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Hypertensive disease (HTD), a prominent risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, is characterized by elevated stress-proneness. Since stress levels are underpinned by both cardiac and neural factors, multidimensional insights are required to robustly understand their disruption in HTD. Yet, despite their crucial relevance, heart rate variability (HRV) and multimodal neurocognitive markers of stress in HTD remain controversial and unexplored respectively. To bridge this gap, we studied cardiodynamic as well as electrophysiological and neuroanatomical measures of stress in HTD patients and healthy controls. Both groups performed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a validated stress-inducing task comprising a baseline and a mental stress period. During both stages, we assessed a sensitive HRV parameter (the low frequency/high frequency [LF/HF ratio]) and an online neurophysiological measure (the heartbeat-evoked potential [HEP]). Also, we obtained neuroanatomical data via voxel-based morphometry (VBM) for correlation with online markers. Relative to controls, HTD patients exhibited increased LF/HF ratio and greater HEP modulations during baseline, reduced changes between baseline and stress periods, and lack of significant stress-related HRV modulations associated with the grey matter volume of putative frontrostriatal regions. Briefly, HTD patients presented signs of stress-related autonomic imbalance, reflected in a potential basal stress overload and a lack of responsiveness to acute psychosocial stress, accompanied by neurophysiological and neuroanatomical alterations. These multimodal insights underscore the relevance of neurocognitive data for developing innovations in the characterization, prognosis and treatment of HTD and other conditions with autonomic imbalance. More generally, these findings may offer new insights into heart-brain interactions.
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Sistema Nervoso Autônomo , Hipertensão , Sistema Nervoso Autônomo/fisiologia , Encéfalo , Cognição , Frequência Cardíaca/fisiologia , HumanosRESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Our main purpose and research question were to analyze and quantify whether there were significant differences in the time to develop cancer among patients with oral leukoplakia (OL), comparing the more susceptible cases to those with the least susceptibility to malignancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed 224 cases of OL after surgical or CO2 laser treatment for a mean time of 6.4 years. A Bayesian mixture cure model based on the Weibull distribution was used to model the relationship between our variables and cancer risk. In this model type, the population is considered a mixture of individuals who are susceptible or non-susceptible to developing cancer. The statistical model estimates the probability of cure (incidence model) and then infers the time to malignancy. The model was adjusted using the R-package INLA using default priors. RESULTS: Histology type (moderate or severe dysplasia) and tongue location showed hazard ratios (HR) of 3.19 (95% CI [1.05-8.59]) and 4.78 (95% CI [1.6-16.61]), respectively. Both variables increased the risk of malignant transformation, thus identifying a susceptible subpopulation with reduced time required to develop cancer, as with non-homogeneous leukoplakias. The median time for cancer development was 4 years and 5 months, with a minimum of 9 months after the diagnosis of OL and a maximum of 15 years and 2 months. CONCLUSIONS: Susceptible patients with non-homogeneous leukoplakia, dysplasia, or leukoplakia in the tongue develop cancer earlier than those with homogeneous OL and those without dysplasia. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The novel contribution of this research is that, until now, the time it took for oral leukoplakias to develop cancer based on whether they were homogeneous or non-homogeneous, and if they have or not epithelial dysplasia, had not been comparatively described and quantified. As a final result, the time to malignant transformation in non-homogeneous and dysplastic leukoplakias is significantly shorter.
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Lasers de Gás , Leucoplasia Oral , Teorema de Bayes , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/patologia , Humanos , Hiperplasia , Lasers de Gás/uso terapêutico , Leucoplasia Oral/epidemiologia , Leucoplasia Oral/cirurgiaRESUMO
Interoception, the sensing of visceral body signals, involves an interplay between neural and autonomic mechanisms. Clinical studies into this domain have focused on patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders, showing that damage to relevant brain mechanisms can variously alter interoceptive functions. However, the association between peripheral cardiac-system alterations and neurocognitive markers of interoception remains poorly understood. To bridge this gap, we examined multidimensional neural markers of interoception in patients with early stage of hypertensive disease (HTD) and healthy controls. Strategically, we recruited only HTD patients without cognitive impairment (as shown by neuropsychological tests), brain atrophy (as assessed with voxel-based morphometry), or white matter abnormalities (as evidenced by diffusion tensor imaging analysis). Interoceptive domains were assessed through (a) a behavioral heartbeat detection task; (b) measures of the heart-evoked potential (HEP), an electrophysiological cortical signature of attention to cardiac signals; and (c) neuroimaging recordings (MRI and fMRI) to evaluate anatomical and functional connectivity properties of key interoceptive regions (namely, the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex). Relative to controls, patients exhibited poorer interoceptive performance and reduced HEP modulations, alongside an abnormal association between interoceptive performance and both the volume and functional connectivity of the above regions. Such results suggest that peripheral cardiac-system impairments can be associated with abnormal behavioral and neurocognitive signatures of interoception. More generally, our findings indicate that interoceptive processes entail bidirectional influences between the cardiovascular and the central nervous systems.
