Prognostic relevance of angiopoietin-2, fibroblast growth factor-2 and endoglin mRNA expressions in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Elevated levels of circulating angiogenic cytokines and increased expression of genes encoding angiogenic factors have been reported in recent years in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) but data regarding prognostic and predictive significance are still limited. Therefore, in the present study based upon our prior pilot results, we measured mRNA expressions of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and endoglin (CD105) by reverse transcription quantitative PCR in purified CD19+ cells from 70 untreated CLL patients (median age, 63 years; males, 64%; Rai III/IV stages, 29 %; unmutated IgVH genes, 60 %) and evaluated their possible association with established prognostic factors and clinical course of the disease. Higher expression of Ang-2 was significantly associated with unmutated IgVH genes (n = 55, p = 0.003). Higher CD105 expression was significantly associated with unmutated IgVH genes (n = 55, p < 0.001), high CD38 expression (n = 66, p = 0.022), high ZAP-70 expression (n = 66, p = 0.010), Rai stage I-IV (n = 70, p < 0.001), progressive clinical course of CLL (n = 70, p = 0.001) and shorter time to treatment (n = 70; p < 0.001). Expression of FGF-2 was not significantly associated with any of the prognostic markers. These results indicate that elevated expression of Ang-2 and in particular CD105 by CLL cells is associated with unfavorable prognostic features and clinical outcome; thus, both cytokines appear to play an important role in biology and progression of CLL and warrant further investigation.

[Hypersensitivity reactions to carboplatin and paclitaxel - our five-years experiences]. / Hypersenzitivní reakce po podání karboplatiny a paklitaxelu - nase petileté zkusenosti.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze hypersensitivity reactions to carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients treated with systemic administration of chemotherapy (carboplatin and/or paclitaxel). DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Hradec Kralove. METHODS: One hundred-forty patients treated with systemic administration of chemotherapy were enrolled to our study between years 2008 and 2012. The presence and the grade [grade (G) 1-5; 1 = moderate, 5 = death] of hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) were evaluated, as well as the influence of some clinical parameters on development of HSR. RESULTS: In total 29 HSRs in 21 patients were analyzed. To carboplatin were reported 19 (66%) HSRs: 13 (45%) HSRs of G1-G3 and 6 (21%) HSRs of G4. To paclitaxel were reported 10 (34%) HSRs: 9 (31%) HSRs of G1-G3 and 1 (3%) HSR of G4. The number of administered cycles of carboplatin to develop G1-G4 resp. G1-G3 HSR was higher in comparison with number of cycles to develop HSR of the same grade to paclitaxel(p = 0.001, resp. p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: HSR to carboplatin is unlike paclitaxel affected by the number of administered cycles. This fact should be included in the clinical management of patients treated with intravenous chemotherapy using carboplatin.

[Assessment of selected markers of apoptosis and angiogenesis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia]. / Hodnocení vybraných ukazatelu apoptózy a angiogeneze u chronické lymfocytární leukemie.

INTRODUCTION: Search for new prognostic markers in order to improve prognostic accuracy and predict clinical outcome at the time of dia-gnosis has recently become one of the major trends in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). PATIENTS AND METHODS, AIM OF STUDY: The aim of our study was assessment of selected markers of apoptosis and angiogenesis and their potential as new prognostic factors. We evaluated serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and transforming growth factor ß 1 (TGFß1) using commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; furthermore, we quantified expression of type II receptor for transforming growth factor beta (TGFßRII) and type 2 receptor for fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGFR2) on CLL cells using flow cytometry analysis in 75 previously untreated patients with CLL (47 males and 28 females, median age, 65 years, range 38- 82) and healthy donors. RESULTS: We found significantly elevated TNFα in patients with CLL compared to the control group (p < 0.0001); high expression of TNFα was associated with unfavourable prognosis: significantly higher concentrations were found in patients with Rai highrisk group compared to low and intermediate-risk group (p = 0.0008 and p = 0.0097), with high serum ß2- microglobulin (p = 0.045), massive lymphadenopathy (p = 0.0083), unmutated genes for variable region of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgVH) (p = 0.041) and unfavourable cytogenetic aberrations (p = 0.0014). In addition, patients with progressive CLL had significantly higher TNFα than those with stable clinical course (p = 0.0009); time to treatment was significantly shorter in patients with higher TNFα (p = 0.0049). Higher TGFß1 concentrations were associated with favourable subgroups: with Rai low  risk group compared to high risk group (p = 0.011), patients without massive lymphadenopathy (p = 0.041), patients with mutated IgVH (p = 0.012) and ZAP 70 negativity (zeta associated protein of 70 kilodaltons) (p = 0.044). Patients with progressive CLL had significantly lower TGFß1 levels than those with stable course (p = 0.0014) and time to treatment was significantly longer in patients with higher TGFß1 (p = 0.016). Patients with Rai high risk group had significantly lower TGFßRII expression than those with low  risk group (p = 0.022). The prognostic significance of FGFR2 was not found. Significant and independent prognostic factors for overall survival were high serum concentrations of TNFα and massive lymphadenopathy (p = 0.036, resp. p = 0.047). CONCLUSION: Based on our results, TNFα and TGFß1 possess prognostic significance in CLL; further research in this direction may also be important therapeutically, because these signal pathways could serve as possible treatment targets.

Influence of mineral and organic fertilization on soil fungi, enzyme activities and humic substances in a long-term field experiment.

