Validation of the Palliative Prognostic Index, Performance Status-Based Palliative Prognostic Index and Chinese Prognostic Scale in a home palliative care setting for patients with advanced cancer in China.

BACKGROUND: The predictive value of the prognostic tool for patients with advanced cancer is uncertain in mainland China, especially in the home-based palliative care (HPC) setting. This study aimed to compare the accuracy of the Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI), the Performance Status-Based Palliative Prognostic Index (PS-PPI), and the Chinese Prognosis Scale (ChPS) for patients with advanced cancer in the HPC setting in mainland China. METHODS: Patients with advanced cancer admitted to the hospice center of Yuebei People's Hospital between January 2014 and December 2018 were retrospectively calculated the scores according to the three prognostic tools. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare survival times among different risk groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the predictive value. The accuracy of 21-, 42- and 90-day survival was compared among the three prognostic tools. RESULTS: A total of 1863 patients were included. Survival time among the risk groups of all prognostic tools was significantly different from each other except for the PPI. The AUROC of the ChPS was significantly higher than that of the PPI and PS-PPI for 7-, 14, 21-, 42-, 90-, 120-, 150- and 180-day survival (P < 0.05). The AUROC of the PPI and PS-PPI were not significantly different from each other (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The ChPS is more suitable than the PPI and PS-PPI for advanced cancer patients in the HPC setting. More researches are needed to verify the predictive value of the ChPS, PPI, and PS-PPI in the HPC setting in the future.

Improved Outcome of Newly Diagnosed Childhood Mature B-Cell Lymphoma/Leukemia With High Tumor Burden Treated With BFM95-based Protocol Combining Rituximab: A Report From Shanghai, China.

In this study we evaluated children with newly diagnosed advanced (stage III and stage IV) mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) or mature B-cell acute leukemia (B-AL), who were treated with Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM)95-based protocol combined with rituximab (R+BFM95). Our study recruited 46 patients who were treated with BFM95 protocol combined with rituximab. There are 23 patients as the historical control treated with BFM90 protocol. Compared with patients treated with BFM90 protocol, the 5-year event-free survival (EFS) rate of patients under R+BFM95 was higher (83.7%±5.7% vs. 69.6%±9.6%; P=0.1062). Among subgroups of our patients, the 5-year EFS of patients with stage III was 87.3%±6.1% vs. 77.8%±9.8% (P=0.2998), stage IV/B-AL was 72.7%±13.4% versus 40.0%±21.9% (P=0.0878) between patients treated with R+BFM95 and BFM90, respectively. Among patients whose lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level were <500 U/L at diagnosis, R+BFM95 protocol reached 100% survival, nevertheless the 5-year EFS of patients in this group was not statistically different from that of patients treated with BFM90 (92.3%±7.4%; P=0.2994). Among patients had LDH≥500 U/L at diagnosis, the 5-year EFS in R+BFM95 group was 77.2%±7.7% (32 patients) and significantly higher than that of BFM90 group (40.0%±15.5%, 10 patients; P=0.0048). We found that rituximab has improved the EFS of childhood B-NHL/B-AL with LDH≥500U/L. Our results require validation from future studies with large cohort.

Actinocorallia populi sp. nov., an endophytic actinomycete isolated from a root of Populus adenopoda (Maxim.).

An endophytic actinobacterium, strain A251T, was isolated from the root of Populus adenopoda Maxim and subjected to characterization using polyphasic taxonomy. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that the isolate represented a member of the phylogenetic cluster of the genus Actinocorallia and was most closely related to Actinocorallia aurantiaca JCM 8201T (98.0 %) and Actinocorallia libanotica IFO 10495T (98.0 %). DNA-DNA hybridization values between A251T and these strains were 41.2 % and 45.0 %, respectively. The G+C content of the DNA was 71.5 mol%. Major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c and C18 : 1ω9c. The peptidoglycan diamino acid of A251T was meso-diaminopimelic acid and the whole-cell hydrolysates contained glucose and ribose. The major menaquinones were MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H6). The phospholipid profile included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, an undefined aminophospholipid and two undefined phospholipids. DNA-DNA hybridization data in combination with differences in the biochemical and physiological properties, indicated that A251T should be classified as representing a novel species within the genus Actinocorallia, for which the name Actinocorallia populi sp. nov. is proposed, with A251T (=CGMCC 4.7421T=JCM 32178T) as the type strain.

