Articles

PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors during late stages of life: an ad-hoc analysis from a large multicenter cohort

The favourable safety profile and the increasing confidence with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) might have boosted their prescription in frail patients with short life expectancies, who usually are not tr...

Authors: Daniele Santini, Tea Zeppola, Marco Russano, Fabrizio Citarella, Cecilia Anesi, Sebastiano Buti, Marco Tucci, Alessandro Russo, Maria Chiara Sergi, Vincenzo Adamo, Luigia S. Stucci, Melissa Bersanelli, Giulia Mazzaschi, Francesco Spagnolo, Francesca Rastelli, Francesca Chiara Giorgi…

TPM, FPKM, or Normalized Counts? A Comparative Study of Quantification Measures for the Analysis of RNA-seq Data from the NCI Patient-Derived Models Repository

In order to correctly decode phenotypic information from RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data, careful selection of the RNA-seq quantification measure is critical for inter-sample comparisons and for downstream analy...

Authors: Yingdong Zhao, Ming-Chung Li, Mariam M. Konaté, Li Chen, Biswajit Das, Chris Karlovich, P. Mickey Williams, Yvonne A. Evrard, James H. Doroshow and Lisa M. McShane

The effect of acute intermittent hypoxia on postprandial triglyceride levels in humans: a randomized crossover trial

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder frequently observed in individuals living with obesity, consists of repeated involuntary breathing obstructions during sleep, leading to intermittent hypoxia (IH...

Authors: Renée Morin, Jean-François Mauger, Ruwan Amaratunga and Pascal Imbeault

The landscape of biobanks in Poland—characteristics of Polish biobanking units at the beginning of BBMRI.pl organization

Biobanking is an area of scientific activity that is growing in strength and importance. The variety of collections combining biological samples and medical scientific information makes biobanking an indispens...

Authors: Anna Chróścicka, Angelika Paluch, Łukasz Kozera and Małgorzata Lewandowska-Szumieł

Correction to: Metformin ameliorates scleroderma via inhibiting Th17 cells and reducing mTOR-STAT3 signaling in skin fibroblasts

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Jeonghyeon Moon, Seon-yeong Lee, Jeong Won Choi, A. Ram Lee, Jin Hee Yoo, Su-Jin Moon, Sung-Hwan Park and Mi-La Cho

Droplet digital PCR allows vector copy number assessment and monitoring of experimental CAR T cells in murine xenograft models or approved CD19 CAR T cell-treated patients

Genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T lymphocytes are promising therapeutic tools for cancer. Four CAR T cell drugs, including tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel) and axicabtagene-ciloleucel (axi-ce...

Authors: Rafik Haderbache, Walid Warda, Eric Hervouet, Mathieu Neto da Rocha, Rim Trad, Vincent Allain, Clementine Nicod, Catherine Thieblemeont, Nicolas Boissel, Pauline Varlet, Ibrahim Yakoub Agha, Lucie Bouquet, Melanie Guiot, Fabienne Venet, Pierre Sujobert, Xavier Roussel…

Long non-coding RNA MEG3 mediates the miR-149-3p/FOXP3 axis by reducing p53 ubiquitination to exert a suppressive effect on regulatory T cell differentiation and immune escape in esophageal cancer

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) has been implicated in the progression of esophageal cancer (EC). However, the specific mechanism of the involvement of MEG3 in EC development in...

Authors: Qi-Rong Xu, Jian Tang, Hong-Ying Liao, Ben-Tong Yu, Xiang-Yuan He, Yu-Zhen Zheng and Sheng Liu

Correction to: M2 macrophage-derived exosomal microRNAs inhibit cell migration and invasion in gliomas through PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Jie Yao, Zefen Wang, Yong Cheng, Chao Ma, Yahua Zhong, Yilei Xiao, Xu Gao and Zhiqiang Li

Manifestations of HbSE sickle cell disease: a systematic review

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is commonly encountered in Africa and Middle Eastern countries. The causative mutation in the gene encoding the hemoglobin subunit β (HBB) leads to various genotypic variants of the d...