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Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Hipertensão/diagnóstico por imagem , Hipertensão/fisiopatologia , Interocepção , Idoso , Encéfalo/patologia , Imagem de Tensor de Difusão , Eletroencefalografia , Potenciais Evocados , Feminino , Substância Cinzenta/diagnóstico por imagem , Substância Cinzenta/patologia , Substância Cinzenta/fisiopatologia , Coração/fisiopatologia , Humanos , Interocepção/fisiologia , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Análise Multinível , Vias Neurais/diagnóstico por imagem , Vias Neurais/patologia , Vias Neurais/fisiopatologia , Tamanho do ÓrgãoRESUMO
Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients present several alterations related to sensing of bodily signals. However, no specific neurocognitive impairment has yet been proposed as a core deficit underlying such symptoms. We aimed to determine whether MS patients present changes in interoception-that is, the monitoring of autonomic bodily information-a process that might be related to various bodily dysfunctions. We performed two studies in 34 relapsing-remitting, early-stage MS patients and 46 controls matched for gender, age, and education. In Study 1, we evaluated the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP), a cortical signature of interoception, via a 128-channel EEG system during a heartbeat detection task including an exteroceptive and an interoceptive condition. Then, we obtained whole-brain MRI recordings. In Study 2, participants underwent fMRI recordings during two resting-state conditions: mind wandering and interoception. In Study 1, controls exhibited greater HEP modulation during the interoceptive condition than the exteroceptive one, but no systematic differences between conditions emerged in MS patients. Patients presented atrophy in the left insula, the posterior part of the right insula, and the right anterior cingulate cortex, with abnormal associations between neurophysiological and neuroanatomical patterns. In Study 2, controls showed higher functional connectivity and degree for the interoceptive state compared with mind wandering; however, this pattern was absent in patients, who nonetheless presented greater connectivity and degree than controls during mind wandering. MS patients were characterized by atypical multimodal brain signatures of interoception. This finding opens a new agenda to examine the role of inner-signal monitoring in the body symptomatology of MS.
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Córtex Cerebral/fisiopatologia , Conectoma/métodos , Eletroencefalografia/métodos , Potenciais Evocados/fisiologia , Frequência Cardíaca/fisiologia , Interocepção/fisiologia , Esclerose Múltipla Recidivante-Remitente/fisiopatologia , Adulto , Atrofia/patologia , Córtex Cerebral/diagnóstico por imagem , Córtex Cerebral/patologia , Feminino , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Esclerose Múltipla Recidivante-Remitente/diagnóstico por imagem , Esclerose Múltipla Recidivante-Remitente/patologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis are key mechanisms for tumor growth and dissemination. They are mainly regulated by the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family of ligands and receptors. The aim of this study was to analyze relative expression levels of angiogenic markers in resectable non-small cell lung cancer patients in order to asses a prognostic signature that could improve characterization of patients with worse clinical outcomes. METHODS: RNA was obtained from tumor and normal lung specimens from 175 patients. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to analyze the relative expression of HIF1A, PlGF, VEGFA, VEGFA165b, VEGFB, VEGFC, VEGFD, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, VEGFR3, NRP1 and NRP2. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed that tumor size and ECOG-PS are prognostic factors for time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS). This analysis in the case of angiogenic factors also revealed that PlGF, VEGFA, VEGFB and VEGFD distinguish patients with different outcomes. Taking into account the complex interplay between the different ligands of the VEGF family and to more precisely predict the outcome of the patients, we considered a new analysis combining several VEGF ligands. In order to find independent prognostic variables, we performed a multivariate Cox analysis, which showed that the subgroup of patients with higher relative expression of VEGFA plus lower VEGFB and VEGFD presented the poorest outcome for both TTP and OS. CONCLUSIONS: The relative expression of these three genes can be considered as an angiogenic gene signature whose applicability for the selection of candidates for targeted therapies needs to be further validated.