Culturable epiphytic bacteria isolated from Teleogryllus occipitalus crickets metabolize insecticides.

The development of insecticide resistance is attributed to evolutionary changes in pest insect genomes, such as alteration of drug target sites, upregulation of degrading enzymes, and enhancement of drug excretion. Beyond these well-known mechanisms, symbiotic bacteria may confer insecticide resistance to host crickets. The current study was designed to screen all possible culturable bacterial groups found living in and on the bodies of Teleogryllus occipitalis crickets. We recovered 263 visible bacterial colonies and cultured them individually. After identifying the colonies based on morphology and phylogenetic analysis, we shortlisted 55 bacterial strains belonging to 28 genera. Of these 55 bacterial strains, 18 degraded at least 50% of the original amount of 400 mg/L chlorpyrifos (CP) after 24 hr of coculture. Six of these strains degraded more than 70% of the original amount of 400 mg/L CP. Three strains had antagonistic effects on Bacillus thuringiensis growth. Additionally, the ability of the isolates to degrade glyphosate, phoxim, and esfenvalerate was assessed. We also detected extracellular hydrolase enzyme activities in these isolates. We propose that epiphytic bacterial strains play multiple roles in cricket biology, one of which contributes to chemical and biological pesticide resistance.

Clinical outcome of childhood lymphoblastic lymphoma in Shanghai China 2001-2010.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective cohort study analysed the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with childhood lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) treated in Shanghai, China. PROCEDURE: From 2001 to 2010, 108 evaluable patients ≤16 years of age who were newly diagnosed with biopsy-proven LBL were treated with one of three treatment protocols: CCCG-99, SCMC-T-NHL-2002, or LBL-CHOF-2006. RESULTS: Two patients had Stage I disease, 5 had Stage II, 55 had Stage III, and 46 had Stage IV. The immunophenotype was T-cell LBL in 92 patients (85.2%) and precursor B-cell LBL in 16 (14.8%). The abandonment rate was 11.5%. Twenty-five patients (23.2%) suffered from resistant disease, including 1 with isolated central nervous system (CNS) relapse. At a median follow-up of 40.4 months (range, 0-114 months), the 5-year probability of event-free survival (pEFS) was 63.9 ± 4.6% in all patients. The 5-year pEFS for patients with pB-LBL was better than for patients with T-LBL (100% vs. 61.3 ± 5.1%, P = 0.007). Patients who had achieved complete remission on day 33 of induction had significantly better pEFS than those who had not (78.8 ± 4.6% vs. 28.2 ± 9.0%, P = 0.000). Three of 25 patients who experienced resistant disease were alive at the end of the study period. CONCLUSIONS: The abandonment rate was lower for patients with LBL than for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prophylactic cranial radiation can be omitted for patients with LBL even when advanced-stage disease is present, as intensive systemic chemotherapy with intrathecal therapy is sufficient to prevent CNS relapse. The survival of patients with resistant disease was very poor.

ATG-Fresenius S combined with cyclosporine a: an effective immunosuppressive therapy for children with aplastic anemia.

For the first time, we conducted a 2-center retrospective study to show the efficacy of antithymocyte globulin (ATG)-Fresenius S plus cyclosporine treatment of children with severe aplastic anemia. From March 1997 to May 2011, a total of 124 patients (median age, 7.5 y; range, 1.5 to 16 y) from 2 centers with acquired AA treated with an immunosuppressive therapy (IST) regimen, consisting of ATG-Fresenius S (5 mg/kg per day for 5 d) and cyclosporine, were enrolled. The response rate was 55.6%. The median time between IST and response was 6 (0.5 to 18) months. After a median follow-up time of 29 (6 to 153) months, the rates of relapse and clonal evolution were 3.2% and 0.8%, respectively. Overall, 17 patients (13.7%) died in this study: 14 resulted from sepsis, 1 resulted from intracranial hemorrhage, 1 occurred after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and 1 resulted from clonal disease progression. The 5-year overall survival rate for the entire cohort was 74.7%. IST responders had a better survival rate (100%) than nonresponders (70.7%). The use of ATG-Fresenius S plus cyclosporine as a first-line immunosuppressive treatment appeared to be effective for children with severe aplastic anemia in our study. ATG-Fresenius S could be another option in the treatment arsenal, especially in countries where the other ATG products are harder to acquire.

Exploring the mechanism of Icariin in the treatment of depression through BDNF-TrkB pathway based on network pharmacology.

