Tisagenlecleucel in Children and Young Adults with B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

BACKGROUND: In a single-center phase 1-2a study, the anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel produced high rates of complete remission and was associated with serious but mainly reversible toxic effects in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). METHODS: We conducted a phase 2, single-cohort, 25-center, global study of tisagenlecleucel in pediatric and young adult patients with CD19+ relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL. The primary end point was the overall remission rate (the rate of complete remission or complete remission with incomplete hematologic recovery) within 3 months. RESULTS: For this planned analysis, 75 patients received an infusion of tisagenlecleucel and could be evaluated for efficacy. The overall remission rate within 3 months was 81%, with all patients who had a response to treatment found to be negative for minimal residual disease, as assessed by means of flow cytometry. The rates of event-free survival and overall survival were 73% (95% confidence interval [CI], 60 to 82) and 90% (95% CI, 81 to 95), respectively, at 6 months and 50% (95% CI, 35 to 64) and 76% (95% CI, 63 to 86) at 12 months. The median duration of remission was not reached. Persistence of tisagenlecleucel in the blood was observed for as long as 20 months. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events that were suspected to be related to tisagenlecleucel occurred in 73% of patients. The cytokine release syndrome occurred in 77% of patients, 48% of whom received tocilizumab. Neurologic events occurred in 40% of patients and were managed with supportive care, and no cerebral edema was reported. CONCLUSIONS: In this global study of CAR T-cell therapy, a single infusion of tisagenlecleucel provided durable remission with long-term persistence in pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL, with transient high-grade toxic effects. (Funded by Novartis Pharmaceuticals; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02435849 .).

Cellular kinetics of CTL019 in relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Tisagenlecleucel (CTL019) is an investigational immunotherapy that involves reprogramming a patient's own T cells with a transgene encoding a chimeric antigen receptor to identify and eliminate CD19-expressing cells. We previously reported that CTL019 achieved impressive clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including the expansion and persistence of CTL019 cells, which correlates with response to therapy. Here, we performed formal cellular kinetic analyses of CTL019 in a larger cohort of 103 patients treated with CTL019 in 2 different diseases (ALL and CLL). CTL019 was measured in peripheral blood and bone marrow, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry. CTL019 levels in peripheral blood typically peaked at 10 to 14 days postinfusion and then declined slowly over time. Patients with complete response (CR)/CR with incomplete count recovery had higher levels of CTL019 in peripheral blood, with greater maximal concentration and area under the curve values compared with nonresponding patients (P < .0001 for each). CTL019 transgene levels were measurable up to 780 days in peripheral blood. CTL019 trafficking and persistence were observed in bone marrow and cerebrospinal fluid. CTL019 expansion correlated with severity of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and preinfusion tumor burden in pediatric ALL. The results described here are the first detailed formal presentation of cellular kinetics across 2 diseases and highlight the importance of the application of in vivo cellular kinetic analyses to characterize clinical efficacy and CRS severity associated with CTL019 therapy.

Mechanosignaling-related angiocrine factors drive osteoblastic phenotype in response to zirconia.

