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Nathan Goodyear

Wnt signaling and cancer - 0 views

genesdev.cshlp.org/...1837.full

WNT cancer oncogene oncogenes

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 19 Mar 18 - No Cached
  • In all of these cases the common denominator is the activation of gene transcription by β-catenin
  • Nathan Goodyear on 19 Mar 18
     
    WNT is an oncogene.  Good review of the signaling of the WNT oncogene in cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

FDG-PET/CT imaging biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC3587845

PET scan cancer PET_CT scan maxSUV

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 19 Mar 18 - No Cached
  • F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT is sensitive for the diagnosis and initial staging of several types of malignancies
  • SUV is a semiquantitative measure of the normalized concentration of radioactivity in a tumor or lesion
  • As FDG is the most common radiotracer used clinically and reflects tumor glucose metabolism, SUV is used as a surrogate marker for tumor metabolism.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • primary tumor SUVmax >10 predicted survival, independent of the tumor stage and diameter
  • advanced tumors tend to have higher FDG uptake (and thus higher SUV values)
  • the impact of the SUV on treatment outcome has been observed even within a given tumor stage
  • The association between FDG uptake and tumor burden or stage has been well documented
  • FDG uptake not only reflects tumor burden/stage but also expresses, at least in part, some intrinsic biologic characteristic(s) of the tumor
  • SUVmax reflects the highest voxel value within the ROI or VOI. It is the most widely used parameter to measure metabolic tumor activity in oncologic FDG-PET/CT imaging
  • Several studies suggest that primary tumor baseline SUVmax also has predictive value in assessing the tumor burden, lymph node involvement and local extension
  • According to EORTC, a drop (delta between baseline and post-therapy) of 15–25% in SUVmax may represent a good treatment response
  • PERCIST criteria was proposed by the investigators at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and suggested that a decrease in SUV normalized to lean body mass of at least 30% should be achieved before considering partial tumor response
  • Nathan Goodyear on 19 Mar 18
     
    Good review of PET/CT scan and MaxSUV in head and neck cancers.
Nathan Goodyear

Oncotarget | Metformin and berberine, two versatile drugs in treatment of common metabo... - 0 views

www.oncotarget.com/index.php

"pancreatic cancer" berberine metformin cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 28 Nov 18 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 28 Nov 18
     
    Great review on the anti-tumor activity of metformin and berberine.
Nathan Goodyear

How We Read Oncologic FDG PET/CT | Cancer Imaging | Full Text - 0 views

cancerimagingjournal.biomedcentral.com/...s40644-016-0091-3

PET_CT PET scan CT cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 20 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • In early PET literature focusing on analysis of solitary pulmonary nodules, some researchers defined malignancy based on a SUVmax threshold of greater than 2.5
  • We contend that SUV analysis has virtually no role in this setting.
  • tumours grow as spheres, whereas inflammatory processes are typically linear
  • ...35 more annotations...
  • Far more important than the SUVmax is the pattern rather than intensity of metabolic abnormality and the correlative CT findings
  • Descriptively, we define SUV < 5 as “low intensity”, 5–10 as “moderate”, 10–15 as “intense” and >15 as “very intense”
  • Evolving literature suggests that intensity of uptake is an independent prognostic factor and in some tumour subtypes superior to histopathologic characterisation.
  • aerobic glycolysis
  • Our practice of thresholding the grey and colour scale to liver as detailed above results in similar image intensity to a fixed upper SUV threshold of 8 to 10
  • The advantage of using the liver as a reference tissue is also aided by this organ having rather low variability in metabolic activity
  • When the liver is abnormal and cannot be used as a reference organ, we use the default SUV setting of an upper SUV threshold of 8
  • One of the most challenging aspects of oncologic FDG PET/CT review, however, is to recognise all the patterns of metabolic activity that are not malignant and which consequently confound interpretation
  • Many benign and inflammatory processes are also associated with high glycolytic activity
  • Future articles in the “How I Read” series will address the specific details of reading PET/CT in various cancers
  • The intensity of uptake in metastases usually parallels that in the primary site of disease
  • For example, discordant low-grade activity in an enlarged lymph node in the setting of intense uptake in the primary tumour suggests it is unlikely malignant and more likely inflammatory or reactive
  • By CT criteria the enlarged node is ‘pathologic’ but the discordantly low metabolic signature further characterises this is as non-malignant since such a node is not subject to partial volume effects and therefore the intensity of uptake should be similar to the primary site
  • The exception is when the lymph node is centrally necrotic as a small rim of viable tumour is subject to partial volume effects with expectant lower intensity of uptake; integrating the CT morphology is therefore critical to reaching an accurate interpretation
  • Small nodes that are visualised on PET are conversely much more likely to be metastatic as such nodes are subject to partial volume effects.
  • The exception to this rule is tumours with a propensity for tumour heterogeneity at different sites
  • The combination of FDG and a more specific tracer, which visualises the well-differentiated disease can be very useful to characterise this phenomenon
  • “metabolic signature”
  • For the majority of malignant processes, the intensity of metabolic abnormality correlates with degree of aggressiveness or proliferative rate.
  • a negative PET/CT study in a patient with biopsy proven malignancy would be considered false-negative
  • Warburg effect
  • There, however, are a significant minority of tumours that utilise substrates other glucose such as glutamine or fatty acids as a source of the carbon atoms required for growth and proliferation
  • This includes a subset of diffuse gastric adenocarcinomas, signet cell colonic adenocarcinomas and some sarcomas, particularly liposarcoma
  • There may be a role for other radiotracers such as fluorothymidine (FLT) or amino acid substrates in this setting.
  • Some tumours harbour mutations that result in defective aerobic mitochondrial energy metabolism, effectively simulating the Warburg effect
  • patients with hereditary paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma highlight this phenomenon
  • These have intense uptake on FDG PET/CT despite often having low proliferative rate.
  • Uterine fibroids, hepatic adenomas, fibroadenomas of the breast and desmoid tumours are benign or relatively benign lesions that can have quite high FDG-avidity.
  • Metabolic activity switches off rapidly following initiation of therapy
  • Common examples where patients have commenced active therapy but the referrer is requesting “staging” includes hormonal therapy (eg. tamoxifen) in breast cancer, oral capecitabine in colorectal cancer or high dose steroids in Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  • It is therefore critical to perform PET staging before commencement of anti-tumour therapy
  • The potential advantage of routine diagnostic CT is improved anatomic localisation and definition
  • Without intravenous contrast, additional identification of typical oncologic complications such as pulmonary embolism or venous thrombosis cannot be identified
  • If the study is performed as an “interim” restaging study after commencement of therapy but before completion, in order to reach a valid or clinically useful conclusion findings must be interpreted in the context of known changes that occur at a specific timing and type of therapy
  • The most well studied use of interim PET is in Hodgkin’s lymphoma where repeat PET after two cycles of ABVD-chemotherapy provides powerful prognostic information and may improve outcomes by enabling early change of management
  • Nathan Goodyear on 20 Feb 18
     
    good read on the PET/CT scan reading.  They mention that tumors are spheres and inflammation is linear, yet inflammation coexists with cancer; hard to simply delineate these on simple terms. I do agree aon the metabolic signature of the PET/CT scan
Nathan Goodyear

