Articles

Perspectives in melanoma: Meeting report from the Melanoma Bridge (30 November–2 December, 2017, Naples, Italy)

Metastatic melanoma represents a challenging clinical situation and, until relatively recently, there was an absence of effective treatment options. However, in 2011, the advanced melanoma treatment landscape ...

Authors: Paolo A. Ascierto, Igor Puzanov, Sanjiv S. Agarwala, Carlo Bifulco, Gerardo Botti, Corrado Caracò, Gennaro Ciliberto, Michael A. Davies, Reinhard Dummer, Soldano Ferrone, Thomas F. Gajewski, Claus Garbe, Jason J. Luke, Francesco M. Marincola, Giuseppe Masucci, Janice M. Mehnert…

Dexmedetomidine attenuates spinal cord ischemia–reperfusion injury through both anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis mechanisms in rabbits

Dexmedetomidine (Dex) can improve neuronal viability and protect the spinal cord from ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. This study investigated the effe...

Authors: Zhixiang Sun, Tianyun Zhao, Shaojun Lv, Ying Gao, Joe Masters and Hao Weng

Novel distance-progesterone-combined selection approach improves human sperm quality

Sperm selection is essential for the health of offspring conceived via assistive reproductive technology (ART). Various methods of sperm preparation for in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm inject...

Authors: Kun Li, Rui Li, Ya Ni, Peibei Sun, Ye Liu, Dan Zhang and Hefeng Huang

GC/MS-based urine metabolomics analysis of renal allograft recipients with acute rejection

Acute renal allograft rejection is a common complication after renal transplantation that often leads to chronic rejection and ultimate graft loss. While renal allograft biopsy remains the gold standard for di...

Authors: Long Zheng, Jina Wang, Wenjun Gao, Chao Hu, Shuo Wang, Ruiming Rong, Yinlong Guo, Tongyu Zhu and Dong Zhu

Identification of an early diagnostic biomarker of lung adenocarcinoma based on co-expression similarity and construction of a diagnostic model

The purpose of this study was to achieve early and accurate diagnosis of lung cancer and long-term monitoring of the therapeutic response.

Authors: Zhirui Fan, Wenhua Xue, Lifeng Li, Chaoqi Zhang, Jingli Lu, Yunkai Zhai, Zhenhe Suo and Jie Zhao

Resibufogenin suppresses colorectal cancer growth and metastasis through RIP3-mediated necroptosis

Necroptotic susceptibility is probably an intrinsic weakness of cancer. Here, we report that resibufogenin, a member of bufadienolide family, suppresses the growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC) thr...

Authors: Qinrui Han, Ye Ma, Hao Wang, Yu Dai, Chunhui Chen, Yawei Liu, Linlin Jing and Xuegang Sun

In vivo evidence of ascorbate involvement in the generation of epigenetic DNA modifications in leukocytes from patients with colorectal carcinoma, benign adenoma and inflammatory bowel disease

A characteristic feature of malignant cells, such as colorectal cancer cells, is a profound decrease in the level of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, a product of 5-methylcytosine oxidation by TET enzymes. Recent stud...

Authors: Marta Starczak, Ewelina Zarakowska, Martyna Modrzejewska, Tomasz Dziaman, Anna Szpila, Kinga Linowiecka, Jolanta Guz, Justyna Szpotan, Maciej Gawronski, Anna Labejszo, Ariel Liebert, Zbigniew Banaszkiewicz, Maria Klopocka, Marek Foksinski, Daniel Gackowski and Ryszard Olinski

Screening and identification of a six-cytokine biosignature for detecting TB infection and discriminating active from latent TB

The early and accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) is critical for controlling the global TB epidemic. Although early studies have supported the potential role of cytokine biomarkers in blood for the diagno...

