Skip to main content

Home/ Dr. Goodyear/ Group items tagged in

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone level in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus and related metabolic... - 0 views

  • defined by consistent symptoms and signs of androgen deficiency, and an unequivocally low serum testosterone level
  • the threshold serum testosterone level below which adverse clinical outcomes occur in the general population is not known
  • most population-based studies use the serum testosterone level corresponding to the lower limit, quoted from 8.7 to 12.7 nmol/L, of the normal range for young Caucasian men as the threshold
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      this equals 251 to 366 in serum Total Testosterone
  • ...57 more annotations...
  • Researchers tried to examine whether serum total or free testosterone would be a better/more reliable choice when studying the effect of testosterone. The results were mixed. Some reported significant associations of both serum total and free testosterone level with clinical parameters25, whereas others reported that only serum free testosterone26 or only serum total testosterone6 showed significant associations.
  • −0.124 nmol/L/year in serum total testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      this equates to a 4 ng/dl decline annually in total Testosterone.
  • In experimental studies, androgen receptor knockout mice developed significant insulin resistance rapidly
  • In mouse models, testosterone promoted differentiation of pluripotent stem cells to the myogenic lineage
  • testosterone decreased insulin resistance by enhancing catecholamine induced lipolysis in vitro, and reducing lipoprotein lipase activity and triglyceride uptake in human abdominal tissue in vivo
  • by promoting lipolysis and myogenesis, testosterone might lead to improved insulin resistance
  • testosterone regulated skeletal muscle genes involved in glucose metabolism that led to decreased systemic insulin resistance
  • In the liver, hepatic androgen receptor signaling inhibited development of insulin resistance in mice
  • independent and inverse association of testosterone with hepatic steatosis shown in a cross-sectional study carried out in humans
  • In short, androgen improves insulin resistance by changing body composition and reducing body fat.
  • Although a low serum testosterone level could contribute to the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes through changes in body composition, obesity might also alter the metabolism of testosterone
  • In obese men, the peripheral conversion from testosterone to estrogen could attenuate the amplitude of luteinizing hormone pulses and centrally inhibit testosterone production
  • leptin, an adipokine, has been shown to be inversely correlated with serum testosterone level in men
  • Leydig cells expressed leptin receptors and leptin has been shown to inhibit testosterone secretion, suggesting a role of obesity and leptin in the pathogenesis of low testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      So what is "unequivocal"?
  • Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) cohort made up of 3,565 middle-class, mostly Caucasian men from the USA, the incidence of low serum total testosterone increased from approximately 20% of men aged over 60 years, 30% over 70 years, to 50% over 80 years-of-age
  • 30–44% sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)-bound testosterone and 54–68% albumin-bound testosterone
  • As the binding of testosterone to albumin is non-specific and therefore not tight, the sum of free and albumin-bound testosterone is named bioavailable testosterone, which reflects the hormone available at the cellular level
  • Serum total testosterone is composed of 0.5–3.0% of free testosterone unbound to plasma proteins
  • alterations in SHBG concentration might affect total serum testosterone level without altering free or bioavailable testosterone
  • listed in Table​T
  • A significant, independent and longitudinal effect of age on testosterone has been observed with an average change of −0.124 nmol/L/year in serum total testosterone28. The same trend has been shown in Europe and Australia
  • Asian men residing in HK and Japan, but not those living in the USA, had 20% higher serum total testosterone than in Caucasians living in the USA, as shown in a large multinational observational prospective cohort of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study
  • subjects with chronic diseases consistently had a 10–15% lower level compared with age-matched healthy subjects
  • In Caucasians, the mean serum total testosterone level for men in large epidemiological studies has been reported to range from 15.1 to 16.6 nmol/L
  • Asians, higher values, ranging from 18.1 to 19.1 nmol/L, were seen in Korea and Japan
  • Chinese middle-aged men reported a similar mean serum testosterone level of 17.1 nmol/L in 179 men who had a family history of type 2 diabetes and 17.8 nmol/L in 128 men who had no family history of type 2 diabetes
  • The reduction of total testosterone was 0.4% per year in both groups
  • HK involving a cohort of 1,489 community-dwelling men with a mean age of 72 years, a mean serum total testosterone of 19.0 nmol/L was reported
  • pro-inflammatory factors, such as tumor necrosis factor-α in the testes, could locally inhibit testosterone biosynthesis in Leydig cells47, and testosterone treatment in men was shown to reduce the level of tumor necrosis factor-α
  • In Asians, a genetic deletion polymorphism of uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase UGT2B17 was associated with reduced androgen glucuronidation. This resulted in higher level of active androgen in Asians as compared to Caucasians, as Caucasians' androgen would be glucuronidated into inactive forms faster.
  • Compared with Caucasians, the frequency of this deletion polymorphism of UGT2B17 was 22-fold higher in Asian subjects
  • Other researchers have suggested that environmental, but not genetic, factors influenced serum total testosterone
  • The basal and ligand-induced activity of the AR is inversely associated with the length of the CAG repeat chain
  • In the European Male Aging Study, increased estrogen/androgen ratio in association with longer AR CAG repeat was observed
  • a smaller number of AR CAG repeat had been shown to be associated with benign prostate hypertrophy and faster prostate growth during testosterone treatment
  • In India, men with CAG ≤19 had increased risk of prostate cancer
  • the odds of having a short CAG repeat (≤17) were substantially higher in patients with lymph node-positive prostate cancer than in those with lymph node-negative disease or in the general population
  • assessing the polymorphism at the AR level could be a potential tool towards individualized assessment and treatment of hypogonadism.
  • In elderly men, there was reduced testicular response to gonadotropins with suppressed and altered pulsatility of the hypothalamic pulse generator
  • a significant, independent and longitudinal effect of age on serum total testosterone level had been observed
  • A significant graded inverse association between serum testosterone level and insulin levels independent of age has also been reported in Caucasian men
  • Low testosterone is commonly associated with a high prevalence of MES
  • most studies showed that changes in serum testosterone level led to changes in body composition, insulin resistance and the presence of MES, the reverse might also be possible
  • MES predicted a 2.6-fold increased risk of development of low serum testosterone level independent of age, smoking and other potential confounders
  • Other prospective studies have shown that development of MES accelerated the age-related decline in serum testosterone level
  • In men with type 2 diabetes, changes in serum testosterone level over time correlated inversely with changes in insulin resistance
  • weight loss by either diet control or bariatric surgery led to a substantial increase in total testosterone, especially in morbidly obese men, and the rise in serum testosterone level was proportional to the amount of weight lost
  • To date, published clinical trials are small, of short duration and often used pharmacological, not physiological, doses of testosterone
  • In the population-based Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study cohort from Sweden, men in the highest quartile of serum testosterone level had the lowest risk of cardiovascular events compared with men in the other three quartiles (hazard ratio [HR] 0.70
  • low serum total testosterone was associated with a significant fourfold higher risk of cardiovascular events when comparing men from the lowest testosterone tertile with those in the highest tertile
  • Shores et al. were the first to report that low serum testosterone level, including both serum total and free testosterone, was associated with increased mortality
  • low serum total testosterone predicted increased risk of cardiovascular mortality with a HR of 1.38
  • low serum total testosterone increased all-cause (HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13–1.62, P < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.25
  • European Association for the Study of Diabetes 2013 suggested there was an inverse relationship between serum testosterone level and acute myocardial infarction
  • Diabetic men in the highest quartile of serum total testosterone had a significantly reduced risk of acute MI when compared with those in the lower quartiles
  • serum total testosterone level in the middle two quartiles at baseline predicted reduced incidence of death compared with having the highest and lowest levels
  •  
    Nice review of Testosterone levels and some of the evidence linking Diabetes with low T.  However, the conclusion by the authors regarding what is causing the low T in men with Diabetes is baffling.  The literature does not point to one cause, it is clearly multifactorial--obesity, inflammation, high aromatase activity...I would suggest the authors continue their readings in the manner.
fitspresso

https://www.fitspresso-co.com/ - 0 views

  •  
    FitSpresso™ | Official Site fitspresso-co.com FitSpresso Only $39/Bottle Limited Time Offer! FitSpresso Special Deal + Special 51% Discount Save $660 + 180 Days Money Back Guarantee FitSpresso Herpesyl Five Star A dietary product formulated to assist users in reducing weight can increase other advantages that can support overall health. This product can assist users in getting closer to the desirable body weight. Regular Price: 149/per bottle Only for: $39/per bottle Buy Now What IsFitSpresso? FitSpresso is promoted as a natural supplement that comes in the form of diet pills, and it can aid in rapid and efficient weight loss, similar to many other supplements. The term "natural supplements refers to a nutritional supplement that is made entirely of natural, chemical-free materials. You can utilize these organic ingredients to aid in natural weight loss. It can speed up your body's metabolism and assist with other crucial processes. All parts of our bodies are impacted by weight increase, and not only do we need to deal with the increased weight, but we also need to deal with the numerous problems and illnesses that come along with it. This refers to the risk of developing chronic cardiac conditions, low blood pressure, and, in some circumstances, problems with blood sugar. However, FitSpresso even with its bright and bold claims, can help you efficiently manage your weight and completely avoid these extra uncomfortable problems. FitSpresso is a supplement that comes in the form of a pill, which makes it tasty, simple to swallow, and handy. According to the manufacturer, these diet tablets are GMO-free and toxic-free, making them edible. This is why we have things such as weight loss supplements. Thanks to modern advancements, we can just take a dietary supplement pill to bring about significant weight loss in a completely healthy and natural manner. Not only this, but dietary supplements can also support healthy blood sugar levels and help with
fitspresso

https://www.sightcare-co.com/ - 0 views

  •  
    Sight Care | Official Site sightcare-co.com · by Sight Care Sight Care Only $49/Bottle Limited Time Offer! Sight Care Special Deal + Special 67% Discount Save $600 + 180 Days Money Back Guarantee #1.The Sight Care vision supplement is a dietary supplement for helping you improve your vision and brain health. Sight Care eye supplements are formulated to provide a synergistic blend of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other bioactive compounds that are essential for maintaining healthy vision Regular Price: 147/per bottle Only for: $49/per bottle What Is Sight Care? This powerful vision support supplement is made with a unique blend of natural ingredients and plant extracts that work together synergistically to deliver numerous benefits for your brain and eye health. With Sight Care, you can expect to experience increased energy levels, improved eyesight, and an overall revitalized sense of well-being. Taking care of your vision health is not just about seeing clearly; it's also about maintaining your overall brain health. As we age, our vision deteriorates, and our eyes and brain can experience a decline in function, but there are steps you can take to support your visual and cognitive health. Regular eye exams are crucial for detecting and treating vision problems early on, and making healthy choices such as eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly can also help. However, with busy schedules, it can be difficult to find the time to devote to a healthy lifestyle. This is where the Sight Care supplement comes in. It's designed to support both vision and brain health with its blend of natural ingredients that have been shown to promote healthy vision and cognitive function You must not compromise your eye health for momentary exhilaration. If you are glued to digital screens day and night, you must take measures to prevent eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration. The SightCare vision supplement has been made using 100% natura
fitspresso