BACKGROUND: The growing use of zirconia as a ceramic material in dentistry is attributed to its biocompatibility, mechanical properties, esthetic appearance, and reduced bacterial adhesion. These favorable properties make ceramic materials a viable alternative to commonly used titanium alloys. Mimicking the physiological properties of blood flow, particularly the mechanosignaling in endothelial cells (ECs), is crucial for enhancing our understanding of their role in the response to zirconia exposure. METHODS: In this study, EC cultures were subjected to shear stress while being exposed to zirconia for up to 3 days. The conditioned medium obtained from these cultures was then used to expose osteoblasts for a duration of 7 days. To investigate the effects of zirconia on osteoblasts, we examined the expression of genes associated with osteoblast differentiation, including Runx2, Osterix, bone sialoprotein, and osteocalcin genes. Additionally, we assessed the impact of mechanosignaling-related angiocrine factors on extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling by measuring the activities of matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP2 and MMP9) during the acquisition of the osteogenic phenotype, which precedes mineralization. RESULTS: Our data revealed that mechanosignaling-related angiocrine factors play a crucial role in promoting an osteoblastic phenotype in response to zirconia exposure. Specifically, exposed osteoblasts exhibited significantly higher expression levels of genes associated with osteoblast differentiation, such as Runx2, Osterix, bone sialoprotein, and osteocalcin genes. Furthermore, the activities of MMP2 and MMP9, which are involved in ECM remodeling, were modulated by mechanosignaling-related angiocrine factors. This modulation is likely an initial event preceding the mineralization phase. CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, we propose that mechanosignaling drives the release of angiocrine factors capable of modulating the osteogenic phenotype at the biointerface with zirconia. This process creates a microenvironment that promotes wound healing and osseointegration. Moreover, these results highlight the importance of considering the mechanosignaling of endothelial cells in the modulation of bone healing and osseointegration in the context of blood vessel effects. Our data provide new insights and open avenues for further investigation into the influence of mechanosignaling on bone healing and the osseointegration of dental devices.

Statistical considerations in biosimilar clinical efficacy trials with asymmetrical margins.

Development of biosimilars to innovative therapeutic biologics promises reduction of healthcare cost and therefore will provide patients worldwide greater access to effective treatments. Because of the differences in raw materials or manufacturing processes, 'equivalence' of bioavailability between a biosimilar and the reference biologic is generally regarded as insufficient, and thus, clinical trials providing efficacy and safety data are often required by regulatory agencies. The traditional non-inferiority trial design may not be accepted for establishing biosimilarity in order to avoid superior efficacy with additional safety (e.g., immunogenicity) risks. On the other hand, the bioequivalence trial design, which is used in the generic paradigm for the evaluation of bioavailability of generic chemical drugs, is not appropriate for evaluating clinical efficacy because the equivalence margins are generally too wide and not justified on statistical or clinical grounds. Motivated by the World Health Organization guideline and the newly released Food and Drug Administration draft guideline on biosimilars, we propose a biosimilarity trial design for evaluating clinical efficacy. The design uses a non-inferiority margin and an asymmetrical non-superiority margin for statistical inference. The independent choice of both margins provides the scientific foundation for drawing clinical efficacy conclusions while maintaining the logical consistency of the inference. The design also has a higher statistical power than a naïve equivalence trial design.

The Action of Angiocrine Molecules Sourced from Mechanotransduction-Related Endothelial Cell Partially Explain the Successful of Titanium in Osseointegration.

Since Branemark's findings, titanium-based alloys have been widely used in implantology. However, their success in dental implants is not known when considering the heterogenicity of housing cells surrounding the peri-implant microenvironment. Additionally, they are expected to recapitulate the physiological coupling between endothelial cells and osteoblasts during appositional bone growth during osseointegration. To investigate whether this crosstalk was happening in this context, we considered the mechanotransduction-related endothelial cell signaling underlying laminar shear stress (up to 3 days), and this angiocrine factor-enriched medium was harvested further to use exposing pre-osteoblasts (pOb) for up to 7 days in vitro. Two titanium surfaces were considered, as follows: double acid etching treatment (w_DAE) and machined surfaces (wo_DAE). These surfaces were used to conditionate the cell culture medium as recommended by ISO10993-5:2016, and this titanium-enriched medium was later used to expose ECs. First, our data showed that there is a difference between the surfaces in releasing Ti molecules to the medium, providing very dynamic surfaces, where the w_DAE was around 25% higher (4 ng/mL) in comparison to the wo_DAE (3 ng/mL). Importantly, the ECs took up some of this titanium content for up to 3 days in culture. However, when this conditioned medium was used to expose pOb for up to 7 days, considering the angiocrine factors released from ECs, the concentration of Ti was lesser than previously reported, reaching around 1 ng/mL and 2 ng/mL, respectively. Thereafter, pOb exposed to this angiocrine factor-enriched medium presented a significant difference when considering the mechanosignaling subjected to the ECs. Shear-stressed ECs showed adequate crosstalk with osteoblasts, stimulating the higher expression of the Runx2 gene and driving higher expressions of Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone sialoprotein (BSP), and osteocalcin. Mechanotransduction-related endothelial cell signaling as a source of angiocrine molecules also stimulated the higher expression of the Col3A1 gene in osteoblasts, which suggests it is a relevant protagonist during trabecular bone growth. In fact, we investigated ECM remodeling by first evaluating the expression of genes related to it, and our data showed a higher expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 and MMP9 in response to mechanosignaling-based angiocrine molecules, independent of considering w_DAE or the wo_DAE, and this profile reflected on the MMP2 and MMP9 activities evaluated via gelatin-based zymography. Complimentarily, the ECM remodeling seemed to be a very regulated mechanism in mature osteoblasts during the mineralization process once both TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1 and 2 (TIMP1 and TIMP2, respectively) genes were significantly higher in response to mechanotransduction-related endothelial cell signaling as a source of angiocrine molecules. Altogether, our data show the relevance of mechanosignaling in favoring ECs' release of bioactive factors peri-implant, which is responsible for creating an osteogenic microenvironment able to drive osteoblast differentiation and modulate ECM remodeling. Taking this into account, it seems that mechanotransduction-based angiocrine molecules explain the successful use of titanium during osseointegration.