Authors: Sen Wang, Yang Li, Yaojie Shen, Jing Wu, Yan Gao, Shu Zhang, Lingyun Shao, Jialin Jin, Ying Zhang and Wenhong Zhang

A clarion call to the community of current and potential journal reviewers

Authors: Michael N. Liebman and Franco Marincola

Platelet storage induces accelerated desialylation of platelets and increases hepatic thrombopoietin production

Stored platelets undergo deleterious changes, referred to as platelet storage lesions (PSLs), which accelerate the desialylation of platelets and result in their phagocytosis and clearance by hepatic macrophag...

Authors: Jooyoung Cho, Hyunkyung Kim, Jaewoo Song, June-Won Cheong, Jeong Won Shin, Woo Ick Yang and Hyun Ok Kim

Influence of UGT1A1 polymorphisms on the outcome of acute myeloid leukemia patients treated with cytarabine-base regimens

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A subfamily (UGT1A) enzymes can inactivate cytarabine (Ara-C) by glucuronidation, and thus serves as candidate genes for interindividual difference in Ara-C response. UGT1A1 is a m...

Authors: Peng Chen, Ke-Wei Zhu, Dao-Yu Zhang, Han Yan, Han Liu, Yan-Ling Liu, Shan Cao, Gan Zhou, Hui Zeng, Shu-Ping Chen, Xie-Lan Zhao, Jing Yang and Xiao-Ping Chen

PBMC fixation and processing for Chromium single-cell RNA sequencing

Interest in single-cell transcriptomic analysis is growing rapidly, especially for profiling rare or heterogeneous populations of cells. In almost all reported works investigators have used live cells, which i...

Authors: Jinguo Chen, Foo Cheung, Rongye Shi, Huizhi Zhou and Wenrui Lu

A Phase 1 trial of autologous monocytes stimulated ex vivo with Sylatron^® (Peginterferon alfa-2b) and Actimmune^® (Interferon gamma-1b) for intra-peritoneal administration in recurrent ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer has no definitive second line therapeutic options, and largely recurs in the peritoneal cavity. Locoregional immune therapy using both interferons and monocytes can be used as a novel approach. ...

Authors: Daniel S. Green, Ana T. Nunes, Virginia David-Ocampo, Irene B. Ekwede, Nicole D. Houston, Steven L. Highfill, Hanh Khuu, David F. Stroncek, Seth M. Steinberg, Kathryn C. Zoon and Christina M. Annunziata

Tanshinone IIA promotes the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neuronal-like cells in a spinal cord injury model

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most severe central nervous system injuries. Currently, transplanting bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) is considered a therapeutic option for SCI. Tanshinone II...

Authors: Xue-Mei Zhang, Jiao Ma, Yang Sun, Bing-Qian Yu, Zhuo-Min Jiao, Duo Wang, Mei-Yu Yu, Jin-Yue Li and Jin Fu

Comparison of immunological characteristics between paired mismatch repair-proficient and -deficient colorectal cancer patients

Currently, mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) status is a promising candidate for targeted immune checkpoint inhibition therapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, however, the potential immunological mechanism...

Authors: Shou-Sheng Liu, Yuan-Zhong Yang, Chang Jiang, Qi Quan, Qian-Kun Xie, Xiao-Pai Wang, Wen-Zhuo He, Yu-Ming Rong, Ping Chen, Qiong Yang, Lin Yang, Bei Zhang, Xiao-Jun Xia, Peng-Fei Kong and Liang-Ping Xia

Detecting germline BAP1 mutations in patients with peritoneal mesothelioma: benefits to patient and family members

Germline mutations in the BRCA-1 associated tumor protein 1 (BAP1) increase susceptibility to mesothelioma and other cancers. We describe a patient with a family history of peritoneal mesothelioma, who develop...

Authors: Muaiad Kittaneh and Charles Berkelhammer

The dimensionality of fatigue in Parkinson’s disease

Fatigue is a common problem among individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It may occur before the overt symptoms of bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor. Little is understood about how to measure fatigue in PD...

Authors: Raymond Chong, Lauren Albor, Chandramohan Wakade and John Morgan

The TGFβ-signaling pathway and colorectal cancer: associations between dysregulated genes and miRNAs

The TGFβ-signaling pathway plays an important role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Loss of function of several genes within this pathway, such as bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have been se...

Authors: Andrew J. Pellatt, Lila E. Mullany, Jennifer S. Herrick, Lori C. Sakoda, Roger K. Wolff, Wade S. Samowitz and Martha L. Slattery

Inhibition of endoplasmic-reticulum-stress-mediated autophagy enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapeutics on pancreatic cancer

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and its consequent unfolded protein response (UPR) are believed to be associated with progression, survival and chemoresistance of a variety of tumor cells through multiple ce...

Authors: Prakash C. Thakur, Jennifer L. Miller-Ocuin, Khanh Nguyen, Rina Matsuda, Aatur D. Singhi, Herbert J. Zeh and Nathan Bahary

Serum and thyroid tissue level of let-7b and their correlation with TRAb in Graves’ disease

Abnormal microRNAs (miRNAs) were reported to be involved in the mechanism of Graves’ disease (GD). Dysregulated miRNAs may be overlapping in different cells and can be secreted to circulation. We chose miRNAs ...

Authors: Xinxin Chen, Fengjiao Huang, Yicheng Qi, Mengxi Zhou, Qinglei Yin, Ying Peng, Yulin Zhou, Guang Ning and Shu Wang

Gene expression pattern of TCR repertoire and alteration expression of IL-17A gene of γδ T cells in patients with acute myocardial infarction

γδ T cells are associated with the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, but the relationship between the development of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and γδ T cells is not clear. So we a...

Authors: Xiao-ming Chen, Tao Zhang, Dan Qiu, Jian-yi Feng, Zhen-yi Jin, Qiang Luo, Xin-yu Wang and Xiu-li Wu

A novel gene-expression-signature-based model for prediction of response to Tripterysium glycosides tablet for rheumatoid arthritis patients

Approximately 30% of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with Tripterysium glycosides (TG) tablets fail to achieve clinical improvement, implying the essentiality of predictive biomarkers and tools. Her...

Authors: Yanqiong Zhang, Hailong Wang, Xia Mao, Qiuyan Guo, Weijie Li, Xiaoyue Wang, Guangyao Li and Na Lin

Genetic characterisation of molecular targets in carcinoma of unknown primary

Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) is a metastatic epithelial malignancy in the absence of an identifiable primary tumour. Prognosis for patients with CUP is poor because treatment options are generally limite...

Authors: B. Clynick, B. Dessauvagie, G. Sterrett, N. T. Harvey, R. J. N. Allcock, C. Saunders, W. Erber and K. Meehan

Nuclear Klf4 accumulation is associated with cetuximab drug-resistance and predicts poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

The functions of the protein expressed in the nucleus and cytoplasm were different or opposite. The previous study found that oncogene Klf4 played a role of tumor suppressor in the nasopharyngeal cytoplasm. Cetux...

Authors: Xiqing Li, Zunlan Zhao, Shijiang Yi, Lei Ma, Ming Li, Mingyue Liu, Yaping Zhang and Guangzhi Liu

Long term impact of CTLA4 blockade immunotherapy on regulatory and effector immune responses in patients with melanoma

We previously reported early on-treatment significant modulation in circulating regulatory T cell (Treg), myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and antigen-specific type I CD4+ and CD8+ T cells that correlat...

Authors: Janet Retseck, Alexis Nasr, Yan Lin, Huang Lin, Prateek Mendiratta, Lisa H. Butterfield and Ahmad A. Tarhini

Association of the peripheral blood levels of circulating microRNAs with both recurrent miscarriage and the outcomes of embryo transfer in an in vitro fertilization process

Implantation failure is not only a major cause of early pregnancy loss, but it is also an obstacle to assisted reproductive technologies. The identification of potential circulating biomarkers for recurrent mi...

