Organ-on-a-Chip for Drug Screening: A Bright Future for Sustainability? A Critical Review.

Globalization has raised concerns about spreading diseases and emphasized the need for quick and efficient methods for drug screening. Established drug efficacy and toxicity approaches have proven obsolete, with a high failure rate in clinical trials. Organ-on-a-chip has emerged as an essential alternative to outdated techniques, precisely simulating important characteristics of organs and predicting drug pharmacokinetics more ethically and efficiently. Although promising, most organ-on-a-chip devices are still manufactured using principles and materials from the micromachining industry. The abusive use of plastic for traditional drug screening methods and device production should be considered when substituting technologies so that the compensation for the generation of plastic waste can be projected. This critical review outlines recent advances for organ-on-a-chip in the industry and estimates the possibility of scaling up its production. Moreover, it analyzes trends in organ-on-a-chip publications and provides suggestions for a more sustainable future for organ-on-a-chip research and production.

Review of Delayed Reactions to 15 Hyaluronic Acid Fillers.

BACKGROUND: Delayed-onset reactions are increasingly relevant given the growing use of hyaluronic acid dermal fillers. There is poor understanding of the phenomenon's etiology and incidence. OBJECTIVE: To highlight differences between the dermal filler products with an emphasis on delayed-onset reaction incidence, pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment. METHODS: A literature review was performed for delayed-onset reactions following hyaluronic acid dermal filler injection using PubMeb and Embase. Articles were included based on relevance, quality, and the predetermined definition of "delayed-onset reaction" (>30 days post injection). A total of 28 studies were included in the data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 13,136 subjects from 28 studies treated with 15 filler types were included in the analysis. VYC-15L dermal filler injections carried the highest risk of delayed reaction with a mean incidence of 3.83% ( n = 46/1,202), followed by VYC-20L (0.92%) and VYC-17.5L (0.88%). The mean incidence of delayed reactions among all filler types was 1.13%. CONCLUSION: Incidence of delayed reaction to hyaluronic fillers ranges from 0% to 3.83% (mean = 1.13%) and varies by filler type. The exact etiology of these delayed reactions remains disputed. Future studies should report reaction description, precise timeline, and posttreatment immunologic history to better delineate the incidence of delayed-onset hypersensitivity reactions.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase expression in the prognosis of the localized prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) is an enzyme that acts as an immunomodulatory molecule. It is found in several types of cancer where it seems to be associated with tumor escape due to its immunosuppressive mechanisms. However, the role of IDO1 expression in prostate cancer (PC) is unclear. The aim of our study was to evaluate the expression of IDO1 in localized PC and to correlate with the classic prognostic factor and recurrence after surgical treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated surgical specimens from 111 patients with localized PC, who underwent radical prostatectomy. Recurrence was defined as a prostate specific antigen (PSA) level exceeding 0.2 ng/mL postoperatively, and the follow-up was 123 months. IDO1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 72 cases of which 42 (58%) had biochemical recurrence. RESULTS: Lower IDO1 expression was associated with higher Gleason score (p = 0.022) and PSA levels (p = 0.042). The multivariate analyses revealed that the loss of IDO1 and higher PSA were independently associated with biochemical recurrence. The chance of recurrence was increased by 85% in patients with lower IDO1 [OR = 0.15; p = 0.009 CI 95% (0.038-0.633)] and increased by 5.5 times in patients with higher PSA [OR = 5.51; p = 0.012 CI 95% (1.435-21.21)]. The recurrence-free survival curve also demonstrates that lower IDO1 was associated with lower time to biochemical recurrence (p = 0.0004). CONCLUSION: The loss of IDO1 expression was associated with increased chance of biochemical recurrence, higher PSA, and a Gleason score in localized PC.