https://www.thefastleanpro.us/ - 0 views

  •  
    Fast Lean Pro™ (official) | weight lose Formula thefastleanpro.us · by Fast Lean Pro Fast Lean Pro Only $49/Bottle Limited Time Offer! Fast Lean Pro Special Deal + Special 51% Discount Save $300 + 180 Days Money Back Guarantee FastLeanPro The #1 Solution To natural metabolism booster helps you lose weight quickly without starving yourself. Fast Lean Pro is a natural powder supplement for weight loss that has recently been developed by Japanese scientists. Regular Price: $99/per bottle Only for: $49/per bottle What Is Fast Lean Pro? Fast Lean Pro is a powdered dietary powdery supplement designed to aid in weight loss. It contains a unique combination of ingredients that are believed to activate the body's "fasting switch" to optimize results. This product focuses not only on weight loss but also on promoting cellular rejuvenation, fasting, and a healthy metabolism. The concept behind Fast Lean Pro is that incorporating fasting into one's lifestyle can lead to positive outcomes irrespective of individual food choices and eating habits. To comprehend the mechanism of the Fast Lean Pro process, it is necessary to delve into its specific details. One of the few weight loss pills on the market that contains Fibersol is Fast Lean Pro. This safe, specialized fiber adds bulk to its weight when combined with water, curbing your appetite before it throws off your meal plan. If you're trying to lose weight or curb your appetite, Fast Lean Pro can help. Supporting substances such as niacin and chromium contribute to this. The body can further benefit from these nutrients, such as through improved metabolic regulation. Fast lean Pro is non-GMO, vegan friendly, and contains no artificial ingredients or stimulants. Fast Lean Pro is a weight loss product that promotes the body's natural self-feeding process. The body naturally removes old, damaged cells through a process known as autophagy to encourage cell regeneration and repair. Recent studies by a group
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and the Cardiovascular System: A Comprehensive Review of the Clinical Lite... - 0 views

  • Low endogenous bioavailable testosterone levels have been shown to be associated with higher rates of all‐cause and cardiovascular‐related mortality.39,41,46–47 Patients suffering from CAD,13–18 CHF,137 T2DM,25–26 and obesity27–28
  • have all been shown to have lower levels of endogenous testosterone compared with those in healthy controls. In addition, the severity of CAD15,17,29–30 and CHF137 correlates with the degree of testosterone deficiency
  • In patients with CHF, testosterone replacement therapy has been shown to significantly improve exercise tolerance while having no effect on LVEF
  • ...66 more annotations...
  • testosterone therapy causes a shift in the skeletal muscle of CHF patients toward a higher concentration of type I muscle fibers
  • Testosterone replacement therapy has also been shown to improve the homeostatic model of insulin resistance and hemoglobin A1c in diabetics26,68–69 and to lower the BMI in obese patients.
  • Lower levels of endogenous testosterone have been associated with longer duration of the QTc interval
  • testosterone replacement has been shown to shorten the QTc interval
  • negative correlation has been demonstrated between endogenous testosterone levels and IMT of the carotid arteries, abdominal aorta, and thoracic aorta
  • These findings suggest that men with lower levels of endogenous testosterone may be at a higher risk of developing atherosclerosis.
  • Current guidelines from the Endocrine Society make no recommendations on whether patients with heart disease should be screened for hypogonadism and do not recommend supplementing patients with heart disease to improve survival.
  • The Massachusetts Male Aging Study also projects ≈481 000 new cases of hypogonadism annually in US men within the same age group
  • since 1993 prescriptions for testosterone, regardless of the formulation, have increased nearly 500%
  • Testosterone levels are lower in patients with chronic illnesses such as end‐stage renal disease, human immunodeficiency virus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), obesity, and several genetic conditions such as Klinefelter syndrome
  • A growing body of evidence suggests that men with lower levels of endogenous testosterone are more prone to develop CAD during their lifetimes
  • There are 2 major potential confounding factors that the older studies generally failed to account for. These factors are the subfraction of testosterone used to perform the analysis and the method used to account for subclinical CAD.
  • The biologically inactive form of testosterone is tightly bound to SHBG and is therefore unable to bind to androgen receptors
  • The biologically inactive fraction of testosterone comprises nearly 68% of the total testosterone in human serum
  • The biologically active subfraction of testosterone, also referred to as bioavailable testosterone, is either loosely bound to albumin or circulates freely in the blood, the latter referred to as free testosterone
  • It is estimated that ≈30% of total serum testosterone is bound to albumin, whereas the remaining 1% to 3% circulates as free testosterone
  • it can be argued that using the biologically active form of testosterone to evaluate the association with CAD will produce the most reliable results
  • English et al14 found statistically significant lower levels of bioavailable testosterone, free testosterone, and free androgen index in patients with catheterization‐proven CAD compared with controls with normal coronary arteries
  • patients with catheterization‐proven CAD had statistically significant lower levels of bioavailable testosterone
  • In conclusion, existing evidence suggests that men with CAD have lower levels of endogenous testosterone,13–18 and more specifically lower levels of bioavailable testosterone
  • low testosterone levels are associated with risk factors for CAD such as T2DM25–26 and obesity
  • In a meta‐analysis of these 7 population‐based studies, Araujo et al41 showed a trend toward increased cardiovascular mortality associated with lower levels of total testosterone, but statistical significance was not achieved (RR, 1.25
  • the authors showed that a decrease of 2.1 standard deviations in levels of total testosterone was associated with a 25% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality
  • the relative risk of all‐cause mortality in men with lower levels of total testosterone was calculated to be 1.35
  • higher risk of cardiovascular mortality is associated with lower levels of bioavailable testosterone
  • Existing evidence seems to suggest that lower levels of endogenous testosterone are associated with higher rates of all‐cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality
  • studies have shown that lower levels of endogenous bioavailable testosterone are associated with higher rates of all‐cause and cardiovascular mortality
  • It may be possible that using bioavailable testosterone to perform mortality analysis will yield more accurate results because it prevents the biologically inactive subfraction of testosterone from playing a potential confounding role in the analysis
  • The earliest published material on this matter dates to the late 1930s
  • the concept that testosterone replacement therapy improves angina has yet to be proven wrong
  • In more recent studies, 3 randomized, placebo‐controlled trials demonstrated that administration of testosterone improves myocardial ischemia in men with CAD
  • The improvement in myocardial ischemia was shown to occur in response to both acute and chronic testosterone therapy and seemed to be independent of whether an intravenous or transdermal formulation of testosterone was used.
  • testosterone had no effect on endothelial nitric oxide activity
  • There is growing evidence from in vivo animal models and in vitro models that testosterone induces coronary vasodilation by modulating the activity of ion channels, such as potassium and calcium channels, on the surface of vascular smooth muscle cells
  • Experimental studies suggest that the most likely mechanism of action for testosterone on vascular smooth muscle cells is via modulation of action of non‐ATP‐sensitive potassium ion channels, calcium‐activated potassium ion channels, voltage‐sensitive potassium ion channels, and finally L‐type calcium ion channels
  • Corona et al confirmed those results by demonstrating that not only total testosterone levels are lower among diabetics, but also the levels of free testosterone and SHBG are lower in diabetic patients
  • Laaksonen et al65 followed 702 Finnish men for 11 years and demonstrated that men in the lowest quartile of total testosterone, free testosterone, and SHBG were more likely to develop T2DM and metabolic syndrome.
  • Vikan et al followed 1454 Swedish men for 11 years and discovered that men in the highest quartile of total testosterone were significantly less likely to develop T2DM
  • authors demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the incidence of T2DM in subjects receiving gonadotropin‐releasing hormone antagonist therapy. In addition, a significant increase in the rate of myocardial infarction, stroke, sudden cardiac death, and development of cardiovascular disease was noted in patients receiving antiandrogen therapy.67
  • Several authors have demonstrated that the administration of testosterone in diabetic men improves the homeostatic model of insulin resistance, hemoglobin A1c, and fasting plasma glucose
  • Existing evidence strongly suggests that the levels of total and free testosterone are lower among diabetic patients compared with those in nondiabetics
  • insulin seems to be acting as a stimulant for the hypothalamus to secret gonadotropin‐releasing hormone, which consequently results in increased testosterone production. It can be argued that decreased stimulation of the hypothalamus in diabetics secondary to insulin deficiency could result in hypogonadotropic hypogonadism
  • BMI has been shown to be inversely associated with testosterone levels
  • This interaction may be a result of the promotion of lipolysis in abdominal adipose tissue by testosterone, which may in turn cause reduced abdominal adiposity. On the other hand, given that adipose tissue has a higher concentration of the enzyme aromatase, it could be that increased adipose tissue results in more testosterone being converted to estrogen, thereby causing hypogonadism. Third, increased abdominal obesity may cause reduced testosterone secretion by negatively affecting the hypothalamus‐pituitary‐testicular axis. Finally, testosterone may be the key factor in activating the enzyme 11‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in adipose tissue, which transforms glucocorticoids into their inactive form.
  • increasing age may alter the association between testosterone and CRP. Another possible explanation for the association between testosterone level and CRP is central obesity and waist circumference
  • Bai et al have provided convincing evidence that testosterone might be able to shorten the QTc interval by augmenting the activity of slowly activating delayed rectifier potassium channels while simultaneously slowing the activity of L‐type calcium channels
  • consistent evidence that supplemental testosterone shortens the QTc interval.
  • Intima‐media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery is considered a marker for preclinical atherosclerosis
  • Studies have shown that levels of endogenous testosterone are inversely associated with IMT of the carotid artery,126–128,32,129–130 as well as both the thoracic134 and the abdominal aorta
  • 1 study has demonstrated that lower levels of free testosterone are associated with accelerated progression of carotid artery IMT
  • another study has reported that decreased levels of total and bioavailable testosterone are associated with progression of atherosclerosis in the abdominal aorta
  • These findings suggest that normal physiologic testosterone levels may help to protect men from the development of atherosclerosis
  • Czesla et al successfully demonstrated that the muscle specimens that were exposed to metenolone had a significant shift in their composition toward type I muscle fibers
  • Type I muscle fibers, also known as slow‐twitch or oxidative fibers, are associated with enhanced strength and physical capability
  • It has been shown that those with advanced CHF have a higher percentage of type II muscle fibers, based on muscle biopsy
  • Studies have shown that men with CHF suffer from reduced levels of total and free testosterone.137 It has also been shown that reduced testosterone levels in men with CHF portends a poor prognosis and is associated with increased CHF mortality.138 Reduced testosterone has also been shown to correlate negatively with exercise capacity in CHF patients.
  • Testosterone replacement therapy has been shown to significantly improve exercise capacity, without affecting LVEF
  • the results of the 3 meta‐analyses seem to indicate that testosterone replacement therapy does not cause an increase in the rate of adverse cardiovascular events
  • Data from 3 meta‐analyses seem to contradict the commonly held belief that testosterone administration may increase the risk of developing prostate cancer
  • One meta‐analysis reported an increase in all prostate‐related adverse events with testosterone administration.146 However, when each prostate‐related event, including prostate cancer and a rise in PSA, was analyzed separately, no differences were observed between the testosterone group and the placebo group
  • the existing data from the 3 meta‐analyses seem to indicate that testosterone replacement therapy does not increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events
  • the authors correctly point out the weaknesses of their study which include retrospective study design and lack of randomization, small sample size at extremes of follow‐up, lack of outcome validation by chart review and poor generalizability of the results given that only male veterans with CAD were included in this study
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      The authors here present Total Testosterone as a "confounding" value
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This would be HSD-II
  • the studies that failed to find an association between testosterone and CRP used an older population group
  • low testosterone may influence the severity of CAD by adversely affecting the mediators of the inflammatory response such as high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, interleukin‐6, and tumor necrosis factor–α
  •  
    Good review of Testosterone and CHD.  Low T is associated with increased all cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality, CAD, CHF, type II diabetes, obesity, increased IMT,  increased severity of CAD and CHF.  Testosterone replacement in men with low T has been shown to improve exercise tolerance in CHF, improve insulin resistance, improve HgbA1c and lower BMI in the obese.
Nathan Goodyear