Authors: Qian Yang, Wen-Wen Gu, Yan Gu, Na-Na Yan, Yan-Yan Mao, Xing-Xing Zhen, Jian-Mei Wang, Jing Yang, Hui-Juan Shi, Xuan Zhang and Jian Wang

Epstein–Barr virus- and cytomegalovirus-specific immune response in patients with brain cancer

Patients with brain tumor or pancreatic cancer exhibit the poorest prognosis, while immune fitness and cellular immune exhaustion impacts their survival immensely. This work identifies differences in the immun...

Authors: Zhenjiang Liu, Thomas Poiret, Qingda Meng, Martin Rao, Anna von Landenberg, Esther Schoutrop, Davide Valentini, Ernest Dodoo, Inti Peredo-Harvey and Markus Maeurer

Computer-aided prediction of antigen presenting cell modulators for designing peptide-based vaccine adjuvants

Evidences in literature strongly advocate the potential of immunomodulatory peptides for use as vaccine adjuvants. All the mechanisms of vaccine adjuvants ensuing immunostimulatory effects directly or indirect...

Authors: Gandharva Nagpal, Kumardeep Chaudhary, Piyush Agrawal and Gajendra P. S. Raghava

Correction to: Limited utility of tissue micro-arrays in detecting intra-tumoral heterogeneity in stem cell characteristics and tumor progression markers in breast cancer

Following publication of the original article [1], a typesetting mistake is reported. For Fig. 7b, a copy of Fig. 6b has been published. The correct Fig. 7b is given in this correction and the original article...

Authors: Pascale Kündig, Charlotte Giesen, Hartland Jackson, Bernd Bodenmiller, Bärbel Papassotirolopus, Sandra Nicole Freiberger, Catharine Aquino, Lennart Opitz and Zsuzsanna Varga

Correction to: First results on survival from a large Phase 3 clinical trial of an autologous dendritic cell vaccine in newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors reported an error in the spelling of one of the author names. In this Correction the incorrect and correct author names are indicated and the auth...

Authors: Linda M. Liau, Keyoumars Ashkan, David D. Tran, Jian L. Campian, John E. Trusheim, Charles S. Cobbs, Jason A. Heth, Michael Salacz, Sarah Taylor, Stacy D. D’Andre, Fabio M. Iwamoto, Edward J. Dropcho, Yaron A. Moshel, Kevin A. Walter, Clement P. Pillainayagam, Robert Aiken…

Obstacles to successful treatment of hepatitis C in uninsured patients from a minority population

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment regimens (DAAs) are well tolerated, efficacious but costly. Their high cost and restricted availability, raises concerns about the outcome of treatment in uninsured patients. ...

Authors: Alexandra DeBose-Scarlett, Raymond Balise, Deukwoo Kwon, Susan Vadaparampil, Steven Xi Chen, Eugene R. Schiff, Gladys Patricia Ayala and Emmanuel Thomas

Identification of anti-SF3B1 autoantibody as a diagnostic marker in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Tumor-associated (TA) autoantibodies, which are generated by the immune system upon the recognition of abnormal TA antigens, are promising biomarkers for the early detection of tumors. In order to detect autoa...

Authors: Hai-Min Hwang, Chang-Kyu Heo, Hye Jung Lee, Sang-Seob Kwak, Won-Hee Lim, Jong-Shin Yoo, Dae-Yuel Yu, Kook Jin Lim, Jeong-Yoon Kim and Eun-Wie Cho

Efficacy and safety of the artificial pancreas in the paediatric population with type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (DM1) is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood and requires life-long insulin therapy and continuous health care support. An artificial pancreas (AP) or closed-loop system (CLS) ...

Authors: Susanna Esposito, Elisa Santi, Giulia Mancini, Francesco Rogari, Giorgia Tascini, Giada Toni, Alberto Argentiero and Maria Giulia Berioli

Triglyceride profiling in adipose tissues from obese insulin sensitive, insulin resistant and type 2 diabetes mellitus individuals

Lipid intermediates produced during triacylglycerols (TAGs) synthesis and lipolysis in adipocytes interfere with the intracellular insulin signaling pathway and development of insulin resistance. This study ai...

