Identification of small molecule inhibitors of human COQ7.

Given that the associated clinical manifestations of ubiquinone (UQ, or coenzyme Q) deficiency diseases are highly heterogeneous and complicated, effective new research tools for UQ homeostasis studies are awaited. We set out to develop human COQ7 inhibitors that interfere with UQ synthesis. Systematic structure-activity relationship development starting from a screening hit compound led to the identification of highly potent COQ7 inhibitors that did not disturb physiological cell growth of human normal culture cells. These new COQ7 inhibitors may serve as useful tools for studying the balance between UQ supplementation pathways: de novo UQ synthesis and extracellular UQ uptake.

[The effect of immunotherapy and hyperthermia on patients with advanced or recurrent cancer - analyses by cancer type and recurrence form].

We treated 1,939 patients with advanced or recurrent cancer using hyperthermia and or immunotherapy between July 2005 and November 2013. Standard therapy showed no effect or was refused by these patients. There were 309(15.9%)patients who experienced a clinical benefit(complete response[CR], partial response[PR], and long-term stable disease[SD], >6 months), including 52 CR cases. The effective rate of immunotherapy increased from 9.9%to 19.1%using hyperthermia. The effective rate for patients with hyperthermia-alone was 3.6%, and skin and regional lymph node metastases disappeared. Immunotherapy alone was effective for liver or lung metastases. Combined hyperthermia and immunotherapy had a beneficial effect on multiple metastases observed in important plural solid organs. Ovarian cancer had the highest effective rate (25.0%), followed by prostate cancer.

[The effect of immunotherapy and hyperthermia on advanced or recurrent ovarian and uterine cancer - 229 clinical cases].

We treated 116 advanced or recurrent ovarian cancer and 102 uterine cancer patients with hyperthermia and/or immunotherapy(2005/7-2013/11). Of these, 63, 31, and 8 patients had cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and uterine sarcoma, respectively. Standard therapy showed no effect or was refused by these patients. Twenty-nine(25.0%)ovarian cancer patients experienced a clinical benefit(complete response[CR], partial response[PR], and long-term stable disease[SD], >6 months). The effective rate of a combination of therapies including activated lymphocyte therapy, dendritic cell therapy, and hyperthermia was 47.5%. Thirteen(12.7%)uterine cancer patients experienced a clinical benefit. The effective rates for cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and uterine sarcoma were 7.9%, 22.5%, and 12.5%, respectively. Both hyperthermia and immunotherapy were administered to successfully treat these patients.

[Immunotherapy and hyperthermia for the treatment of patients with advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer].

We treated 226 patients with advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer using hyperthermia or immunotherapy between July 2005 and September 2012. Clinical benefit (complete response [CR], partial response [PR], and long stable disease [SD] for more than 6 months) was observed in 30 patients (13.3%), including CR in 5 patients. The effective rate of immunotherapy increased from 14.3% to 16.1% using hyperthermia. The effective rate of hyperthermia was 3.9%. Of the 30 effectively treated patients, liver metastases disappeared in 2 patients treated with hyperthermia alone, and lung metastases disappeared in 2 patients treated with immunotherapy alone. In the remaining 26 effectively treated patients, multiple metastases were observed in solid organs. Both hyperthermia and immunotherapy were administered and were found to be effective in the treatment of patients with advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer.