Capecitabine-related liver lesions: sinusoidal dilatation mimicking liver metastasis.

A 30-year-old lady treated with capecitabine for primary colon adenocarcinoma developed liver lesions suspicious for metastasis. Liver biopsies showed sinusoidal dilatation thought to be secondary to capecitabine. This case highlights the importance of differentiating between benign and malignant liver lesions during cancer surveillance preventing unnecessary liver resections for benign disease.

Expression, purification and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of RebC.

The flavin-dependent monooxygenase RebC is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of the indolocarbazole rebeccamycin. The synthesis of rebeccamycin is of great interest as it has been shown to be a natural antitumour agent. The enzyme has been recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. Hanging-drop vapour diffusion in combination with microseeding was used to obtain suitable crystals for X-ray diffraction. Data were collected to 2.4 A; the crystals belonged to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 63.08, b = 77.85, c = 63.94 A, alpha = gamma = 90, beta = 108.11 degrees .

Identification of complexes containing glutathione with As(III), Sb(III), Cd(II), Hg(II), Tl(I), Pb(II) or Bi(III) by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) of mixtures containing glutathione (GSH) and nitrates, oxides or chlorides of the heavy metals, arsenic, antimony, cadmium, mercury, thallium, lead or bismuth allows for definitive identification of complexes in the gas phase. In the positive ion mode, spectra show prominent m/z peaks that are assigned to monocations of general formulae [E(GSH)-xH]+ (E = Cd, Hg, Tl, Pb, As, Sb or Bi; x = 0, 1 or 2), [E(GSH)2-xH]+ (E = Hg, As, Sb, or Bi; x = 1 or 2), [E(GSH)3-xH]+ (E = As, Sb or Bi; x = 2), [E2(GSH)-xH]+ (E = Tl or Pb; x = 1 or 3), [E2(GSH)2-xH]+ (E = Bi; x = 5), [E2(GSH)3-xH]+ (E = Bi; x = 5), and/or [E3(GSH)-xH]+ (E = Tl; x = 2). Spectra obtained in the negative ion mode give m/z peaks observed in assigned to monoanionic species that correspond to some of the monocationic species listed above with two protons removed. The results demonstrate the potential application of ESI-MS as a versatile and efficient approach to study toxic heavy metals in biological systems. In addition, the observations provide a foundation database to understand the chemistry of these heavy metals with bio-molecules.