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Adenocarcinoma/genética , Indutores da Angiogênese/metabolismo , Biomarcadores Tumorais/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neovascularização Patológica/genética , Adenocarcinoma/mortalidade , Adenocarcinoma/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/mortalidade , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/mortalidade , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/patologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/mortalidade , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Prognóstico , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Estudos Retrospectivos , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Taxa de Sobrevida , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genética , Fator B de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genética , Fator D de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genéticaRESUMO
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) among females in the east coast of Spain. A total of 1956 women visiting gynaecology clinics for routine check-ups were included in the study. Swabs were analyzed for HPV DNA by consensus polymerase chain reaction followed by direct sequencing. The overall HPV prevalence was 12.99%. HPV vaccine types 6, 11, 16 and 18 were detected in 6.13% of female participants.
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Alphapapillomavirus/genética , Infecções por Papillomavirus/epidemiologia , Vagina/virologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Alphapapillomavirus/isolamento & purificação , Instituições de Assistência Ambulatorial , Distribuição de Qui-Quadrado , DNA Viral/análise , Feminino , Ginecologia , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Infecções por Papillomavirus/virologia , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , Prevalência , Espanha/epidemiologiaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To determine human papillomavirus (HPV) types among cervical smears using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to contribute to the knowledge of human papillomavirus genotype distribution and prevalence of oncogenic types in cervical lesions in Spain. STUDY DESIGN: Consensus PCR and direct s quencing of PCR products (DNA HPV typing) were used in a retrospective study to determinate the type or types of HPVon 974 cytology smears of women with abnormal cytology results. RESULTS: Of 974 smears, 79.8% were high-risk (H-R) HPVs, 19.7% low-risk (L-R) HPVs, 4.6% indeterminate-risk (I-R) HPVs, considering both single and multiple infections. Multiple infections were detected in 4.7% of the cytologies. We detected 40 different HPV types: 17 H-R (HPV26 not detected), 10 L-R (HPVs 40 and HPV 61 not detected) and 13 I-R. The highest percentage of H-R HPV was found in those women with a cytologic high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) (87.4%). HPV 16 was the most frequent genotype. CONCLUSION: There was a significantly her prevalence rate of H-R HPV in HSIL than in low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) (p < 0.01). HPV 16 (39.5%) was the most frequent genotype, with a significantly higher prevalence rate of this type in HSIL than in LSIL and ASC-US (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). The study of the distribution of HPV and the presence of oncogenic HPV types in our population is important to assess the cost effectiveness of the current vaccines.
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Alphapapillomavirus/genética , Programas de Rastreamento/métodos , Infecções por Papillomavirus/diagnóstico , Esfregaço Vaginal , Adulto , Alphapapillomavirus/classificação , DNA Viral/análise , DNA Viral/genética , Feminino , Frequência do Gene , Genótipo , Papillomavirus Humano 16/genética , Papillomavirus Humano 18/genética , Humanos , Infecções por Papillomavirus/epidemiologia , Infecções por Papillomavirus/virologia , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , Prevalência , Estudos Retrospectivos , Espanha/epidemiologia , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/diagnóstico , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/epidemiologia , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/virologia , Displasia do Colo do Útero/diagnóstico , Displasia do Colo do Útero/epidemiologia , Displasia do Colo do Útero/virologiaRESUMO
Heart-brain integration dynamics are critical for interoception (i.e. the sensing of body signals). In this unprecedented longitudinal study, we assessed neurocognitive markers of interoception in patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplants and matched healthy controls. Patients were assessed longitudinally before surgery (T1), a few months later (T2) and a year after (T3). We assessed behavioural (heartbeat detection) and electrophysiological (heartbeat evoked potential) markers of interoception. Heartbeat detection task revealed that pre-surgery (T1) interoception was similar between patients and controls. However, patients were outperformed by controls after heart transplant (T2), but no such differences were observed in the follow-up analysis (T3). Neurophysiologically, although heartbeat evoked potential analyses revealed no differences between groups before the surgery (T1), reduced amplitudes of this event-related potential were found for the patients in the two post-transplant stages (T2, T3). All these significant effects persisted after covariation with different cardiological measures. In sum, this study brings new insights into the adaptive properties of brain-heart pathways.