Press-pulse: a novel therapeutic strategy for the metabolic management of cancer | Nutr... - 0 views

nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/...s12986-017-0178-2

ketogenic diet ketogenic press-pulse hyperbaric oxygen therapy HBOTnutrition diet cancer HBOT IVC IV vitamin C DCA dichloracetic acid cancer therapy cancer treatment alternative cancer treatment

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 09 Jul 17 - No Cached
mamdouh_hfz liked it
  • A “press” disturbance was considered a chronic environmental stress on all organisms in an ecological community
  • “pulse” disturbances were considered acute events that disrupted biological communities to produce high mortality
  • Neoplasia involving dysregulated cell growth is the biological endpoint of the disease
  • ...84 more annotations...
  • Data from the American Cancer Society show that the rate of increase in cancer deaths/year (3.4%) was two-fold greater than the rate of increase in new cases/year (1.7%) from 2013 to 2017
  • cancer is predicted to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in Western societies
  • cancer can also be recognized as a metabolic disease.
  • glucose is first split into two molecules of pyruvate through the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas glycolytic pathway in the cytosol
  • Aerobic fermentation, on the other hand, involves the production of lactic acid under normoxic conditions
  • persistent lactic acid production in the presence of adequate oxygen is indicative of abnormal respiration
  • Otto Warburg first proposed that all cancers arise from damage to cellular respiration
  • The Crabtree effect is an artifact of the in vitro environment and involves the glucose-induced suppression of respiration with a corresponding elevation of lactic acid production even under hyperoxic (pO2 = 120–160 mmHg) conditions associated with cell culture
  • the Warburg theory of insufficient aerobic respiration remains as the most credible explanation for the origin of tumor cells [2, 37, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57].
  • The main points of Warburg’s theory are; 1) insufficient respiration is the predisposing initiator of tumorigenesis and ultimately cancer, 2) energy through glycolysis gradually compensates for insufficient energy through respiration, 3) cancer cells continue to produce lactic acid in the presence of oxygen, and 4) respiratory insufficiency eventually becomes irreversible
  • Efraim Racker coined the term “Warburg effect”, which refers to the aerobic glycolysis that occurs in cancer cells
  • Warburg clearly demonstrated that aerobic fermentation (aerobic glycolysis) is an effect, and not the cause, of insufficient respiration
  • all tumor cells that have been examined to date contain abnormalities in the content or composition of cardiolipin
  • The evidence supporting Warburg’s original theory comes from a broad range of cancers and is now overwhelming
  • respiratory insufficiency, arising from any number mitochondrial defects, can contribute to the fermentation metabolism seen in tumor cells.
  • data from the nuclear and mitochondrial transfer experiments suggest that oncogene changes are effects, rather than causes, of tumorigenesis
  • Normal mitochondria can suppress tumorigenesis, whereas abnormal mitochondria can enhance tumorigenesis
  • In addition to glucose, cancer cells also rely heavily on glutamine for growth and survival
  • Glutamine is anapleurotic and can be rapidly metabolized to glutamate and then to α-ketoglutarate for entry into the TCA cycle
  • Glucose and glutamine act synergistically for driving rapid tumor cell growth
  • Glutamine metabolism can produce ATP from the TCA cycle under aerobic conditions
  • Amino acid fermentation can generate energy through TCA cycle substrate level phosphorylation under hypoxic conditions
  • Hif-1α stabilization enhances aerobic fermentation
  • targeting glucose and glutamine will deprive the microenvironment of fermentable fuels
  • Although Warburg’s hypothesis on the origin of cancer has created confusion and controversy [37, 38, 39, 40], his hypothesis has never been disproved
  • Warburg referred to the phenomenon of enhanced glycolysis in cancer cells as “aerobic fermentation” to highlight the abnormal production of lactic acid in the presence of oxygen
  • Emerging evidence indicates that macrophages, or their fusion hybridization with neoplastic stem cells, are the origin of metastatic cancer cells
  • Radiation therapy can enhance fusion hybridization that could increase risk for invasive and metastatic tumor cells
  • Kamphorst et al. in showing that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells could obtain glutamine under nutrient poor conditions through lysosomal digestion of extracellular proteins
  • It will therefore become necessary to also target lysosomal digestion, under reduced glucose and glutamine conditions, to effectively manage those invasive and metastatic cancers that express cannibalism and phagocytosis.
  • Previous studies in yeast and mammalian cells show that disruption of aerobic respiration can cause mutations (loss of heterozygosity, chromosome instability, and epigenetic modifications etc.) in the nuclear genome
  • The somatic mutations and genomic instability seen in tumor cells thus arise from a protracted reliance on fermentation energy metabolism and a disruption of redox balance through excess oxidative stress.
  • According to the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer, the large genomic heterogeneity seen in tumor cells arises as a consequence, rather than as a cause, of mitochondrial dysfunction
  • A therapeutic strategy targeting the metabolic abnormality common to most tumor cells should therefore be more effective in managing cancer than would a strategy targeting genetic mutations that vary widely between tumors of the same histological grade and even within the same tumor
  • Tumor cells are more fit than normal cells to survive in the hypoxic niche of the tumor microenvironment
  • Hypoxic adaptation of tumor cells allows for them to avoid apoptosis due to their metabolic reprograming following a gradual loss of respiratory function
  • The high rates of tumor cell glycolysis and glutaminolysis will also make them resistant to apoptosis, ROS, and chemotherapy drugs
  • Despite having high levels of ROS, glutamate-derived from glutamine contributes to glutathione production that can protect tumor cells from ROS
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 08 Feb 18
       
