Alpha-induced production and robust radiochemical separation of 43Sc as an emerging radiometal for formulation of PET radiopharmaceuticals.

Scandium-43 is an emerging PET radiometal that was produced by α-particle bombardment on natural CaCO3 target via natCa (α,p) 43Sc and natCa (α,n) 43Ti→43Sc reactions using K-130 cyclotron at VECC. A robust radiochemical procedure based on selective precipitation of 43Sc as Sc(OH)3 was developed for separation of the radioisotope from the irradiated target. The overall yield of the separation process was >85% and it was obtained in a form suitable for preparation of target specific radiopharmaceuticals for PET imaging of cancer.

Role of vitamin D in targeting cancer and cancer stem cell populations and its therapeutic implications.

Cancer is recognized globally as the second-most dominating and leading cause of morbidities. Fighting the global health epidemic threat posed by cancer requires progress and improvements in imaging techniques, surgical techniques, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. The existence of a small subpopulation of undifferentiated cells known as cancer stem cells has been supported by accumulating evidence and ongoing research. According to clinical data, cancer recurrence, tumor development, and metastasis are thought to be caused by CSCs. Nutritional or dietary supplements can help you to fight against cancer and cope with the treatment side effects. Vitamin D, sometimes known as the sunshine vitamin, is produced in the skin in reaction to sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency is hazardous to any degree, increasing the risk of diseases such as cancer and disorders like osteoporosis. Bioactive vitamin D, or calcitriol, regulates several biological pathways. Many modes of action of Vitamin D might be helpful in protecting somatic stem cells (e.g., DNA damage repair and oxidative stress protection) or restricting cancer stem cell growth (e.g., cell cycle arrest, cell apoptosis). Researchers have recently begun to investigate the inhibitory effects of dietary vitamin D on cancer stem cells. In this review, we investigated the therapeutic impact of vitamin D and its molecular processes to target cancer and cancer stem cells as well.

Renal cell carcinoma and plasma cell myeloma: Unique association and clinical implications.

Several case series, in the recent past, have postulated an association between plasma cell myeloma (MM) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Population-based data have revealed a bi-directional association between these two malignancies, which points to shared risk factors, similar cytokine (Interleukin-6, IL-6) requirements for growth and survival, and overlapping clinical presentation. The presence of lytic lesions in a patient with prior RCC may simulate bone metastasis; thus, leading to a diagnostic pitfall with potentially adverse clinical implications. Besides these, therapeutic strategies employed for MM have been tried for RCCs with partial success. We aimed to describe two patients, aged 64 and 54 years, with RCC-MM association, with review of relevant literature; and create awareness among pathologists/hematologists, and oncologists. Elucidating a common genetic basis might throw some light in understanding the pathobiology of these tumors and development of newer targeted therapies.

F-cell levels are altered with erythrocyte density in sickle cell disease.

Lighter cells from density fractionated erythrocytes of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients carry higher amount of externalized phosphatidylserine (PS) and cell surface glycophorins compared to the denser counterparts. Further analysis also revealed that the denser cells contained higher levels of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) compared to the lighter cells, supported by the presence of larger number of F-cells in these populations. In this report, we have found direct evidence on the higher survival of the HbF rich erythrocytes in SCD.

Enhanced oxidative cross-linking of hemoglobin E with spectrin and loss of erythrocyte membrane asymmetry in hemoglobin Ebeta-thalassemia.

Oxidative stress to the erythrocytes is associated with formation of large molecular complexes of hemoglobin and the skeletal protein, spectrin. In this work, such complexes are formed with hemoglobin mixtures isolated from patients suffering from HbEbeta-thalassemia with elevated levels of the HbE and purified erythroid spectrin in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The complexes are separated on 4% SDS-PAGE and analyzed by densitometry. The results indicate enhanced formation of complexes with higher amounts of HbE, the most common hemoglobin variant prevalent in Southeast Asia. The binding affinity of spectrin with hemoglobin, in the absence of hydrogen peroxide, was found to increase with hemoglobin mixtures enriched with HbE. The presence of ATP was also found to decrease the overall yield of such complexes. Flow cytometric measurements of phosphatidylserine on the red cell surface also showed a lower degree of membrane asymmetry in HbEbeta-thalassemic patients than in normal subjects. The present work shows enhanced formation of high molecular weight cross-linked complexes of hemoglobin derivatives with erythroid spectrin in HbEbeta-thalassemia.