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The high resistance against current therapies found in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been associated to cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), a population for which the identification of targets and biomarkers is still under development. In this study, primary cultures from early-stage NSCLC patients were established, using sphere-forming assays for CSC enrichment and adherent conditions for the control counterparts. Patient-derived tumorspheres showed self-renewal and unlimited exponential growth potentials, resistance against chemotherapeutic agents, invasion and differentiation capacities in vitro, and superior tumorigenic potential in vivo. Using quantitative PCR, gene expression profiles were analyzed and NANOG, NOTCH3, CD44, CDKN1A, SNAI1, and ITGA6 were selected to distinguish tumorspheres from adherent cells. Immunoblot and immunofluorescence analyses confirmed that proteins encoded by these genes were consistently increased in tumorspheres from adenocarcinoma patients and showed differential localization and expression patterns. The prognostic role of genes significantly overexpressed in tumorspheres was evaluated in a NSCLC cohort (N = 661) from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Based on a Cox regression analysis, CDKN1A, SNAI1, and ITGA6 were found to be associated with prognosis and used to calculate a gene expression score, named CSC score. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with high CSC score have shorter overall survival (OS) in the entire cohort [37.7 vs. 60.4 months (mo), p = 0.001] and the adenocarcinoma subcohort [36.6 vs. 53.5 mo, p = 0.003], but not in the squamous cell carcinoma one. Multivariate analysis indicated that this gene expression score is an independent biomarker of prognosis for OS in both the entire cohort [hazard ratio (HR): 1.498; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.167-1.922; p = 0.001] and the adenocarcinoma subcohort [HR: 1.869; 95% CI, 1.275-2.738; p = 0.001]. This score was also analyzed in an independent cohort of 114 adenocarcinoma patients, confirming its prognostic value [42.90 vs. not reached (NR) mo, p = 0.020]. In conclusion, our findings provide relevant prognostic information for lung adenocarcinoma patients and the basis for developing novel therapies. Further studies are required to identify suitable markers and targets for lung squamous cell carcinoma patients.
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Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Células-Tronco Neoplásicas , Esferoides Celulares , Células A549 , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/metabolismo , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Animais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/metabolismo , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/patologia , Feminino , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos NOD , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Proteínas de Neoplasias/biossíntese , Células-Tronco Neoplásicas/metabolismo , Células-Tronco Neoplásicas/patologia , Esferoides Celulares/metabolismo , Esferoides Celulares/patologiaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The PD-L1 biomarker is an important factor in selecting patients with non-small cell lung cancer for immunotherapy. While several reports suggest that PD-L1 positivity is linked to a poor prognosis, others suggest that PD-L1 positive status portends a good prognosis. METHODS: PD-L1 positivity prevalence, assessed via immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tissue microarrays (TMAs), and its association with clinicopathological characteristics, molecular profiles and patient outcome- Relapse-free Survival (RFS), Time-to-Relapse (TTR) and Overall Survival (OS)- is explored in the ETOP Lungscape cohort of stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tumors are considered positive if they have ≥1/5/25/50% neoplastic cell membrane staining. RESULTS: PD-L1 expression was assessed in 2182 NSCLC cases (2008 evaluable, median follow-up 4.8 years, 54.6% still alive), from 15 ETOP centers. Adenocarcinomas represent 50.9% of the cohort (squamous cell: 42.4%). Former smokers are 53.7% (current: 31.6%, never: 10.5%). PD-L1 positivity prevalence is present in more than one third of the Lungscape cohort (1%/5% cut-offs). It doesn't differ between adenocarcinomas and squamous cell histologies, but is more frequently detected in higher stages, never smokers, larger tumors (1/5/25% cut-offs). With ≥1% cut-off it is significantly associated with IHC MET overexpression, expression of PTEN, EGFR and KRAS mutation (only for adenocarcinoma). Results for 5%, 25% and 50% cut-offs were similar, with MET being significantly associated with PD-L1 positivity both for AC (p < 0.001, 5%/25%/50% cut-offs) and SCC (p < 0.001, 5% & 50% cut-offs and p = 0.0017 for 25%). When adjusting for clinicopathological characteristics, a significant prognostic effect was identified in adenocarcinomas (adjusted p-values: 0.024/0.064/0.063 for RFS/TTR/OS 1% cut-off, analogous for 5%/25%, but not for 50%). Similar results obtained for the model including all histologies, but no effect was found for the squamous cell carcinomas. CONCLUSION: PD-L1 positivity, when adjusted for clinicopathological characteristics, is associated with a better prognosis for non-metastatic adenocarcinoma patients.