Authors: Haya Al-Sulaiti, Ilhame Diboun, Sameem Banu, Mohamed Al-Emadi, Parvaneh Amani, Thomas M. Harvey, Alex S. Dömling, Aishah Latiff and Mohamed A. Elrayess

Association of viral hepatitis and bipolar disorder: a nationwide population-based study

Bipolar disorder (BD), a type of psychiatric mood disorder, is manifested by chronic and recurrent mood fluctuations. This study aims to determine whether hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) inf...

Authors: Lee-Won Chong, Chih-Chao Hsu, Chang-Yin Lee, Ruey-Hwang Chou, Cheng-Li Lin, Kuang-Hsi Chang and Yi-Chao Hsu

Lapine periodontal ligament stem cells for musculoskeletal research in preclinical animal trials

Human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) have been shown to be a reliable source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). On the other hand, rabbits have been commonly used in preclinical trials for musculoske...

Authors: H. Chopra, C. Liao, C. F. Zhang and E. H. N. Pow

A prospective study on the changes and clinical significance of pre-operative and post-operative circulating tumor cells in resectable gastric cancer

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been suggested as potential prognostic indicators for multiple tumors, including gastric cancer; however, pre- and post-operative CTC changes in resectable gastric cancer an...

Authors: Qiyue Zhang, Fei Shan, Ziyu Li, Jing Gao, Yilin Li, Lin Shen, Jiafu Ji and Ming Lu

Immunosuppressive Treg cells acquire the phenotype of effector-T cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) disease onset and progression are influenced by the behavior of specific CD4⁺ T cell subsets, such as T regulatory cells (Tregs). Here, we focused on the phenotypic and funct...

Authors: Serena De Matteis, Chiara Molinari, Giulia Abbati, Tania Rossi, Roberta Napolitano, Martina Ghetti, Andrea Ghelli Luserna Di Rorà, Gerardo Musuraca, Alessandro Lucchesi, Gian Matteo Rigolin, Antonio Cuneo, Daniele Calistri, Pier Paolo Fattori, Massimiliano Bonafè and Giovanni Martinelli

Upregulation of the EMT marker vimentin is associated with poor clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia

Vimentin (VIM) is a type III intermediate filament that maintains cell integrity, and is involved in cell migration, motility and adhesion. When overexpressed in solid cancers, vimentin drives epithelial to me...

Authors: Sharon Wu, Yang Du, John Beckford and Houda Alachkar

Polyethylene glycol-conjugated HER2-targeted peptides as a nuclear imaging probe for HER2-overexpressed gastric cancer detection in vivo

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) involved proliferation, angiogenesis, and reduced apoptosis in gastric cancer (GC), which is a common target for tumor therapy. HER2 is usually overexpressed...

Authors: Siao-Syun Guan, Cheng-Tien Wu, Chen-Yuan Chiu, Tsai-Yueh Luo, Jeng-Yih Wu, Tse-Zung Liao and Shing-Hwa Liu

CHIP functions as an oncogene by promoting colorectal cancer metastasis via activation of MAPK and AKT signaling and suppression of E-cadherin

The carboxyl terminus of Hsc70-interacting protein (CHIP) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that plays a controversial role in different cancers, either as a tumor suppressor or a tumor promoter. To date, the exact fu...

Authors: Jingjing Xu, Jun Zhou, Hanjue Dai, Fei Liu, Wenjing Li, Wenjuan Wang and Feng Guo

Prediction of hepatic necroinflammatory activity in patients with chronic hepatitis B by a simple noninvasive model

A model was constructed using clinical and serum variables to discriminate between chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with and without significant necroinflammatory activity (score 4–18 vs. score 0–3).