      reason to eliminate glutamine in cancer patients and even GSH with cancer patients
  • It is clear that adaptability to environmental stress is greater in normal cells than in tumor cells, as normal cells can transition from the metabolism of glucose to the metabolism of ketone bodies when glucose becomes limiting
  • Mitochondrial respiratory chain defects will prevent tumor cells from using ketone bodies for energy
  • glycolysis-dependent tumor cells are less adaptable to metabolic stress than are the normal cells. This vulnerability can be exploited for targeting tumor cell energy metabolism
  • In contrast to dietary energy reduction, radiation and toxic drugs can damage the microenvironment and transform normal cells into tumor cells while also creating tumor cells that become highly resistant to drugs and radiation
  • Drug-resistant tumor cells arise in large part from the damage to respiration in bystander pre-cancerous cells
  • Because energy generated through substrate level phosphorylation is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells, tumor cells are more dependent than normal cells on the availability of fermentable fuels (glucose and glutamine)
  • Ketone bodies and fats are non-fermentable fuels
  • Although some tumor cells might appear to oxidize ketone bodies by the presence of ketolytic enzymes [181], it is not clear if ketone bodies and fats can provide sufficient energy for cell viability in the absence of glucose and glutamine
  • Apoptosis under energy stress is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells
  • A calorie restricted ketogenic diet or dietary energy reduction creates chronic metabolic stress in the body
  • . This energy stress acts as a press disturbance
  • Drugs that target availability of glucose and glutamine would act as pulse disturbances
  • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can also be considered another pulse disturbance
  • The KD can more effectively reduce glucose and elevate blood ketone bodies than can CR alone making the KD potentially more therapeutic against tumors than CR
  • Campbell showed that tumor growth in rats is greater under high protein (>20%) than under low protein content (<10%) in the diet
  • Protein amino acids can be metabolized to glucose through the Cori cycle
  • The fats in KDs used clinically also contain more medium chain triglycerides
  • Calorie restriction, fasting, and restricted KDs are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic and thus can target and eliminate tumor cells through multiple mechanisms
  • Ketogenic diets can also spare muscle protein, enhance immunity, and delay cancer cachexia, which is a major problem in managing metastatic cancer
  • GKI values of 1.0 or below are considered therapeutic
  • The GKI can therefore serve as a biomarker to assess the therapeutic efficacy of various diets in a broad range of cancers.
  • It is important to remember that insulin drives glycolysis through stimulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex
  • The water-soluble ketone bodies (D-β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) are produced largely in the liver from adipocyte-derived fatty acids and ketogenic dietary fat. Ketone bodies bypass glycolysis and directly enter the mitochondria for metabolism to acetyl-CoA
  • Due to mitochondrial defects, tumor cells cannot exploit the therapeutic benefits of burning ketone bodies as normal cells would
  • Therapeutic ketosis with racemic ketone esters can also make it feasible to safely sustain hypoglycemia for inducing metabolic stress on cancer cells
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 08 Feb 18
       
      Ketones are much more than energy adaptabilit, but actually are therapeutic.
  • ketone bodies can inhibit histone deacetylases (HDAC) [229]. HDAC inhibitors play a role in targeting the cancer epigenome
  • Therapeutic ketosis reduces circulating inflammatory markers, and ketones directly inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome, an important pro-inflammatory pathway linked to carcinogenesis and an important target for cancer treatment response
  • Chronic psychological stress is known to promote tumorigenesis through elevations of blood glucose, glucocorticoids, catecholamines, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)
  • In addition to calorie-restricted ketogenic diets, psychological stress management involving exercise, yoga, music etc. also act as press disturbances that can help reduce fatigue, depression, and anxiety in cancer patients and in animal models
  • Ketone supplementation has also been shown to reduce anxiety behavior in animal models
  • This physiological state also enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, while reducing the side effects
  • lower dosages of chemotherapeutic drugs can be used when administered together with calorie restriction or restricted ketogenic diets (KD-R)
  • Besides 2-DG, a range of other glycolysis inhibitors might also produce similar therapeutic effects when combined with the KD-R including 3-bromopyruvate, oxaloacetate, and lonidamine
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 08 Feb 18
       
      oxaloacetate is a glycolytic inhibitor, as is doxycycline, and IVC.
  • A synergistic interaction of the KD diet plus radiation was seen
  • It is important to recognize, however, that the radiotherapy used in glioma patients can damage the respiration of normal cells and increase availability of glutamine in the microenvironment, which can increase risk of tumor recurrence especially when used together with the steroid drug dexamethasone
  • Poff and colleagues demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) enhanced the ability of the KD to reduce tumor growth and metastasis
  • HBOT also increases oxidative stress and membrane lipid peroxidation of GBM cells in vitro
  • The effects of the KD and HBOT can be enhanced with administration of exogenous ketones, which further suppressed tumor growth and metastasis
  • Besides HBOT, intravenous vitamin C and dichloroacetate (DCA) can also be used with the KD to selectively increase oxidative stress in tumor cells
  • Recent evidence also shows that ketone supplementation may enhance or preserve overall physical and mental health
  • Some tumors use glucose as a prime fuel for growth, whereas other tumors use glutamine as a prime fuel [102, 186, 262, 263, 264]. Glutamine-dependent tumors are generally less detectable than glucose-dependent under FDG-PET imaging, but could be detected under glutamine-based PET imaging
  • GBM and use glutamine as a major fuel
  • Many of the current treatments used for cancer management are based on the view that cancer is a genetic disease
  • Emerging evidence indicates that cancer is a mitochondrial metabolic disease that depends on availability of fermentable fuels for tumor cell growth and survival
  • Glucose and glutamine are the most abundant fermentable fuels present in the circulation and in the tumor microenvironment
  • Low-carbohydrate, high fat-ketogenic diets coupled with glycolysis inhibitors will reduce metabolic flux through the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways needed for synthesis of ATP, lipids, glutathione, and nucleotides
  • Nathan Goodyear on 09 Jul 17
     
    Cancer is a mitochondrial disease? So says the well published Dr Seyfried. Glucose and glutamine drive cancer growth.
Nathan Goodyear

The use of low-dose naltrexone (LDN) as a novel anti-inflammatory treatment for chronic... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC3962576

microglia LDN low dose naltrexone pain inflammation

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 05 Jul 17 - No Cached
  • orally active competitive opioid receptor antagonist
  • 4.5 mg, though the dosage can vary a few milligrams below or above that common value
  • At the low dosage level, naltrexone exhibits paradoxical properties, including analgesia and anti-inflammatory actions
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • LDN may be an effective treatment for FM
  • In addition to the antagonist effect on mu-opioid and other opioid receptors, naltrexone simultaneously has an antagonist effect on non-opioid receptors (Toll-like receptor 4 or TLR4) that are found on macrophages such as microglia
  • It is via the non-opioid antagonist path that LDN is thought to exert its anti-inflammatory effects
  • Once activated, microglia produce inflammatory and excitatory factors that can cause sickness behaviors such as pain sensitivity, fatigue, cognitive disruption, sleep disorders, mood disorders, and general malaise
  • The neuroprotective action appears to result when microglia activation in the brain and spinal cord is inhibited
  • By suppressing microglia activation, naloxone reduces the production of reactive oxygen species and other potentially neuroexcitatory and neurotoxic chemicals
  • suppressed TNF-alpha, IL-6, MCP-1, and other inflammatory agents in peripheral macrophages
  • individuals with greater ESR at baseline experienced a greater drop in pain when taking LDN
  • LDN has been reported to reduce not only self-reported pain in that condition but also objective markers of inflammation and disease severity
  • Naltrexone has also shown some promise in improving disease severity in multiple sclerosis
  • Nathan Goodyear on 05 Jul 17
     