Depression has increasingly become a disease that seriously harms people's mental health around the world. Icariin is the main active component of Epimedii Herba and effective on protecting the central nervous system. The purpose of this study was to explore the mechanism of icariin against depression based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. The potential targets related to icariin and depression were obtained by accessing network databases. The Metascape database was used for the enrichment analysis of GO function and KEGG pathways. A common target-pathway network was constructed using Cytoscape 3.9.0 software. Schrödinger Maestro 12.8 was adopted to evaluate the binding ability of icariin to core targets. Mice were induced by the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model, and the prediction results of this study were verified by in vivo experiments. A total of 109 and 3294 targets were identified in icariin and depression, respectively. The common target-pathway network was constructed, and 7 core target genes were obtained. The molecular docking results of the 7 core target genes with icariin showed good affinity. In a CUMS-induced depression model, we found that icariin could effectively improve depression-like behavior of mice, increase the expression of monoamine neurotransmitters 5-hydroxytryptamine, dopamine, and norepinephrine, decrease the secretion of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1ß, and upregulate the relative expression levels of BDNF, p-TrkB/TrkB, p-Akt/Akt, p-CREB/CREB, MAPK3, MAPK1, Bcl-2, EGFR, and mTOR. The results suggest that icariin has certain antidepressant effects, and may be mediated by the BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway. It provides new ideas for the treatment of depression in the future.

Icariin improves learning and memory function in Aß1-42-induced AD mice through regulation of the BDNF-TrκB signaling pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Epimedium brevicornu Maxim. is a traditional medicinal Chinese herb that is enriched with flavonoids, which have remarkably high medicinal value. Icariin (ICA) is a marker compound isolated from the total flavonoids of Epimedium brevicornu Maxim. It has been shown to improve Neurodegenerative disease, therefore, ICA is probably a potential drug for treating AD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 6-8-week-old SPF-class male ICR mice were randomly divided into 8 groups for modeling, and then the mice were administered orally with ICA for 21 days. The behavioral experiments were conducted to evaluate if learning and memory behavior were absent in mice, confirming that infusion of Amyloid ß-protein (Aß)1-42 caused significant memory impairment. The morphological changes and damage of neurons in the mice's brains were observed by HE and Nissl staining. The spinous protrusions (dendritic spines) on neuronal dendrites were investigated by Golgi-Cox staining. The molecular mechanism of ICA was examined by Western Blot. The protein docking of ICA and Donepezil with BDNF were analyzed to determine their interaction. RESULTS: The behavioral experimental results showed that in Aß1-42-induced AD mice, the learning and memory abilities were improved after using ICA. At the same time, the low, medium, and high doses of ICA could reduce the content of Aß1-42 in the hippocampus of AD mice, repair neuronal damage, enhance synaptic plasticity, as well as increase the expression of BDNF, TrκB, CREB, Akt, GAP43, PSD95, and SYN proteins in the hippocampus of mice. However, the effect with high doses of ICA is more pronounced. The high-dose administration of ICA has the best therapeutic effect on AD mice. After administering the inhibitor k252a, the therapeutic effect of ICA was reversed. The macromolecular docking results of ICA and BDNF protein demonstrated a strong interaction of -7.8 kcal/mol, which indicates that ICA plays a therapeutic role in AD mice by regulating the BDNF-TrκB signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that ICA can repair neuronal damage, enhance synaptic plasticity, as well as ultimately improve learning and memory impairment through the regulation of the BDNF-TrκB signaling pathway.

Improved outcome for children with non-high risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia after using an ALL IC-BFM 2002-based protocol in Shanghai, China.

We report the outcome of 92 non-high risk children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) following a Berlin-Frankfürt-Münster (BFM) Intercontinental ALL -based protocol. Compared with a matched historical control group, we found a lower incidence of treatment-related early death (1·2% vs. 10·9%, P = 0·015), a higher 6-year event-free survival (75·4 ± 4·9% vs. 58·2 ± 6·7%, P = 0·02), reduced total in-hospital costs per person (US $) (10267·0 vs. 18331·0, P < 0·001) and fewer total in-hospital days (164 vs. 296, P < 0·001). This ALL-BFM based protocol was quite tolerable in our institution and will be extended to high-risk patients.

