank p<0.001, HR = 11.414, 95% CI: 2.414–53.974). After adjustment for identified risk factors, IPI score retained a significant prognostic role following by a strong effect of ESSDAI in survival outcomes.ConclusionsAt the point of NHL diagnosis, IPI and ESSDAI might be proved useful predictive tools in SS-associated lymphoma prognosis, directing to a more patient-tailored approach.     

Protein quality control: the who’s who, the where’s and therapeutic escapes

In cells the quality of newly synthesized proteins is monitored in regard to proper folding and correct assembly in the early secretory pathway, the cytosol and the nucleoplasm. Proteins recognized as non-native in the ER will be removed and degraded by a process termed ERAD. ERAD of aberrant proteins is accompanied by various changes of cellular organelles and results in protein folding diseases. This review focuses on how the immunocytochemical labeling and electron microscopic analyses have helped to disclose the in situ subcellular distribution pattern of some of the key machinery proteins of the cellular protein quality control, the organelle changes due to the presence of misfolded proteins, and the efficiency of synthetic chaperones to rescue disease-causing trafficking defects of aberrant proteins.     

Wanted! Dead or alive: the tale of the Brown’s Grayling (Pseudochazara amymone)

The Brown’s Grayling (Pseudochazara amymone) is one of the most enigmatic and sought after species among European butterflies. Hiding its exact distribution for almost 40 years with the idea of protecting it, resulted in an increasing collector’s interest, with market prices reaching up to 1,000 euro for a single female after its discovery in Albania. Aiming to demystify this butterfly and enable entomologists and conservationists to see the species in its natural environment, we provide detailed information on its distribution in south-eastern Albania. In addition, we modelled the potential species distribution to facilitate further surveys within its potential range. The modelled range of P. amymone is highly fragmented stretching from the central part of eastern Albania to northern Greece and is strongly bound to ophiolite geological strata. The species was re-assessed as Endangered according to the IUCN criteria, with a predicted population decline due to construction of hydroelectric power plants in one of the locations. We argue that hiding valuable information regarding threatened insect species may have negative effects and we advocate publishing available distribution data so that conservation measures may be undertaken where and when necessary.