Patient and caregiver experiences with pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN): results from a patient community survey.

BACKGROUND: Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder of PANK2, which enables mitochondrial synthesis of coenzyme A. Its loss causes neurodegeneration with iron accumulation primarily in motor-related brain areas. Symptoms include dystonia, parkinsonism, and other disabilities. PKAN has been categorized as classic PKAN, with an age of onset ≤ 10 years, rapid progression, and early disability or death; and atypical PKAN, with later onset, slower progression, generally milder, and more diverse symptom manifestations. Available treatments are mostly palliative. Information on the lived experience of patients with PKAN and their caregivers or on community-level disease burden is limited. It is necessary to engage patients as partners to expand our understanding and improve clinical outcomes. This patient-oriented research study used multiple-choice and free-form question surveys distributed by patient organizations to collect information on the manifestations and disease burden of PKAN. It also assessed respondents' experiences and preferences with clinical research to inform future clinical trials. RESULTS: The analysis included 166 surveys. Most respondents (87%) were parents of a patient with PKAN and 7% were patients, with 80% from Europe and North America. The study cohort included 85 patients with classic PKAN (mean ± SD age of onset 4.4 ± 2.79 years), 65 with atypical PKAN (13.8 ± 4.79 years), and 16 identified as "not sure". Respondents reported gait disturbances and dystonia most often in both groups, with 44% unable to walk. The classic PKAN group reported more speech, swallowing, and visual difficulties and more severe motor problems than the atypical PKAN group. Dystonia and speech/swallowing difficulties were reported as the most challenging symptoms. Most respondents reported using multiple medications, primarily anticonvulsants and antiparkinsonian drugs, and about half had participated in a clinical research study. Study participants reported the most difficulties with the physical exertion associated with imaging assessments and travel to assessment sites. CONCLUSIONS: The survey results support the dichotomy between classic and atypical PKAN that extends beyond the age of onset. Inclusion of patients as clinical research partners shows promise as a pathway to improving clinical trials and providing more efficacious PKAN therapies.

Titanium-Enriched Medium Promotes Environment-Induced Epigenetic Machinery Changes in Human Endothelial Cells.

