The Effect of Body Mass Index and Residence in Food Priority Areas on Patterns-of-Care and Cancer Outcomes in Patients With Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

PURPOSE: Patients living in food priority areas (FPAs), where access to healthy meals is challenging, may be at greater risk of nutritional deficits, leading to poorer cancer outcomes. Currently, there are no published data analyzing how FPAs affect patterns-of-care or outcomes for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to analyze the effect of residing in an FPA on treatments rendered and cancer outcomes in patients with stage III NSCLC treated at a single institution. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This is a retrospective study of 573 patients with locally advanced NSCLC consecutively treated from January 2000 to January 2020. χ2 and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to determine differences between select variables. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze overall survival (OS) and freedom from recurrence. Cox regression with forward model selection was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent of patients resided in an FPA (n = 183) and were more likely to self-identify as Black (P < .0001), single (P < .001), <60 years of age (P = .001), and uninsured (P < .0001), with a lower median income (P < .001). Patients in FPAs also had lower mean pre-chemoradiation (CRT) albumin (P = .002), lower pre-CRT body mass index (BMI) (P = .026), and were less likely to receive trimodality therapy (P ≤ .001) compared with patients not living in FPAs. There was no difference in OS or freedom from recurrence between the 2 cohorts. However, in patients with a normal BMI, either pre-CRT (median OS, 18.4 vs 25.0 months; P = .005) or after CRT (15.1 vs 28.1 months, P = .002), residing in an FPA resulted in an OS detriment. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated a clear socioeconomic divide in our patient population with stage III NSCLC, where residing in FPAs was associated with less-aggressive therapy and an OS detriment for patients with a normal-weight BMI. We are currently conducting a prospective study characterizing the nutritional needs of patients, particularly those who live in FPAs.

Increased expression of complement component C3 in the plasma of obese Zucker fa and LA/N fa(f) rats compared with their lean counterparts.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine whether there are differences in the electrophoretic profiles of plasma proteins from lean and obese rats and to identify a protein that was found to be more abundant in the plasma of obese rats. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Plasma proteins from lean and obese Zucker fa and LA/N fa(f) rats were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The identity of a band that was differentially expressed was determined by amino acid sequencing and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: A band migrating approximately the same distance as the 116 kDa molecular weight marker was more prominent in plasma from obese rats than in plasma of lean rats. Partial sequencing of the peptide revealed that 17 of the first 18 amino acids at the amino terminus were identical with the corresponding residues in the alpha-chain of complement component C3. Western blot analysis confirmed the identity of the peptide as complement component C3. Complement C3 activity was measured using a hemolytic assay to determine whether there was a corresponding increase in the biological activity of this component in the serum of obese rats. Serum from obese rats was found to have 1.8 times as much complement component C3 activity as serum from lean rats. DISCUSSION: Elevated levels of complement C3 in genetically obese rats may be relevant because increased amounts of C3 could serve as a reservoir from which increased amounts of acylation stimulating protein, a cleavage product of complement C3, could be produced.

Induction of ovulation by LH and FSH in the presence of antigonadotrophic sera.

Surges of both LH and FSH are secreted on the day of proestrus in the rat; both surges are blocked by pentobarbital (PB), WHICH ALSO BLOCKS OVULATION. The purposes of the present study were (a) to see if antisera to ovine LH or FSH would prevent ovulation from endogenously secreted rat hormones; (b) to see if exogenous ovine LH or FSH alone can cause ovulation in the presence of antiserum to ovine LH or FSH, when endogenous hormone secretion is suppressed by PB. Antisera were assessed for anti-OAAD or anti-hCG augmentation activity against ovine and/or rat pituitary hormones. (a) With respect to tests against endogenously secreted hormones, antisera to LH block ovulation, but antisera to FSH do not, regardless of their potency against exogenous hormones. (b) Antisera to either ovine LH or FSH can prevent ovulation to either exogenous ovine hormone, in relation to their ability to block LH on OAAD bioassay, but not in relation to their ability to block FSH on the hCG augmentation test. However, one antiserum to FSH, which had very low anti-OAAD activity,was able to prevent ovine FSH, but not ovine LH, from causing ovulation, suggesting that not all of the ability of exogenous FSH to cause ovulation is related to intrinsic or contaminating OAAD activity. These data suggest that LH (as defined by OAAD) is the obligatory ovulating hormone in the rat. Additional data on uteirine intralumenal water in the presence of PB blockade indicate that LH, but not FSH, can induce some estrogen secretion, but that either hormone may cause some progesterone secretion.