    LDN maybe useful in treating chronic pain via anti-inflammatory effects on microglia.
Nathan Goodyear

Vitamin C preferentially kills cancer stem cells in hepatocellular carcinoma via SVCT-2... - 0 views

www.nature.com/...s41698-017-0044-8

cancer cancer stem cells liver cancer vitamin C IV vitamin C oncology

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 30 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • Chen et al. have revealed that ascorbate at pharmacologic concentrations (0.3–20 mM) achieved only by intravenously (i.v.) administration selectively kills a variety of cancer cell lines in vitro, but has little cytotoxic effect on normal cells.
  • Ascorbic acid (the reduced form of vitamin C) is specifically transported into cells by sodium-dependent vitamin C transporters (SVCTs)
  • SVCT-1 is predominantly expressed in epithelial tissues
  • ...41 more annotations...
  • whereas the expression of SVCT-2 is ubiquitous
  • differential sensitivity to VC may result from variations in VC flow into cells, which is dependent on SVCT-2 expression.
  • high-dose VC significantly impaired both the tumorspheres initiation (Fig. 4d, e) and the growth of established tumorspheres derived from HCC cells (Fig. 4f, g) in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner.
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
  • The antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), preventing VC-induced ROS production (a ROS scavenger), completely restored the viability and colony formation among VC-treated cells
  • DNA double-strand damage was found following VC treatment
  • DNA damage was prevented by NAC
  • Interestingly, the combination of VC and cisplatin was even more effective in reducing tumor growth and weight
  • Consistent with the in vitro results, stemness-related genes expressions in tumor xenograft were remarkably reduced after VC or VC+cisplatin treatment, whereas conventional cisplatin therapy alone led to the increase of CSCs
  • VC is one of the numerous common hepatoprotectants.
  • Interestingly, at extracellular concentrations greater than 1 mM, VC induces strong cytotoxicity to cancer cells including liver cancer cells
  • we hypothesized that intravenous VC might reduce the risk of recurrence in HCC patients after curative liver resection.
  • Intriguingly, the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) for patients who received intravenous VC was 24%, as opposed to 15% for no intravenous VC-treated patients
  • Median DFS time for VC users was 25.2 vs. 18 months for VC non-users
  • intravenous VC use is linked to improved DFS in HCC patients.
  • In this study, based on the elevated expression of SVCT-2, which is responsible for VC uptake, in liver CSCs, we revealed that clinically achievable concentrations of VC preferentially eradicated liver CSCs in vitro and in vivo
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 31 Jan 18
       
      the authors here made similar mistakes to the Mayo authors i.e. under doses here in this study.  They dosed at only 2 grams IVC.  A woefully low dose of IVC.
  • Additionally, we found that intravenous VC reduced the risk of post-surgical HCC progression in a retrospective cohort study.
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 31 Jan 18
       
      positive results despite a low dose used.
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 31 Jan 18
       
      Their comfort zone was 1mM.  They should have targeted 20-40 mM.
  • Three hundred thirty-nine participants (55.3%) received 2 g intravenous VC for 4 or more days after initial hepatectomy
  • As the key protein responsible for VC uptake in the liver, SVCT-2 played crucial roles in regulating the sensitivity to ascorbate-induced cytotoxicity
  • we also observed that SVCT-2 was highly expressed in human HCC samples and preferentially elevated in liver CSCs
  • SVCT-2 might serve as a potential CSC marker and therapeutic target in HCC
  • CSCs play critical roles in regulating tumor initiation, relapse, and chemoresistance
  • we revealed that VC treatment dramatically reduced the self-renewal ability, expression levels of CSC-associated genes, and percentages of CSCs in HCC, indicating that CSCs were more susceptible to VC-induced cell death
  • as a drug for eradicating CSCs, VC may represent a promising strategy for treatment of HCC, alone or particularly in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs
  • In HCC, we found that VC-generated ROS caused genotoxic stress (DNA damage) and metabolic stress (ATP depletion), which further activated the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, leading to G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and caspase-dependent apoptosis in HCC cells
  • we demonstrated a synergistic effect of VC and chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin on killing HCC both in vitro and in vivo
  • Intravenous VC has also been reported to reduce chemotherapy-associated toxicity of carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients,38 but the specific mechanism needs further investigation
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 31 Jan 18
       
      so, exclude the benefit to patients until the exact mechanism of action, which will never be fully elicited?!?!?
  • Our retrospective cohort study also showed that intravenous VC use (2 g) was related to the improved DFS in HCC patients after initial hepatectomy
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 31 Jan 18
       
      Terribly inadequate dose.  Target is 20-40 mM which other studies have found occur with 50-75 grams of IVC.
  • several clinical trials of high-dose intravenous VC have been conducted in patients with advanced cancer and have revealed improved quality of life and prolonged OS
  • high-dose VC was not toxic to immune cells and major immune cell subpopulations in vivo
  • high recurrence rate and heterogeneity
  • tumor progression, metastasis, and chemotherapy-resistance
  • SVCT-2 was highly expressed in HCC samples in comparison to peri-tumor tissues
  • high expression (grade 2+/3+) of SVCT-2 was in agreement with poorer overall survival (OS) of HCC patients (Fig. 1c) and more aggressive tumor behavior
  • SVCT-2 is enriched in liver CSCs
  • these data suggest that SVCT-2 is preferentially expressed in liver CSCs and is required for the maintenance of liver CSCs.
  • pharmacologic concentrations of plasma VC higher than 0.3 mM are achievable only from i.v. administration
  • The viabilities of HCC cells were dramatically decreased after exposure to VC in dose-dependent manner
  • VC and cisplatin combination further caused cell apoptosis in tumor xenograft
  • These results verify that VC inhibits tumor growth in HCC PDX models and SVCT-2 expression level is associated with VC response
  • qPCR and IHC analysis demonstrated that expression levels of CSC-associated genes and percentages of CSCs in PDXs dramatically declined after VC treatment, confirming the inhibitory role of VC in liver CSCs
  • Nathan Goodyear on 30 Jan 18
     
    IV vitamin C in vitro and in vivo found to "preferentially" eradicate cancer stem cells.  In addition, IV vitamin C was found to be adjunctive to chemotherapy, found to be hepatoprotectant.  This study also looked at SVCT-2, which is the transport protein important in liver C uptake.
Nathan Goodyear

Demystified . . . Human endogenous retroviruses - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC1187282