Changes in microfungal communities, fungal activities and humic substances (HS) in agricultural soils kept under different fertilization regimes were observed and their causal relationships were investigated in a long-term field experiment. Fertilization did not change the abundance of HS-utilizing microfungi and, except for organic amendment alone, total culturable microfungi were also unaffected by this factor. Organic fertilization increased activities of manganese peroxidase (MnP) and proteinase, but decreased endo-1,4-beta-glucanase activity compared to the corresponding control without organic fertilization. In soils treated with mineral fertilizers, the activities of MnP, endo-1,4-beta-glucanase and proteinase were higher than in control without any mineral treatment. Both the aromaticity of fulvic acid and the molar mass of humic acid was lower in soil with organic fertilization, which may be a result of oxidative degradation mediated by higher MnP activity observed in treatments with organic fertilization.

Fluorescence spectroscopy: a tool to characterize humic substances in soil colonized by microorganisms?

The ability of eight soil microfungal species, Alternaria alternata, Clonostachys rosea f. rosea, Exophiala cf. salmonis, Fusarium cf. coeruleum, Fusarium redolens, Paecilomyces lilacinus, Penicillium canescens and Phoma sp., and two known basidiomycete humic acid (HA) degraders, Trametes versicolor and Phanerochaete chrysosporium, to modify fluorescence properties of fulvic acids (FA) and/or HAs was determined. Effects of minerals and/or glucose on the modifications were examined. FA purified on polyvinyl-polypyrrolidone (PVPP) chromatography column was used. Purification of FA on PVPP column removed the low-molar-mass FA-structural components and excess of extractant (NaOH) used during FA preparation. Excitation spectra of FA entering the purification, purified FA and the removal solution indicate that organic compounds rich in carboxylic groups dominate in the removal solution and higher content of phenolic groups is a characteristic of purified FA. Many microfungal species shifted the emission maximum (measured at 470 and 468 nm of excitation wavelength) of FA, and also HA to longer wavelengths. The opposite effect (shift of the HA emission maximum to shorter wavelengths) of microfungi was observed for HA complemented by glucose. Depending on the presence of glucose in the medium, most microfungi changed also the shape of the emission spectra of HA and FA and the excitation spectra of FA. HA excitation spectrum measured at 590 nm of emission wavelength was significantly affected by the presence of glucose. Mineral ions caused a minor shift in the position of excitation maximum (measured at 590 nm of emission wavelength) toward longer wavelengths.

Timing of peripheral blood stem cell yield: comparison of alternative methods with the classic method for CD34+ cell determination.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), still represent a certain mystery in biology, have a unique property of dividing into equal cells and repopulating the hematopoietic tissue. This potential enables their use in transplantation treatments. The quality of the HSC grafts for transplantation is evaluated by flow cytometric determination of the CD34(+) cells, which enables optimal timing of the first apheresis and the acquisition of maximal yield of the peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs). To identify a more efficient method for evaluating CD34(+) cells, we compared the following alternative methods with the reference method: hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) enumeration (using the Sysmex XE-2100 analyser), detection of CD133(+) cells, and quantification of aldehyde dehydrogenase activity in the PBSCs. 266 aphereses (84 patients) were evaluated. In the preapheretic blood, the new methods produced data that were in agreement with the reference method. The ROC curves have shown that for the first-day apheresis target, the optimal predictive cut-off value was 0.032 cells/mL for the HPC method (sensitivity 73.4%, specificity 69.3%). HPC method exhibited a definite practical superiority as compared to other methods tested. HPC enumeration could serve as a supplementary method for the optimal timing of the first apheresis; it is simple, rapid, and cheap.

Organic and mineral fertilization, respectively, increase and decrease the development of external mycelium of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a long-term field experiment.

Effects of long-term mineral fertilization and manuring on the biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were studied in a field experiment. Mineral fertilization reduced the growth of AMF, as estimated using both measurements of hyphal length and the signature fatty acid 16:1omega5, whereas manuring alone increased the growth of AMF. The results of AMF root colonization followed the same pattern as AMF hyphal length in soil samples, but not AMF spore densities, which increased with increasing mineral and organic fertilization. AMF spore counts and concentration of 16:1omega5 in soil did not correlate positively, suggesting that a significant portion of spores found in soil samples was dead. AMF hyphal length was not correlated with whole cell fatty acid (WCFA) 18:2omega6,9 levels, a biomarker of saprotrophic fungi, indicating that visual measurements of the AMF mycelium were not distorted by erroneous involvement of hyphae of saprotrophs. Our observations indicate that the measurement of WCFAs in soil is a useful research tool for providing information in the characterization of soil microflora.

Hyphal growth and mycorrhiza formation by the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus claroideum BEG 23 is stimulated by humic substances.

Effects of humic substances (humic acid or fulvic soil extract) or saprophytic microorganisms (Paecilomyces lilacinus and an unidentified actinomycete) on growth of mycelium and mycorrhiza formation by Glomus claroideum BEG23 were studied in a hydroponic system. Humic substances stimulated root colonization and production of extraradical mycelium by the mycorrhizal fungus. Both humic and fulvic acids tended to decrease populations of culturable bacteria and fungi in the cultivation system, indicating a moderately antibiotic activity. The addition of saprophytic microorganisms able to use humic substances to the cultivation system further stimulated the development of the mycorrhizal fungus. However, stimulation of G. claroideum was also observed when the saprophytic microorganisms were heat-killed, suggesting that their effect was not linked to a specific action on humic substances. The results indicate that humic substances may represent a stimulatory component of the soil environment with respect to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.