Serum CXCL13 level is related to treatment response and predicts disease prognosis in Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is a type of B-cell lymphoma that produces IgM. Our study aimed to investigate the role of CXCL13, a chemokine essential for B lymphocytes, in the evaluation of treatment response and prognosis in WM. We collected serum samples and clinical data from 72 WM patients, with 69 patients receiving systemic therapy and 3 patients opting not to receive treatment. Serum CXCL13 levels at baseline and after six months of treatments were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The median serum level of CXCL13 was 1 539.2 pg/ml (range 10.0-21 389.9) at baseline and significantly decreased to 123.1 pg/ml (range 0.0-6 741.5) after 6 months of treatments. At baseline, higher CXCL13 levels were associated with lower hemoglobin levels (p = 0.001), higher ß2-microglobulin levels (p = 0.001), lower albumin levels (p = 0.046), and higher IPSS-WM scores (p = 0.013). After 6 months of treatment, patients who achieved PR/VGPR had significantly lower CXCL13 levels compared to those with SD (70.2 pg/ml vs 798.6 pg/ml, p = 0.002). The median follow-up period was 40 months (range 4.2-188). Eight patients died during the follow-up period. Overall survival differed based on CXCL13 levels. When grouped by baseline CXCL13 levels, the median OS was 60.0 months in patients with serum CXCL13 > 2 000 pg/ml, while it was not reached in patients with low CXCL13 levels (p < 0.001). Based on CXCL13 levels after the treatments, the median OS was 74.0 months in patients with serum CXCL13 > 200 pg/ml, while it was not reached in patients with CXCL13 ≤ 200 pg/ml. In a subgroup of 28 patients with a series of serum samples, the increase of serum CXCL13 level was associated with disease progression or the start of next-line therapy (p < 0.001). Our study concludes that serum CXCL13 levels decrease in WM patients treated with various regimens and correlate with treatment response. Detecting serum CXCL13 at baseline or after treatment help in predicting prognosis.

IL-17 in intervertebral disc degeneration: Mechanistic insights and therapeutic implications.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) serves as an independent risk factor for lower back pain and is closely associated with spinal musculoskeletal disorders, including lumbar disc herniation, radiculopathy, and myelopathy. Interleukin-17 (IL-17), also named IL-17A, is a critical signature cytokine of T-helper 17 cells. Upon binding to the IL-17 receptor A/C heterodimeric complex, IL-17 can trigger multiple signal transduction pathways to stimulate gene transcription and increase messenger RNA stability. IL-17 expression is significantly increased in degenerative disc tissue and shows a positive correlation with disease severity. IL-17 has been shown to accelerate the development of IDD by promoting extracellular matrix degradation, enhancing inflammatory response, inducing neoangiogenesis, and inhibiting nucleus pulposus cell autophagy and proliferation. Targeting IL-17 represents a novel and promising approach for the therapeutic intervention of IDD. In this review, we summarized the recent progression about the role of IL-17 in IDD and highlighted its therapeutic implications.

Study on the Hg0 removal characteristics and synergistic mechanism of iron-based modified biochar doped with multiple metals.

An iron-based composite adsorbent with biochar as the support was prepared by coprecipitation and the sol-gel method. Both single-iron-based modified biochar without doping with other metals and iron-based modified biochar doped with multiple metals (Ce, Cu, Co, Mn) were synthesised. The adsorption kinetics were analysed, and temperature-programmed desorption measurements were performed to reveal the inherent difference in mechanism between the oxidation and adsorption of Hg0 by the modified biochar and to elucidate the key mechanism of Hg0 removal. The results show that the removal of Hg0 by the modified biochar mainly includes adsorption and oxidation processes. The adsorption process is divided into two stages, external and internal mass transfer, both of which occur via multilayer adsorption. HgO and Hg-OM are the main forms of Hg0 present on the modified biochar surface. Doped metal oxides can play a synergistic role in enhancing the mercury removal performance of the modified biochar.