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

  • 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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
  •  
    Cancer is a mitochondrial disease? So says the well published Dr Seyfried. Glucose and glutamine drive cancer growth.
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and glucose metabolism in men: current concepts and controversies - 0 views

  • Around 50% of ageing, obese men presenting to the diabetes clinic have lowered testosterone levels relative to reference ranges based on healthy young men
  • The absence of high-level evidence in this area is illustrated by the Endocrine Society testosterone therapy in men with androgen deficiency clinical practice guidelines (Bhasin et al. 2010), which are appropriate for, but not specific to men with metabolic disorders. All 32 recommendations made in these guidelines are based on either very low or low quality evidence.
  • A key concept relates to making a distinction between replacement and pharmacological testosterone therapy
  • ...59 more annotations...
  • The presence of symptoms was more closely linked to increasing age than to testosterone levels
  • Findings similar to type 2 diabetes were reported for men with the metabolic syndrome, which were associated with reductions in total testosterone of −2.2 nmol/l (95% CI −2.41 to 1.94) and in free testosterone
  • low testosterone is more predictive of the metabolic syndrome in lean men
  • Cross-sectional studies uniformly show that 30–50% of men with type 2 diabetes have lowered circulating testosterone levels, relative to references based on healthy young men
  • In a recent cross-sectional study of 240 middle-aged men (mean age 54 years) with either type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes or without diabetes (Ng Tang Fui et al. 2013b), increasing BMI and age were dominant drivers of low total and free testosterone respectively.
  • both diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are associated with a modest reduction in testosterone, in magnitude comparable with the effect of 10 years of ageing
  • In a cross-sectional study of 490 men with type 2 diabetes, there was a strong independent association of low testosterone with anaemia
  • In men, low testosterone is a marker of poor health, and may improve our ability to predict risk
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      probably the most important point made in this article
  • low testosterone identifies men with an adverse metabolic phenotype
  • Diabetic men with low testosterone are significantly more likely to be obese or insulin resistant
  • increased inflammation, evidenced by higher CRP levels
  • Bioavailable but not free testosterone was independently predictive of mortality
  • It remains possible that low testosterone is a consequence of insulin resistance, or simply a biomarker, co-existing because of in-common risk factors.
  • In prospective studies, reviewed in detail elsewhere (Grossmann et al. 2010) the inverse association of low testosterone with metabolic syndrome or diabetes is less consistent for free testosterone compared with total testosterone
  • In a study from the Framingham cohort, SHBG but not testosterone was prospectively and independently associated with incident metabolic syndrome
  • low SHBG (Ding et al. 2009) but not testosterone (Haring et al. 2013) with an increased risk of future diabetes
  • In cross-sectional studies of men with (Grossmann et al. 2008) and without (Bonnet et al. 2013) diabetes, SHBG but not testosterone was inversely associated with worse glycaemic control
  • SHBG may have biological actions beyond serving as a carrier protein for and regulator of circulating sex steroids
  • In men with diabetes, free testosterone, if measured by gold standard equilibrium dialysis (Dhindsa et al. 2004), is reduced
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      expensive, laborious process filled with variables
  • Low free testosterone remains inversely associated with insulin resistance, independent of SHBG (Grossmann et al. 2008). This suggests that the low testosterone–dysglycaemia association is not solely a consequence of low SHBG.
  • Experimental evidence reviewed below suggests that visceral adipose tissue is an important intermediate (rather than a confounder) in the inverse association of testosterone with insulin resistance and metabolic disorders.
  • testosterone promotes the commitment of pluripotent stem cells into the myogenic lineage and inhibits their differentiation into adipocytes
  • testosterone regulates the metabolic functions of mature adipocytes (Xu et al. 1991, Marin et al. 1995) and myocytes (Pitteloud et al. 2005) in ways that reduce insulin resistance.
  • Pre-clinical evidence (reviewed in Rao et al. (2013)) suggests that at the cellular level, testosterone may improve glucose metabolism by modulating the expression of the glucose-transported Glut4 and the insulin receptor, as well as by regulating key enzymes involved in glycolysis.
  • More recently testosterone has been shown to protect murine pancreatic β cells against glucotoxicity-induced apoptosis
  • Interestingly, a reciprocal feedback also appears to exist, given that not only chronic (Cameron et al. 1990, Allan 2013) but also, as shown more recently (Iranmanesh et al. 2012, Caronia et al. 2013), acute hyperglycaemia can lower testosterone levels.
  • There is also evidence that testosterone regulates insulin sensitivity directly and acutely
  • In men with prostate cancer commencing androgen deprivation therapy, both total as well as, although not in all studies (Smith 2004), visceral fat mass increases (Hamilton et al. 2011) within 3 months
  • More prolonged (>12 months) androgen deprivation therapy has been associated with increased risk of diabetes in several large observational registry studies
  • Testosterone has also been shown to reduce the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines in some, but not all studies, reviewed recently in Kelly & Jones (2013). It is not know whether this effect is independent of testosterone-induced changes in body composition.
  • the observations discussed in this section suggest that it is the decrease in testosterone that causes insulin resistance and diabetes. One important caveat remains: the strongest evidence that low testosterone is the cause rather than consequence of insulin resistance comes from men with prostate cancer (Grossmann & Zajac 2011a) or biochemical castration, and from mice lacking the androgen receptor.
  • Several large prospective studies have shown that weight gain or development of type 2 diabetes is major drivers of the age-related decline in testosterone levels
  • there is increasing evidence that healthy ageing by itself is generally not associated with marked reductions in testosterone
  • Circulating testosterone, on an average 30%, is lower in obese compared with lean men
  • increased visceral fat is an important component in the association of low testosterone and insulin resistance
  • The vast majority of men with metabolic disorders have functional gonadal axis suppression with modest reductions in testosterone levels
  • obesity is a dominant risk factor
  • men with Klinefelter syndrome have an increased risk of metabolic disorders. Interestingly, greater body fat mass is already present before puberty
  • Only 5% of men with type 2 diabetes have elevated LH levels
  • inhibition of the gonadal axis predominantly takes place in the hypothalamus, especially with more severe obesity
  • Metabolic factors, such as leptin, insulin (via deficiency or resistance) and ghrelin are believed to act at the ventromedial and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus to inhibit gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GNRH) secretion from GNRH neurons situated in the preoptic area
  • kisspeptin has emerged as one of the most potent secretagogues of GNRH release
  • hypothesis that obesity-mediated inhibition of kisspeptin signalling contributes to the suppression of the HPT axis, infusion of a bioactive kisspeptin fragment has been recently shown to robustly increase LH pulsatility, LH levels and circulating testosterone in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • A smaller study with a similar experimental design found that acute testosterone withdrawal reduced insulin sensitivity independent of body weight, whereas oestradiol withdrawal had no effects
  • suppression of the diabesity-associated HPT axis is functional, and may hence be reversible
  • Obesity and dysglycaemia and associated comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnoea (Hoyos et al. 2012b) are important contributors to the suppression of the HPT axis
  • weight gain and development of diabetes accelerate the age-related decline in testosterone
  • Modifiable risk factors such as obesity and co-morbidities are more strongly associated with a decline in circulating testosterone levels than age alone
  • 55% of symptomatic androgen deficiency reverted to a normal testosterone or an asymptomatic state after 8-year follow-up, suggesting that androgen deficiency is not a stable state
  • Weight loss can reactivate the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis
  • Leptin treatment resolves hypogonadism in leptin-deficient men
  • The hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis remains responsive to treatment with aromatase inhibitors or selective oestrogen receptor modulators in obese men
  • Kisspeptin treatment increases LH secretion, pulse frequency and circulating testosterone levels in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • change in BMI was associated with the change in testosterone (Corona et al. 2013a,b).
  • weight loss can lead to genuine reactivation of the gonadal axis by reversal of obesity-associated hypothalamic suppression
  • There is pre-clinical and observational evidence that chronic hyperglycaemia can inhibit the HPT axis
  • in men who improved their glycaemic control over time, testosterone levels increased. By contrast, in those men in whom glycaemic control worsened, testosterone decreased
  • testosterone levels should be measured after successful weight loss to identify men with an insufficient rise in their testosterone levels. Such men may have HPT axis pathology unrelated to their obesity, which will require appropriate evaluation and management.
  •  
    Article discusses the expanding evidence of low T and Metabolic syndrome.
Nathan Goodyear

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

  • 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
       
      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
       
      positive results despite a low dose used.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
  •  
    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

Cancer cells metabolically "fertilize" the tumor microenvironment with hydrogen peroxid... - 0 views

