Glycome Patterns of Perfusate in Livers Before Transplantation Associate With Primary Nonfunction.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Primary nonfunction (PNF) is a rare complication after liver transplantation that requires urgent retransplantation. PNF is associated with livers from extended criteria donors. Clinical and biochemical factors have not been identified that reliably associate with graft function after liver transplantation. Serum patterns of N-glycans associate with changes in the liver. We analyzed perfusate from grafted liver to identify protein glycosylation patterns associated with PNF. METHODS: We performed a prospective study of consecutive patients who underwent liver transplantation (66 patients, from 1 center, in the derivation set, and 56 patients, from 2 centers, in the validation set) in Belgium, from October 1, 2011, through April 30, 2017. All donor grafts were transported using cold static storage, and perfusate samples were collected from the livers by flushing of hepatic veins before transplantation. Protein-linked N-glycans were isolated from perfusate samples and analyzed with a multicapillary electrophoresis-based ABI3130 sequencer. We compared glycan patterns between patients with vs without PNF of transplanted livers. PNF was defined as the need for urgent retransplantation when a graft had no evidence of function, after exclusion of other causes, such as hepatic artery thrombosis or acute cellular rejection. RESULTS: The relative abundance of a single glycan, agalacto core-alpha-1,6-fucosylated biantennary glycan (NGA2F) was significantly increased in perfusate of livers given to 4 patients who developed PNF after liver transplantation compared with livers given to patients who did not develop PNF. Level of NGA2F identified patients with PNF with 100% accuracy. This glycomarker was the only factor associated with PNF in multivariate analysis in the derivation and the validation sets (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: In an analysis of patients who underwent liver transplantation, we associated graft perfusate level of glycan NGA2F present on perfusate proteins with development of PNF with 100% accuracy, and validated this finding in a separate cohort of patients. This biomarker might be used to assess grafts before transplantation, especially when high-risk organs are under consideration.

New insights into the HIFU-triggered release from polymeric micelles.

Continuous wave (CW), low frequency, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a promising modality to trigger release of active compounds from polymeric micelles. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether high frequency CW as well as pulsed wave (PW) HIFU can induce the release of a hydrophobic agent from non-cross-linked (NCL) and core cross-linked (CCL) poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide-lactate] (mPEG-b-p(HPMAm-Lac(n))) micelles. It was shown that high frequency CW as well as PW HIFU was able to trigger the release (up to 85%) of a hydrophobic compound (i.e., nile red, NR) from NCL and CCL micelles. No changes in size distribution of the micelles after CW and PW HIFU exposure were observed and no degradation of polymer chain had occurred. We therefore hypothesize that the polymeric micelles are temporally destabilized upon HIFU exposure due to radiation force induced shear forces, leading to NR release on demand.

Liposomes modify the subcellular distribution of sclareol uptake by HCT-116 cancer cell lines.

The uptake of free and liposome-incorporated sclareol and its effect on the growth of human cancer cell line HCT-116 was investigated. Recovery of free and liposomal sclareol in cytosol, nuclei and crude membranes was monitored over time. HCT-116 cells were incubated with 100 microM of free or liposomal sclareol up to 96 h. Intact cells were subjected to subcellular fractionation in order to obtain highly purified fractions of nuclei, cytosol, and crude membranes. Sclareol was extracted from intact cells and from the subcellular fractions using the Bligh-Dyer method and was measured by HPTLC/FID. The effect of sclareol on cell growth was found time dependent. Free sclareol exhibited high toxicity, while the liposomal sclareol showed reduced cytotoxicity but retained the ability to reduce the cell growth rate. The uptake of sclareol by the cells was faster and higher compared to that of its liposomal form. The concentration of sclareol in the three subcellular fractions showed that liposomal sclareol is incorporated in crude membranes and from there it is released in cytosol and nuclei in a time dependent manner, while free sclareol passes directly in the cytosol. These results suggest that liposomal sclareol retains its growth inhibiting activity while its cytotoxic action is diminished. These findings could be due to the sustained delivery of sclareol to the different subcellular sites.