Imaging of the muscle and bone from benchtop to bedside

Studies have begun to show that muscles and bones play a role in the regulation of biological functions through a combination of biomechanical and biochemical signals. In vivo and ex vivo imaging techniques are crucial in the understanding of the morphology and architecture of muscle and bone for further understanding of musculoskeletal physiology and pathophysiology. This systematic review of the literature summarizes current knowledge and outlines new insights into the functions of muscle and bone elucidated by imaging techniques, with a focus on the recent advances in the musculoskeletal system enabled by novel technologies, such as CLARITY, Fast Free-of-Acrylamide Clearing Tissue (FACT), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET). This may serve as guidance for the development of new strategies to prevent and diagnose motor or metabolism disorders related to the malfunction of muscle and bone.

Modulation of gut immune response by probiotic fermented milk consumption to control IgE in a respiratory allergy model

Allergies are a world increasing health issue and most treatments are oriented to alleviate symptoms. Probiotics have several health benefits including the improvement of the immune system. In previous work we found that consumption of commercial probiotic fermented milk (PFM) significantly reduced specific-immunoglobulin (Ig) E in serum and lungs by increasing specific-IgG and controlled allergic response to ovalbumin (OVA) in an adult mouse respiratory allergy model. Here we continued our study determining the mechanism triggered in the gut by the PFM ingestion that influenced the results previously reported. Five groups of BALB/c mice were assessed: normal-control, basal (drinks PFM five days without OVA sensitisation), sensitisation-control (no PFM intake), previous and continuous-PFM administration. Allergen administration: 3 OVA injections (1% in PBS) followed by aerosols exposure for 7 days. We determined total secretory-IgA and cytokines in small intestine (SI) fluid; CD11b⁺, CD103⁺, IgA⁺ cells and cytokine producing cells in SI tissue. In lungs we analysed co-expression of CD4/interferon (IFN)-γ or CD4/interleukin (IL)-10, IgE⁺ cells and IL-12 production. Results: continuous intake of PFM increased the expression of CD103 marker and decreased CD11b and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Coexpression of CD4/IFN-γ was confirmed in lungs of animals that consumed PFM continuously. This group had a lower count of IgE⁺ cells and a higher concentration of IL-12. The consumption of PFM reinforces the mucosal barrier by increasing IgA⁺ cells and induces signalling from the intestine to the lungs by increasing the expression of CD103⁺ dendritic cells related to regulatory mechanisms. The results found in this work together with those previously reported demonstrated that the intake of PFM induces a clear balance towards the Th1 response, preventing the Th2 allergic response by controlling the previously reported IgE level. According to our model, the intake of PFM could be a good strategy to alleviate the development of allergies.

Outcomes of metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with DNA repair germline mutations (gDDR) following first taxane-based treatment

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Background: Germline DDR have been identified in up to 12% of mCRPC patients. Initial results from various retrospective series have reported discordant impact in clinical outcomes associated to these gDDR following conventional treatments. PROREPAIR-B (Castro et al ESMO 2017) is the first prospective study to address this question. In this planned sub-analysis, we report mCRPC treatment outcomes associated to taxanes. Methods: PROREPAIR-B (NCT03075735) is a prospective multicentre observational cohort study. Patients diagnosed with mCRPC, with unknown mutational status at study entry and who were going to start a first-line treatment for mCRPC were eligible. For this sub-analysis patients who received docetaxel or cabazitaxel as first-taxane were selected. The endpoints of this sub-analysis included to assess the impact of BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM and PALB2 and other gDDR on cause-specific survival (CSS), progression free survival (PFS), time to PSA progression (bPFS) and response to the first administered taxane as 1st or 2nd line therapy. Results: 326 (12 BRCA2, 8 ATM and 1 BRCA1 mutation carrier [gMUT]) out of 419 patients were eligible for this analysis. Diagnostic characteristic included Stage IV 51%, G8-10 60%. At the time of taxane initiation median PSA was 30.1 ng/mL, 84%, 48% and 11% of patients had bone, nodal and visceral metastases. CSS from first-taxane were not significantly different between gMUT and non-carriers (NC) (16.9 vs 23.2 m, p > 0.05). However, in BRCA2 carriers was significantly shorter than in NC (13.1 vs 23.3 m, p = 0.026). Despite a trend to higher PSA response rates in gMUT compared to NC (n = 288, 63% vs 42%, p = 0.07, BRCA2 55%, p > 0.05), PFS were not significantly different between both groups (7.2 vs 7.8 m, p > 0.05), with a trend to shorter survival in BRCA2 carriers (4.5 vs 7.4 m, P = 0.11). Conclusions: These results suggest that DDR mutation carriers respond to taxanes with similar time to progression compared to NC, with the exception of BRCA2 carriers, who despite to the initial response to taxanes, presented worse survival outcomes. This highlights the need for close monitoring and novel therapies in this population. Clinical trial information: NCT03075735.

Understanding the reaction mechanism of the oxidative addition of ammonia by (PXP)Ir(i) complexes: the role of the X group

An analysis of the electronic rearrangements for the oxidative addition of ammonia to a set of five representative (PXP)Ir pincer complexes (X = B, CH, O, N, SiH) is performed. We aim to understand the factors controlling the activation and reaction energies of this process by combining different theoretical strategies based on DFT calculations. Interestingly, complexes featuring higher activation barriers yield more exothermic reactions. The analysis of the reaction path using the bonding evolution theory shows that the main chemical events, N-H bond cleavage and Ir-H bond formation, take place before the transition structure is reached. Metal oxidation implies an electron density transfer from non-shared Ir pairs to the Ir-N bond. This decrement in the atomic charge of the metal provokes different effects in the ionic contribution of the Ir-X bonding depending on the nature of the X atom as shown by the interacting quantum atoms methodology.