Systems analysis of primary Sjögren's syndrome pathogenesis in salivary glands identifies shared pathways in human and a mouse model

Bone tissue has an exceptional quality to regenerate to native tissue in response to injury. However, the fracture repair process requires mechanical stability or a viable biological microenvironment or both to ensure successful healing to native tissue. An improved understanding of the molecular and cellular events that occur during bone repair and remodeling has led to the development of biologic agents that can augment the biological microenvironment and enhance bone repair. Orthobiologics, including stem cells, osteoinductive growth factors, osteoconductive matrices, and anabolic agents, are available clinically for accelerating fracture repair and treatment of compromised bone repair situations like delayed unions and nonunions. Preclinical and clinical studies using biologic agents like recombinant bone morphogenetic proteins have demonstrated an efficacy similar or better than that of autologous bone graft in acute fracture healing. A lack of standardized outcome measures for comparison of biologic agents in clinical fracture repair trials, frequent off-label use, and a limited understanding of the biological activity of these agents at the bone repair site have limited their efficacy in clinical applications.     

Targeting the cell cycle in breast cancer: towards the next phase

Deregulation of the cell cycle is a hallmark of cancer that enables limitless cell division. To support this malignant phenotype, cells acquire molecular alterations that abrogate or bypass control mechanisms in signaling pathways and cellular checkpoints that normally function to prevent genomic instability and uncontrolled cell proliferation. Consequently, therapeutic targeting of the cell cycle has long been viewed as a promising anti-cancer strategy. Until recently, attempts to target the cell cycle for cancer therapy using selective inhibitors have proven unsuccessful due to intolerable toxicities and a lack of target specificity. However, improvements in our understanding of malignant cell-specific vulnerabilities has revealed a therapeutic window for preferential targeting of the cell cycle in cancer cells, and has led to the development of agents now in the clinic. In this review, we discuss the latest generation of cell cycle targeting anti-cancer agents for breast cancer, including approved CDK4/6 inhibitors, and investigational TTK and PLK4 inhibitors that are currently in clinical trials. In recognition of the emerging population of ER+ breast cancers with acquired resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors we suggest new therapeutic avenues to treat these patients. We also offer our perspective on the direction of future research to address the problem of drug resistance, and discuss the mechanistic insights required for the successful implementation of these strategies.     

Changes in Soluble CD18 in Murine Autoimmune Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis Reflect Disease Establishment and Treatment Response

Introduction

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) immune activation and presence of autoantibodies may precede clinical onset of disease, and joint destruction can progress despite remission. However, the underlying temporal changes of such immune system abnormalities in the inflammatory response during treat-to-target strategies remain poorly understood. We have previously reported low levels of the soluble form of CD18 (sCD18) in plasma from patients with chronic RA and spondyloarthritis. Here, we study the changes of sCD18 before and during treatment of early RA and following arthritis induction in murine models of rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods

The level of sCD18 was analyzed with a time-resolved immunoflourometric assay in 1) plasma from early treatment naïve RA patients during a treat-to-target strategy (the OPERA cohort), 2) plasma from chronic RA patients, 3) serum from SKG and CIA mice following arthritis induction, and 4) supernatants from synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 6 RA patients cultured with TNFα or adalimumab.

Results

Plasma levels of sCD18 were decreased in chronic RA patients compared with early RA patients and in early RA patients compared with healthy controls. After 12 months of treatment the levels in early RA patients were similar to healthy controls. This normalization of plasma sCD18 levels was more pronounced in patients with very early disease who achieved an early ACR response. Plasma sCD18 levels were associated with radiographic progression. Correspondingly, the serum level of sCD18 was decreased in SKG mice 6 weeks after arthritis induction compared with healthy littermates. The sCD18 levels in both SKG and CIA mice exhibited a biphasic course after arthritis induction with an initial increase above baseline followed by a decline. Shedding of CD18 from RA SFMC and RA PBMC cultures was increased by TNFα and decreased by adalimumab.

Conclusions

The plasma sCD18 levels were altered in patients with RA, in mice with autoimmune arthritis and in cell cultures treated with TNFα and adalimumab. Decreased levels of plasma sCD18 could reflect autoimmunity in transition from early to chronic disease and normalization in response to treatment could reflect autoimmunity in remission.     

The expression of IL-20 and IL-24 and their shared receptors are increased in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy

The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression of the two proinflammatory cytokines IL-20 and IL-24 and their shared receptors in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy. IL-20 was increased in plasma of rheumatoid arthritis patients compared with osteoarthritis patients and IL-24 was increased in synovial fluid and plasma of rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy patients compared with osteoarthritis patients. IL-20 and IL-24 mRNA was only present at low levels in the synovium. In the synovial membrane, IL-20 protein was present in mononuclear cells and neutrophil granulocytes whereas IL-24 protein was observed in endothelial cells and mononuclear cells. IL-20 receptor type 1 and IL-22 receptor were expressed by granulocytes in the synovial fluid. In synovial fluid mononuclear cell cultures, stimulation with recombinant human IL-20 or recombinant human IL-24 induced monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (CCL2/MCP-1) secretion, but not tumour necrosis factor alpha mRNA synthesis or IL-6 secretion. Both IL-20 and IL-24 showed correlations to CCL2/MCP-1 in plasma from rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy patients. This study associates IL-20 and IL-24 to the synovium of rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathy and results indicate that the two cytokines contribute to disease pathogenesis through recruitment of neutrophil granulocytes and induction of CCL2/MCP-1.     

