Efficacy and safety of tixagevimab/cilgavimab as passive immunisation against COVID-19 infections in patients with hematological malignancies.

Monoclonal antibodies, as tixagevimab/cilgavimab, have been introduced as prophylaxis against COVID-19 infections in high-risk populations. However, data on efficacy are limited. This study investigates efficacy and tolerability of tixagevimab/cilgavimab in hematological patients under real-life conditions. Tixagevimab/cilgavimab was administered to 155 hematological patients (March-August 2022) at two Austrian centres. S/RBD-antibody assessments were performed before (T0), four weeks (T1), and six months (T2) after application. Side effects, the occurrence of COVID-19 infections, and the course of S/RBD-antibody titres were analysed retrospectively in relation to clinical variables. 155 hematological patients, who refused tixagevimab/cilgavimab, were included as a control group to compare the frequency of COVID-19 infections. Of all immunised patients (52.3% males; 91% triple vaccinated), 25.8% had a COVID-19 breakthrough infection (76% mild) compared to 43.9% in the control group. Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)/lymphoma were at highest risk of a COVID-19 infection (OR = 2.21; 95% CI 1.05-4.65; p = 0.037). After immunisation, a steep increase in median antibody levels (1193.4BAU/ml, IQR 0-2318.94) was observed in 67.8%, followed by a rapid decrease between T1 and T2 (465.95BAU/ml, IQR 0-1900.65.3) with the greatest declines in CLL/lymphoma (848.7BAU/ml, IQR 0-1949.6, p = 0.026). Side-effects occurred in 21.2% (CTCAE I/II). These real-world data indicate that S/RBD antibodies respond rapidly after passive immunisation in all hematological patients without safety concerns. Given the rapid decline in S/RBD antibodies, early booster immunisations should be considered for future scenarios in this vulnerable group.

Lipid profiles of patients with manifest coronary versus peripheral atherosclerosis - Is there a difference?

AIM: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) are both caused by atherosclerosis. Serum lipids and lipoproteins are predictive of the development of atherosclerosis but it is not clear if they differ in the two manifestations, PAD and CAD. We tested whether a more detailed characterization of the lipid and lipoprotein patterns of PAD and CAD allows a clear differentiation between the two atherosclerotic phenotypes. METHODS: A cohort of 274 statin-naïve patients with either newly diagnosed imaging proven PAD (n = 89) or stable CAD (n = 185) was characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance- and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based advanced lipid and lipoprotein analysis. An independent cohort of 1239 patients with PAD and CAD was used for validation. RESULTS: We found a significant difference in markers of inflammation as well as ceramide and phosphatidylcholine levels between patients with PAD and CAD. In contrast, basic lipid markers including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, lipoprotein(a) or detailed lipoprotein profiles did not differ significantly between patients with PAD and CAD. Applying ratios and scores derived from ceramides and phosphatidylcholines further improved the discrimination between PAD and CAD. These significant differences were independent of body composition, from the status of smoking or type 2 diabetes mellitus, and also from apolipoprotein C-III and other inflammatory parameters which were different between CAD and PAD. CONCLUSION: The present study clearly suggests that PAD and CAD differ in terms of their ceramide- and phosphatidylcholine-based lipid patterns but not in lipoprotein characteristics.

25 years of lipid-lowering therapy: secular trends in therapy of coronary patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Guidelines on dyslipidemia and lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) over the years recommend lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals by more intense therapy. Nevertheless, LDL­C has increased in the general population. Real-world trends of LLT medication as well as of LDL­C levels in cardiovascular high-risk patients are unclear. METHODS: From 2158 patients who were referred for elective coronary angiography, lipid medication was analyzed at admission in three cardiovascular observational studies (OS) over the last 25 years: OS1: 1999-2000, OS2: 2005-2008 and OS3: 2022-2023. The three studies were performed at the same cardiology unit of a tertiary care hospital in Austria. RESULTS: The proportion of patients without LLT significantly decreased from OS1 through OS2 to OS3 (49.4%, 45.6%, and 18.5%, respectively, ptrend < 0.001). Moreover, the percentage of patients under high-intensity statin treatment significantly increased from 0% to 5.1%, and 56.5% (ptrend < 0.001). Significantly more patients became treated by more than one compound (OS1: 1.8%, OS2: 1.6%, OS3: 31.2%; ptrend < 0.001). In the latest OS3, a trend to fixed-dose combination of statins with ezetimibe was observed. Mean LDL­C levels decreased from 129 mg/dL over 127 mg/dL to 83 mg/dL, respectively (ptrend < 0.001). Of the patients on high-intensity therapy 34% met the recent ESC/EAS goals (LDL-C < 55 mg/dL), but only 3% on non-intense therapy. CONCLUSION: We conclude that during the observational period of a quarter of a century, treatment intensity increased and LDL­C levels improved considerably. Guidelines apparently matter in this high-risk population and are considered by primary care physicians.