  • reducing oxidative stress with powerful antioxidants, is an important strategy for cancer prevention, as it would suppress one of the key early initiating steps where DNA damage and tumor-stroma metabolic-coupling begins. This would prevent cancer cells from acting as metabolic “parasites
  • Oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts triggers autophagy and mitophagy, resulting in compartmentalized cellular catabolism, loss of mitochondrial function, and the onset of aerobic glycolysis, in the tumor stroma. As such, cancer-associated fibroblasts produce high-energy nutrients (such as lactate and ketones) that fuel mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism in cancer cells. We have termed this new energy-transfer mechanism the “reverse Warburg effect.
  • Then, oxidative stress, in cancer-associated fibroblasts, triggers the activation of two main transcription factors, NFκB and HIF-1α, leading to the onset of inflammation, autophagy, mitophagy and aerobic glycolysis in the tumor microenvironment
  • ...38 more annotations...
  • oxidative stress and ROS, produced in cancer-associated fibroblasts, has a “bystander effect” on adjacent cancer cells, leading to DNA damage, genomic instability and aneuploidy, which appears to be driving tumor-stroma co-evolution
  • tumor cells produce and secrete hydrogen peroxide, thereby “fertilizing” the tumor microenvironment and driving the “reverse Warburg effect.”
  • This type of stromal metabolism then produces high-energy nutrients (lactate, ketones and glutamine), as well as recycled chemical building blocks (nucleotides, amino acids, fatty acids), to literally “feed” cancer cells
  • loss of stromal caveolin (Cav-1) is sufficient to drive mitochondrial dysfunction with increased glucose uptake in fibroblasts, mimicking the glycolytic phenotype of cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • oxidative stress initiated in tumor cells is transferred to cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • Then, cancer-associated fibroblasts show quantitative reductions in mitochondrial activity and compensatory increases in glucose uptake, as well as high ROS production
  • These findings may explain the prognostic value of a loss of stromal Cav-1 as a marker of a “lethal” tumor microenvironment
  • Interruption of this process, by addition of catalase (an enzyme that detoxifies hydrogen peroxide) to the tissue culture media, blocks ROS activity in cancer cells and leads to apoptotic cell death in cancer cells
  • our results may also explain the “field effect” in cancer biology,5 as hydrogen peroxide secreted by cancer cells, and the propagation of ROS production, from cancer cells to fibroblasts, would create an increasing “mutagenic field” of ROS production, due to the resulting DNA damage
  • aerobic glycolysis takes place in cancer-associated fibroblasts, rather than in tumor cells, as previously suspected.
  • In this new paradigm, cancer cells induce oxidative stress in neighboring cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts have the largest increases in glucose uptake
  • cancer cells secrete hydrogen peroxide, which induces ROS production in cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • Then, oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblast leads to decreases in functional mitochondrial activity, and a corresponding increase in glucose uptake, to fuel aerobic glycolysis
  • cancer cells show significant increases in mitochondrial activity, and decreases in glucose uptake
  • fibroblasts and cancer cells in co-culture become metabolically coupled, resulting in the development of a “symbiotic” or “parasitic” relationship.
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts undergo aerobic glycolysis (producing lactate), while cancer cells use oxidative mitochondrial metabolism.
  • We have previously shown that oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts drives a loss of stromal Cav-1, due to its destruction via autophagy/lysosomal degradation
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is sufficient to induce further oxidative stress, DNA damage and autophagy, essentially mimicking pseudo-hypoxia and driving mitochondrial dysfunction
  • loss of stromal Cav-1 is a powerful biomarker for identifying breast cancer patients with early tumor recurrence, lymph-node metastasis, drug-resistance and poor clinical outcome
  • this type of metabolism (aerobic glycolysis and autophagy in the tumor stroma) is characteristic of a lethal tumor micro-environment, as it fuels anabolic growth in cancer cells, via the production of high-energy nutrients (such as lactate, ketones and glutamine) and other chemical building blocks
  • the upstream tumor-initiating event appears to be the secretion of hydrogen peroxide
  • one such enzymatically-active protein anti-oxidant that may be of therapeutic use is catalase, as it detoxifies hydrogen peroxide to water
  • numerous studies show that “catalase therapy” in pre-clinical animal models is indeed sufficient to almost completely block tumor recurrence and metastasis
  • by eliminating oxidative stress in cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment,55 we may be able to effectively cut off the tumor's fuel supply, by blocking stromal autophagy and aerobic glycolysis
  • breast cancer patients show systemic evidence of increased oxidative stress and a decreased anti-oxidant defense, which increases with aging and tumor progression.68–70 Chemotherapy and radiation therapy then promote further oxidative stress.69 Unfortunately, “sub-lethal” doses of oxidative stress during cancer therapy may contribute to tumor recurrence and metastasis, via the activation of myofibroblasts.
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is associated with the increased expression of gene profiles associated with normal aging, oxidative stress, DNA damage, HIF1/hypoxia, NFκB/inflammation, glycolysis and mitochondrial dysfunction
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts show the largest increases in glucose uptake, while cancer cells show corresponding decreases in glucose uptake, under identical co-culture conditions
  • Thus, increased PET glucose avidity may actually be a surrogate marker for a loss of stromal Cav-1 in human tumors, allowing the rapid detection of a lethal tumor microenvironment.
  • it appears that astrocytes are actually the cell type responsible for the glucose avidity.
  • In the brain, astrocytes are glycolytic and undergo aerobic glycolysis. Thus, astrocytes take up and metabolically process glucose to lactate.7
  • Then, lactate is secreted via a mono-carboxylate transporter, namely MCT4. As a consequence, neurons use lactate as their preferred energy substrate
  • both astrocytes and cancer-associated fibroblasts express MCT4 (which extrudes lactate) and MCT4 is upregulated by oxidative stress in stromal fibroblasts.34
  • In accordance with the idea that cancer-associated fibroblasts take up the bulk of glucose, PET glucose avidity is also now routinely used to measure the extent of fibrosis in a number of human diseases, including interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, postsurgical scars, keloids, arthritis and a variety of collagen-vascular diseases.
  • PET glucose avidity and elevated serum inflammatory markers both correlate with poor prognosis in breast cancers.
  • PET signal over-estimates the actual anatomical size of the tumor, consistent with the idea that PET glucose avidity is really measuring fibrosis and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment.
  • human breast and lung cancer patients can be positively identified by examining their exhaled breath for the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
  • tumor cell production of hydrogen peroxide drives NFκB-activation in adjacent normal cells in culture6 and during metastasis,103 directly implicating the use of antioxidants, NFκB-inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents, in the treatment of aggressive human cancers.
  •  
    Good description of the communication between cancer cells and fibroblasts.  This theory is termed the "reverse Warburg effect".
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone: a vascular hormone in health and disease - 0 views

  • Testosterone has beneficial effects on several cardiovascular risk factors, which include cholesterol, endothelial dysfunction and inflammation
  • In clinical studies, acute and chronic testosterone administration increases coronary artery diameter and flow, improves cardiac ischaemia and symptoms in men with chronic stable angina and reduces peripheral vascular resistance in chronic heart failure.
  • testosterone is an L-calcium channel blocker and induces potassium channel activation in vascular smooth muscle cells
  • ...54 more annotations...
  • Animal studies have consistently demonstrated that testosterone is atheroprotective, whereas testosterone deficiency promotes the early stages of atherogenesis
  • there is no compelling evidence that testosterone replacement to levels within the normal healthy range contributes adversely to the pathogenesis of CVD (Carson & Rosano 2011) or prostate cancer (Morgentaler & Schulman 2009)
  • bidirectional effect between decreased testosterone concentrations and disease pathology exists as concomitant cardiovascular risk factors (including inflammation, obesity and insulin resistance) are known to reduce testosterone levels and that testosterone confers beneficial effects on these cardiovascular risk factors
  • Achieving a normal physiological testosterone concentration through the administration of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has been shown to improve risk factors for atherosclerosis including reducing central adiposity and insulin resistance and improving lipid profiles (in particular, lowering cholesterol), clotting and inflammatory profiles and vascular function
  • It is well known that impaired erectile function and CVD are closely related in that ED can be the first clinical manifestation of atherosclerosis often preceding a cardiovascular event by 3–5 years
  • no decrease in the response (i.e. no tachyphylaxis) of testosterone and that patient benefit persists in the long term.
  • free testosterone levels within the physiological range, has been shown to result in a marked increase in both flow- and nitroglycerin-mediated brachial artery vasodilation in men with CAD
  • Clinical studies, however, have revealed either small reductions of 2–3 mm in diastolic pressure or no significant effects when testosterone is replaced within normal physiological limits in humans
  • Endothelium-independent mechanisms of testosterone are considered to occur primarily via the inhibition of voltage-operated Ca2+ channels (VOCCs) and/or activation of K+ channels (KCs) on smooth muscle cells (SMCs)
  • Testosterone shares the same molecular binding site as nifedipine
  • Testosterone increases the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and enhances nitric oxide (NO) production
  • Testosterone also inhibited the Ca2+ influx response to PGF2α
  • one of the major actions of testosterone is on NO and its signalling pathways
  • In addition to direct effects on NOS expression, testosterone may also affect phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5 (PDE5A)) gene expression, an enzyme controlling the degradation of cGMP, which acts as a vasodilatory second messenger
  • the significance of the action of testosterone on VSMC apoptosis and proliferation in atherosclerosis is difficult to delineate and may be dependent upon the stage of plaque development
  • Several human studies have shown that carotid IMT (CIMT) and aortic calcification negatively correlate with serum testosterone
  • t long-term testosterone treatment reduced CIMT in men with low testosterone levels and angina
  • neither intracellular nor membrane-associated ARs are required for the rapid vasodilator effect
  • acute responses appear to be AR independent, long-term AR-mediated effects on the vasculature have also been described, primarily in the context of vascular tone regulation via the modulation of gene transcription
  • Testosterone and DHT increased the expression of eNOS in HUVECs
  • oestrogens have been shown to activate eNOS and stimulate NO production in an ERα-dependent manner
  • Several studies, however, have demonstrated that the vasodilatory actions of testosterone are not reduced by aromatase inhibition
  • non-aromatisable DHT elicited similar vasodilation to testosterone treatment in arterial smooth muscle
  • increased endothelial NOS (eNOS) expression and phosphorylation were observed in testosterone- and DHT-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells
  • Androgen deprivation leads to a reduction in neuronal NOS expression associated with a decrease of intracavernosal pressure in penile arteries during erection, an effect that is promptly reversed by androgen replacement therapy
  • Observational evidence suggests that several pro-inflammatory cytokines (including interleukin 1β (IL1β), IL6, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), and highly sensitive CRP) and serum testosterone levels are inversely associated in patients with CAD, T2DM and/or hypogonadism
  • patients with the highest IL1β concentrations had lower endogenous testosterone levels
  • TRT has been reported to significantly reduce TNFα and elevate the circulating anti-inflammatory IL10 in hypogonadal men with CVD
  • testosterone treatment to normalise levels in hypogonadal men with the MetS resulted in a significant reduction in the circulating CRP, IL1β and TNFα, with a trend towards lower IL6 compared with placebo
  • parenteral testosterone undecanoate, CRP decreased significantly in hypogonadal elderly men
  • Higher levels of serum adiponectin have been shown to lower cardiovascular risk
  • Research suggests that the expression of VCAM-1, as induced by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα or interferon γ (IFNγ (IFNG)) in endothelial cells, can be attenuated by treatment with testosterone
  • Testosterone also inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL6, IL1β and TNFα in a range of cell types including human endothelial cells
  • decreased inflammatory response to TNFα and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in human endothelial cells when treated with DHT
  • The key to unravelling the link between testosterone and its role in atherosclerosis may lay in the understanding of testosterone signalling and the cross-talk between receptors and intracellular events that result in pro- and/or anti-inflammatory actions in athero-sensitive cells.
  • testosterone functions through the AR to modulate adhesion molecule expression
  • pre-treatment with DHT reduced the cytokine-stimulated inflammatory response
  • DHT inhibited NFκB activation
  • DHT could inhibit an LPS-induced upregulation of MCP1
  • Both NFκB and AR act at the transcriptional level and have been experimentally found to be antagonistic to each other
  • As the AR and NFκB are mutual antagonists, their interaction and influence on functions can be bidirectional, with inflammatory agents that activate NFκB interfering with normal androgen signalling as well as the AR interrupting NFκB inflammatory transcription
  • prolonged exposure of vascular cells to the inflammatory activation of NFκB associated with atherosclerosis may reduce or alter any potentially protective effects of testosterone
  • DHT and IFNγ also modulate each other's signalling through interaction at the transcriptional level, suggesting that androgens down-regulate IFN-induced genes
  • (Simoncini et al. 2000a,b). Norata et al. (2010) suggest that part of the testosterone-mediated atheroprotective effects could depend on ER activation mediated by the testosterone/DHT 3β-derivative, 3β-Adiol
  • TNFα-induced induction of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin as well as MCP1 and IL6 was significantly reduced by a pre-incubation with 3β-Adiol in HUVECs
  • 3β-Adiol also reduced LPS-induced gene expression of IL6, TNFα, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2 (PTGS2)), CD40, CX3CR1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, MMP9, resistin, pentraxin-3 and MCP1 in the monocytic cell line U937 (Norata et al. 2010)
  • This study suggests that testosterone metabolites, other than those generated through aromatisation, could exert anti-inflammatory effects that are mediated by ER activation.
  • The authors suggest that DHT differentially effects COX2 levels under physiological and pathophysiological conditions in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells and via AR-dependent and -independent mechanisms influenced by the physiological state of the cell
  • There are, however, a number of systematic meta-analyses of clinical trials of TRT that have not demonstrated an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events or mortality
  • The TOM trial, which was designed to investigate the effect of TRT on frailty in elderly men, was terminated prematurely as a result of an increased incidence of cardiovascular-related events after 6 months in the treatment arm
  • trials of TRT in men with either chronic stable angina or chronic cardiac failure have also found no increase in either cardiovascular events or mortality in studies up to 12 months
  • Evidence may therefore suggest that low testosterone levels and testosterone levels above the normal range have an adverse effect on CVD, whereas testosterone levels titrated to within the mid- to upper-normal range have at least a neutral effect or, taking into account the knowledge of the beneficial effects of testosterone on a series of cardiovascular risk factors, there may possibly be a cardioprotective action
  • The effect of testosterone on human vascular function is a complex issue and may be dependent upon the underlying androgen and/or disease status.
  • the majority of studies suggest that testosterone may display both acute and chronic vasodilatory effects upon various vascular beds at both physiological and supraphysiological concentrations and via endothelium-dependent and -independent mechanisms
  •  
    Good deep look into the testosterone and CVD link.
Nathan Goodyear