Authors: Ibrahim Khamees, Fateen Ata, Hassan Choudry, Ashraf T. Soliman, Vincenzo De Sanctis and Mohamed A. Yassin

Inhibition of c-Fos expression attenuates IgE-mediated mast cell activation and allergic inflammation by counteracting an inhibitory AP1/Egr1/IL-4 axis

Activator protein-1 (AP1), a c-Fos–JUN transcription factor complex, mediates many cytobiological processes. c-Fos has been implicated in immunoglobulin (Ig)E activation of mast cells (MCs) via high-affinity I...

Authors: Hui-Na Wang, Kunmei Ji, Li-Na Zhang, Chu-Chu Xie, Wei-Yong Li, Zhen-Fu Zhao and Jia-Jie Chen

Childbearing vs. clinical trial participation: is it one or the other?

Recent advances have shed light on the importance of early therapeutic intervention for neurodegenerative diseases. Primary prevention trials present a potential disease-modifying strategy for pre-symptomatic ...

Authors: Sarah J. Hernandez and Lindsay A. Hohsfield

The negative relationship between patients with NSCLC harbored STK11/KEAP1 copy number variation and immune microenvironment infiltration

Authors: Chenyue Zhang

HDAC4 induces the development of asthma by increasing Slug-upregulated CXCL12 expression through KLF5 deacetylation

Asthma is a frequently occurring respiratory disease with an increasing incidence around the world. Airway inflammation and remodeling are important contributors to the occurrence of asthma. We conducted this ...

Authors: Wendi Wei, Weida Chen and Naifeng He

Extrachromosomal circular DNA: a new potential role in cancer progression

Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) is considered a circular DNA molecule that exists widely in nature and is independent of conventional chromosomes. eccDNA can be divided into small polydispersed circular...

Authors: Tianyi Wang, Haijian Zhang, Youlang Zhou and Jiahai Shi

Radiomic signature of the FOWARC trial predicts pathological response to neoadjuvant treatment in rectal cancer

We aimed to develop a radiomic model based on pre-treatment computed tomography (CT) to predict the pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant treatment and tried to ...

Authors: Zhuokai Zhuang, Zongchao Liu, Juan Li, Xiaolin Wang, Peiyi Xie, Fei Xiong, Jiancong Hu, Xiaochun Meng, Meijin Huang, Yanhong Deng, Ping Lan, Huichuan Yu and Yanxin Luo

Immune radiobiology

Authors: Claire Vanpouille-Box

Cellular and molecular mediators of lymphangiogenesis in inflammatory bowel disease

Recent studies reporting the intricate crosstalk between cellular and molecular mediators and the lymphatic endothelium in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) suggest altered inflammatory cell...

Authors: Dickson Kofi Wiredu Ocansey, Bing Pei, Xinwei Xu, Lu Zhang, Chinasa Valerie Olovo and Fei Mao

Increased risk of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis infection in patients with polycystic kidney disease: a nationwide population-based study with propensity score-matching analysis

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a common renal disorder affecting approximately 1 in 1000 live births. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease worldwide. This study investigated the risk of TB infection ...

Authors: Ting-Fang Chiu, Tung-Min Yu, Chih-Wei Chiu, Brian K. Lee, Tsuo-Hung Lan, Chi-Yuan Li, Mei-Chen Lin and Chia-Hung Kao

Non-invasive monitoring of pH and oxygen using miniaturized electrochemical sensors

Authors: Mehrdad Farrokhi, Seyedeh Parisa Manavi and Fatemeh Taheri

Potential roles of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) in immune cells

N6-methyl-adenosine (m6A) is one of the most common internal modifications on RNA molecules present in mammalian cells. Deregulation of m6A modification has been recently implicated in many types of human dise...

Authors: Chang Liu, Zhe Yang, Rong Li, Yanju Wu, Ming Chi, Shuting Gao, Xun Sun, Xin Meng and Biao Wang

Characterization of terminal-ileal and colonic Crohn’s disease in treatment-naïve paediatric patients based on transcriptomic profile using logistic regression

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and idiopathic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract and comprises ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Crohn’s disease can affect any p...