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Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/metabolismo , Antígeno B7-H1/metabolismo , Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Imunoterapia/métodos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/diagnóstico , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão/mortalidade , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/diagnóstico , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/mortalidade , Estudos de Coortes , Europa (Continente) , Seguimentos , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/mortalidade , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Prognóstico , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-met/metabolismo , Estudos Retrospectivos , Análise de Sobrevida , Resultado do Tratamento , Adulto JovemRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The reported prevalence of ALK receptor tyrosine kinase gene (ALK) rearrangement in NSCLC ranges from 2% to 7%. The primary standard diagnostic method is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Recently, immunohistochemistry (IHC) has also proved to be a reproducible and sensitive technique. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has also been advocated, and most recently, the advent of targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) for ALK and other fusions has become possible. This study compares anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) evaluation with all four techniques in resected NSCLC from the large European Thoracic Oncology Platform Lungscape cohort. METHODS: A total of 96 cases from the European Thoracic Oncology Platform Lungscape iBiobank, with any ALK immunoreactivity were examined by FISH, central RT-PCR, and NGS. An H-score higher than 120 defines IHC positivity. RNA was extracted from the same formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. For RT-PCR, primers covered the most frequent ALK translocations. For NGS, the Oncomine Solid Tumour Fusion Transcript Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) was used. The concordance was assessed using the Cohen κ coefficient (two-sided α ≤ 5%). RESULTS: NGS provided results for 77 of the 95 cases tested (81.1%), whereas RT-PCR provided results for 77 of 96 (80.2%). Concordance occurred in 55 cases of the 60 cases tested with all four methods (43 ALK negative and 12 ALK positive). Using ALK copositivity for IHC and FISH as the criterion standard, we derived a sensitivity for RT-PCR/NGS of 70.0%/85.0%, with a specificity of 87.1%/79.0%. When either RT-PCR or NGS was combined with IHC, the sensitivity remained the same, whereas the specificity increased to 88.7% and 83.9% respectively. CONCLUSION: NGS evaluation with the Oncomine Solid Tumour Fusion transcript kit and RT-PCR proved to have high sensitivity and specificity, advocating their use in routine practice. For maximal sensitivity and specificity, ALK status should be assessed by using two techniques and a third one in discordant cases. We therefore propose a customizable testing algorithm. These findings significantly influence existing testing paradigms and have clear clinical and economic impact.
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Quinase do Linfoma Anaplásico/genética , Sequenciamento de Nucleotídeos em Larga Escala/métodos , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa/métodos , Neoplasias Torácicas/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Estudos de Coortes , Europa (Continente) , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Masculino , Neoplasias Torácicas/patologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The average five-year survival for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is approximately 15%. Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a new class of gene regulators in humans that may play an important role in tumorigenesis. Hence, there is growing interest in studying their role as possible new biomarkers whose expression is aberrant in cancer. Therefore, in this study we identified dysregulated miRNAs by next generation sequencing (NGS) and analyzed their prognostic value. METHODS: Sequencing by oligo ligation detection technology was used to identify dysregulated miRNAs in a training cohort comprising paired tumor/normal tissue samples (N = 32). We validated 22 randomly selected differentially-expressed miRNAs by quantitative real time PCR in tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples (N = 178). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression were used in multivariate analysis to identify independent prognostic biomarkers. RESULTS: NGS analysis revealed that 39 miRNAs were dysregulated in NSCLC: 28 were upregulated and 11 were downregulated. Twenty-two miRNAs were validated in an independent cohort. Interestingly, the group of patients with high expression of both miRNAs (miR-21high and miR-188high) showed shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) times. Multivariate analysis confirmed that this combined signature is an independent prognostic marker for RFS and OS (p = 0.001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: NGS technology can specifically identify dysregulated miRNA profiles in resectable NSCLC samples. MiR-21 or miR-188 overexpression correlated with a negative prognosis, and their combined signature may represent a new independent prognostic biomarker for RFS and OS.