HERV retroviruses human endogenous retroviruses

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 14 May 18 - No Cached
  • HERVs have been inherited by successive generations and it is possible that some have conferred biological benefits
  • However, several HERVs have been implicated in certain cancers and autoimmune diseases
  • HERVs constitute about 1% of the human genome
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent footprints of previous retroviral infection and have been termed “fossil viruses”
  • HERVs possess a similar genomic organisation to present day exogenous retroviruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human T cell leukaemia virus (HTLV)
  • Retroviruses in effect are retrograde, because the flow of genetic information is reversed compared with the normal pathway of molecular biosynthesis—DNA → RNA → protein. Indeed, all retroviruses necessitate the conversion of viral RNA into a cDNA intermediary, which is catalysed by the enzyme reverse transcriptase
  • Overall, human endogenous retroviruses constitute about 1% of the human genome”
  • some HERVs have been implicated in certain autoimmune diseases and cancers
  • A unit of sugar, phosphate, and base is strictly termed a nucleotide
  • human genes are composed of exons, which are transcribed and translated into amino acids
  • introns, which are interspersed between exons and represent non-translated regions that contribute to the large size of some genes
  • convincing argument for the possible involvement of HERVs in malignancy
  • HERVs may be involved in carcinogenesis by virtue of the expression of HERV mRNA,26 functional proteins,27 or retroviral-like particles
  • They may also be associated with the generation of new promoters29 or the activation of proto-oncogenes
  • inhibition of an effective immune response,
  • encode immunosuppressive proteins
  • “It has been suggested that HERV-K may be important in the progression of testicular germ cell tumours through inhibition of an effective immune response”
  • HERV-K might be important in the pathogenesis of human breast cancer
  • activation of proto-oncogenes of the ras family is common in many tumour types, and some studies have suggested a potential role for HERVs in ras activation
  • Nathan Goodyear on 14 May 18
     
    good review of HERVs.
Nathan Goodyear

Immune responses to malignancies - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC3721350

cancer immune system

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 18 Apr 18 - No Cached
  • increased densities of T-cell infiltrates with a high proportion of CD8+ T cells within primary colorectal carcinomas were associated with a significant protection against tumor recurrence
  • coexpression of genes mediating cytotoxicity and TH1 adaptive immune responses accurately predicted survival in patients with colorectal carcinoma independently of the metastatic status.
  • tumor-specific cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs)
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • tumor-associated antigens (TAs)
  • Proinflammatory cytokines secreted by inflammatory cells can contribute to tumor progression, and soluble factors produced by the tumor in response to nonspecific or tumor-specific signals, such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), adenosine, or TGF-β, downregulate functions of immune cells
  • they are largely ineffective in arresting tumor growth, although they can proliferate and mediate antitumor cytotoxicity on their removal from the tumor bed and ex vivo IL-2 activation.42
  • DCs (HLA-DR+CD86+CD80+CD14−) are nature’s best APCs
  • They are a common component of tumor immune infiltrates and are responsible for the uptake, processing, and cross-presentation of TAs to naive or memory T cells, thus playing a crucial role in the generation of tumor-specific effector T cells
  • DCs control the induction of Treg cells. In patients with cancer, cellular interactions between antigen-presenting DCs and T cells lead to expansion and accumulation of Treg cells at the tumor site and in the periphery
  • NK cells (CD3−CD56+CD16+), which mediate innate immunity and contain both perforin-rich and granzyme-rich granules, are well equipped to mediate lysis of tumor cells
  • B cells (CD19+, CD20+) are also rare in most human tumors, with the exception of breast cancer and melanoma
  • The initial acute inflammation involving the recruitment and influx of antitumor effector cells is replaced by chronic inflammation in later stages of tumor progression
  • Tissue hypoxia plays a major role in shaping the nature of immune infiltrates in tumors
  • Nathan Goodyear on 18 Apr 18
     
    Another great review of the immune system during different stages of carcinogenesis; how the cancer manipulates the immue system to cloak itself from the immune system.
Nathan Goodyear

The Contribution of Cytotoxic Chemotherapy to 5-year Survival in Adult Malignancies | C... - 0 views

www.scribd.com/...Survival-in-Adult-Malignancies

chemotherapy cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 15 May 18 - No Cached
  • In this group, the 5-year survivalrateduesolelytocytotoxicchemotherapywas14%
  • There is also no convincing evidence that usingregimens with newer and more expensive drugs are anymore beneficial than the regimens used in the 1970s
  • two systematic reviews of chemotherapy inrecurrent or metastatic breast cancer have not been able toshow any survival benefit
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • The five most common adult malignancies (colorectal, breast, prostate, melanoma and lung cancer)
  • n breast cancer, the optimal regimen(s) for cytotoxicchemotherapy in recurrent/metastatic disease are still notdefined, despite over 30 years of ‘research’ and a plethora of RCTs since the original Cooper regimen was published in1969
  • The five most ‘chemo-sensitive’ cancers,namely testis, Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lym- phoma, cervix and ovary
  • only 13 out of the 22 malignancies evaluated showed any improvement in 5-year survival, and theimprovement was greater than 10% in only three of those13 malignancies
  • the contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults is 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA
  • a benefit of less than 2.5% is likely to be applicable in other developed countries
  •   Overview The Contribution o
  • the benefit of cytotoxic chemotherapy may have been overestimated for cancers of oesophagus, stomach,rectum and brain.
  • this reflects the presentation of results as a ‘reduction in risk’ rather than asan absolute survival benefit[89,90]and by exaggerating theresponse rates by including ‘stable disease’
  • recent studies have documented impaired cognitive function inwomen receiving adjuvant treatment for breast cancer
  • the 5-year survival rate due solely to cytotoxicchemotherapy was 1.6%
  • the value of palliative chemotherapy has beenquestioned
  • Nathan Goodyear on 15 May 18
     
    Incredibly low impact of cytotoxic chemotherapy despite its wide spread utilization.  This article referenced cost yet did not evaluate the cost of cytotoxic side effect.  The question to answer: is Cytotoxic chemotherapy a valid treatment, at all, for the majority of cancers.
Nathan Goodyear

Frontiers | Management of Glioblastoma Multiforme in a Patient Treated With Ketogenic M... - 0 views

www.frontiersin.org/...full

press-pulse therapy hyperbaric ketogenic metabolic therapy cancer ketogenic diet Glioblastoma glioblastoma multiforme HBOT nutrition