It is important to understand whether endothelial cells are epigenetically affected by titanium-enriched media when angiogenesis is required during bone development and it is expected to be recapitulated during osseointegration of biomaterials. To better address this issue, titanium-enriched medium was obtained from incubation of titanium discs for up to 24 h as recommended by ISO 10993-5:2016, and further used to expose human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) for up to 72 h, when the samples were properly harvested to allow molecular analysis and epigenetics. In general, our data show an important repertoire of epigenetic players in endothelial cells responding to titanium, reinforcing protein related to the metabolism of acetyl and methyl groups, as follows: Histone deacetylases (HDACs) and NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-1 (Sirt1), DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and ten-eleven translocation (TET) methylcytosine dioxygenases, which in conjunction culminate in driving chromatin condensation and the methylation profile of DNA strands, respectively. Taking our data into consideration, HDAC6 emerges as important player of this environment-induced epigenetic mechanism in endothelial cells, while Sirt1 is required in response to stimulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, as its modulation is relevant to vasculature surrounding implanted devices. Collectively, all these findings support the hypothesis that titanium keeps the surrounding microenvironment dynamically active and so affects the performance of endothelial cells by modulating epigenetics. Specifically, this study shows the relevance of HDAC6 as a player in this process, possibly correlated with the cytoskeleton rearrangement of those cells. Furthermore, as those enzymes are druggable, it opens new perspectives to consider the use of small molecules to modulate their activities as a biotechnological tool in order to improve angiogenesis and accelerate bone growth with benefits of a fast recovery time for patients.

School attendance problems and youth psychopathology: structural cross-lagged regression models in three longitudinal data sets.

This study tests a model of reciprocal influences between absenteeism and youth psychopathology using 3 longitudinal datasets (Ns = 20,745, 2,311, and 671). Participants in 1st through 12th grades were interviewed annually or biannually. Measures of psychopathology include self-, parent-, and teacher-report questionnaires. Structural cross-lagged regression models were tested. In a nationally representative data set (Add Health), middle school students with relatively greater absenteeism at Study Year 1 tended toward increased depression and conduct problems in Study Year 2, over and above the effects of autoregressive associations and demographic covariates. The opposite direction of effects was found for both middle and high school students. Analyses with 2 regionally representative data sets were also partially supportive. Longitudinal links were more evident in adolescence than in childhood.

Mammalian TIMELESS is required for ATM-dependent CHK2 activation and G2/M checkpoint control.

Timeless (Tim), a core circadian clock gene in Drosophila, is retained in mammals but has no apparent mammalian circadian clock function. Mammalian TIM is essential for ATR-dependent Chk1 activation and S-phase arrest. We report that TIM is likewise essential for ATM-dependent Chk2-mediated signaling of doxorubicin-induced DNA double strand breaks. TIM depletion attenuates doxorubicin-induced G(2)/M cell cycle arrest and sensitizes cancer cells to doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity. TIM is, thereby, a potential novel anticancer drug target whose inhibition may enhance the therapeutic cytotoxicity of agents that activate DNA damage pathways as part of their mechanism.

The association of quality of life with potentially remediable disruptions of circadian sleep/activity rhythms in patients with advanced lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients routinely develop symptoms consistent with profound circadian disruption, which causes circadian disruption diminished quality of life. This study was initiated to determine the relationship between the severity of potentially remediable cancer-associated circadian disruption and quality of life among patients with advanced lung cancer. METHODS: We concurrently investigated the relationship between the circadian rhythms of 84 advanced lung cancer patients and their quality of life outcomes as measured by the EORTC QLQ C30 and Ferrans and Powers QLI. The robustness and stability of activity/sleep circadian daily rhythms were measured by actigraphy. Fifty three of the patients in the study were starting their definitive therapy following diagnosis and thirty one patients were beginning second-line therapy. Among the patients who failed prior therapy, the median time between completing definitive therapy and baseline actigraphy was 4.3 months, (interquartile range 2.1 to 9.8 months). RESULTS: We found that circadian disruption is universal and severe among these patients compared to non-cancer-bearing individuals. We found that each of these patient's EORTC QLQ C30 domain scores revealed a compromised capacity to perform the routine activities of daily life. The severity of several, but not all, EORTC QLQ C30 symptom items correlate strongly with the degree of individual circadian disruption. In addition, the scores of all four Ferrans/Powers QLI domains correlate strongly with the degree of circadian disruption. Although Ferrans/Powers QLI domain scores show that cancer and its treatment spared these patients' emotional and psychological health, the QLI Health/Function domain score revealed high levels of patients' dissatisfaction with their health which is much worse when circadian disruption is severe. Circadian disruption selectively affects specific Quality of Life domains, such as the Ferrans/Powers Health/Function domain, and not others, such as EORTC QLQ C30 Physical Domain. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest the testable possibility that behavioral, hormonal and/or light-based strategies to improve circadian organization may help patients suffering from advanced lung cancer to feel and function better.