Comparison of recent ceramide-based coronary risk prediction scores in cardiovascular disease patients.

AIM: Cholesterol-based risk prediction is often insufficient in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. Ceramides are a new kind of biomarkers for CVD. The Coronary Event Risk Test (CERT) is a validated cardiovascular risk predictor that uses only circulating ceramide levels, determined by coupled liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, to allocate patients into one of four risk categories. This test has recently been modified (CERT2) by additionally including phosphatidylcholine levels. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this observational cohort study, we have recruited 999 Austrian patients with CVD and followed them for up to 13 years. We found that CERT and CERT2 both predicted cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality, and overall mortality. CERT2 had the higher performance compared to CERT and also to the recent cardiovascular risk score of the ESC/EAS guidelines (Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE)) for low-risk European countries. Combining CERT2 with the ESC/EAS-SCORE, predictive capacity was further increased leading to a hazard ratio of 3.58 (2.02-6.36; P < 0.001) for cardiovascular events, 11.60 (2.72-49.56; P = 0.001) for cardiovascular mortality, and 9.86 (4.23-22.99; P < 0.001) for overall mortality when patients with very high risk (category 4) were compared to those with low risk (category 1). The use of the combined score instead of the ESC/EAS-SCORE significantly improved the predictive power according to the integrated discrimination improvement index (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: We conclude that CERT and CERT2 are powerful predictors of cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality, and overall mortality in CVD patients. Including phosphatidylcholine to a ceramide-based score increases the predictive performance and is best in combination with classical risk factors as used in the ESC/EAS-SCORE.

The Volatilomic Footprints of Human HGC-27 and CLS-145 Gastric Cancer Cell Lines.

The presence of certain volatile biomarkers in the breath of patients with gastric cancer has been reported by several studies; however, the origin of these compounds remains controversial. In vitro studies, involving gastric cancer cells may address this problem and aid in revealing the biochemical pathways underlying the production and metabolism of gastric cancer volatile indicators. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection, coupled with headspace needle trap extraction as the pre-concentration technique, has been applied to map the volatilomic footprints of human HGC-27 and CLS-145 gastric cancer cell lines and normal Human Stomach Epithelial Cells (HSEC). In total, 27 volatile compounds are found to be associated with metabolism occurring in HGC-27, CLS-145, and HSEC. Amongst these, the headspace concentrations of 12 volatiles were found to be reduced compared to those above just the cultivating medium, namely there was an observed uptake of eight aldehydes (2-methylpropanal, 2-methyl-2-propenal, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, hexanal, heptanal, nonanal, and benzaldehyde), three heterocyclic compounds (2-methyl-furan, 2-ethyl-furan, and 2-pentyl-furan), and one sulfur-containing compound (dimethyl disulphide). For the other 15 volatiles, the headspace concentrations above the healthy and cancerous cells were found to be higher than those found above the cultivating medium, namely the cells were found to release three esters (ethyl acetate, ethyl propanoate, and ethyl 2-methylbutyrate), seven ketones (2-pentanone, 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, 2-tridecanone, 2-pentadecanone, and 2-heptadecanone), three alcohols (2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol), one aromatic compound (toluene), and one sulfur containing compound [2-methyl-5-(methylthio) furan]. In comparison to HSEC, HGC-27 cancer cell lines were found to have significantly altered metabolism, manifested by an increased production of methyl ketones containing an odd number of carbons. Amongst these species, three volatiles were found exclusively to be produced by this cell line, namely 2-undecanone, 2-tridecanone, and 2-heptadecanone. Another interesting feature of the HGC-27 footprint is the lowered level of alcohols and esters. The CLS-145 cells exhibited less pronounced changes in their volatilomic pattern compared to HSEC. Their footprint was characterized by the upregulated production of esters and 2-ethyl-hexanol and downregulated production of other alcohols. We have therefore demonstrated that it is possible to differentiate between cancerous and healthy gastric cells using biochemical volatile signatures.

Different types of K-Ras mutations are conversely associated with overall survival in patients with colorectal cancer.