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 01 Apr 18 - No Cached
  • The SOC for GBM was modified in this patient to initiate KMT prior to surgical resection, to eliminate steroid medication, and to include HBOT as part of the therapy
  • the greatest therapeutic benefit for patients (near 1.0)
  • The observed reduction in blood glucose in our patient would reduce lactic acid fermentation in the tumor cells, while the elevation of ketone bodies would fuel normal cells thus protecting them from hypoglycemia and oxidative stress
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • Previous studies showed that GBM survival and tumor growth was correlated with blood glucose levels
  • Evidence indicates that glioma cells cannot effectively use ketone bodies for energy due to defects in the number, structure, and function of their mitochondria
  • The accuracy of the GKI as a predictor for therapeutic efficacy, however, is better when ketone bodies are measured from the blood than when measured from the urine
  • A reduction of glucose-driven lactic acid fermentation would not only increase tumor cell apoptosis, but would also reduce inflammation and edema in the tumor microenvironment thus reducing tumor cell angiogenesis and invasion
  • Besides serving as a metabolic fuel for GBM, glutamine is also an essential metabolite for normal immune cells
  • therapies that inhibit glutamine availability and utilization must be strategically employed to avoid inadvertent impairment of immune cell functions
  • we used the non-toxic green tea extract, EGCG, and chloroquine in an attempt to limit glutamine availability to the tumor cells
  • EGCG is thought to target the glutamate dehydrogenase activity that facilitates glutamine metabolism in GBM cells
  • Chloroquine, on the other hand, will inhibit lysosomal digestion thus restricting fermentable amino acids and carbohydrates from phagocytosed materials in the tumor microenvironment
  • HBOT to increase oxidative stress in the tumor cells
  • As glucose and glutamine fermentation protect tumor cells from oxidative stress, reduced availability of these metabolites under ketosis could enhance the therapeutic action of HBOT, as we recently described
  • Prior to subtotal tumor resection and standard of care (SOC), the patient conducted a 72-h water-only fast
  • Following the fast, the patient initiated a vitamin/mineral-supplemented ketogenic diet (KD) for 21 days that delivered 900 kcal/day
  • KD (increased to 1,500 kcal/day at day 22
  • the patient received metformin (1,000 mg/day), methylfolate (1,000 mg/day), chloroquine phosphate (150 mg/day), epigallocatechin gallate (400 mg/day), and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) (60 min/session, 5 sessions/week at 2.5 ATA)
  • Biomarkers showed reduced blood glucose and elevated levels of urinary ketones with evidence of reduced metabolic activity (choline/N-acetylaspartate ratio) and normalized levels of insulin, triglycerides, and vitamin D
  • This is the first report of confirmed GBM treated with a modified SOC together with KMT and HBOT, and other targeted metabolic therapies
  • Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant of the primary adult brain cancers
  • less than 20% of younger adults generally survive beyond 24 months
  • glucose and glutamine are the primary fuels that drive the rapid growth of most tumors including GBM
  • Glucose drives tumor growth through aerobic fermentation (Warburg effect), while glutamine drives tumor growth through glutaminolysis
  • The fermentation waste products of these molecules, i.e., lactic acid and succinic acid, respectively, acidify the tumor microenvironment thus contributing further to tumor progression
  • Glucose and glutamine metabolism is also responsible for the high antioxidant capacity of the tumor cells thus making them resistant to chemo- and radiotherapies
  • The reliance on glucose and glutamine for tumor cell malignancy comes largely from the documented defects in the number, structure, and function of mitochondria and mitochondrial-associated membranes
  • These abnormalities cause the neoplastic GBM cells to rely more heavily on substrate level phosphorylation than on oxidative phosphorylation for energy
  • dexamethasone not only increases blood glucose levels but also increases glutamine levels through its induction of glutamine synthetase activity
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 21 May 18
       
      use mannitol instead
  • Calorie restriction and restricted KD are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-invasive, and also kill tumor cells through a proapoptotic mechanism
  • Evidence also shows that therapeutic ketosis can act synergistically with several drugs and procedures to enhance cancer management improving both progression free and overall survival
  • hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) increases oxidative stress on tumor cells especially when used alongside therapies that reduce blood glucose and raise blood ketones
  • The glutamine dehydrogenase inhibitor, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is also proposed to target glutamine metabolism
  • Nathan Goodyear on 01 Apr 18
     
    Case study of Glioblastoma treated with ketogenic metabolic therapy as an adjuct to modified standard therapy.
Nathan Goodyear

The glucose ketone index calculator: a simple tool to monitor therapeutic efficacy for ... - 0 views

nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/...s12986-015-0009-2

cancer GKI glucose ketone index ketogenic diet nutrition

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 02 Apr 18 - No Cached
  • The ‘Glucose Ketone Index’ (GKI) was created to track the zone of metabolic management for brain tumor management
  • The GKI is a biomarker that refers to the molar ratio of circulating glucose over β-OHB, which is the major circulating ketone body.
  • We present evidence showing that the GKI can predict success for brain cancer management in humans and mice using metabolic therapies that lower blood glucose and elevate blood ketone levels
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • The GKI can be useful in determining the success of dietary therapies that shift glucose- and lactate-based metabolism to ketone-based metabolism
  • Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, chronic inflammatory disease, and epilepsy
  • The zone of metabolic management is likely entered with GKI values between 1 and 2 for humans
  • Optimal management is predicted for values approaching 1.0, and blood glucose and ketone values should be measured 2–3 hours postprandial, twice a day if possible
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 09 May 18
       
      check GKI 2-3 hr postprandial twice daily
  • Preclinical studies have demonstrated a clear linkage between GKI and therapeutic efficacy
  • the Warburg effect (aerobic fermentation of glucose) is a common metabolic malady expressed in nearly all neoplastic cells of these and other malignant tumors
  • Aerobic fermentation (Warburg effect) is necessary to compensate for the insufficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in the cells of most tumors
  • Normal brain cells gradually transition from the metabolism of glucose to the metabolism of ketone bodies (primarily β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) for energy when circulating glucose levels become limiting
  • Ketone bodies bypass the glycolytic pathway in the cytoplasm and are metabolized directly to acetyl CoA in the mitochondria
  • Tumor cells are less capable than normal cells in metabolizing ketone bodies for energy due to their mitochondrial defects
  • daily activities and emotional stress can cause blood glucose levels to vary making it difficult for some people to enter the predicted zone of metabolic management
  • a clear association of the GKI to the therapeutic action of calorie restriction against distal invasion, proliferation, and angiogenesis in the VM-M3 model of glioblastoma
  • The results suggest that GKI levels that approach 1.0 are therapeutic for managing brain tumor growth
  • Therapeutic efficacy of the KD or calorie restriction is greater with lower GKI values than with higher values
  • Nathan Goodyear on 02 Apr 18
     
    The glucose ketone index shown to predict dietary metabolic success. In humans with brain cancer-- the target is 1.  The glucose and ketone (betahydroxybutyrate) should be measured 2-3 hours postprandial twice daily.
fnfdoc

Symptoms And Treatments of PMS | Your Health Our Priority - 0 views

www.fnfdoc.com/...symptoms-treatments-pms

PMS Premenstrual Syndrome PMDD Symptoms Causes Treatment

shared by fnfdoc on 18 May 18 - No Cached
  • fnfdoc on 18 May 18
     
    About eighty-five percent of all women suffer from PMS or PMDD at some point in their lives. Premenstrual Syndrome is a dreadful condition that precedes your period and causes uncomfortable symptoms like backaches and cramps. Luckily, there are a number of tried remedies to live happier with PMS.
  • fnfdoc on 18 May 18
     