Progesterone metabolites in breast cancer - 1 views

  • P metabolites produced within breast tissues might be independently active hormones functioning as cancer-promoting or -inhibiting regulatory agents
  • these P metabolites function as independent pro-or anti-cancer autocrine/paracrine hormones that regulate cell proliferation, adhesion, apoptosis and cytoskeletal, and other cell status molecules via novel receptors located in the cell membrane and intrinsically linked to cell signaling pathways
  • only a fraction of all breast cancer patients respond to this estrogen-based therapy and the response is only temporary
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • P serves as the precursor for the major steroid hormones (androgens, estrogens, corticosteroids) produced by the gonadal and adrenal cortical tissues.
  • 5α-pregnane, 5β-pregnane, and 4-pregnene metabolites of P
  • These P-metabolizing enzymes included 5α-reductase, 5β-reductase, 3α-hydroxysteroid oxido-reductase (3α-HSO), 3β-HSO, 20α-HSO, 20β-HSO, 6α(β)-, 11β-, 17-, and 21-hydroxylase, and C17–20-lyase
  • Reduction of P to 5α-pregnanes is catalyzed by 5α-reductase and the direct 5α-reduced metabolite of P is 5α-pregnane-3,20-dione (5αP). The 5α-reductase reaction is irreversible
  • The two 4-pregnenes resulting from direct P conversion are 4-pregnen-3α-ol-20-one (3αHP) and 4-pregnen-20α-ol-3-one (20αHP), catalyzed by the actions of 3α-HSO and 20α-HSO respectively
  • the P-metabolizing enzyme activities identified in human breast tissues and cell lines were: 5α-reductase, 3α-HSO, 3β-HSO, 20α-HSO, and 6α-hydroxylase
  • In normal breast tissue, conversion to 4-pregnenes greatly exceeded the conversion to 5α-pregnanes, whereas in tumorous tissue, conversion to 5α-pregnanes greatly exceeded that to 4-pregnenes
  • The results indicated that P 5α-reductase activity is significantly higher, whereas P 3α-HSO and 20α-HSO activities are significantly lower in tumor than in normal tissues
  • he results showed that production of 5α-pregnanes was higher and that of 4-pregnenes was lower in tumorigenic (e.g. MCF-7) than in nontumorigenic (e.g. MCF-10A) cells (Fig. 3c⇑), while differences in ER/P status did not appear to play a role
  • The 5α-pregnane-to-4-pregnene ratios were 7- to 20-fold higher in the tumorigenic than in the nontumorigenic cell lines
  • altered direction in P metabolism, and hence in metabolite ratios, was due to significantly elevated 5α-reductase and depressed 3α- and 20α-HSO activities in breast tumor tissues and tumorigenic cells. It appeared, therefore, that changes in P-metabolizing enzyme activities might be related to the shift toward mammary cell tumorigenicity and neoplasia
  • In vivo, changes in enzyme activity can result from changes in levels of the enzyme due to changes in expression of the mRNA coding for the enzyme, or from changes in the milieu in which the enzyme operates (such as temperature and pH, and concentrations of cofactors, substrates, products, competitors, ions, phospholipids, and other molecules)
  • Overall, the enzyme activity and expression studies strongly suggest that 5α-reductase stimulation and 3α- and 20α-HSO suppression are associated with the transition from normalcy to cancer of the breast
  • The level of expression of 5α-reductase is up-regulated by estradiol and P in the uterus (Minjarez et al. 2001) and by 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the prostate
  • 3αHP inhibited whereas 5αP-stimulated proliferation
  • Stimulation in cell numbers was also observed when cells were treated with other 5α-pregnanes, such as 5α-pregnan-3α-ol-20-one, 5α-pregnan-20α-ol-3-one, and 5α-pregnane-3α,20α-diol, whereas other 4-pregnenes such as 20α-HP and 4-pregnene-3α,20α-diol resulted in suppression of cell proliferation
  • Stimulation of cell proliferation with 5αP and inhibition with 3αHP were also observed in all other breast cell lines examined, whether ER/P-negative (MCF-10A, MDA-MB-231) or ER/P-positive (T47D, ZR-75-1) and whether requiring estrogen for tumorigenicity (MCF-7, T47D) or not (MDA-MB-231), or whether they are nontumorigenic (
  • αHP resulted in significant increases in apoptosis and decreases in mitosis, leading to significant decreases in total cell numbers. In contrast, treatment with 5αP resulted in decreases in apoptosis and increases in mitosis.
  • The opposing actions of 5αP and 3αHP on both cell anchorage and proliferation strengthen the hypothesis that the direction of P metabolism in vivo toward higher 5α-pregnane and lower 4-pregnene concentrations could promote breast neoplasia and lead to malignancy.
  • he effects on proliferation and adhesion were not due to P, but due to the 5α-reduced metabolites
  • The studies showed that binding of 5αP or 3αHP occurs in the plasma membrane fractions, but not in the nuclear or cytosolic compartments
  • separate high-specificity, high-affinity, low- capacity receptors for 5αP and 3αHP that are distinct from each other and from the well-studied nuclear/cytosolic P, estrogen, and androgen and corticosteroid receptors
  • The studies thus provided the first demonstration of the existence of specific P metabolite receptors
  • the receptor results suggest that the putative tumorigenic actions of 5αP may be significantly augmented by the estradiol-induced increases in 5αP binding and decreases in 3αHP binding.
  • Estradiol and 5αP resulted in significant dose-dependent increases, whereas 3αHP and 20αHP each resulted in dose-dependent decreases in total ER
  • In combination, estradiol + 5αP or 3αHP + 20αHP resulted in additive increases or decreases respectively in ER numbers.
  • The data suggest that the action of 5αP on breast cancer cells involves modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway
  • current evidence does not appear to support the notion that increased 5α-reductase activity/ expression might significantly alter androgen influences on breast tumor growth.
  • both testosterone and DHT inhibit cell growth more or less to the same extent
  • Note that 5α-reductase reaction is not reversible
  •  
    Fantastic read on the effects of progesterone metabolism on tumor and cancer growth.  Tumorigenesis is not just about the hormone, hormone balance, but about the metabolism of hormones.  This is why premarin is so carcinogenic: it is primarily metabolized by the 4-OH estrone pathway.
Nathan Goodyear

An integrative analysis reveals coordinated reprogramming of the epigenome and the tran... - 0 views

  • contribution to the training response of the epigenome as a mediator between genes and environment
  • Differential DNA methylation was predominantly observed in enhancers, gene bodies and intergenic regions and less in CpG islands or promoters
  • highly consistent and associated modifications in methylation and expression, concordant with observed health-enhancing phenotypic adaptations, are induced by a physiological stimulus
  • ...34 more annotations...
  • The health benefits following exercise training are elicited by gene expression changes in skeletal muscle, which are fundamental to the remodeling process
  • there is increasing evidence that more short-term environmental factors can influence DNA methylation
  • dietary factors have the potency to alter the degree of DNA methylation in different tissues, 9,10 including skeletal muscle
  • In one study, a single bout of endurance-type exercise was shown to affect methylation at a few promoter CpG sites
  • In the context of diabetes, exercise training has been shown to affect genome-wide methylation pattern in skeletal muscle,13 as well as in adipose tissue.
  • physiological stressors can indeed affect DNA methylation
  • training intervention reshapes the epigenome and induces significant changes in DNA methylation
  • the findings from this tightly controlled human study strongly suggest that the regulation and maintenance of exercise training adaptation is to a large degree associated to epigenetic changes, especially in regulatory enhancer regions
  • Endurance training [after training (T2) vs. before training (T1)] induced significant (false discovery rate, FDR< 0.05) methylation changes at 4919 sites across the genome in the trained leg
  • identified 4076 differentially expressed genes
  • a complementary approach revealed that over 600 CpG sites correlated to the increase in citrate synthase activity, an objective measure of training response (Figure S4 and Dataset S14). This might imply that some of these sites could influence the degree of training response.
  • As expected by a physiological environmental trigger on adult tissue, the observed effect size on DNA methylation was small in comparison to disease states such as cancer
  • a preferential localization outside of CpG Islands/Shelves/Shores
  • endurance training especially influences enhancers
  • negative correlation was more prominent for probes in promoter/5′UTR/1st exon regions, while gene bodies had a stronger peak of positive correlation
  • The significant changes in DNA methylation, that primarily occurred in enhancer regions, were to a large extent associated with relevant changes in gene expression
  • The main findings of this study were that 3 months of endurance training in healthy human volunteers induced significant methylation changes at almost 5000 sites across the genome and significant differential expression of approximately 4000 genes
  • DMPs that increased in methylation were mainly associated to structural remodeling of the muscle and glucose metabolism, while the DMPs with decreased methylation were associated to inflammatory/immunological processes and transcriptional regulation
  • This suggests that the changes in methylation seen with training were not a random effect across the genome but rather a controlled process that likely contributes to skeletal muscle adaptation to endurance training
  • Correlation of the changes in DNA methylation to the changes in gene expression showed that the majority of significant methylation/expression pairs were found in the groups representing either increases in expression with a concomitant decrease in methylation or vice versa
  • The fraction of genes showing both significant decrease in methylation and upregulation was 7.5% of the DEGs or 2.3% of all genes detected in muscle tissue with at least one measured DNA methylation position. Correspondingly, 7.0% of the DEGs or 2.1% of all genes showed both significant increase in methylation and downregulation
  • we show that DNA methylation changes are associated to gene expression changes in roughly 20% of unique genes that significantly changed with training
  • Examples of structural genes include COL4A1, COL4A2 and LAMA4. These genes have also been identified as important for differences in responsiveness to endurance training
  • methylation status could be part of the mechanism behind variable training response
  • Among the metabolic genes, MDH1 catalyzes the reversible oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate, utilizing the NAD/NADH cofactor system in the citric acid cycle and NDUFA8 plays an important role in transferring electrons from NADH to the respiratory chain
  • PPP1R12A,
  • In the present study, methylation predominantly changed in enhancer regions with enrichment for binding motifs for different transcription factors suggesting that enhancer methylation may be highly relevant also in exercise biology
  • Of special interest in the biology of endurance training may be that MRFs, through binding to the PGC-1α core promoter, can regulate this well-studied co-factor for mitochondrial biogenesis
  • That endurance training led to an increased methylation in enhancer regions containing motifs for the MRFs and MEFs is somewhat counterintuitive since it should lead to the repression of the action of the above discussed transcription factors
  • decrease with training in this study, including CDCH15, MYH3, TNNT2, RYR1 and SH3GLB1
  • expression of MEF2A itself decreased with training
  • this study demonstrates that the transcriptional alterations in skeletal muscle in response to a long-term endurance exercise intervention are coupled to DNA methylation changes
  • We suggest that the training-induced coordinated epigenetic reprogramming mainly targets enhancer regions, thus contributing to differences in individual response to lifestyle interventions
  • a physiological health-enhancing stimulus can induce highly consistent modifications in DNA methylation that are associated to gene expression changes concordant with observed phenotypic adaptations
  •  
    Exercise alters gene expression via methylation--the power of epigenetics.  Interestingly, the majority of the methylation was outside the CPG island regions.  This 3 month study found methylation of 5,000 sites across the genome resulting in altered expression of apps 4,000 genes.  The altered muscle changes of the endurance training was linked to DNA methylation changes.
Nathan Goodyear