A glycine to valine substitution at codon 12 (G12V) in Kirsten-Ras (K-Ras) gene has been associated with reduced overall survival in colorectal cancer patients; however, the effect of other K-Ras mutations than G12V still remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the role of different K-Ras mutations on overall survival in a homogeneous, large patient cohort with standardized therapy and uniform analysis of K-Ras mutation status. The study included 342 patients with histopathologically proven colorectal cancer. Survival data were provided by the federal agency for statistics in Austria. Occurrence of K-Ras mutations at codons 12, 13 and 61 were determined by capillary sequencing. The overall K-Ras mutation frequency in carcinoma tissue was 28%. Carriers of the G12V mutation at the K-Ras gene showed a significantly decreased overall survival compared to carriers of the wild-type [HR=2.56 (1.15-5.69)]. Other mutations than G12V were associated with better overall survival compared to wild-type [HR=0.44 (0.2-0.99)]. In conclusion, for the first time, our study showed clearly that different types of K-Ras mutations are conversely associated with overall survival in patients with colorectal cancer.

In vitro profiling of volatile organic compounds released by Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome adipocytes.

Breath analysis offers a non-invasive and rapid diagnostic method for detecting various volatile organic compounds that could be indicators for different diseases, particularly metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes mellitus. The development of type 2 diabetes mellitus is closely linked to metabolic dysfunction of adipose tissue and adipocytes. However, the VOC profile of human adipocytes has not yet been investigated. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection and head-space needle trap extraction (two-bed Carbopack X/Carboxen 1000 needle traps) were applied to profile VOCs produced and metabolised by human Simpson Golabi Behmel Syndrome adipocytes. In total, sixteen compounds were identified to be related to the metabolism of the cells. Four sulphur compounds (carbon disulphide, dimethyl sulphide, ethyl methyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide), three heterocyclic compounds (2-ethylfuran, 2-methyl-5-(methyl-thio)-furan, and 2-pentylfuran), two ketones (acetone and 2-pentanone), two hydrocarbons (isoprene and n-heptane) and one ester (ethyl acetate) were produced, and four aldehydes (2-methyl-propanal, butanal, pentanal and hexanal) were found to be consumed by the cells of interest. This study presents the first profile of VOCs formed by human adipocytes, which may reflect the activity of the adipose tissue enzymes and provide evidence of their active role in metabolic regulation. Our data also suggest that a previously reported increase of isoprene and sulphur compounds in diabetic patients may be explained by their production by adipocytes. Moreover, the unique features of this profile, including a high emission of dimethyl sulphide and the production of furan-containing VOCs, increase our knowledge about metabolism in adipose tissue and provide diagnostic potential for future applications.

Maturation of tertiary lymphoid structures and recurrence of stage II and III colorectal cancer.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are associated with favorable outcome in non-metastatic colorectal carcinoma (nmCRC), but the dynamics of TLS maturation and its association with effective anti-tumor immune surveillance in nmCRC are unclear. Here, we hypothesized that not only the number of TLS but also their composition harbors information on recurrence risk in nmCRC. In a comprehensive molecular, tissue, laboratory, and clinical analysis of 109 patients with stage II/III nmCRC, we assessed TLS numbers and degree of maturation in surgical specimens by multi-parameter immunofluorescence of follicular dendritic cell (FDC) and germinal center (GC) markers. TLS formed in most tumors and were significantly more prevalent in highly-microsatellite-instable (MSI-H) and/or BRAF-mutant nmCRC. We could distinguish three sequential TLS maturation stages which were characterized by increasing prevalence of FDCs and mature B-cells: [1] Early TLS, composed of dense lymphocytic aggregates without FDCs, [2] Primary follicle-like TLS, having FDCs but no GC reaction, and [3] Secondary follicle-like TLS, having an active GC reaction. A simple integrated TLS immunoscore reflecting these parameters identified a large subgroup of nmCRC patients with a very low risk of recurrence independently of clinical co-variables such as ECOG performance status, age, stage, and adjuvant chemotherapy. We conclude that (1) mismatch repair and BRAF mutation status are associated with the formation of TLS in nmCRC, (2) TLS formation in nmCRC follows sequential maturation steps, culminating in germinal center formation, and (3) this maturation process harbors important prognostic information on the risk of disease recurrence.