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Tumors develop mechanisms to recruit tolerogenic immune cells and to induce the expression of molecules that act as immune checkpoints. This regulation of the immune microenvironment favors immune tolerance to the neoplastic cells. In this study, we have investigated the prognostic role of immune-checkpoint expression markers in a cohort of resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. RNA was isolated from fresh-frozen lung specimens (tumor and normal lung) (n = 178). RTqPCR was performed to analyze the relative expression of 20 immune-related genes that were normalized by the use of endogenous genes selected by GeNorm algorithm. Patients with higher expression levels of IL23A and LGALS2 presented better outcomes. In the clustering expression patterns, we observed that patients with higher expression of immunoregulatory genes had better survival rates. Additionally, these data were used to develop a gene expression score. Since CTLA4 and PD1 were associated with prognosis based on Cox regression analysis (Z-score > 1.5), a multivariate model including these two genes was created. Absolute regression coefficients from this analysis were used in order to calculate the immune-checkpoint score: (PD1×0.116) + (CTLA4×0.059) for each case. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with high immune-checkpoint score have longer overall survival (OS) [NR vs. 40.4 mo, p = 0.008] and longer relapse-free survival (RFS) [82.6 vs. 23 mo, p = 0.009]. Multivariate analysis in the entire cohort indicated that the immune-checkpoint score was an independent biomarker of prognosis for OS [HR: 0.308; 95% CI, 0.156-0.609; p = 0.001] and RFS [HR: 0.527; 95% CI, 0.298-0.933; p = 0.028] in early-stage NSCLC patients. In conclusion, this score provides relevant prognostic information for a better characterization of early stage NSCLS patients with strikingly different outcomes and who may be candidates for immune-based therapies.
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INTRODUCTION: In a well-defined NSCLC cohort of the ETOP Lungscape program, we explored the epidemiology of IHC MET overexpression and amplification, their inter-correlation, and their association to outcome. METHODS: Resected NSCLC were assessed for MET gene copy number (GCN) and expression using silver in-situ hybridization (SISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) on TMAs in a multicenter setting. MET amplification was defined as MET/centromere ratio≥2 (with average MET GCN≥4), high MET GCN as CGN≥5 and MET IHC+ as ≥2+ intensity in ≥50% of tumor cells. A total of 182 MET IHC+ and EGFR/KRAS WT tumors were analyzed for METex14 skipping mutation. RESULTS: MET IHC+ was found in 23.8% of 2432 patients, significantly associated with female gender, small tumor size, and adenocarcinoma histology. We observed a high inter-laboratory variability in IHC and SISH analysis. MET amplification prevailed in 4.6% and MET GCN≥5 in 4.1% of 1572 patients. MET amplification and MET GCN≥5 were not significantly associated with any tumor characteristics or stage. Both were significantly associated with IHC MET positivity (p<0.001). METex14 skipping mutation prevailed in 5 of 182 (2.7%) MET IHC+ WT EGFR/KRAS NSCLC, 4 of which within the 88 adenocarcinomas (4.5%). No association of IHC MET overexpression, SISH MET amplification or high MET GCN was found with OS, RFS or TTR. CONCLUSION: MET overexpression is found in 23.8% of surgically resected NSCLC. MET amplification prevails in 4.6% and is associated with MET overexpression. Both have no influence on prognosis. The large inter-laboratory variability in IHC highlights the challenge of MET IHC analysis in routine practice.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/epidemiologia , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Amplificação de Genes , Expressão Gênica , Neoplasias Pulmonares/epidemiologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-met/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/cirurgia , Estudos de Coortes , Éxons , Feminino , Dosagem de Genes , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/cirurgia , Masculino , Mutação , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Prevalência , Prognóstico , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-met/metabolismoRESUMO
c-kit, a growth factor receptor with tyrosine kinase activity, plays an important role in the biology of cancer. Its expression has been documented in several malignancies. We performed a retrospective study in 85 patients diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) to determine the prevalence and role of c-kit as a possible prognostic marker in this lung cancer malignancy. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from patient charts. c-kit, analyzed as immunohistochemical expression in paraffin-embedded tumour tissues, was observed in 60% of patients. All patients were former or present smokers. At diagnosis, 46% of the patients had limited disease (LD) and 54% extended disease (ED). c-kit expression was observed in 59% of LD and 61% of ED patients (p=0.4). Patients received a median of 4 cycles first-line combination chemotherapy (platinum and etoposide). In LD patients, time to progression (TTP) was 11.5 months in c-kit (+) versus 5.9 in c-kit (-) patients (p=0.14), and median survival 15.4 and 12.8 months, respectively (p=0.33). In the ED group, TTP was 5.5 months in c-kit (+) versus 3.8 in c-kit (-) patients (p=0.34), whereas median survival was 6.3 and 7.9 months, respectively (p=0.45). With the limited number of patients in mind, our findings tended towards an association between c-kit expression and survival in the LD group.