Validation of actigraphy to assess circadian organization and sleep quality in patients with advanced lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Many cancer patients report poor sleep quality, despite having adequate time and opportunity for sleep. Satisfying sleep is dependent on a healthy circadian time structure and the circadian patterns among cancer patients are quite abnormal. Wrist actigraphy has been validated with concurrent polysomnography as a reliable tool to objectively measure many standard sleep parameters, as well as daily activity. Actigraphic and subjective sleep data are in agreement when determining activity-sleep patterns and sleep quality/quantity, each of which are severely affected in cancer patients. We investigated the relationship between actigraphic measurement of circadian organization and self-reported subjective sleep quality among patients with advanced lung cancer. METHODS: This cross-sectional and case control study was conducted in 84 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer in a hospital setting for the patients at Midwestern Regional Medical Center (MRMC), Zion, IL, USA and home setting for the patients at WJB Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), Columbia, SC, USA. Prior to chemotherapy treatment, each patient's sleep-activity cycle was measured by actigraphy over a 4-7 day period and sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of our patients was 62 years. 65 patients were males while 19 were females. 31 patients had failed prior treatment while 52 were newly diagnosed. Actigraphy and PSQI scores showed significantly disturbed daily sleep-activity cycles and poorer sleep quality in lung cancer patients compared to healthy controls. Nearly all actigraphic parameters strongly correlated with PSQI self-reported sleep quality of inpatients and outpatients. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation of daily activity/sleep time with PSQI-documented sleep indicates that actigraphy can be used as an objective tool and/or to complement subjective assessments of sleep quality in patients with advanced lung cancer. These results suggest that improvements to circadian function may also improve sleep quality.

The molecular pathway triggered by zirconia in endothelial cells involves epigenetic control.

The requirement to achieve natural looking restorations is one of the most challenging aspects in dentistry. Although zirconia has provided new opportunities for achieving superior aesthetics and physicochemical outcomes, very little has been achieved for its cellular and molecular performance, especially considering angiogenesis and osteogenesis. As angiogenesis is a secondary event and concomitant to osteogenesis, an indirect effect of dental implant on endothelial cells could be the release of active molecules such as those already reported affecting osteoblasts. To better address this issue, we challenged human endothelial cells (HUVECs) with zirconia-conditioned medium up to 72 h to allow analysis specific gene expression and protein pattern of mediators of epigenetic machinery in full. Our data shows involvement of zirconia in triggering intracellular signaling through MAPK-ERK activation, leading the signal to activate histone deacetylase HDAC6 likely with concomitant well-modulated DNA methylation profile by DNMTs and TETs. These signaling pathways seem to culminate in cytoskeleton rearrangement of endothelial cells, an important prerequisite to cell migration expected in angiogenesis. Collectively, this study demonstrates for the first time epigenetic-related molecular mechanism involved in endothelial cells responding to zirconia, revealing a repertoire of signaling molecules capable of executing the reprogramming process of gene expression, which are necessary to drive cell proliferation, migration, and consequently angiogenesis. This set of data can further studies using gene editing approaches to better elucidate functional roles.

Practical guidelines for monitoring and management of coagulopathy following tisagenlecleucel CAR T-cell therapy.

Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a systemic inflammatory response associated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies. In severe cases, CRS can be associated with coagulopathy and hypofibrinogenemia. We present our global multicenter experience with CRS-associated coagulopathy after tisagenlecleucel therapy in 137 patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia from the ELIANA and ENSIGN trials. These trials included clinical guidelines for fibrinogen replacement during CRS-associated coagulopathy. Hypofibrinogenemia requiring replacement was observed only in patients with severe CRS. A higher percentage of patients who required replacement were <10 years old, compared with those who did not require replacement. Twenty-three patients received replacement for hypofibrinogenemia (<1.5 g/L); 9 of them developed marked hypofibrinogenemia (<1 g/L). Very low fibrinogen levels (<1 g/L) were documented in patients before maximal CRS (n = 1), during maximal CRS (n = 7), and at CRS improvement (n = 1). Although hypofibrinogenemia was the most clinically significant coagulopathy, some patients also developed prolonged prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time and increased international normalized ratio, further increasing the risk of bleeding. Hypofibrinogenemia was effectively managed using fibrinogen concentrate or cryoprecipitate replacement; severe (grade 4) bleeding events were rare (n = 2). CRS-associated coagulopathy with hypofibrinogenemia is manageable according to empiric guidelines of fibrinogen replacement for CAR-T trials. Fibrinogen concentrate should be used when cryoprecipitate is not reliably available. Monitoring fibrinogen levels in patients with moderate or severe CRS is essential for avoiding potentially fatal bleeding events. These trials were registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02435849 and #NCT02228096.

Pooled safety analysis of tisagenlecleucel in children and young adults with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Tisagenlecleucel, an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, has demonstrated efficacy in children and young adults with relapsed/refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in two multicenter phase 2 trials (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02435849 (ELIANA) and NCT02228096 (ENSIGN)), leading to commercialization of tisagenlecleucel for the treatment of patients up to age 25 years with B-ALL that is refractory or in second or greater relapse. METHODS: A pooled analysis of 137 patients from these trials (ELIANA: n=79; ENSIGN: n=58) was performed to provide a comprehensive safety profile for tisagenlecleucel. RESULTS: Grade 3/4 tisagenlecleucel-related adverse events (AEs) were reported in 77% of patients. Specific AEs of interest that occurred ≤8 weeks postinfusion included cytokine-release syndrome (CRS; 79% (grade 4: 22%)), infections (42%; grade 3/4: 19%), prolonged (not resolved by day 28) cytopenias (40%; grade 3/4: 34%), neurologic events (36%; grade 3: 10%; no grade 4 events), and tumor lysis syndrome (4%; all grade 3). Treatment for CRS included tocilizumab (40%) and corticosteroids (23%). The frequency of neurologic events increased with CRS severity (p<0.001). Median time to resolution of grade 3/4 cytopenias to grade ≤2 was 2.0 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.23) months for neutropenia, 2.4 (95% CI 1.97 to 3.68) months for lymphopenia, 2.0 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.27) months for leukopenia, 1.9 (95% CI 1.74 to 2.10) months for thrombocytopenia, and 1.0 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.87) month for anemia. All patients who achieved complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete hematologic recovery experienced B cell aplasia; however, as nearly all responders also received immunoglobulin replacement, few grade 3/4 infections occurred >1 year postinfusion. CONCLUSIONS: This pooled analysis provides a detailed safety profile for tisagenlecleucel during the course of clinical trials, and AE management guidance, with a longer follow-up duration compared with previous reports.

Ibero-Panamerican Federation of Periodontics Delphi study on the trends in diagnosis and treatment of peri-implant diseases and conditions: A Latin American consensus.

BACKGROUND: The social diversity, heterogeneous culture, and inherent economic inequality factors in Latin America (LA) justify conducting a comprehensive analysis on the current status and future trends of peri-implant diseases and conditions. Thus, the aim of this Delphi study was to predict the future trends in the diagnosis and treatment of peri-implant diseases and conditions in LA countries for the year 2030. METHODS: A Latin American steering committee and group of experts in implant dentistry validated a questionnaire including 64 questions divided into eight sections. The questionnaire was run twice with an interval of 45 days, with the results from the first round made available to all the participants in the second round. The results were expressed in percentages and data was analyzed describing the consensus level reached in each question. RESULTS: A total of 221 experts were invited to participate in the study and a total 214 (96.8%) completed the two rounds. Moderate (65%-85%) to high consensus (≥ 85%) was reached in 51 questions (79.69%), except in the questions dealing with "prevalence", where no consensus was reached. High and moderate consensus was attained for all the questions in three fields (risk factors and indicators, diagnosis and treatment of peri-implant conditions and deficiencies, and prevention and maintenance). CONCLUSIONS: The present study has provided relevant and useful information on the predictions in the diagnosis and treatment of peri-implant diseases with a high level of consensus among experts. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of agreement in certain domains.