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

  • 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
  •  
    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

How is the Immune System Suppressed by Cancer - 1 views

  • nitric oxide (NO) released by tumor cells
  • Excellent work by Prof de Groot of Essen, indicated by adding exogenous xanthine oxidase ( XO) in hepatoma cells, hydrogen peroxide was produced to destroy the hepatoma cells
  • NO from eNOS in cancer cells can travel through membranes and over long distances in the body
  • ...43 more annotations...
  • NO also is co linked to VEGF which in turn increases the antiapoptotic gene bcl-2
  • The other important influence of NO is in its inhibition of the proapoptoic caspases cascade. This in turn protects the cells from intracellular preprogrammed death.
  • nitric oxide in immune suppression in relation to oxygen radicals is its inhibitory effect on the binding of leukocytes (PMN) at the endothelial surface
  • Inhibition of inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS)
  • NO from the tumor cells actually suppresses the iNOS, and in addition it reduces oxygen radicals to stop the formation of peroxynitrite in these cells. But NO is not the only inhibitor of iNOS in cancer.
  • Spermine and spermidine, from the rate limiting enzyme for DNA synthases, ODC, also inhibit iNOS
  • tolerance in the immune system that decreases the immune response to antigens on the tumors
  • Freund’s adjuvant
  • increase in kinases in these cells which phosphorylate serine, and tyrosine
  • responsible for activation of many growth factors and enzymes
  • phosphorylated amino acids suppress iNOS activity
  • Hexokinase II
  • Prostaglandin E2, released from tumor cells is also an inhibitor of iNOS, as well as suppressing the immune system
  • Th-1 subset of T-cells. These cells are responsible for anti-viral and anti-cancer activities, via their cytokine production including Interleukin-2, (IL-2), and Interleukin-12 which stimulates T-killer cell replication and further activation and release of tumor fighting cytokines.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Th1 cells stimulate NK and other tumor fighting macrophages via IL-2 and IL-12; In contrast, Th2, which is stimulated in allergies and parasitic infections, produce IL-4 and IL-10.  IL-4 and IL-10 inhibit TH-1 activation and the histamine released from mast cell degranulation upregulates T suppressor cells to further immune suppression.
  • Th-2 subset of lymphocytes, on the other hand are activated in allergies and parasitic infections to release Interleukin-4 and Interleukin-10
  • These have respectively inhibitory effects on iNOS and lymphocyte Th-1 activation
  • Mast cells contain histamine which when released increases the T suppressor cells, to lower the immune system and also acts directly on many tumor Histamine receptors to stimulate tumor growth
  • Tumor cells release IL-10, and this is thought to be one of the important areas of Th-1 suppression in cancer patients
  • IL-10 is also increased in cancer causing viral diseases such as HIV, HBV, HCV, and EBV
  • IL-10 is also a central regulator of cyclooxygenase-2 expression and prostaglandin production in tumor cells stimulating their angiogenesis and NO production
  • nitric oxide in tumor cells even prevents the activation of caspases responsible for apoptosis
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      NO produced by cancer cells inhibits proapoptotic pathways such as the caspases.
  • early stages of carcinogenesis, which we call tumor promotion, one needs a strong immune system, and fewer oxygen radicals to prevent mutations but still enough to destroy the tumor cells should they develop
  • later stages of cancer development, the oxygen radicals are decreased around the tumors and in the tumor cells themselves, and the entire cancer fighting Th-1 cell replication and movement are suppressed. The results are a decrease in direct toxicity and apoptosis, which is prevented by NO, a suppression of the macrophage and leukocyte toxicity and finally, a suppression of the T-cell induced tumor toxicity
  • cGMP is increased by NO
  • NO in cancer is its ability to increase platelet-tumor cell aggregates, which enhances metastases
  • the greater the malignancies and the greater the metastatic potential of these tumors
  • The greater the NO production in many types of tumors,
  • gynecological
  • elevated lactic acid which neutralizes the toxicity and activity of Lymphocyte immune response and mobility
  • The lactic acid is also feeding fungi around tumors and that leads to elevated histamine which increases T-suppressor cells.  Histamine alone stimulates many tumor cells.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      The warburg effect in cancer cells results in the increase in local lactic acid production which suppresses lymphocyte activity and toxicity as well as stimulates histamine production with further stimulates tumor cell growth.
  • T-regulatory cells (formerly,T suppressor cells) down regulate the activity of Natural killer cells
  • last but not least, the Lactic acid from tumor cells and acidic diets shifts the lymphocyte activity to reduce its efficacy against cancer cells and pathogens in addition to altering the bacteria of the intestinal tract.
  • intestinal tract bacteria in cancer cells release sterols that suppress the immune system and down regulate anticancer activity from lymphocytes.
  • In addition to the lactic acid, adenosine is also released from tumors. Through IL-10, adenosine and other molecules secreted by regulatory T cells, the CD8+ cells can be inactivated to an anergic state
  • Adenosine up regulates the PD1 receptor in T-1 Lymphocytes and inhibits their activity
  • Adenosine is a purine nucleoside found within the interstitial fluid of solid tumors at concentrations that are able to inhibit cell-mediated immune responses to tumor cells
  • Adenosine appears to up-regulate the PD1 receptor in T-1 Lymphocytes and inhibits the immune system further
  • Mast cells with their release of histamine lower the immune system and also stimulate tumor growth and activate the metalloproteinases involved in angiogenesis and metastases
  • COX 2 inhibitors or all trans-retinoic acid
  • Cimetidine, an antihistamine has been actually shown to increase in apoptosis in MDSC via a separate mechanism than the antihistamine effect
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      cimetidine is an H2 blocker
  • interleukin-8 (IL-8), a chemokine related to invasion and angiogenesis
  • In vitro analyses revealed a striking induction of IL-8 expression in CAFs and LFs by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)
  • these data raise the possibility that the majority of CAFs in CLM originate from resident LFs. TNF-alpha-induced up-regulation of IL-8 via nuclear factor-kappaB in CAFs is an inflammatory pathway, potentially permissive for cancer invasion that may represent a novel therapeutic target
  •  
    Great review of the immunosuppression in cancer driven by the likes of NO.
Nathan Goodyear

Induction of metastasis, cancer stem cell phenotype, and oncogenic metabolism in cancer... - 0 views