Assuntos
Biomarcadores Tumorais/biossíntese , Carcinoma de Células Pequenas/metabolismo , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-kit/biossíntese , Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/administração & dosagem , Carcinoma de Células Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma de Células Pequenas/mortalidade , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/mortalidade , Masculino , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Prevalência , Prognóstico , Estudos Retrospectivos , Taxa de SobrevidaRESUMO
The prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poor and heterogeneous and new biomarkers are needed. As the immune system plays a pivotal role in cancer, the study of immune-related markers may provide valuable prognostic information of NSCLC. In 122 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples from early-stage NSCLC, tumor and tumor-near stromal areas were microdissected and gene expression levels of conventional and regulatory T cell markers were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Also, the presence of infiltrating CD4+, CD8+, and FOXP3+ cells in tumor samples was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The relative proportion of conventional and regulatory T cells present in the tumor environment was assessed and found to be key to understand the importance that the immune system analysis has in the prognostics of NSCLC patients. The presence of CD8+ cells in the tumor compartment was associated with better outcome, whereas the presence of FOXP3+ cells was associated with worse overall survival. The negative prognostic value of combined biomarkers, indicating high levels of FOXP3 in the stroma and low levels of CD4 or CD8 in tumors, was observed at mRNA level and was validated by immunohistochemistry.In conclusion, the proportion of T helper and cytotoxic cells vs. regulatory T cells in different locations of the tumor microenvironment have opposite prognostic impacts in resected NSCLC.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/imunologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/imunologia , Linfócitos T/imunologia , Microambiente Tumoral/imunologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Biomarcadores Tumorais/genética , Biomarcadores Tumorais/imunologia , Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Antígenos CD4/genética , Antígenos CD4/imunologia , Antígenos CD4/metabolismo , Antígenos CD8/genética , Antígenos CD8/imunologia , Antígenos CD8/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Feminino , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/genética , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/imunologia , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/metabolismo , Humanos , Estimativa de Kaplan-Meier , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prognóstico , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Subpopulações de Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Microambiente Tumoral/genéticaRESUMO
CONTEXT: It has been proposed that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays a role in the etiology of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) in diverse anatomic locations. In contrast to Asian women, Western women have a low prevalence of LELC of the uterine cervix, and EBV genomes have not been identified. OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of EBV in LELC of the uterine cervix in 4 white Western women. DESIGN: We collected 4 cases of LELC of the uterine cervix between 1990 and 2000. We performed histologic and immunohistochemical analyses of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor samples. We amplified tumor DNA with polymerase chain reaction to detect EBV, human papillomavirus, and simian virus 40 DNAs. RESULTS: Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for cytokeratins and showed strong expression of p53 and MIB-1. Staining for the oncoprotein c-Erb-B2 was focally positive, and staining for Bcl-2 and progesterone receptors was negative. Only one case showed focal nuclear staining for estrogen receptors. All cases had a dense infiltrate of mature lymphocytes expressing T-cell antigens CD45RO, CD3, and CD8. Polymerase chain reaction analysis did not detect EBV, human papillomavirus, or simian virus 40 DNA sequences in any of the 4 cases. One case had positive serologic results for anti-EBV antibodies, indicating a mild or chronic infection. CONCLUSIONS: LELC of the uterine cervix shows the immunohistochemical profile of an aggressive tumor in spite of its good prognosis, in which CD8 cytotoxic suppressor lymphocytes could play an important role. Based on our results, the role of EBV, human papillomavirus, or simian virus 40 in the pathogenesis of LELC of the uterine cervix in Western women remains unclear.
Assuntos
Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/patologia , Herpesvirus Humano 4/isolamento & purificação , Papillomaviridae/isolamento & purificação , Vírus 40 dos Símios/isolamento & purificação , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/patologia , Idoso , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/virologia , Feminino , Humanos , Imuno-Histoquímica , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/análise , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/química , Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/virologiaRESUMO
PURPOSE: The prevalence of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene fusion (ALK positivity) in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) varies by population examined and detection method used. The Lungscape ALK project was designed to address the prevalence and prognostic impact of ALK positivity in resected lung adenocarcinoma in a primarily European population. METHODS: Analysis of ALK status was performed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) in tissue sections of 1,281 patients with adenocarcinoma in the European Thoracic Oncology Platform Lungscape iBiobank. Positive patients were matched with negative patients in a 1:2 ratio, both for IHC and for FISH testing. Testing was performed in 16 participating centers, using the same protocol after passing external quality assessment. RESULTS: Positive ALK IHC staining was present in 80 patients (prevalence of 6.2%; 95% CI, 4.9% to 7.6%). Of these, 28 patients were ALK FISH positive, corresponding to a lower bound for the prevalence of FISH positivity of 2.2%. FISH specificity was 100%, and FISH sensitivity was 35.0% (95% CI, 24.7% to 46.5%), with a sensitivity value of 81.3% (95% CI, 63.6% to 92.8%) for IHC 2+/3+ patients. The hazard of death for FISH-positive patients was lower than for IHC-negative patients (P = .022). Multivariable models, adjusted for patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics, and matched cohort analysis confirmed that ALK FISH positivity is a predictor for better overall survival (OS). CONCLUSION: In this large cohort of surgically resected lung adenocarcinomas, the prevalence of ALK positivity was 6.2% using IHC and at least 2.2% using FISH. A screening strategy based on IHC or H-score could be envisaged. ALK positivity (by either IHC or FISH) was related to better OS.