ALDOC promotes non-small cell lung cancer through affecting MYC-mediated UBE2N transcription and regulating Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

Despite advancements in therapeutic options, the overall prognosis for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poor. Therefore, it is crucial to further explore the etiology and targets for novel treatments to effectively manage NSCLC. In this study, immunohistochemistry was used to analyze the expression of aldolase, fructose-bisphosphate C (ALDOC) protein in tumor tissues and adjacent non-malignant tissues from 79 NSCLC patients. Our findings revealed that ALDOC was overexpressed in NSCLC tissues. ALDOC expression was associated with lymph node metastasis, lymphatic metastasis and pathological stage. In addition, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that higher ALDOC levels were indicative of a poorer prognosis. Additionally, we observed elevated ALDOC mRNA levels in NSCLC cell lines relative to normal cells. To investigate the functional roles of ALDOC, we infected cells with small interfering RNA against ALDOC, which led to attenuated proliferation and migration, as well as ameliorated apoptosis. Furthermore, through our investigations, we discovered that ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2N (UBE2N) acts as a downstream factor of ALDOC. ALDOC promoted NSCLC through affecting MYC-mediated UBE2N transcription and regulating the Wnt pathway. More importantly, we found that downregulation of UBE2N or the use of Wnt pathway inhibitor could reverse the promoting effects of ALDOC elevation on NSCLC development in vitro and in vivo. Based on these findings, our study highlights the potential of ALDOC as a future therapeutic target for NSCLC.

[Comparison of the efficacy of CCCG-97 and BFM-90 protocols in the treatment for children with mature B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of the CCCG-97 and BFM-90 protocols in the treatment of pediatric patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL) retrospectively, and to explore the optimal therapeutic strategy. METHODS: Forty-five consecutive untreated patients (age of 18 years or less) with newly diagnosed B-NHL (including Burkitt Lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), treated in our hospital between July 1999 and December 2008 were enrolled in this study. The patients were classified into 2 groups by different protocols. From July 1999 to December 2004, twenty-one 3- to 13.8-year-old children were enrolled in the CCCG-97 group, with 1 in stage I/II, and 20 in stage III/IV(St Jude staging). From January 2005 to December 2008, twenty-four 2.8- to 14.1-year-old cases were enrolled in the BFM-90 group, with 3 in stage I/II, and 21 in stage III/IV (St Jude staging). The survival rates were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: Forty of the 45 patients (88.9%) reached complete response (CR) after 2 courses of chemotherapy. In the CCCG-97 group, the CR rate was 95.2% (20/21 pts), while that in the BFM-90 group was 83.3% (20/24 pts). At a median follow-up time of 62 (17 to 131) months, the 5-year event-free survival (EFS) was 71.8% for all patients, and 69.1% for Stage III/IV, respectively. In the CCCG-97 group, the 3-year EFS was 76.2%. In the BFM-90 group, it was 75.0%. There was no significant difference in survival rates between the CCCG-97 and BFM-90 groups (P=0.975). Unfavorable events recorded were as follows: Death of progression before achieving CR during induction therapy in 4 cases, and relapse after achieving CR in 6 cases. The relapse rates were 19.0% (4/21 pts) in the CCCG-97 group and 8.3% (2/24 pts) in the BFM-90 group, with a non-significant statistical difference (P=0.292). Major toxicities were myelosuppression and mucositis, especially in the BFM-90 group, but were tolerable and manageable. five patients in the BFM-90 group received rituximab, 2 patients (Stage III) achieved CR, while the other 3 patients (Stage IV) had progressive disease or relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Short-pulse and intensive chemotherapy, stratified according to stage of disease, can improve the survival rate of pediatric mature B-NHL. The efficacy of the CCCG-97 protocol and BFM-90 protocol is comparable and the toxicity is tolerable.

Yellow Tea Stimulates Thermogenesis in Mice through Heterogeneous Browning of Adipose Tissues.

