Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Improves Systolic Function in Obese Patients With Heart Failure.

Obesity has become a worldwide public health issue. Many obese patients concomitantly suffer with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. There have been reports of improvement in left ventricular systolic function following significant weight loss after bariatric surgery. We sought to investigate this phenomenon within our institution. This was a retrospective single-center analysis of patients conducted between 2010 and 2019. The study included patients with morbid obesity (body mass index >35 kg/m2 and an obesity-related comorbid condition, or a body mass index >40 kg/m2) and left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Analysis was performed based on systolic function recovery after bariatric surgery and advanced heart failure therapy. Of the 190 patients identified, 57 patients had a left ventricular ejection fraction of <40%. Twenty-two patients underwent bariatric surgery, of which at least 54.5% had systolic function recovery. Patients who had systolic function recovery after bariatric surgery were significantly older (51.58 years ± 10.48 vs 32.3 years ± 5.03, P = 0.001). Older age and female sex were predictors of systolic function recovery. In patients with obesity and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, weight loss following bariatric surgery was shown to be correlated with significant improvement in left ventricular systolic function.

Insulin-like growth factor-I receptor expression regulates neuroblastoma metastasis to bone.

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor that preferentially metastasizes to bone. Patients with bone metastases have a mortality rate >93%, indicating a need for novel treatment targets. Our laboratory has shown that type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) expression and activation regulate neuroblastoma cell proliferation, motility, invasion, and survival, and that expression of the IGF-IR correlates with neuroblastoma tumorigenicity. Bone expresses large amounts of IGF ligands, and the IGF system is required for normal bone physiology. The current study addresses the role of the IGF system in neuroblastoma metastasis to bone. Upon reaching the bone marrow through the circulation, neuroblastoma cells must dock at the bone marrow endothelium, extravasate into the bone microenvironment, and destroy bone tissue to allow for tumor growth. This report examines the effects of high IGF-IR expression on neuroblastoma cell interaction with bone. The current data show that neuroblastoma cells with high IGF-IR expression, either endogenously or through transfection, adhere to human bone marrow endothelial cells and subsequently migrate toward both IGF-I and human bone stromal cells. High IGF-IR-expressing neuroblastoma cells adhere tightly to bone stromal cells, flatten, and extend processes. When neuroblastoma cells are injected directly into the tibiae of mice, those cells with increased IGF-IR form both osteolytic lesions within the tibiae and secondary tumors within other sites. These results support the hypothesis that IGF-IR expression in neuroblastoma cells increases tumor cell interaction with the bone microenvironment, resulting in greater formation of metastases.