Assuntos
Adenocarcinoma/enzimologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/enzimologia , Receptores Proteína Tirosina Quinases/metabolismo , Adenocarcinoma/patologia , Adenocarcinoma/cirurgia , Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão , Adulto , Idoso , Quinase do Linfoma Anaplásico , Estudos de Coortes , Europa (Continente)/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Imuno-Histoquímica , Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/cirurgia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Prevalência , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma (SRMS) is an infrequent variant of rhabdomyosarcoma characterized by extensive intercellular hyaline fibrosis. We report the case of a 37 year-old male with a 9 x 6 cm SRMS on the right elbow. Histologically, the tumor showed an abundant extracellular hyaline matrix with extratumoral vascular emboli and microscopic foci of fusocellular embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (FRMS) separated by a fibrotic band from the sclerosing areas. One year later the patient presented with a right intratesticular tumor of 1.2 x 0.8 cm, which was reported as pure FRMS. Immunohistochemically, SRMS was positive only for MyoD1 and Vimentin and negative for Myogenin and Desmin. Both the elbow emboli with the extratumoral foci of FRMS and the intratesticular tumor were positive for Myogenin, MyoD1, Vimentin and Desmin. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), the SRMS and the FRMS tumor cells of the elbow and the FRMS tumor cells of the testis were found to be negative for FOXO1A translocation in chromosome 13. PCR chimeric transcriptional products PAX3-FKHR and PAX7-FKHR were not found. Six months following testicular resection, the patient died of multiple metastases in the mediastinum, lung and right thigh.
Assuntos
Rabdomiossarcoma Embrionário/secundário , Neoplasias de Tecidos Moles/patologia , Neoplasias Testiculares/secundário , Adulto , Biomarcadores Tumorais/análise , Biomarcadores Tumorais/genética , Quimioterapia Adjuvante , Cromossomos Humanos Par 13 , Cotovelo , Evolução Fatal , Fibrose , Proteína Forkhead Box O1 , Fatores de Transcrição Forkhead/genética , Humanos , Imuno-Histoquímica , Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente , Masculino , Orquiectomia , Rabdomiossarcoma Embrionário/química , Rabdomiossarcoma Embrionário/genética , Rabdomiossarcoma Embrionário/cirurgia , Esclerose , Neoplasias de Tecidos Moles/química , Neoplasias de Tecidos Moles/genética , Neoplasias de Tecidos Moles/cirurgia , Neoplasias Testiculares/química , Neoplasias Testiculares/genética , Neoplasias Testiculares/cirurgia , Fatores de Tempo , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios X , Translocação Genética , Resultado do Tratamento , Imagem Corporal TotalRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Fascin induces membrane protrusions and cell motility. Fascin overexpression was associated with poor prognosis, and its downregulation reduces cell motility and invasiveness in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Using a stable knockdown cell line, we revealed the effect of fascin on cell growth, cell adhesion and tumor formation. METHODS: We examined whether fascin is a potential target in ESCC using in vitro and in vivo studies utilizing a specific siRNA. We established a stable transfectant with downregulated fascin from KYSE170 cell line. RESULTS: The fascin downregulated cell lines showed a slower growth pattern by 40.3% (p < 0.01) and detachment from collagen-coated plates by 53.6% (p < 0.01), compared to mock cells, suggesting that fascin plays a role in cell growth by maintaining cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix. In vivo, the tumor size was significantly smaller in the tumor with fascin knockdown cells than in mock cells by 95% at 30 days after inoculation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that fascin overexpression plays a role in tumor growth and progression in ESCC and that cell death caused by its downregulation might be induced by cell adhesion loss. This indicates that targeting fascin pathway could be a novel therapeutic strategy for the human ESCC.