Suppression of colitis-driven colon cancer in mice by a novel small molecule inhibitor of sphingosine kinase.

Sphingolipid metabolism is driven by inflammatory cytokines. These cascade of events include the activation of sphingosine kinase (SK), and subsequent production of the mitogenic and proinflammatory lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). Overall, S1P is one of the crucial components in inflammation, making SK an excellent target for the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs. We have recently shown that SK inhibitors suppress colitis and hypothesize here that the novel SK inhibitor, ABC294640, prevents the development of colon cancer. In an azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) mouse model, there was a dose-dependent decrease in tumor incidence with SK inhibitor treatment. The tumor incidence (number of animals with tumors per group) in the vehicle, ABC294640 (20 mg/kg) and ABC294640 (50 mg/kg) groups were 80, 40 and 30%, respectively. Tumor multiplicity (number of tumors per animal) also decreased from 2.1 ± 0.23 tumors per animal in the AOM + DSS + vehicle group to 1.2 ± 0 tumors per animal in the AOM + DSS + ABC294640 (20 mg/kg) and to 0.8 ± 0.4 tumors per animal in the AOM + DSS + ABC294640 (50 mg/kg) group. Importantly, with ABC294640, there were no observed toxic side effects. To explore mechanisms, we isolated cells from the colon (CD45-, representing primarily colon epithelial cells) and (CD45+, representing primarily colon inflammatory cells) then measured known targets of SK that control cell survival. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that the inhibition of SK activity by our novel SK inhibitor modulates key pathways involved in cell survival and may be a viable treatment strategy for the chemoprevention colitis-driven colon cancer.

Mechanistic insight into the ability of American ginseng to suppress colon cancer associated with colitis.

We have recently shown that American ginseng (AG) prevents and treats mouse colitis. Because both mice and humans with chronic colitis have a high colon cancer risk, we tested the hypothesis that AG can be used to prevent colitis-driven colon cancer. Using the azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) mouse model of ulcerative colitis, we show that AG can suppress colon cancer associated with colitis. To explore the molecular mechanisms of the anticancer effects of AG, we also carried out antibody array experiments on colon cells isolated at a precancerous stage. We found there were 82 protein end points that were either significantly higher (41 proteins) or significantly lower (41 proteins) in the AOM + DSS group compared with the AOM-alone (control) group. In contrast, there were only 19 protein end points that were either significantly higher (10 proteins) or significantly lower (9 proteins) in the AOM + DSS + AG group compared with the AOM-alone (control) group. Overall, these results suggest that AG keeps the colon environment in metabolic equilibrium when mice are treated with AOM + DSS and gives insight into the mechanisms by which AG protects from colon cancer associated with colitis.

Global breast cancer seasonality.

Human breast cancer incidence has seasonal patterns that seem to vary among global populations. The aggregate monthly frequency of breast cancer diagnosis was collected and examined for 2,921,714 breast cancer cases diagnosed across 64 global regions over spans from 2 to 53 years. Breast cancer is consistently diagnosed more often in spring and fall, both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, regardless of presumable menopausal status (50). This seasonality is increasingly more prominent as population distance from the equator increases and this latitude dependence is most pronounced among women living in rural areas. Moreover, the overall annual incidence (2005-2006), per 100,000 population, of breast cancer increased as the latitude of population residence increased. These data make it clear that human breast cancer discovery occurs non-randomly throughout each year with peaks near both equinoxes and valleys near both solstices. This stable global breast cancer seasonality has implications for better prevention, more accurate screening, earlier diagnosis, and more effective treatment. This complex latitude-dependent breast cancer seasonality is clearly related to predictable local day/night length changes which occur seasonally. Its mechanism may depend upon seasonal sunlight mediation of vitamin D and seasonal mediation of nocturnal melatonin peak level and duration.