  • More than half of cancer patients are treated with IR at some point during their treatment
  • fractionation schedule is the delivery of 1.8–2.0 Gy per day, five days per week
  • Nuclear DNA is the primary target of IR; it causes DNA damage (genotoxic stress) by direct DNA ionization
  • ...121 more annotations...
  • IR also indirectly induces DNA damage by stimulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) production
  • IR is known to induce EMT in vitro
  • p53 is activated in response to IR-induced DNA damage
  • IR paradoxically also promotes tumour recurrence and metastasis
  • DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs)
  • cancer cells undergoing EMT acquire invasive and metastatic properties
  • changes in the tumour microenvironment (TME)
  • IR seems to induce EMT and CSC phenotypes by regulating cellular metabolism
  • EMT, stemness, and oncogenic metabolism are known to be associated with resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy
  • Hanahan and Weinberg proposed ten hallmarks of cancer that alter cell physiology to enhance malignant growth: 1) sustained proliferation, 2) evasion of growth suppression, 3) cell death resistance, 4) replicative immortality, 5) evasion of immune destruction, 6) tumour-promoting inflammation, 7) activation of invasion and metastasis, 8) induction of angiogenesis, 9) genome instability, and 10) alteration of metabolism
  • EMT is a developmental process that plays critical roles in embryogenesis, wound healing, and organ fibrosis
  • IR is known to induce stemness and metabolic alterations in cancer cells
  • transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β], epidermal growth factor [EGF]) and their associated signalling proteins (Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, nuclear-factor kappa B [NF-κB], extracellular signal-regulated kinase [ERK], and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase [PI3K]/Akt
  • activate EMT-inducing transcription factors, including Snail/Slug, ZEB1/δEF1, ZEB2/SIP1, Twist1/2, and E12/E47
  • Loss of E-cadherin is considered a hallmark of EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce EMT to enhance the motility and invasiveness of several cancer cells, including those of breast, lung, and liver cancer, and glioma cells
  • IR may increase metastasis in both the primary tumour site and in normal tissues under some circumstance
  • sublethal doses of IR have been shown to enhance the migratory and invasive behaviours of glioma cells
  • ROS are known to play an important role in IR-induced EMT
  • High levels of ROS trigger cell death by causing irreversible damage to cellular components such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, whereas low levels of ROS have been shown to promote tumour progression—including tumour growth, invasion, and metastasis
  • hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is involved in IR-induced EMT
  • Treatment with the N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a general ROS scavenger, prevents IR-induced EMT, adhesive affinity, and invasion of breast cancer cells
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      NAC for all patients receiving radiation therapy
  • Snail has been shown to play a crucial role in IR-induced EMT, migration, and invasion
  • IR activates the p38 MAPK pathway, which contributes to the induction of Snail expression to promote EMT and invasion
  • NF-κB signalling that promotes cell migration
  • ROS promote EMT to allow cancer cells to avoid hostile environments
  • HIF-1 is a heterodimer composed of an oxygen-sensitive α subunit and a constitutively expressed β subunit.
  • Under normoxia, HIF-1α is rapidly degraded, whereas hypoxia induces stabilisation and accumulation of HIF-1α
  • levels of HIF-1α mRNA are enhanced by activation of the PI3K/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)
  • IR is known to increase stabilisation and nuclear accumulation of HIF-1α, since hypoxia is a major condition for HIF-1 activation
  • IR induces vascular damage that causes hypoxia
  • ROS is implicated in IR-induced HIF-1 activation
  • IR causes the reoxygenation of hypoxic cancer cells to increase ROS production, which leads to the stabilisation and nuclear accumulation of HIF-1
  • IR increases glucose availability under reoxygenated conditions that promote HIF-1α translation by activating the Akt/mTOR pathway
  • The stabilised HIF-1α then translocates to the nucleus, dimerizes with HIF-1β, and increases gene expression— including the expression of essential EMT regulators such as Snail—to induce EMT, migration, and invasion
  • TGF-β signalling has been shown to play a crucial role in IR-induced EMT
  • AP-1 transcription factor is involved in IR-induced TGF-β1 expression
  • Wnt/β-catenin signalling is also implicated in IR-induced EMT
  • Notch signalling is known to be involved in IR-induced EMT
  • IR also increases Notch-1 expression [99]. Notch-1 is known to induce EMT by upregulating Snail
  • PAI-1 signalling is also implicated in IR-induced Akt activation that increases Snail levels to induce EMT
  • EGFR activation is known to be associated with IR-induced EMT, cell migration, and invasion by activating two downstream pathways: PI3K/Akt and Raf/MEK/ERK
  • ROS and RNS are also implicated in IR-induced EGFR activation
  • IR has also been shown to activate Hedgehog (Hh) signalling to induce EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce Akt activation through several signalling pathways (EGFR, C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 [CXCR4]/C-X-C motif chemokine 12 [CXCL12], plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 [PAI-1]) and upstream regulators (Bmi1, PTEN) that promote EMT and invasion
  • CSCs possess a capacity for self-renewal, and they can persistently proliferate to initiate tumours upon serial transplantation, thus enabling them to maintain the whole tumour
  • Conventional cancer treatments kill most cancer cells, but CSCs survive due to their resistance to therapy, eventually leading to tumour relapse and metastasis
  • identification of CSCs, three types of markers are utilised: cell surface molecules, transcription factors, and signalling pathway molecules
  • CSCs express distinct and specific surface markers; commonly used ones are CD24, CD34, CD38, CD44, CD90, CD133, and ALDH
  • Transcription factors, including Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, c-Myc, and Klf4,
  • signalling pathways, including those of TGF-β, Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch, platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), and JAK/STAT
  • microRNAs (miRNAs), including let-7, miR-22, miR-34a, miR-128, the miR-200 family, and miR-451
  • Non-CSCs can be reprogrammed to become CSCs by epigenetic and genetic changes
  • EMT-inducing transcription factors, such as Snail, ZEB1, and Twist1, are known to confer CSC properties
  • Signalling pathways involved in EMT, including those of TGF-β, Wnt, and Notch, have been shown to play important roles in inducing the CSC phenotype
  • TGF-β1 not only increases EMT markers (Slug, Twist1, β-catenin, N-cadherin), but also upregulates CSC markers (Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, Klf4) in breast and lung cancer cells
  • some CSC subpopulations arise independently of EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce the CSC phenotype in many cancers, including breast, lung, and prostate cancers, as well as melanoma
  • Genotoxic stress due to IR or chemotherapy promotes a CSC-like phenotype by increasing ROS production
  • IR has been shown to induce reprogramming of differentiated cancer cells into CSCs
  • In prostate cancer patients, radiotherapy increases the CD44+ cell population that exhibit CSC properties
  • IR also induces the re-expression of stem cell regulators, such as Sox2, Oct4, Nanog, and Klf4, to promote stemness in cancer cells
  • EMT-inducing transcription factors and signalling pathways, including Snail, STAT3, Notch signalling, the PI3K/Akt pathway, and the MAPK cascade, have been shown to play important roles in IR-induced CSC properties
  • STAT3 directly binds to the Snail promoter and increases Snail transcription, which induces the EMT and CSC phenotypes, in cisplatin-selected resistant cells
  • Other oncogenic metabolic pathways, including glutamine metabolism, the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol, are also enhanced in many cancers
  • metabolic reprogramming
  • HIF-1α, p53, and c-Myc, are known to contribute to oncogenic metabolism
  • metabolic reprogramming
  • tumour cells exhibit high mitochondrial metabolism as well as aerobic glycolysis
  • occurring within the same tumour
  • CSCs can be highly glycolytic-dependent or oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS)-dependen
  • mitochondrial function is crucial for maintaining CSC functionality
  • cancer cells depend on mitochondrial metabolism and increase mitochondrial production of ROS that cause pseudo-hypoxia
  • HIF-1 then enhances glycolysis
  • CAFs have defective mitochondria that lead to the cells exhibiting the Warburg effect; the cells take up glucose, and then secrete lactate to 'feed' adjacent cancer cells
  • lactate transporter, monocarboxylate transporter (MCT)
  • nutrient microenvironment
  • Epithelial cancer cells express MCT1, while CAFs express MCT4. MCT4-positive, hypoxic CAFs secrete lactate by aerobic glycolysis, and MCT1-expressing epithelial cancer cells then uptake and use that lactate as a substrate for the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle
  • MCT4-positive cancer cells depend on glycolysis and then efflux lactate, while MCT1-positive cells uptake lactate and rely on OXPHOS
  • metabolic heterogeneity induces a lactate shuttle between hypoxic/glycolytic cells and oxidative/aerobic tumour cells
  • bulk tumour cells exhibit a glycolytic phenotype, with increased conversion of glucose to lactate (and enhanced lactate efflux through MCT4), CSC subsets depend on oxidative phosphorylation; most of the glucose entering the cells is converted to pyruvate to fuel the TCA cycle and the electron transport chain (ETC), thereby increasing mitochondrial ROS production
  • the major fraction of glucose is directed into the pentose phosphate pathway, to produce redox power through the generation of NADPH and ROS scavengers
  • HIF-1α, p53, and c-Myc, are known to contribute to oncogenic metabolism
  • regulatory molecules involved in EMT and CSCs, including Snail, Dlx-2, HIF-1, STAT3, TGF-β, Wnt, and Akt, are implicated in the metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells
  • HIF-1 induces the expression of glycolytic enzymes, including the glucose transporter GLUT, hexokinase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and MCT, resulting in the glycolytic switch
  • HIF-1 represses the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), which inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), thereby inhibiting mitochondrial activity
  • STAT3 has been implicated in EMT-induced metabolic changes as well
  • TGF-β and Wnt play important roles in the metabolic alteration of cancer cells
  • Akt is also implicated in the glycolytic switch and in promoting cancer cell invasiveness
  • EMT, invasion, metastasis, and stemness
  • pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), LDH, and pyruvate carboxylase (PC), are implicated in the induction of the EMT and CSC phenotypes
  • decreased activity of PKM2 is known to promote an overall shift in metabolism to aerobic glycolysis
  • LDH catalyses the bidirectional conversion of lactate to pyruvate
  • High levels of LDHA are positively correlated with the expression of EMT and CSC markers
  • IR has been shown to induce metabolic changes in cancer cells
  • IR enhances glycolysis by upregulating GAPDH (a glycolysis enzyme), and it increases lactate production by activating LDHA, which converts pyruvate to lactate
  • IR enhances glycolysis by upregulating GAPDH (a glycolysis enzyme), and it increases lactate production by activating LDHA, which converts pyruvate to lactate
  • IR also elevates MCT1 expression that exports lactate into the extracellular environment, leading to acidification of the tumour microenvironment
  • IR increases intracellular glucose, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose, and products of pyruvate (lactate and alanine), suggesting a role for IR in the upregulation of cytosolic aerobic glycolysis
  • Lactate can activate latent TGF-
  • lactate stimulates cell migration and enhances secretion of hyaluronan from CAF that promote tumour metastasis
  • promote tumour survival, growth, invasion, and metastasis; enhance the stiffness of the ECM; contribute to angiogenesis; and induce inflammation by releasing several growth factors and cytokines (TGF-β, VEGF, hepatocyte growth factor [HGF], PDGF, and stromal cell-derived factor 1 [SDF1]), as well as MMP
  • tumours recruit the host tissue’s blood vessel network to perform four mechanisms: angiogenesis (formation of new vessels), vasculogenesis (de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial precursor cells), co-option, and modification of existing vessels within tissues.
  • immunosuppressive cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), MDSCs, and regulatory T cells, and the immunosuppressive cytokines, TGF-β and interleukin-10 (IL-10)
  • immunosuppressive cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), MDSCs, and regulatory T cells, and the immunosuppressive cytokines, TGF-β and interleukin-10 (IL-10)
  • intrinsic immunogenicity or induce tolerance
  • cancer immunoediting’
  • three phases: 1) elimination, 2) equilibrium, and 3) escape.
  • The third phase, tumour escape, is mediated by antigen loss, immunosuppressive cells (TAM, MDSCs, and regulatory T cells), and immunosuppressive cytokines (TGF-β and IL-10).
  • IR can elicit various changes in the TME, such as CAF activity-mediated ECM remodelling and fibrosis, cycling hypoxia, and an inflammatory response
  • IR activates CAFs to promote the release of growth factors and ECM modulators, including TGF-β and MMP
  • TGF-β directly influences tumour cells and CAFs, promotes tumour immune escape, and activates HIF-1 signalling
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      And now the receipts
  • MMPs degrade ECM that facilitates angiogenesis, tumour cell invasion, and metastasis
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Receipts and mechanisms
  • IR also promotes MMP-2/9 activation in cancer cells to promote EMT, invasion, and metastasis
  • IR-induced Snail increases MMP-2 expression to promote EMT
  • Radiotherapy has the paradoxical side-effect of increasing tumour aggressiveness
  • IR promotes ROS production in cancer cells, which may induce the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumour suppressors, which further promote oncogenic metabolism
  • Metabolic alterations
  • oncogenic metabolism
  • elicit various changes in the TME
  • Although IR activates an antitumour immune response, this signalling is frequently suppressed by tumour escape mechanisms
  •  
    Important review article.
fitspresso

LeanBiome™ (Official) | Get Save UpTo $540 Today Only! - 0 views

  •  
    LeanBiome™ (Official) | Get Save UpTo $540 Today Only! usleanbiome.com LeanBiome™ Hurry Up! Offer Expires in: 00 HOUR 29 MINUTE 59 SECOND LeanBiome Attention! Get Special 84% Discount Today Faster fat burning and weight loss Healthy cholesterol and sugar levels Higher energy levels Regular price: $129 Only for: 39$ What Is LeanBiome? LeanBiome Lean for Good is a weight loss dietary supplement derived from scientifically researched ingredients and comprehensively developed to help people achieve sustainable weight control. The formula comes in a capsule format that is easy to take and is made with natural ingredients from plants and other sources to achieve its goals. The main ingredient in LeanBiome is piperine, which has been found to affect the body's ability to absorb micronutrients and other compounds more effectively. LeanBiome is a dietary supplement that claims to help weight management. It contains 100% natural ingredients that support healthy weight loss. It does not interfere with any natural process making it safe for use. It ranks among the top weight loss supplements that claim to provide a permanent solution. LeanBiome is made by a company named Lean for Good. It is made with natural and research-backed ingredients that help you lose excess fat without hassles. It is sold in capsule form. The company assures the composition is GMO, gluten, and soy-free. As for manufacturing standards, you need not fret. The company makes the supplement in a facility certified by the FDA. How Does LeanBiome Work? The starting period of the LeanBiome program includes a detoxification process that effectively removes any accumulated ree radicals, toxins, fand oxidative stress. This cleansing enables improved blood circulation, setting the stage for the body to initiate its own fat-burning mechanisms. To enhance metabolic activity, introducing the lean bacteria contained in LeanBiome to your gut microbiome is a beneficial approach. This activation triggers r
Nathan Goodyear