Authors: Fei-Fei Shen, Yan Wang, Yi-Fei Wang, Rui-Dan Zheng, Jian-Chun Xian, Jun-Ping Shi, Ying Qu, Yu-Wei Dong, Ming-Yi Xu and Lun-Gen Lu

3D printing individualized heel cup for improving the self-reported pain of plantar fasciitis

To explore the therapeutic effect and the biomechanical mechanism of 3D printing individualized heel cup in treating of plantar heel pain.

Authors: Lan Li, Longfei Yang, Fei Yu, Jianping Shi, Liya Zhu, Xianfeng Yang, Huajian Teng, Xingsong Wang and Qing Jiang

Serum IFN-γ levels predict the therapeutic effect of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in active rheumatoid arthritis

To explore the mechanism of the different clinical efficacies of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation (MSCT) and identify a possible serum biomarker for predicting the therapeutic effect of MSCT in rheumatoid...

Authors: Yi Yang, Xiao He, Rongseng Zhao, Wei Guo, Ming Zhu, Wei Xing, Dongpo Jiang, Chongyang Liu and Xiang Xu

Identification of a low risk population for parametrial invasion in patients with early-stage cervical cancer

Recent studies have challenged radical procedures for less extensive surgery in selected patients with early-stage cervical cancer at low risk of parametrial invasion. Our objective was to identify a subgroup ...

Authors: Yohann Dabi, Claire Willecocq, Marcos Ballester, Xavier Carcopino, Sofiane Bendifallah, Lobna Ouldamer, Vincent Lavoue, Geoffroy Canlorbe, Emilie Raimond, Charles Coutant, Olivier Graesslin, Pierre Collinet, Alexandre Bricou, Cyrille Huchon, Emile Daraï, Bassam Haddad…

Knockdown of KLF5 suppresses hypoxia-induced resistance to cisplatin in NSCLC cells by regulating HIF-1α-dependent glycolysis through inactivation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway

Hypoxia-mediated chemoresistance has been regarded as an important obstacle in the development of cancer treatment. Knockdown of krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) was reported to inhibit hypoxia-induced cell surviv...

Authors: Tianxiao Gong, Liuqing Cui, Haili Wang, Haoxun Wang and Na Han

Clinicopathologic implication of microRNA-197 in diffuse large B cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) contains heterogeneous subtypes with various molecular dysregulation at the gene, protein and microRNA levels. Compared with the GCB subtype, the non-germinal center B-lik...

Authors: Jeong Mi Yang, Ji-Young Jang, Yoon Kyung Jeon and Jin Ho Paik

MiR-1-3p that correlates with left ventricular function of HCM can serve as a potential target and differentiate HCM from DCM

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs that function as regulators of gene expression and thereby contribute to the complex disease phenotypes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM...

Authors: Mengmeng Li, Xiao Chen, Liang Chen, Kai Chen, Jianye Zhou and Jiangping Song

Exhaustion of mitochondrial and autophagic reserve may contribute to the development of LRRK2 ^G2019S -Parkinson’s disease

Mutations in leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are the most common cause of familial Parkinson’s disease (PD). Mitochondrial and autophagic dysfunction has been described as etiologic factors in different expe...

Authors: Diana Luz Juárez-Flores, Ingrid González-Casacuberta, Mario Ezquerra, María Bañó, Francesc Carmona-Pontaque, Marc Catalán-García, Mariona Guitart-Mampel, Juan José Rivero, Ester Tobias, Jose Cesar Milisenda, Eduard Tolosa, Maria Jose Marti, Ruben Fernández-Santiago, Francesc Cardellach, Constanza Morén and Glòria Garrabou

Microfibrillar-associated protein 4 variation in symptomatic peripheral artery disease

Symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an atherosclerotic occlusive disease affecting the lower extremities. The cause of symptomatic PAD is atherosclerosis, vascular dysfunctions, impaired angiogenesi...

Authors: Line Ea Hemstra, Anders Schlosser, Jes Sanddal Lindholt and Grith L. Sorensen