Authors: Ilkyu Park, Jaeeun Jung, Sugi Lee, Kunhyang Park, Jea-Woon Ryu, Mi-Young Son, Hyun-Soo Cho and Dae-Soo Kim

Automated tumor proportion scoring for PD-L1 expression based on multistage ensemble strategy in non-small cell lung cancer

Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression is a promising biomarker for identifying treatment related to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Automated image analysis served as an aided PD-L1 scoring too...

Authors: Boju Pan, Yuxin Kang, Yan Jin, Lin Yang, Yushuang Zheng, Lei Cui, Jian Sun, Jun Feng, Yuan Li, Lingchuan Guo and Zhiyong Liang

The effect of a newly developed mini-light-emitting diode catheter for interstitial photodynamic therapy in pancreatic cancer xenografts

Authors: So-Young Kim, Eun A. Cho, Sang Mun Bae, Sang-Yeob Kim and Do Hyun Park

Collaborative relationships in translational medical research among Chinese clinicians: an internet-based cross-sectional survey

This study aimed to explore the collaborative relationship in translational medical research from the perspective of clinicians in China. The findings are expected to help practitioners optimize and experience...

Authors: Meina Li, Bin Lian, Xiaoxiong Xu, Pan Zhao, Bihan Tang, Chaoqun Hu, Xiang Liu, Wenya Yu and Lulu Zhang

SARS-CoV-2 complete genome sequencing from the Italian Campania region using a highly automated next generation sequencing system

Since the first complete genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019, more than 550,000 genomes have been submitted into the GISAID database. Sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome might allow identification...

Authors: Anna Maria Rachiglio, Luca De Sabato, Cristin Roma, Michele Cennamo, Mariano Fiorenza, Daniela Terracciano, Raffaella Pasquale, Francesca Bergantino, Ernesta Cavalcanti, Gerardo Botti, Gabriele Vaccari, Giuseppe Portella and Nicola Normanno

Translational precision medicine: an industry perspective

In the era of precision medicine, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, drug discovery and development face unprecedented opportunities for product and business model innovation, fundamentally chan...

Authors: Dominik Hartl, Valeria de Luca, Anna Kostikova, Jason Laramie, Scott Kennedy, Enrico Ferrero, Richard Siegel, Martin Fink, Sohail Ahmed, John Millholland, Alexander Schuhmacher, Markus Hinder, Luca Piali and Adrian Roth

The effect of revascularization on recovery of mitochondrial respiration in peripheral artery disease: a case control study

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is accompanied by myopathy characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the effect of revascularization procedures on mito...

Authors: Alexandra Gratl, Dominik Pesta, Leonhard Gruber, Fiona Speichinger, Ben Raude, Safwan Omran, Andreas Greiner and Jan Paul Frese

Correction to: HDACi mediate UNG2 depletion, dysregulated genomic uracil and altered expression of oncoproteins and tumor suppressors in B- and T-cell lines

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Tobias S. Iveland, Lars Hagen, Animesh Sharma, Mirta M. L. Sousa, Antonio Sarno, Kristian Lied Wollen, Nina Beate Liabakk and Geir Slupphaug

Health promoting behaviour of medical versus non-medical students during COVID-19 pandemic: results from the COLA cross-sectional study

To investigate the COVID-19 pandemic related alteration of health promoting behaviour during lockdown among medical students compared to other students.

Authors: Julius Steffen, Jenny Schlichtiger, Stefan Brunner and Bruno C. Huber

Oxidative stress response in regulatory and conventional T cells: a comparison between patients with chronic coronary syndrome and healthy subjects

Inflammation and oxidative stress form a vicious circle in atherosclerosis. Oxidative stress can have detrimental effects on T cells. A unique subset of CD4⁺ T cells, known as regulatory T (T_reg) cells, has been ...

Authors: Anna K. Lundberg, Rosanna W. S. Chung, Louise Zeijlon, Gustav Fernström and Lena Jonasson

Correction to: The urgency of utilizing COVID-19 biospecimens for research in the heart of the global pandemic

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Iman Osman, Paolo Cotzia, Una Moran, Douglas Donnelly, Carolina Arguelles-Grande, Sandra Mendoza and Andre Moreira

Vitamin D association with coagulation factors in polycystic ovary syndrome is dependent upon body mass index

Authors: Abu Saleh Md Moin, Thozhukat Sathyapalan, Alexandra E. Butler and Stephen L. Atkin

Perspectives in immunotherapy: meeting report from the immunotherapy bridge (December 2nd–3rd, 2020, Italy)

Improved understanding of tumor immunology has enabled the development of therapies that harness the immune system and prevent immune escape. Numerous clinical trials and real-world experience has provided evi...