Genome-Wide Association Analysis for Severity of Coronary Artery Disease Using the Gensini Scoring System.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) has a complex etiology involving numerous environmental and genetic factors of disease risk. To date, the genetic 9p21 locus represents the most robust genetic finding for prevalent and incident CAD. However, limited information is available on the genetic background of the severity and distribution of CAD. CAD manifests itself as stable CAD or acute coronary syndrome. The Gensini score quantifies the extent CAD but requires coronary angiography. Here, we aimed to identify novel genetic variants associated with Gensini score severity and distribution of CAD. A two-stage approach including a discovery and a replication stage was used to assess genetic variants. In the discovery phase, a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data of 4,930 CAD-subjects assessed by the Gensini score was performed. Selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were replicated in 2,283 CAD-subjects by de novo genotyping. We identified genetic loci located on chromosome 2 and 9 to be associated with Gensini score severity and distribution of CAD in the discovery stage. Although the loci on chromosome 2 could not be replicated in the second stage, the known CAD-locus on chromosome 9p21, represented by rs133349, was identified and, thus, was confirmed as risk locus for CAD severity.

Phytochemicals and their impact on adipose tissue inflammation and diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is an inflammatory disease and the mechanisms that underlie this disease, although still incompletely understood, take place in the adipose tissue of obese subjects. Concurrently, the prevalence of obesity caused by Western diet's excessive energy intake and the lack of exercise escalates, and is believed to be causative for the chronic inflammatory state in adipose tissue. Overnutrition itself as an overload of energy may induce the adipocytes to secrete chemokines activating and attracting immune cells to adipose tissue. But also inflammation-mediating food ingredients like saturated fatty acids are believed to directly initiate the inflammatory cascade. In addition, hypoxia in adipose tissue as a direct consequence of obesity, and its effect on gene expression in adipocytes and surrounding cells in fat tissue of obese subjects appears to play a central role in this inflammatory response too. In contrast, revisiting diet all over the world, there are also some natural food products and beverages which are associated with curative effects on human health. Several natural compounds known as spices such as curcumin, capsaicin, and gingerol, or secondary plant metabolites catechin, resveratrol, genistein, and quercetin have been reported to provide an improved health status to their consumers, especially with regard to diabetes, and therefore have been investigated for their anti-inflammatory effect. In this review, we will give an overview about these phytochemicals and their role to interfere with inflammatory cascades in adipose tissue and their potential for fighting against inflammatory diseases like diabetes as investigated in vivo.

Medullary nephrocalcinosis in an adult patient with idiopathic infantile hypercalcaemia and a novel CYP24A1 mutation.

Idiopathic infantile hypercalcaemia (IIH) is an autosomal recessively inherited disease, presented in the first year of life with hypercalcaemia, precipitated by normal amounts of vitamin D supplementation. Recently loss-of-function mutations in the CYP24A1 gene, which encodes the vitamin D-metabolizing enzyme 24-hydroxylase, have been found in these patients. We describe a young man homozygous for a novel missense mutation (c.628T>C) of the CYP24A1 gene. He had suffered from severe hypercalcaemia in early childhood. At age 29 he presented with medullary nephrocalcinosis, chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 2, microalbuminuria, mild hypertension and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. He had mild hypercalcaemia and moderate hypercalciuria. As a novel finding, fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) was elevated.

Erratum: Medullary nephrocalcinosis in an adult patient with idiopathic infantile hypercalcaemia and a novel CYP24A1 mutation.

[This corrects the article on p. 211 in vol. 6, PMID: 24175086.].

Accessing single nucleotide polymorphisms in genomic DNA by direct multiplex polymerase chain reaction amplification on oligonucleotide microarrays.

This study introduces a DNA microarray-based genotyping system for accessing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) directly from a genomic DNA sample. The described one-step approach combines multiplex amplification and allele-specific solid-phase PCR into an on-chip reaction platform. The multiplex amplification of genomic DNA and the genotyping reaction are both performed directly on the microarray in a single reaction. Oligonucleotides that interrogate single nucleotide positions within multiple genomic regions of interest are covalently tethered to a glass chip, allowing quick analysis of reaction products by fluorescence scanning. Due to a fourfold SNP detection approach employing simultaneous probing of sense and antisense strand information, genotypes can be automatically assigned and validated using a simple computer algorithm. We used the described procedure for parallel genotyping of 10 different polymorphisms in a single reaction and successfully analyzed more than 100 human DNA samples. More than 99% of genotype data were in agreement with data obtained in control experiments with allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization and capillary sequencing. Our results suggest that this approach might constitute a powerful tool for the analysis of genetic variation.