Non-small cell lung cancer with multiple brain metastases remains relapse-free for more than 13 years: A case report.

Brain metastasis (BM) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is usually associated with a poor prognosis. A 55-year-old Japanese man visited Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital with complaints of motor aphasia and fatigue. Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed multiple tumors. The patient's medical history included lung cancer surgery performed at another hospital 3 months prior to his visit to our hospital. Total resection of the left frontal tumor revealed BM from lung adenocarcinoma. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) was performed for the remaining three BMs. At 9 months after SRS, another new BM was discovered, and SRS was again performed. More than 13 years have elapsed since the last SRS was performed, and the patient has remained relapse-free. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report describing a patient with NSCLC with multiple BMs who has remained relapse-free for >13 years with no neurological dysfunction, including cognitive deficit.

Introduction of a plasmid and a protein into bovine and swine cells by water-in-oil droplet electroporation.

Instrument cost is a major problem for the transduction of DNA fragments and proteins into cells. Water-in-oil droplet electroporation (droplet-EP) was recently invented as a low-cost and effective method for the transfection of plasmids into cultured human cells. We here applied droplet-EP to livestock animal cells. Although it is difficult to transfect plasmids into bovine fibroblasts using conventional lipofection methods, droplet-EP enabled us to introduce an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-expressing plasmid into bovine earlobe fibroblasts. The optimal transfection condition was 3.0 kV, which allowed 19.1% of the cells to be transfected. For swine earlobe fibroblasts, the maximum transfection efficacy was 14.0% at 4.0 kV. After transfection with droplet-EP, 69.1% of bovine and 76.5% of swine cells were viable. Furthermore, droplet-EP successfully transduced Escherichia coli recombinant EGFP into frozen-thawed bovine sperm at 1.5 kV. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that 71.5% of spermatozoa exhibited green fluorescence after transfection. Overall, droplet-EP is suitable for the transfection of plasmids and proteins into cultured livestock animal cells.

Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 2 Modulates the Lipopolysaccharide-Elicited Expression of Proinflammatory Cytokines in Macrophage-like HL-60 Cells.

We investigated the regulatory roles of USP2 in mRNA accumulation of proinflammatory cytokines in macrophage-like cells after stimulation with a toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 ligand, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Human macrophage-like HL-60 cells, mouse macrophage-like J774.1 cells, and mouse peritoneal macrophages demonstrated negative feedback to USP2 mRNA levels after LPS stimulation, suggesting that USP2 plays a significant role in LPS-stimulated macrophages. USP2 knockdown (KD) by short hairpin RNA in HL-60 cells promoted the accumulation of transcripts for 25 of 104 cytokines after LPS stimulation. In contrast, limited induction of cytokines was observed in cells forcibly expressing the longer splice variant of USP2 (USP2A), or in peritoneal macrophages isolated from Usp2a transgenic mice. An ubiquitin isopeptidase-deficient USP2A mutant failed to suppress LPS-induced cytokine expression, suggesting that protein ubiquitination contributes to USP2-mediated cytokine repression. Although USP2 deficiency did not accelerate TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) 6-nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling, it increased the DNA binding ratio of the octamer binding transcription factor (Oct)-1 to Oct-2 in TNF, CXCL8, CCL4, and IL6 promoters. USP2 decreased nuclear Oct-2 protein levels in addition to decreasing the polyubiquitination of Oct-1. In summary, USP2 modulates proinflammatory cytokine induction, possibly through modification of Oct proteins, in macrophages following TLR4 activation.

Ubiquitin-specific protease 2-69 in macrophages potentially modulates metainflammation.

Macrophages play a critical role in chronic inflammation and metabolic diseases. We identified a longer splice variant of ubiquitin specific protease (USP) 2-69 as a novel molecule that modulates pathways implicated in metabolic disorders. Expression levels of aP2/FABP4 and PAI-1/SERPINE1 genes were increased by 4- and 1.8-fold, respectively, after short hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown (KD) of the USP2 gene, and such expression was alleviated by overexpression of USP2-69 in human myeloid cell lines. Supernatants derived from USP2-KD cells induced IL6 (∼6-fold) and SAA3 (∼15-fold) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes to suggest the anti-inflammatory properties of USP2. In addition, we observed a 30% decrease in the number of macrophages in mesenteric adipose tissue derived from USP2-69 transgenic mice fed a high-fat diet for 14 wk compared with that in their C57BL/6 littermates (P<0.01), which was consistent with a ∼40% decrease in transcription of aP2 and PAI-1. The aP2 locus exhibited elevated chromatin accessibility (>2.1-fold), methylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (>4.5-fold), and acetylation of histone H4 (>2.5-fold) in USP2-KD cells. Transfection of isopeptidase-mutated USP2-69 did not alter chromatin conformation on the aP2 locus in USP2-KD cells. Our results suggest that USP2-69 suppresses meta-inflammatory molecules involved in the development of type-2 diabetes.

Downregulation of hepatic cytochrome P450 3A in mice infected with Babesia microti.

To investigate effects of Babesia infection on drug metabolism, we intraperitoneally inoculated B. microti into ICR mice and measured the expression and activity of hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A, a major drug-metabolizing enzyme. Twelve days after infection, CYP3A11 mRNA, CYP3A protein and activity and mRNAs of nuclear receptors, which participate in CYP3A expression, were significantly reduced. These results suggest that B. microti infection suppresses CYP3A-dependent drug metabolism. Additionally, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) 2 mRNAs were induced in the infected mouse liver. Since TNF-α is one of the potent mediators that induce NOS2 and repress CYP3A transcription, the possible involvement of TNF-α in this downregulation of CYP3A was discussed.

Silent mixed growth hormone cell-prolactin cell pituitary adenoma.

The case of a 51 -year-old man with recurrent nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma is presented. Despite clinically and endocrinologically normal pituitary function in regard to growth hormone and prolactin, many growth hormone- and prolactin-positive cells were immunohis-tochemically detected in adenoma tissue. Furthermore, a quite rare tumor of silent mixed growth hormone cell-prolactin cell pituitary adenoma was confirmed by the double-labeling immunoelectron-microscopical study.