piggyBac-like elements in the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella

A transgenic line of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, a key lepidopteran cotton pest, was generated previously using the piggyBac transposon IFP2 from Trichoplusia ni. Here we identified an endogenous piggyBac-like element (PLE), designated as PgPLE1, in the pink bollworm. A putatively intact copy of PgPLE1 (PgPLE1.1) presents the canonical features of PLE: inverted terminal repeats with three C/G residues at the extreme ends, inverted subterminal repeats, TTAA target site and an open reading frame encoding transposase with 68% similarity to IFP2. Vectorette PCR revealed large variation in the insertion sites of PgPLE1 amongst worldwide populations, indicating the potential mobility of PgPLE1. The PgPLE1 was undetectable in the genome of Pectinophora endema, implying the recent invasion of PgPLE1 after the divergence of these two closely related species.

Smoking duration, intensity, and risk of Parkinson disease

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the relative importance of smoking duration vs intensity in reducing the risk of Parkinson disease (PD).

METHODS

The study included 305,468 participants of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health cohort, of whom 1,662 had a PD diagnosis after 1995. We estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals from multivariate logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Compared with never smokers, the multivariate ORs were 0.78 for past smokers and 0.56 for current smokers. Among past smokers, a monotonic trend toward lower PD risk was observed for all indicators of more smoking. Stratified analyses indicated that smoking duration was associated with lower PD risk within fixed intensities of smoking. For example, compared with never smokers, the ORs among past smokers who smoked >20 cigarettes/day were 0.96 for 1-9 years of smoking, 0.78 for 10-19 years, 0.64 for 20-29 years, and 0.59 for 30 years or more (p for trend = 0.001). In contrast, at fixed duration, the typical number of cigarettes smoked per day in general was not related to PD risk. Close examination of smoking behaviors in early life showed that patients with PD were less likely to be smokers at each age period, but if they smoked, they smoked similar numbers of cigarettes per day as individuals without PD.

CONCLUSIONS

This large study suggests that long-term smoking is more important than smoking intensity in the smoking-Parkinson disease relationship.

Zoledronic Acid Prevents Bone Loss in Premenopausal Women with Early Breast Cancer Undergoing Adjuvant Chemotherapy: A Phase III Study of Korean Cancer Study Group (KCSG-BR06-01)

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy results in early menopause in the majority of premenopausal patients due to premature ovarian failure and consequent skeletal morbidity. Zoledronic acid (ZA) is known to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ZA can prevent bone loss in premenopausal women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.Methods: This study is a randomized, open-label, phase III multicenter trial. Premenopausal women older than age 40 were randomly assigned to ZA group (two infusions of 4 mg IV, every 6 months) or observation group after surgery. All patients were treated with the same adjuvant chemotherapy regimen (AC-->T; 4 cycles of AC followed by 4 cycles of paclitaxel or docetaxel). The first infusion of ZA was given on day 1 of the first chemotherapy. All patients received supplementations with oral calcium 600 mg/d and vitamin D 400 IU/d. The bone mineral density (BMD) was measured at the baseline, 6th and 12th months. Bone turnover markers were measured before chemotherapy and in 3, 6, 12 months.Results: Between March 2007 and May 2008, a total of 110 premenopausal women were enrolled in this study and the majority of women (91.8%) developed amenorrhea at 1 year post chemotherapy. The mean percent change of BMD in lumbar spine was +0.5% in the ZA group versus -3.6% in the observation group at 6 months (p<0.01) and, -1.0% versus -7.5%, at 12 months (p<0.01). Differences in percent change of BMD from baseline between two groups were 6.5% (95% CI, 5.2 to 7.9%) for the lumbar spine, and 3.6% (95% CI, 2.2% to 5.1%) for the femoral neck (p<0.01). Type I collagen metabolite PINP levels at 12 months were significantly higher in the observation group than in the ZA group; 72.7 mg/l (range 21.8∼250 mg/l) versus 30.8 mg/l (range 14.7∼62.7 mg/l) (p=0.0001). Changes of other bone turnover markers including urinary N-telopeptide, bone alkaline phosphatase, and serum C-telopeptide were also significantly different between two groups (p<0.01). ZA was generally well tolerated, and adverse event profile was similar between two groups.Conclusion: Adjuvant chemotherapy with AC-->T induced amenorrhea in the majority of patients over 40 years in this study. Treatment with two infusions of ZA 4 mg every 6 months effectively prevented bone loss within the first year of adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer in premenopausal women. Regular BMD measurements and early bisphosphonate therapy should be considered for this population.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2104.

Enhanced activity of the CREB co-activator Crtc1 in LKB1 null lung cancer

Activation of Crtc1 (also known as Mect1/Torc1) by a t(11;19) chromosomal rearrangement underlies the etiology of malignant salivary gland tumors. As LKB1 is a target for mutational inactivation in lung cancer and was recently shown to regulate hepatic Crtc2/CREB transcriptional activity in mice, we now present evidence suggesting disruption of an LKB1/Crtc pathway in cancer. Although Crtc1 is preferentially expressed in adult brain tissues, we observed elevated levels of steady-state Crtc1 in thoracic tumors. In addition, we show that somatic loss of LKB1 is associated with underphosphorylation of endogenous Crtc1, enhanced Crtc1 nuclear localization and enhanced expression of the Crtc prototypic target gene, NR4A2/Nurr1. Inhibition of NR4A2 was associated with growth suppression of LKB1 null tumors, but showed little effect on LKB1-wildtype cells. These data strengthen the role of dysregulated Crtc as a bona fide cancer gene, present a new element to the complex LKB1 tumorigenic axis, and suggest that Crtc genes may be aberrantly activated in a wider range of common adult malignancies.

Alcohol intake and risk of thyroid cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study

Background:

Certain studies suggest that alcohol may reduce the risk of thyroid cancer in women, but the effect in men remains unclear.

Methods:

We analysed the association between alcohol and thyroid cancer in a large (n=490 159) prospective NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study with self-reported beer, wine, and liquor intakes.

Results:

Over 7.5 years of follow-up (median), 170 men and 200 women developed thyroid cancer. Overall, the thyroid cancer risk decreased with greater alcohol consumption (⩾2 drinks per day vs none, relative risk=0.57, 95% CI 0.36–0.89, P-trend=0.01).

Conclusions:

These results suggest a potential protective role for alcohol consumption in thyroid cancer.