SCOPE: Large-leaf yellow tea (YT) exhibits interesting beneficial metabolic effects in previous studies. Here, the authors elucidated the actions of YT on thermogenesis, energy metabolism, and adipocyte metabolic conversion. METHODS AND RESULTS: Five-week-old male C57BL/6 mice are fed low-fat diet, high-fat diet (HFD), and HFD supplemented with 0.5% or 2.5% YT. After treatment for 10 or 14 weeks, YT enhances energy expenditure, O2 consumption and CO2 production. YT strongly boosts thermogenic program in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), while only weakly in epididymal adipose tissue (EAT). These are accompanied by higher body temperature, increased mitochondrial copy numbers, and upregulation of thermogenic genes (Ucp1, Pgc1α, etc.) and proteins. The classic brown adipocyte markers (Eva1, Zic1) are induced only in BAT, while beige adipocyte markers (Tbx1, Tmem26) are boosted only in SAT. Furthermore, subcutaneous-originated preadipocytes are induced by YT in vitro to differentiate to brown-like adipocytes - a browning effect. CONCLUSION: Dietary YT induces adaptive thermogenesis through increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in EAT, inducing beigeing in SAT and enhancing browning in the BAT.

Prevalence of ETV6-RUNX1 fusion gene in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in China.

A series of 92 Chinese children newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were examined for the ETV6-RUNX1 (previously TEL-AML1) fusion gene by using a nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. ETV6-RUNX1 fusion transcripts were detected in 21 of 92 patients (22.8%): 16 with common ALL, 4 with precursor B-cell ALL, and 1 with T-ALL. The prevalence of ETV6-RUNX1 positivity was 24.7% (20/81) in childhood B-lineage ALL. The prevalence of ETV6-RUNX1 in Chinese pediatric ALL patients proved to be similar to that found in other countries.

Regulatory genes and their roles for improvement of antibiotic biosynthesis in Streptomyces.

The numerous secondary metabolites in Streptomyces spp. are crucial for various applications. For example, cephamycin C is used as an antibiotic, and avermectin is used as an insecticide. Specifically, antibiotic yield is closely related to many factors, such as the external environment, nutrition (including nitrogen and carbon sources), biosynthetic efficiency and the regulatory mechanisms in producing strains. There are various types of regulatory genes that work in different ways, such as pleiotropic (or global) regulatory genes, cluster-situated regulators, which are also called pathway-specific regulatory genes, and many other regulators. The study of regulatory genes that influence antibiotic biosynthesis in Streptomyces spp. not only provides a theoretical basis for antibiotic biosynthesis in Streptomyces but also helps to increase the yield of antibiotics via molecular manipulation of these regulatory genes. Currently, more and more emphasis is being placed on the regulatory genes of antibiotic biosynthetic gene clusters in Streptomyces spp., and many studies on these genes have been performed to improve the yield of antibiotics in Streptomyces. This paper lists many antibiotic biosynthesis regulatory genes in Streptomyces spp. and focuses on frequently investigated regulatory genes that are involved in pathway-specific regulation and pleiotropic regulation and their applications in genetic engineering.

The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence of a Relict Conifer Glyptostrobus pensilis: Comparative Analysis and Insights into Dynamics of Chloroplast Genome Rearrangement in Cupressophytes and Pinaceae.

Glyptostrobus pensilis, belonging to the monotypic genus Glyptostrobus (Family: Cupressaceae), is an ancient conifer that is naturally distributed in low-lying wet areas. Here, we report the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence (132,239 bp) of G. pensilis. The G. pensilis cp genome is similar in gene content, organization and genome structure to the sequenced cp genomes from other cupressophytes, especially with respect to the loss of the inverted repeat region A (IRA). Through phylogenetic analysis, we demonstrated that the genus Glyptostrobus is closely related to the genus Cryptomeria, supporting previous findings based on physiological characteristics. Since IRs play an important role in stabilize cp genome and conifer cp genomes lost different IR regions after splitting in two clades (cupressophytes and Pinaceae), we performed cp genome rearrangement analysis and found more extensive cp genome rearrangements among the species of cupressophytes relative to Pinaceae. Additional repeat analysis indicated that cupressophytes cp genomes contained less potential functional repeats, especially in Cupressaceae, compared with Pinaceae. These results suggested that dynamics of cp genome rearrangement in conifers differed since the two clades, Pinaceae and cupressophytes, lost IR copies independently and developed different repeats to complement the residual IRs. In addition, we identified 170 perfect simple sequence repeats that will be useful in future research focusing on the evolution of genetic diversity and conservation of genetic variation for this endangered species in the wild.