Authors: Paolo A. Ascierto, Carlo Bifulco, Fortunato Ciardiello, Sandra Demaria, Leisha A. Emens, Robert Ferris, Silvia C. Formenti, Jerome Galon, Samir N. Khleif, Tomas Kirchhoff, Jennifer McQuade, Kunle Odunsi, Akash Patnaik, Chrystal M. Paulos, Janis M. Taube, John Timmerman…

Interleukin-24 regulates mucosal remodeling in inflammatory bowel diseases

Recently, increased interleukin (IL)-24 expression has been demonstrated in the colon biopsies of adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the role of IL-24 in the pathomechanism of IBD i...

Authors: Anna Ónody, Apor Veres-Székely, Domonkos Pap, Réka Rokonay, Beáta Szebeni, Erna Sziksz, Franz Oswald, Gábor Veres, Áron Cseh, Attila J. Szabó and Ádám Vannay

Diffusion-weighted MRI for predicting pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer: evaluation with mono-, bi-, and stretched-exponential models

To investigate the performance of diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI with mono-, bi- and stretched-exponential models in predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for breast can...

Authors: Shiteng Suo, Yan Yin, Xiaochuan Geng, Dandan Zhang, Jia Hua, Fang Cheng, Jie Chen, Zhiguo Zhuang, Mengqiu Cao and Jianrong Xu

Comprehensive analysis of LncRNAs expression profiles in an in vitro model of steatosis treated with Exendin-4

The hallmark of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the excessive hepatic lipid accumulation. Currently, no pharmacotherapy exists for NAFLD. However, the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists hav...

Authors: Khaoula Errafii, Neyla S. Al-Akl, Olfa Khalifa and Abdelilah Arredouani

Exosomes contribution in COVID-19 patients’ treatment

Adipose cell-free derivatives have been recently gaining attention as potential therapeutic agents for various human diseases. In this context, mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), adipocyte mesenchymal stem...

Authors: Loubna Mazini, Luc Rochette and Gabriel Malka

MAPK14 over-expression is a transcriptomic feature of polycythemia vera and correlates with adverse clinical outcomes

The transcriptomic signature has not been fully elucidated in PV, as well as mRNA markers for clinical variables (thrombosis, leukemic transformation, survival, etc.). We attempted to reveal and validate cruci...

Authors: Chao Guo, Ya-yue Gao, Qian-qian Ju, Min Wang, Chun-xia Zhang, Ming Gong and Zhen-ling Li

NIPU: a randomised, open-label, phase II study evaluating nivolumab and ipilimumab combined with UV1 vaccination as second line treatment in patients with malignant mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and aggressive tumour. For patients with inoperable disease, few treatment options are available after first line chemotherapy. The combination of ipilimumab and ...

Authors: Vilde Drageset Haakensen, Anna K. Nowak, Espen Basmo Ellingsen, Saima Jamil Farooqi, Maria Moksnes Bjaanæs, Henrik Horndalsveen, Tine Mcculloch, Oscar Grundberg, Susana M. Cedres and Åslaug Helland

Targeting multiple genes containing long mononucleotide A-T repeats in lung cancer stem cells

Intratumour heterogeneous gene expression among cancer and cancer stem cells (CSCs) can cause failure of current targeted therapies because each drug aims to target the function of a single gene. Long mononucl...

Authors: Narumol Bhummaphan, Piyapat Pin-on, Preeyaporn Plaimee Phiboonchaiyanan, Jirattha Siriluksana, Chatchawit Aporntewan, Pithi Chanvorachote and Apiwat Mutirangura

A large-scale investigation into the role of classical HLA loci in multiple types of severe infections, with a focus on overlaps with autoimmune and mental disorders

Infections are a major disease burden worldwide. While they are caused by external pathogens, host genetics also plays a part in susceptibility to infections. Past studies have reported diverse associations be...