    Depression, cramps, and headaches are some of the symptoms that mark the onset of the "Oh So Dreadful" days as most women associate with. These are the days when women suffer from Premenstrual Syndrome or PMS. It has become such a common term these days that it needs no introduction. Premenstrual Syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that affect women during the week preceding the start of their period.
fnfdoc

How To Relieve Constipation Fast | Health Blog - 0 views

www.fnfdoc.com/...relieve-constipation-fast

Constipation Pain Relieve Symptoms

shared by fnfdoc on 25 May 18 - No Cached
  • fnfdoc on 25 May 18
     
    How To Relieve Constipation Fast? About twelve percent of the population worldwide report constipation each year. It is characterized by undue effort and time to expel the stool. Here we discuss some useful home remedies to treat constipation. Sometimes it can be really stubborn and won't go away.
  • fnfdoc on 25 May 18
     
    An average human being visits the toilet six times a day and stays there for about two minutes. However, attending the call of nature is not always this easy. Sometimes, a common gastrointestinal condition called constipation occurs. It becomes difficult to expel the feces. A desire to visit the washroom is not enough to physically eliminate the feces.
trungtamnamkhoa

Penis enlargement due to where? Cause And Treatment - 1 views

trungtamnamkhoa.com/n-duong-vat-noi-mun-trang.html

penis pimples white acne male men health healthy cancer Testosterone hormone

shared by trungtamnamkhoa on 25 Jun 19 - No Cached
  • trungtamnamkhoa on 25 Jun 19
     
    The body of the white pimples is a common feature of boys entering puberty. Understanding their nature will help you no longer worry. White pimples on the penis and pores, squeezing out with a white core. Do these acne affect fertility? This top concern in many young people will be answered right after.
Nathan Goodyear

Therapeutic hyperthermia: The old, the new, and the upcoming - Critical Reviews in Onco... - 1 views

www.croh-online.com/...fulltext

hyperthermia hyperthermic therapy cancer oncology

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 30 Aug 18 - No Cached
  • not well understood, but it is felt to be a combination of both heat-induced necrosis and of protein inactivation (e.g., repair enzymes) as opposed to DNA damage
  • alterations in tumor cytoskeletal and membrane structures, which disrupt cell motility and intracellular signal transduction
  • A common explanation for HT-enhancement of RT and CT involves inhibition of homologous recombination repair of double-strand DNA breaks, preventing cells from repairing sub-lethal damage
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • it does appear to inhibit rejoining of RT-induced DNA breaks more than is commonly observed after RT alone
  • HT damages cells and enhances RT and CT sensitivity as a function of both temperature and duration of treatment
  • as temperature or duration increase, the rate of cell killing also increases
  • At temperatures above 42 °C, tumor vasculature is damaged, resulting in decreased blood flow
  • Cancer cells are particularly vulnerable to heating; in vivo studies have shown that temperatures in the range of 40–44 °C cause more selective damage to tumor cells
  • cancerous blood vessels are chaotic, leaky, and inefficient
  • selective cytotoxic effect on tumor cells include inhibition of key cancer cell-signaling pathways such as AKT, inducing apoptosis, suppression of cancer stem cell proliferation, and others
  • increase in immunological attacks against tumors after HT, which were believed to be achieved through activation of HSPs and subsequent modulation of the innate and adaptive immune responses against tumor cells
  • HT does lead to activation of the immune system and HSP-induced cell death through modification of the tumor cell surface
  • These HSPs and tumor antigens are taken up by dendritic cells and macrophages and go on to induce specific anti-tumor immunity
  • In vivo studies demonstrate HT-enhancement of NK cell activity, and HT has been shown to increase neutrophilic granulocytes with anti-tumor activity
  • it has become increasingly clear that HT results in immune stimulation, through both direct heat-mediated cell killing as well as innate and adaptive immune system modulation
  • The term hyperthermia is used in this review to refer to heating within the clinically accepted range of 40–45 °C
  • temperatures above 42.5–43 °C the exposure time can be halved with each 1 °C increase while maintaining equivalent cell killing
  • gradual heating at 43 °C for 1 h worked through an apoptotic pathway
  • Nathan Goodyear on 30 Aug 18
     
    Comprehensive review of hyperthemic therapy.
Nathan Goodyear

A guide to the management of common gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy tube problems - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC3114992

G-tubes

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 13 Apr 20 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 13 Apr 20
     
    Good review of G-tube and associated complications/management
Nathan Goodyear

Late Disseminated Lyme Disease: Associated Pathology and Spirochete Persistence Post-Tr... - 0 views