[Association of genetic polymorphism of XRCC1 with susceptibility to acute childhood leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between genetic polymorphisms of XRCC1 and susceptibility to acute childhood leukemia. METHODS: A case-control study with 63 childhood leukemia patients and 66 control subjects was conducted to investigate the role of three XRCC1 polymorphisms (c. 194, c. 280 and c. 399 ) on susceptibility to childhood leukemia. Genotyping was performed using Polymerase chain reaction-restrained fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP) to detect the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of XRCC1 gene. RESULTS: There was a 2.235-fold increased risk of childhood leukemia for individuals carrying XRCC1c. 399 Gin allele (95% CI 1.038 - 4.812) compared with subjects carrying Arg/Arg allele, and the OR among boys was 3.110 (95% CI 1.235 - 7.831). No interaction was found between X-ray exposure and XRCC1 polymorphisms using Logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Polymorphism of XRCC1 gene may contribute to the higher risk of childhood leukemia.

Risk-adapted chemotherapy without procarbazine in treatment of children with Hodgkin lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: Because procarbazine is not available in the mainland of China, a risk-adapted chemotherapy without the drug was adopted for children with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in two tertiary referral centers for childhood cancer in Shanghai. The objective of the present study was to obtain the results comparable with those of previous studies. METHODS: From January 1998 to December 2009, patients below 18 years with newly diagnosed, untreated HL were enrolled in the study. The patients were stratified into risk groups R1 (early stage), R2 (intermediate stage) and R3 (advanced stage). All the patients who had attained a complete remission were not given involved field radiotherapy. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients were eligible for the study. The 4-year event-free survival (EFS) rate was 100%, 80.3%±7.2%, and 62.5%±12.1% for the risk groups R1, R2, and R3, respectively. There was statistically significant difference in EFS between patients with and those without B symptoms (P<0.001). In group R2, the EFS rate was higher for patients treated with chemotherapy combined with radiation (100% vs. 75%±8.8%). But no statistical difference was observed (P=0.177). At the time of evaluation (December 31, 2010), secondary malignancy was not observed. CONCLUSIONS: A significant fraction of children with early stage or intermediate stage HL can be cured with a chemotherapy regimen without procarbazine. Complete response to chemotherapy seems not to be a determinant to omit radiotherapy.

Gene polymorphisms of ABC transporters are associated with clinical outcomes in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

INTRODUCTION: Genetic variability affects clinical outcome in pediatric acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients. Evaluating gene polymorphisms in ABC transporters could help identify relapse risk and predict outcome. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The SNaPshot SNP technique was used to analyze single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the multidrug transporter 1 (MDR1), multidrug resistance associated proteins (MRP1, MRP2) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) genes of 82 pediatric ALL patients. The association between the SNPs with risk of all events and death as well as with survival was evaluated by the univariate Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The BCRP G34A SNP was the only SNP significantly associated with ALL. Risk factors included pre-treatment WBC counts and post-treatment peripheral and bone marrow leukemic cell counts. We found no association between MDR1 SNPs with these factors. The BCRP C421A C/A and C/C genotypes were significantly associated with low pre-treatment WBC counts while MRP2 G1249A G/G was significantly associated with low levels of post-treatment peripheral and bone marrow leukemic cells. A combination of C1236T, G1249A and/or G34A SNPs was significantly associated with lower EFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: Polymorphisms associated with risk of ALL and clinical outcome may be potential biomarkers to predict clinical outcome and improve prognosis in childhood ALL.

Thiocyanate removal from aqueous solution by a synthetic hydrotalcite sol.

The use of a chloride-containing synthetic hydrotalcite sol (LDHC) as adsorbent to remove thiocyanate from aqueous solution was investigated. LDHC was prepared by coprecipitation and was characterized by HRTEM, particle size, XRD, and FTIR. The experiments showed that LDHC was particularly effective in removing thiocyanate due to its small particle size and high zeta potential. The adsorption of thiocyanate on LDHC was favored when the initial solution pH was in the range 3-10, though the most effective pH range was between 4.0 and 8.0. The adsorption reached equilibrium within 150 min. The interaction between the surface sites of LDHC and thiocyanate ions may be a combination of both anion exchange and surface complexation. The pseudo-second-order model best described the adsorption kinetics of thiocyanate onto LDHC. The equilibrium isotherm showed that the adsorption of thiocyanate on LDHC was consistent with the Langmuir equation and the saturated adsorption capacity of LDHC for thiocyanate was 98.3 mg/g at 20°C. The regenerated LDHC in FeCl(3) solution can be used repeatedly in adsorption-regeneration cycles. The results showed that LDHC can be used as a new adsorbent for thiocyanate removal from aqueous solution because of its high adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption rate.