Socio-demographic determinants and effect of structured personal diabetes care: a 19-year follow-up of the randomized controlled study diabetes Care in General Practice (DCGP)

Background

We investigated how four aspects of socio-demography influence the effectiveness of an intervention with structured personal diabetes care on long-term outcomes.

Methods

The Diabetes Care in General Practice (DCGP) study is a cluster-randomized trial involving a population-based sample of 1381 patients with newly diagnosed type 2-diabetes mellitus. We investigated how education, employment, cohabitation status and residence influenced the effectiveness of 6 years of intervention with structured personal diabetes care, resembling present day recommendations. Outcomes were incidence of any diabetes-related endpoint and death during 19 years after diagnosis, and cardiovascular risk factors, behaviour, attitudes and process-of-care variables 6 years after diagnosis.

Results

Structured personal care reduced the risk of any diabetes-related endpoint and the effect of the intervention was modified by geographical area (interaction p?=?0.034) with HR of 0.71 (95%CI: 0.60–0.85) and of 1.07 (95%CI: 0.77–1.48), for patients in urban and rural areas, respectively. Otherwise, there was no effect modification of education, employment and civil status on the intervention for the final endpoints. There were no noticeable socio-demographic differences in the effect of the intervention on cardiovascular risk factors, behaviour, attitudes, and process-of-care.

Conclusion

Structured personal care reduced the aggregate outcome of any diabetes-related endpoint and independent of socio-demographic factors similar effect on cardiovascular risk factors, behaviour, attitudes and process of care, but the intervention did not change the existing inequity in mortality and morbidity. Residence modified the uptake of the intervention with patients living in urban areas having more to gain of the intervention than rural patients, further investigations is warranted.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov registration no. NCT01074762 (February 24, 2010).

     

香菇的学名及其在当代真菌分类中的位置

本文综述了香菇(Lentinula edodes)的分类历史,确认其在蘑菇目(Agaricales)Tricholomataceae科下的分类地位,并证实了它与多孔菌目(Poriales)Lentinaceae科的Lentinus属没有联系。根据《真菌、地衣汉语学名命名法规》,作者讨论了译为“香菇属”的Lentinus和“小香菇属”的Lentinellus两属的汉语学名问题,提出Lentinus的汉语学名应订正为“韧伞属”,Lentinellus为“螺壳菌属”。香菇所在的Lentinula属的汉语学名建议为“木菇属”。     

Multiple forms of tubulin in the cytoskeletal and flagellar microtubules of polytomella

The alga polytomella contains several organelles composed of microtubules, including four flagella and hundreds of cytoskeletal microtubules. Brown and co-workers have shown (1976. J. Cell Biol. 69:6-125; 1978, Exp. Cell Res. 117: 313-324) that the flagella could be removed and the cytoskeletans dissociated, and that both structures could partially regenerate in the absence of protein synthesis. Because of this, and because both the flagella and the cytoskeletons can be isolated intact, this organism is particularly suitable for studying tubulin heterogeneity and the incorporation of specific tubulins into different microtubule-containing organelles in the same cell. In order to define the different species of tubulin in polytonella cytoplasm, a (35)S- labeled cytoplasmic fraction was subjected to two cycles of assembly and disassembly in the presence of unlabeled brain tubulin. Comparison of the labeled polytomella cytoplasmic tubulin obtained by this procedure with the tubulin of isolated polytomella flagella by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that, whereas the β-tubulin from both cytoplasmic and flagellar tubulin samples comigrated, the two α-tubulins had distinctly different isoelectic points. As a second method of isolating tubulin from the cytoplasm, cells were gently lysed with detergent and intact cytoskeletons obtained. When these cytoskeletons were exposed to cold temperature, the proteins that were released were found to be highly enriched in tubulin; this tubulin, by itself, could be assembled into microtubules in vitro. The predominant α-tubulin of this in vitro- assembled cytoskeletal tubulin corresponded to the major cytoplasmic α-tubulin obtained by coassembly of labeled polytomella cytoplasmic extract with brain tubulin and was quite distinct from the α-tubulin of purified flagella. These results clearly show that two different microtubule-containing organelles from the same cell are composed of distinct tubulins.     

Identification of restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms in genomic DNA of the lesser snow goose (Anser caerulescens caerulescens)

A genomic library of partially EcoRI-digested DNA from the lesser snow goose, Anser caerulescens caerulescens, was constructed in the phage vector Charon 4. Phage containing only unique sequences were identified by screening plaques with 32P-labeled genomic DNA. Restriction-fragment- length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were identified by probing DNA from 11-13 male birds from the breeding colony at La Perouse Bay. Of the 17 probes examined, all detected RFLPs with at least one of EcoRi, HindIII, Msp1, and Taq1. Several of them identified highly variable regions with multiple alleles. These RFLPs are valuable DNA markers that can be used for (1) the examination of DNA variation, relatedness, and genetic distance and (2) assessing paternity and maternity. These data suggest that there are higher levels of variation of DNA sequence in birds than had previously been thought to exist.