Authors: Ron Nudel, Rosa Lundbye Allesøe, Wesley K. Thompson, Thomas Werge, Simon Rasmussen and Michael E. Benros

Exosomal lncRNA UCA1 modulates cervical cancer stem cell self-renewal and differentiation through microRNA-122-5p/SOX2 axis

There is growing evidence discussing the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in cervical cancer (CC). We performed this study to explore the impact of exosomal lncRNA urothelial cancer-associated 1 (UCA1) i...

Authors: Zhihui Gao, Qianqing Wang, Mei Ji, Xiangcui Guo, Li Li and Xiaoke Su

The landscape of gene co-expression modules correlating with prognostic genetic abnormalities in AML

The heterogenous cytogenetic and molecular variations were harbored by AML patients, some of which are related with AML pathogenesis and clinical outcomes. We aimed to uncover the intrinsic expression profiles...

Authors: Chao Guo, Ya-yue Gao, Qian-qian Ju, Chun-xia Zhang, Ming Gong and Zhen-ling Li

Association of ADH1B polymorphism and alcohol consumption with increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke

Alcohol consumption is one of the modifiable risk factors for intracerebral hemorrhage, which accounts for approximately 10–20% of all strokes worldwide. We evaluated the association of stroke with genetic pol...

Authors: Chun-Hsiang Lin, Oswald Ndi Nfor, Chien-Chang Ho, Shu-Yi Hsu, Disline Manli Tantoh, Yi-Chia Liaw, Mochly-Rosen Daria, Che-Hong Chen and Yung-Po Liaw

Identification of circRNA–miRNA–mRNA networks contributes to explore underlying pathogenesis and therapy strategy of gastric cancer

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a new class of noncoding RNAs that have gained increased attention in human tumor research. However, the identification and function of circRNAs are largely unknown in the context ...

Authors: Zhijie Dong, Zhaoyu Liu, Min Liang, Jinhui Pan, Mingzhen Lin, Hai Lin, Yuanwei Luo, Xinke Zhou and Wenxia Yao

The accumulation of exosome-associated microRNA-1246 and microRNA-150-3p in human red blood cell suspensions

Transfusion-related immunomodulation (TRIM) can be caused by exosomes, in which case, microRNAs (miRNAs) are one critical factor impacting exosome behavior. This study aims to investigate and analyze the expre...

Authors: Yujie Kong, Xue Tian, Rui He, Chenyue Li, Haixia Xu, Li Tian and Zhong Liu

MicroRNA-449a delays lung cancer development through inhibiting KDM3A/HIF-1α axis

It has been established that microRNA (miR)-449a is anti-tumorigenic in cancers, including lung cancer. Therefore, this study further explored miR-449a-mediated mechanism in lung cancer, mainly focusing on lys...

Authors: Shan Hu, Peng Cao, Kangle Kong, Peng Han, Yu Deng, Fan Li and Bo Zhao

miR-20a suppresses Treg differentiation by targeting Map3k9 in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a model for inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), a group of autoimmune diseases characterized by inflammatory infiltration...

Authors: Yishu Wang, Chong Xie, Yaying Song, Weiwei Xiang, Jing Peng, Lu Han, Jie Ding and Yangtai Guan

Effect of plasma vitamin C levels on Parkinson’s disease and age at onset: a Mendelian randomization study

Until now, epidemiological evidence regarding the association between vitamin C intake (both diet and supplements) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) remains inconsistent. Hence, it is necessary to establish the cau...

Authors: Haijie Liu, Yan Zhang, Haihua Zhang, Longcai Wang, Tao Wang, Zhifa Han, Liyong Wu and Guiyou Liu

Pan-cancer characterization of metabolism-related biomarkers identifies potential therapeutic targets

Generally, cancer cells undergo metabolic reprogramming to adapt to energetic and biosynthetic requirements that support their uncontrolled proliferation. However, the mutual relationship between two critical ...

Authors: Guoshu Bi, Yunyi Bian, Jiaqi Liang, Jiacheng Yin, Runmei Li, Mengnan Zhao, Yiwei Huang, Tao Lu, Cheng Zhan, Hong Fan and Qun Wang