Lactate - A new frontier in the immunology and therapy of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer, one of the most common male malignancies with an increasing incidence in the recent years, requires the development of new methods of treatment. One of the most debated subjects is the tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). Although, the pathophysiological mechanisms are still a subject of intense research, TAM acts as procarcinogenic factors. It was also demonstrated that hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) induces the expression of TAM genes involved in prostate carcinogenesis. Furthermore, it should be noted that the stromal extracellular lactate, the result of tumoral glycolysis process is one of the HIF1 activators. In addition, lactate inhibits the differentiation of monocytes and dendritic cells and also induces the inactivation of the cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. Through an analysis of recent studies, we conclude that lactate is a vital component of several ways of modulating the immune response at the stromal prostatic adenocarcinoma including TAM activation and cytotoxic T lymphocytes immunosuppression. Our review focuses on the impact of lactate on prostatic adenocarcinoma progression in terms of its immunology, and how this influences the therapy of this condition and the clinical outcome.

Ruxolitinib-conjugated gold nanoparticles for topical administration: An alternative for treating alopecia?

Alopecia is a dermatological condition for which Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors have recently emerged as potential therapy options, but with limited practical use because of the systemic side effects. The topical use of Ruxolitinib in alopecia universalis has been demonstrated, but little is known about the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of this way of administration. Nanomedicine provides improved therapeutics. In the current paper we present preliminary data regarding the potential use of Ruxolitinib-conjugated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in dermatological conditions, as GNPs have been proven to have a reduced absorption rate into the systemic blood flow for cutaneous administration. Internalization of the newly formed bioconjugate was assessed by electron microscopy and the functional effects of the drug were investigated by cell counting, flow cytometry and western blotting. Our data show that gold nanoparticles conjugated with Ruxolitinib inhibit the proliferation of fibroblasts by inhibiting JAK2 protein. Ruxolitinib carried by gold nanoparticles alters the proliferation of human fibroblasts, which is of great clinical importance as it can be readily administered on the skin with minimal risk of systemic side effects.

Exosome-Carried microRNA-375 Inhibits Cell Progression and Dissemination via Bcl-2 Blocking in Colon Cancer

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Worldwide, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and second in women. The aim of the current study was to identify whether the miR-375 is indeed down-regulated in metastatic CRC and if it could be considered as a potential minimally invasive prognostic biomarker for CRC.

METHODS

Exosomes were isolated and characterized from patients with liver metastasis from CCR. The characterization of exosome was performed using TEM/SEM. HCT116 cells were treated with miR-375 mimic, NSM and miR-375 inhibitor. Functional assays included cell counting assay for 14 days, Matrigel invasion assay, apoptosis assay by flow cytometry using Annexin V-FITC, RT-PCR and Western blotting.

RESULTS

Increased proliferation potential was proven for the cells transfected with miR-375 inhibitor, while the miR-375 mimic decreased the cell number. The cells transfected with the miR-375 inhibitor are aggressive and cross the membrane; 3.84% of the cells transfected with the miR-375 inhibitor entered apoptosis, while 6.45% of those transfected with the non-specific mimic were in programmed cell death, less than those transfected with the microRNA. RT-PCR for Bcl-2 expression showed that Bcl-2 is down-regulated for miR-375 inhibitor and up-regulated for the miR-375 mimic, a result confirmed by Western blotting.

CONCLUSION

The present study brings to the forefront new data that suggest miR-375 as a new player in controlling the pathways responsible for inhibiting the natural history of CRC tumor cells, via the Bcl-2 pathway.

Gold nanoparticles enhance the effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in acute myeloid leukemia therapy

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Every year, in Europe, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is diagnosed in thousands of adults. For most subtypes of AML, the backbone of treatment was introduced nearly 40 years ago as a combination of cytosine arabinoside with an anthracycline. This therapy is still the worldwide standard of care. Two-thirds of patients achieve complete remission, although most of them ultimately relapse. Since the FLT3 mutation is the most frequent, it serves as a key molecular target for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that inhibit FLT3 kinase. In this study, we report the conjugation of TKIs onto spherical gold nanoparticles.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The internalization of TKI-nanocarriers was proved by the strongly scattered light from gold nanoparticles and was correlated with the results obtained by transmission electron microscopy and dark-field microscopy. The therapeutic effect of the newly designed drugs was investigated by several methods including cell counting assay as well as the MTT assay.

RESULTS

We report the newly described bioconjugates to be superior when compared with the drug alone, with data confirmed by state-of-the-art analyses of internalization, cell biology, gene analysis for FLT3-IDT gene, and Western blotting to assess degradation of the FLT3 protein.

CONCLUSION

The effective transmembrane delivery and increased efficacy validate its use as a potential therapeutic.

MicroRNAs in liver malignancies. Basic science applied in surgery

Liver malignancies represent one of the major public health problems worldwide because of late diagnosis and failure of current treatments to offer a curative option for many of the patients. MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that are known to regulate the gene expression at a post-transcriptional level through complementary base pairing with thousands of messenger (m)RNAs. Recent data has shown the involvement of miRs in the pathogenesis of many human cancers, including those of the liver, with huge possible impact in the clinic, mainly due to the identification of non-coding RNAs as biomarkers that can often be detected in the systemic circulation. In the current review, we present the importance of miRs in liver cancers by discussing their role in the pathobiology of these diseases, apart from their role as diagnostic and prognostic markers for liver malignancies.