Up-regulated exosomal miRNA-140-3p in CML patients with musculoskeletal pain associated with discontinuation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors

We analyzed the exosomal miRNA from peripheral blood from CML patients with musculoskeletal pain after stopping tyrosine kinase inhibitors to identify possible factors related to this manifestation. Exosomal miRNA profiling using TaqMan low-density array revealed that exosomal miR-140-3p was significantly elevated in CML patients showing musculoskeletal pain, when compared to those without such pain (P = 0.0336) or healthy individuals (P = 0.0022). All five CML patients with musculoskeletal pain and increased exosomal miR-140-3p levels sustained deep molecular responses: four of them achieved symptom relief and a significant decrease in exosomal miR-140-3p levels was evident. Because exosomal miR-140-3p is considered to have an inflammation-associated biological function in airway smooth muscle cells and targets Myomarker muscle-specific transmembrane protein, it appears that its overexpression in circulating exosomal miR-140-3p may have some role in the mechanism underlying self-limited musculoskeletal pain.

Musculoskeletal pain after stopping tyrosine kinase inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia: a questionnaire survey

We conducted a questionnaire survey to assess the state of patients with CML after discontinuation of TKI therapy. Nine of 27 patients developed musculoskeletal pain after TKI discontinuation. One had discontinued nilotinib and eight had discontinued imatinib therapy. Median time to symptom development after discontinuation was 2 weeks. Four experienced grade 3 symptoms as per the CTCAE ver. 4.0. One had pain persisting over a period of 21 months. There was a significant difference between patients with and without symptoms as regards female gender and the probability of persistent MMR. Awareness of this withdrawal syndrome after TKI discontinuation is imperative.

Loss of p300 accelerates MDS-associated leukemogenesis

The role that changes in DNA methylation and histone modifications have in human malignancies is poorly understood. p300 and CREB-binding protein (CBP), two distinct but highly homologous lysine acetyltransferases, are mutated in several cancers, suggesting their role as tumor suppressors. In the current study, we found that deletion of p300, but not CBP, markedly accelerated the leukemogenesis ofNup98-HoxD13 (NHD13) transgenic mice, an animal model that phenotypically copies human myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). p300 deletion restored the ability of NHD13 expressing hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) to self-renew in vitro, and to expand in vivo, with an increase in stem cell symmetric self-renewal divisions and a decrease in apoptosis. Furthermore, loss of p300, but not CBP, promoted cytokine signaling, including enhanced activation of the MAPK and JAK/STAT pathways in the HSPC compartment. Altogether, our data indicate that p300 has a pivotal role in blocking the transformation of MDS to acute myeloid leukemia, a role distinct from that of CBP.

Modifications of the endosomal compartment in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and fibroblasts from Alzheimer's disease patients

Identification of blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a challenge. Neuropathological studies have identified enlarged endosomes in post-mortem brains as the earliest cellular change associated to AD. Here the presence of enlarged endosomes was investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 48 biologically defined AD patients (25 with mild cognitive impairment and 23 with dementia (AD-D)), and 23 age-matched healthy controls using immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy. The volume and number of endosomes were not significantly different between AD and controls. However, the percentage of cells containing enlarged endosomes was significantly higher in the AD-D group as compared with controls. Furthermore, endosomal volumes significantly correlated to [C(11)]PiB cortical index measured by positron emission tomography in the AD group, independently of the APOE genotype, but not to the levels of amyloid-beta, tau and phosphorylated tau measured in the cerebrospinal fluid. Importantly, we confirmed the presence of enlarged endosomes in fibroblasts from six unrelated AD-D patients as compared with five cognitively normal controls. This study is the first, to our knowledge, to report morphological alterations of the endosomal compartment in peripheral cells from AD patients correlated to amyloid load that will now be evaluated as a possible biomarker.

Voxel-based morphometry of the marmoset brain: In vivo detection of volume loss in the substantia nigra of the MPTP-treated Parkinson's disease model

Movement dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD) is caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). Here, we established a method for voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and automatic tissue segmentation of the marmoset monkey brain using a 7-T animal scanner and applied the method to assess DA degeneration in a PD model, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated animals, with tyrosine-hydroxylase staining. The most significant decreases of local tissue volume were detected in the bilateral SN of MPTP-treated marmoset brains (-53.0% in right and -46.5% in left) and corresponded with the location of DA neurodegeneration found in histology (-65.4% in right). In addition to the SN, the decreases were also confirmed in the locus coeruleus, and lateral hypothalamus. VBM using 7-T MRI was effective in detecting volume loss in the SN of the PD-model marmoset. This study provides a potential basis for the application of VBM with ultra-high field MRI in the clinical diagnosis of PD. The developed method may also offer value in automatic whole-brain evaluation of structural changes for the marmoset monkey.

Water's tensile strength measured using an optofluidic chip

In this paper, for the first time, the tensile strength of water is directly measured using an optofluidic chip based on the displacement of air-water interface deformation with homogeneous nucleation. When water in a microchannel is stretched dynamically via laser-induced shock reflection at the air-water interface, the shock pressures are determined by measuring the displacements of the deformed interface. Observation of the vapor bubbles is used as a probe to identify the cavitation threshold with a critical distance, and the tensile strength of water at 20 °C is measured to be -33.3 ± 2.8 MPa. This method can be extended to investigate the tensile strength of other soft materials such as glycerol, which is measured to be -59.8 ± 10.7 MPa at 20 °C.

Long-distance propagation of a surface plasmon on the surface of a ferromagnetic metal

A method for the reduction of the propagation loss of surface plasmons was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A plasmonic structure, which contains a metal and two dielectric layers of different refractive indexes, is proposed in order to optimize the optical confinement and to reduce the propagation loss of the surface plasmons. Long-distance propagation of a surface plasmon on the surface of a ferromagnetic metal was demonstrated. A low propagation loss of 0.17 dB/μm for a surface plasmon in a Fe/MgO/AlGaAs plasmonic structure was achieved.

Droplet generation via a single bubble transformation in a nanofluidic channel

Here we report the first demonstration on droplet generation from the transformation of a single bubble in a nanofluidic channel by a laser-induced jet. A viscous two-dimensional Rayleigh-Plesset-type model is derived to describe the bubble dynamics in the nanofluidic channel, which accounts for the effect of shear stresses from the channel wall. The droplet generation (number and volume) is investigated experimentally by controlling the jet velocity via laser energy and distance. This study expands the understanding of jetting in the nanofluidic channel and demonstrates a novel method for femtoliter-volume single or multiple droplet formation. It is envisioned that this work will open new doors in on-demand generation of nanodroplets.