ajp.amjpathol.org/...fulltext

Lyme Lyme disease borrelia burgdorferi

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 14 Dec 17 - No Cached
  • In this study, we have demonstrated microscopic pathology ranging from minimal to moderate in multiple different tissues previously reported to be involved with LD, including the nervous system (central and peripheral), heart, skeletal muscle, joint-associated tissues, and urinary bladder 12 to 13 months following tick-inoculation of rhesus macaques by Bb strain B31
  • Based on histomorphology, inflammation consisted predominantly of lymphocytes and plasma cells, with rare scattered histiocytes
  • in rare instances, morphologically intact spirochetes were observed in inflamed brain and heart tissue sections from doxycycline-treated animals
  • ...41 more annotations...
  • colocalization of the Bb 23S rRNA probe was not observed in any of the sections of experimental inoculated animals shown to harbor rare persistent spirochetes (Supplemental Figure S1). Previous in vitro work has shown large decreases in Bb rRNA levels when in a stationary phase of growth despite the majority of spirochetes remaining viable
  • The possibility that the spirochetes were intact but dead also exists, though this may be unlikely given the precedence for viable but non-cultivable B. burgdorferi post-treatment
  • The doxycycline dose utilized in this study (5mg/kg) was based on a previous pharmacokinetic analysis of oral doxycycline in rhesus macaques proven to be comparable to levels achieved in humans and was meant to mimic treatment of disseminated LD
  • In addition to the brain of two treated animals, rare morphologically intact spirochetes immunoreactive to OspA were observed in the heart of one treated animal
  • Although we did not measure the doxycycline levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, they have been found to be 12% to 15% of the amount measured in serum
  • We and others have demonstrated the development of a drug-tolerant persister population when B. burgdorferi are treated with antibiotics in vitro
  • The adoption of a dormant or slow-growing phenotype likely allows the spirochetes to survive and re-grow following removal of antibiotic
  • The basic premise that antibiotic tolerance may be an adaptation of the sophisticated stringent response required for the enzootic cycle by the spirochetes is described in a recent review as well
  • Although current IDSA guidelines recommend intravenous ceftriaxone (2g daily for 30 days) over oral doxycycline for treatment of neuroborreliosis, a randomized clinical trial failed to show any enhanced efficacy of I.V. penicillin G to oral doxycycline for treatment of Lyme neuroborreliosis (no treatment failures were reported in this study of 54 patients).
  • we can speculate that the minimal to moderate inflammation that was observed, especially within the CNS and PNS can, in part, explain the breadth of symptoms experienced by late stage Lyme disease patients, such as cognitive impairment and neuralgia.
  • Erythema migrans, the clinical hallmark of early localized Lyme disease, was observed in one of the rhesus macaques from this study.
  • In 2014, a trailblazing study in mice demonstrated a dramatic decline in B. burgdorferi DNA in the tissues for up to eight months after antibiotic treatment followed by the resurgence of B. burgdorferi growth 12 months after treatment
  • This study provides evidence that the slow-growing spirochetes which persist after treatment, but are not cultivable in standard growth media may remain viable.
  • The first well-documented indication of Lyme disease (LD) in the United States occurred in the early 1970s
  • Lyme, Connecticut.
  • Lyme disease is now known to be caused by multiple closely related genospecies classified within the Bb sensu lato complex, representing the most common tick-borne human disease in the Northern Hemisphere
  • approximately 30,000 physician-reported cases occur annually in the United States, the annual incidence has been estimated to be 10-fold higher by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.6
  • Current antibiotic therapy guidelines outlined by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) are successful in the treatment of LD for the majority of LD patients, especially when administered early in disease immediately following identification of erythema migrans (EM)
  • ‘post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome’ (PTLDS)
  • host-adapted spirochetes that persist in the tissues, probably in small numbers, inaccessible or impervious to antibiotic
  • inflammatory responses to residual antigens from dead organisms
  • residual tissue damage following pathogen clearance;
  • autoimmune responses, possibly elicited by antigenic mimicry
  • Experimental studies on immunocompetent mice, dogs, and rhesus macaques have provided evidence for the persistence of Bb spirochetes subsequent to antibiotic treatment in the form of residual spirochetes detected within tissue by IFA and PCR, and recovered by xenodiagnoses
  • Ten male rhesus macaques
  • half (five) of the NHP received antibiotic treatment, consisting of 5 mg/kg oral doxycycline twice per day.
  • Minimal and focal lymphoplasmacytic inflammation
  • inflammation was observed in the leptomeninges overlying a section of temporal cerebral cortex
  • Minimal localized lymphoplasmacytic choroiditis
  • Peripheral nerves contained minimal to moderate lymphoplasmacytic inflammation with a predilection for collagen-rich epineurium and perivascular spaces
  • Inflammation was observed in 56% (5/9) of the NHPs irrespective of treatment group
  • For all animals, inflammation was reserved to perineural tissue
  • The treatment lasted 28 days
  • Minimal to mild lymphoplasmacytic inflammation of either the myocardial interstitium (Figure 2Figure 2A), pericardium (Figure 2Figure 2B), or combination therein was observed in 60% of NHPs
  • A single morphologically intact spirochete, as indicated by positive red immunofluorescence (Figure 2Figure 2C), was observed in the myocardium of one treated animal
  • mild, multifocal lymphoplasmacytic inflammation was observed in one doxycycline-treated animal
  • three animals exhibited minimal to mild lymphoplasmacytic inflammation affecting joint-associated structures
  • 10% to -20% of human patients treated
  • Multiple randomized placebo-controlled studies which evaluated sustained antimicrobial therapy concluded that there is no benefit in alleviating patients’ symptoms and indicated that long-term antibiotic therapy may even be detrimental to patients due to potential associated complications (ie, catheter infection and/or clostridial colitis)
  • and the rapid clearance of dead spirochetes in a murine model
  • higher doses may be needed to combat neuroborreliosis
  • Nathan Goodyear on 14 Dec 17
     
    persistent borrelia burgdorferia were found in the brain (2) and the heart (1) up to 13 months post standard antibiotic treatment suggesting borrelia burdorferia, the cause of Lyme, can persist in a chronic, persistant state poste acute treatment.
Nathan Goodyear

Substantial contribution of extrinsic risk factors to cancer development - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC4836858

cancer lifestyle

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 03 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • Here we provide evidence that intrinsic risk factors contribute only modestly (<10~30%) to cancer development
  • we conclude that cancer risk is heavily influenced by extrinsic factors. These results carry immense consequences for strategizing cancer prevention
  • cancers are proposed to originate from the malignant transformation of normal tissue progenitor and stem cells
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • “Intrinsic processes” include those that result in mutations due to random errors in DNA replication whereas “extrinsic factors” are environmental factors that affect mutagenesis rates (such as UV radiation, ionizing radiation, and carcinogens
  • intrinsic factors do not play a major causal role.
  • intrinsic cancer risk should be determined by the cancer incidence for those cancers with the least risk in the entire group controlling for total stem cell divisions
  • if one or more cancers would feature a much higher cancer incidence, for example, lung cancer among smokers vs. non-smokers, then this most likely reflects additional (and probably extrinsic) risk factors (smoking in this case)
  • Particularly, for breast and prostate cancers, it has long been observed that large international geographical variations exist in their incidences (5-fold for breast cancer, 25-fold for prostate cancer)14, and immigrants moving from countries with lower cancer incidence to countries with higher cancer rates soon acquire the higher risk of their new country
  • Colorectal cancer is another high-incidence cancer that is widely considered to be an environmental disease17, with an estimated 75% or more colorectal cancer risk attributable to diet
  • melanoma, its risk ascribed to sun exposure is around 65–86%
  • non-melanoma basal and squamous skin cancers, ~90% is attributable to UV
  • 75% of esophageal cancer, or head and neck cancer are caused by tobacco and alcohol
  • HPV may cause ~90% cases in cervical cancer23, ~90% cases in anal cancer24, and ~70% in oropharyngeal cancer
  • HBV and HCV may account for ~80% cases of hepatocellular carcinoma
  • H pylori may be responsible for 65–80% of gastric cancer
  • While a few cancers have relatively large proportions of intrinsic mutations (>50%), the majority of cancers have large proportions of extrinsic mutations, for example, ~100% for Myeloma, Lung and Thyroid cancers and ~80–90% for Bladder, Colorectal and Uterine cancers, indicating substantial contributions of carcinogen exposures in the development of most cancers
  • onsistent estimate of contribution of extrinsic factors of >70–90% in most common cancer types. This concordance lends significant credibility to the overall conclusion on the role of extrinsic factors in cancer development
  • Nathan Goodyear on 03 Jan 18
     
    Really great read.  Cancer is a majority lifestyle disease.
Nathan Goodyear

Microbiota dysbiosis and barrier dysfunction in inflammatory bowel disease and colorect... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC6234774

gut inflammation gut flora gut bacteria gut microbiota dysbiosis cancer gut microbiome colorectal cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 10 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 10 Jan 21
     
    Great discussion the the connection between gut dysbiosis, inflammation and cancer.
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