PARP1 might enhance the therapeutic effect of tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside in traumatic brain injury via inhibition of Ras/JNK signalling pathway.

Trauma is the main cause of death for people aged 1-45, and among them, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the major condition, which causes over 50,000 deaths each year and costs over 80 billion per year. Tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside (TSG) is the active ingredient of polygonum multiflorum, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which presented multiple pharmacological effects, including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, reducing blood fat and neuroprotection effects. However, the effect of TSG in promoting the recovery of the nerve system after TBI is not fully understood. PARP1 is a key enzyme in repair of the damage in DNA, which is activated by binding to DNA breaks, initiating both single-strand and double-strand DNA break repair. And we thought that overexpression of TSG might enhance the effect of TSG in TBI treatment. In this study, we firstly detected the oxidative stress response related molecules in serum samples of TBI patients and a TBI mice model, and found that oxidative stress response was activated after TBI, and TSG would reduce this effect. We further noticed that inflammation related molecules presented a similar trend with oxidative stress response related molecules. These results indicated that inflammatory response and oxidative stress processes were both activated after TBI, and reduced after TSG treatment. We further detected that the apoptosis related proteins and anti-oxidative proteins were increased after TSG treatment, and these effects were enlarged after overexpression of PARP1. We further noticed that these effects might be mediated by inhibition of the Ras/JNK signalling pathway. Thus, we thought overexpression of PARP1 might enhance the therapeutic effect of TSG in TBI treatment.

A pooled exploratory analysis of the effect of tumor size and KRAS mutations on survival benefit from adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy in node-negative non-small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: The staging of node-negative non-small-cell lung cancer is modified in the 7th edition TNM classification. Here, we pool data from the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group JBR.10 trial and the Cancer and Leukemia Group B-9633 trial to explore the prognostic and predictive effects of the new T-size descriptors and KRAS mutation status. METHODS: Node-negative patients were reclassified as T2a (>3-≤5 cm), T2b (>5-≤7 cm), T3 (>7 cm) or T ≤ 3 cm (≤3 cm, but other T2 characteristics). RESULTS: Of 538 eligible patients, 288 (53.5%) were T2a, 111 (21%) T2b, 62 (11.5%) T3, whereas 77 (14%) T≤3 cm were excluded to avoid confounding. KRAS mutations were detected in 104 of 390 patients (27%). T-size was prognostic for disease-free survival (p = 0.03), but borderline for overall survival (OS; p = 0.10), on multivariable analysis. Significant interaction between the prognostic value of KRAS and tumor size was observed for OS (p = 0.01), but not disease-free survival (p = 0.10). There was a nonsignificant trend (p = 0.24) for increased chemotherapy effect on OS with advancing T-size (hazard ratio [HR] T2a 0.90, [0.63-1.30]; T2b 0.69, [0.38-1.24]; and T3 0.57, [0.28-1.17]). The HR for chemotherapy effect on OS in T2a patients with KRAS wild-type tumors was 0.81 (p = 0.36), whereas a trend for detrimental effect was observed in those with mutant tumors (HR 2.11; p = 0.09; interaction p = 0.05). Similar trends were observed in T2b to T3 patients with wild-type (HR 0.86; p = 0.62), and KRAS mutant tumors (HR 1.16; p = 0.74; interaction p = 0.58). CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy effect seems to increase with tumor size. However, this small study could not identify subgroups of patients who did or did not derive significant benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy based on T-size or KRAS status.

Anti-cancer therapy: targeting the mevalonate pathway.

The mevalonate pathway has become an important target for anti-cancer therapy. Manipulation of this pathway results in alteration of malignant cell growth and survival in cell culture and animal models, with promising potential for application in human cancers. Mevalonate is synthesized from 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA). Mevalonate is further metabolized to farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP), which is the precursor for sterols. In addition, the farnesyl moiety from FPP is utilized for post-translational modification of proteins including small GTPases, such as Ras and Ras related proteins, which play a role in malignant transformation of cells. FPP is a precursor for geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), which is similarly involved in post-translational modification of proteins. There has been intense interest in manipulating the pathway through HMG-CoA reductase inhibition. More recently, the focus has been on manipulating the pathway by post-translational modification of key regulatory proteins through farnesyl prenyl transferase (FPTase) or geranylgeranyl prenyl transferase (GGPTase) inhibition. This review focuses on the mevalonate pathway and the application of rational drug therapies to manipulate this pathway. Included in the review are a summary of agents demonstrating success in preclinical investigations such as; farnesyl transferase inhibitors, geranylgeranyl transferase inhibitors, dual inhibitors, statins, bisphosphonates, histone deacetylase inhibitors and other compounds. While these agents have shown preclinical success, translation to success in clinical trials has been more difficult. These clinical trials are reviewed along with evaluation of some of the potential problems with these agents in their clinical application.

Individualized quality of life, standardized quality of life, and distress in patients undergoing a phase I trial of the novel therapeutic Reolysin (reovirus).

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the individualized and standardized quality of life (QL) and psychological distress of patients participating in a Phase I trial of the novel therapeutic reovirus (Reolysin). METHODS: 16 patients with incurable metastatic cancer were interviewed prior to being accepted into the phase I trial with a semi-structured expectations interview, the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life--Direct Weighting (SEIQoL-DW), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Spiritual Health Inventory (SHI). RESULTS: Patients were able to complete all measures. They felt hopeful and excited about the trial, with about two thirds hoping for disease regression and one third hoping for a cure. The most commonly spontaneously nominated areas of QL were family relationships, activities and friends, and the overall SEIQoL mean index score was 69. Health was nominated by only 38% of the sample. Scores on the SEIQoL were correlated with global QL on the EORTC QLQ C-30. Scores on the BDI and BSI were lower than reported for similar populations, and on the SHI scores were similar to other samples. Global QL on the EORTC QLQ C-30 and depression scores were associated with time to death in the nine patients who had died at the time of writing. CONCLUSIONS: Individualized QL is easy to assess in seriously ill cancer patients, provides useful information relative to each individual, and is related to standard QL measures. Repeated assessment of individualized QL of patients in Phase I trials would be a useful addition to the research.

Hwansodan protects PC12 cells against serum-deprivation-induced apoptosis via a mechanism involving Ras and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway.

Hwansodan has been used as a prescription for senile and vascular dementia in Oriental medicine. We investigated the neuroprotective effects of Hwansodan water extract on the apoptotic death of PC12 cells by serum deprivation. Hwansodan significantly rescued PC12 cells from apoptotic death by serum deprivation in a dose-dependent manner. The nuclear staining of PC12 cells clearly showed that Hwansodan attenuated nuclear condensation and fragmentation, which represents typical neuronal apoptotic characteristics. Hwansodan also prevents DNA fragmentation and caspase-3-like protease activation in serum-deprived PC12 cells and induces the tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins around 44 kDa, which was identified as ERK1 with electrophoretic gel mobility shift by Western blot. In addition, MEK inhibitor PD98059 and Ras inactivator, alpha-hydroxyfarnesylphosphonic acid and mevastatin, attenuated the neuroprotective effects of Hwansodan in serum-deprived PC12 cells. These results indicate that Ras/MEK/ERK signaling pathway plays a role in neuroprotective effects of Hwansodan in serum-deprived PC12 cells.