Clinical experience with intravenous administration of ascorbic acid: achievable levels... - 0 views

  • Patients with higher tumor markers are likely to have higher tumor burden, higher oxidative stress and, therefore, are more likely to have lower post IVC plasma levels.
  • Our data also showed that cancer patients with metastasis tend to have lower post-IVC vitamin C levels than those without metastasis
  • Lower peak plasma concentrations are obtained in cancer patients than in healthy subjects. Cancer patients who are deficient in vitamin C prior to therapy tend to achieve lower plasma levels post infusion.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • Patients with higher inflammation or tumor burdens, as measured by CRP levels or tumor antigen levels, tend to show lower peak plasma ascorbate levels after IVC.
  • Patients with metastatic tumors tend to achieve lower post infusion plasma ascorbate levels than those with localized tumors.
  • Meta-analyses of clinical studies involving cancer and vitamins also conclude that antioxidant supplementation does not interfere with the efficacy of chemotherapeutic regiments
  • Most of the prostate cancer patients studied, 75±19% (95% confidence), showed reductions in PSA levels during the course of their IVC therapy
  • Laboratory studies suggest that, at high concentrations, ascorbate does not interfere with chemotherapy or irradiation and may enhance efficacy in some situations
  • Cameron and Pauling observed fourfold survival times in terminal cancer patients treated with intravenous ascorbate infusions followed by oral supplementation
  • The inflammatory microenvironment of cancer cells leads to increasing oxidative stress, which apparently depletes vitamin C, resulting in lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood samples post IVC infusion. Another explanation for this finding may be that cancers are themselves more metabolically active in their uptake of vitamin C, causing subjects to absorb more of the vitamin, and as a results show lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood post IVC infusion.
  • patients with severely elevated CRP levels attain plasma ascorbate concentrations after IVC infusions that are only 65% of those attained for subjects with normal CRP levels
  • The finding of decreased plasma ascorbate levels in cancer patients may relate to the molecular structure of ascorbic acid; in particular, the similarity of its oxidized form, dihydroascorbic acid, to glucose
  • Since tumor have increased requirement for glucose [67], transport of dehydroascorbate into the cancer cells via glucose transport molecules and ascorbate through sodium-dependent transporter may be elevated
  • Increased accumulation of ascorbic acid in the tumor site was supported by measurements of the level of ascorbic acid in tumors in animal experiments
  • patients with advanced malignancies may have lower level of ascorbic acid in tissue, creating a higher demand for the vitamin C
  • IVC therapy appears to reduce CRP levels in cancer patients.
  • CRP concentrations directly correlate with disease activity in many cases and can contribute to disease progression through a range of pro-inflammatory properties.
  • Being an exquisitely sensitive marker of systemic inflammation and tissue damage, CRP is very useful in screening for organic disease and monitoring treatment responses
  • ncreases in CRP concentrations have been associated with poorer prognosis of survival in cancer patients, particularly with advance disease independent of tumor stage
  • Regarding inflammation, 73±13% of subjects (95% confidence) showed a reduction in CRP levels during therapy. This was an even more dramatic 86±13% (95% confidence) in subjects who started therapy with CRP levels above 10 mg/L
  • patients treated by IVC with follow-up several year showed that suppression of inflammation in cancer patients by high-dose IVC is feasible and potentially beneficial
  • Inflammation is a marker of high cancer risk, and poor treatment outcome
  • The subjects with highly elevated CRP concentrations have a three-fold elevation “all-cause” mortality risk and a twenty-eight fold increase in cancer mortality risk
  • cancer patients may need higher doses to achieve a given plasma concentration.
  • patients with lower vitamin C levels may see more distribution of intravenously administered ascorbate into tissues and thus attain less in plasma.
  • When treating patients with IVC, the first treatment likely serves to replenish depleted tissue stores, if those subjects were vitamin C deficient at the beginning of the treatment. Then, in subsequent treatments, with increasing doses, higher plasma concentrations can be attained. On-going treatments serve to progressively reduce oxidative stress in cancer patients.
  • large doses given intravenously may result in maximum plasma concentrations of roughly 30 mM, a level that has been shown to be sufficient for preferential cytotoxicity against cancer cells
  • oral intake of vitamin C exceeded 200 mg administered once daily, it was difficult to increase plasma and tissue concentrations above roughly 200 μM.
  •  
    Great review on the use of IV vitamin C in cancer and to reduce inflammation.  The article does a great job of discussing the mechanism of vitamin C therapy in cancer as well as the proposed reasons for low vitamin C in cancer patients.  The study also highlights the obstacles to rise in vitamin C levels post IV vitamin C in cancer patients.
Nathan Goodyear

Inflammatory cause of metabolic syndrome via brain stress and NF-κB - 0 views

  • Mechanistic studies further showed that such metabolic inflammation is related to the induction of various intracellular stresses such as mitochondrial oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and autophagy defect under prolonged nutritional excess
  • intracellular stress-inflammation process for metabolic syndrome has been established in the central nervous system (CNS) and particularly in the hypothalamus
  • the CNS and the comprised hypothalamus are known to govern various metabolic activities of the body including appetite control, energy expenditure, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and blood pressure homeostasis
  • ...56 more annotations...
  • Reactive oxygen species (ROS) refer to a class of radical or non-radical oxygen-containing molecules that have high oxidative reactivity with lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
  • a large measure of intracellular ROS comes from the leakage of mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC)
  • Another major source of intracellular ROS is the intentional generation of superoxides by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase
  • there are other ROS-producing enzymes such as cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases, xanthine oxidase, and cytochrome p450 enzymes, which are involved with specific metabolic processes
  • To counteract the toxic effects of molecular oxidation by ROS, cells are equipped with a battery of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutases, catalase, peroxiredoxins, sulfiredoxin, and aldehyde dehydrogenases
  • intracellular oxidative stress has been indicated to contribute to metabolic syndrome and related diseases, including T2D [72; 73], CVDs [74-76], neurodegenerative diseases [69; 77-80], and cancers
  • intracellular oxidative stress is highly associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases [69] and brain aging
  • dietary obesity was found to induce NADPH oxidase-associated oxidative stress in rat brain
  • mitochondrial dysfunction in hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons causes central glucose sensing impairment
  • Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the cellular organelle responsible for protein synthesis, maturation, and trafficking to secretory pathways
  • unfolded protein response (UPR) machinery
  • ER stress has been associated to obesity, insulin resistance, T2D, CVDs, cancers, and neurodegenerative diseases
  • brain ER stress underlies neurodegenerative diseases
  • under environmental stress such as nutrient deprivation or hypoxia, autophagy is strongly induced to breakdown macromolecules into reusable amino acids and fatty acids for survival
  • intact autophagy function is required for the hypothalamus to properly control metabolic and energy homeostasis, while hypothalamic autophagy defect leads to the development of metabolic syndrome such as obesity and insulin resistance
  • prolonged oxidative stress or ER stress has been shown to impair autophagy function in disease milieu of cancer or aging
  • TLRs are an important class of membrane-bound pattern recognition receptors in classical innate immune defense
  • Most hypothalamic cell types including neurons and glia cells express TLRs
  • overnutrition constitutes an environmental stimulus that can activate TLR pathways to mediate the development of metabolic syndrome related disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance, T2D, and atherosclerotic CVDs
  • Isoforms TLR1, 2, 4, and 6 may be particularly pertinent to pathogenic signaling induced by lipid overnutrition
  • hypothalamic TLR4 and downstream inflammatory signaling are activated in response to central lipid excess via direct intra-brain lipid administration or HFD-feeding
  • overnutrition-induced metabolic derangements such as central leptin resistance, systemic insulin resistance, and weight gain
  • these evidences based on brain TLR signaling further support the notion that CNS is the primary site for overnutrition to cause the development of metabolic syndrome.
  • circulating cytokines can limitedly travel to the hypothalamus through the leaky blood-brain barrier around the mediobasal hypothalamus to activate hypothalamic cytokine receptors
  • significant evidences have been recently documented demonstrating the role of cytokine receptor pathways in the development of metabolic syndrome components
  • entral administration of TNF-α at low doses faithfully replicated the effects of central metabolic inflammation in enhancing eating, decreasing energy expenditure [158;159], and causing obesity-related hypertension
  • Resistin, an adipocyte-derived proinflammatory cytokine, has been found to promote hepatic insulin resistance through its central actions
  • both TLR pathways and cytokine receptor pathways are involved in central inflammatory mechanism of metabolic syndrome and related diseases.
  • In quiescent state, NF-κB resides in the cytoplasm in an inactive form due to inhibitory binding by IκBα protein
  • IKKβ activation via receptor-mediated pathway, leading to IκBα phosphorylation and degradation and subsequent release of NF-κB activity
  • Research in the past decade has found that activation of IKKβ/NF-κB proinflammatory pathway in metabolic tissues is a prominent feature of various metabolic disorders related to overnutrition
  • it happens in metabolic tissues, it is mainly associated with overnutrition-induced metabolic derangements, and most importantly, it is relatively low-grade and chronic
  • this paradigm of IKKβ/NF-κB-mediated metabolic inflammation has been identified in the CNS – particularly the comprised hypothalamus, which primarily accounts for to the development of overnutrition-induced metabolic syndrome and related disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance, T2D, and obesity-related hypertension
  • evidences have pointed to intracellular oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction as upstream events that mediate hypothalamic NF-κB activation in a receptor-independent manner under overnutrition
  • In the context of metabolic syndrome, oxidative stress-related NF-κB activation in metabolic tissues or vascular systems has been implicated in a broad range of metabolic syndrome-related diseases, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiac infarct, stroke, cancer, and aging
  • intracellular oxidative stress seems to be a likely pathogenic link that bridges overnutrition with NF-κB activation leading to central metabolic dysregulation
  • overnutrition is an environmental inducer for intracellular oxidative stress regardless of tissues involved
  • excessive nutrients, when transported into cells, directly increase mitochondrial oxidative workload, which causes increased production of ROS by mitochondrial ETC
  • oxidative stress has been shown to activate NF-κB pathway in neurons or glial cells in several types of metabolic syndrome-related neural diseases, such as stroke [185], neurodegenerative diseases [186-188], and brain aging
  • central nutrient excess (e.g., glucose or lipids) has been shown to activate NF-κB in the hypothalamus [34-37] to account for overnutrition-induced central metabolic dysregulations
  • overnutrition can present the cell with a metabolic overload that exceeds the physiological adaptive range of UPR, resulting in the development of ER stress and systemic metabolic disorders
  • chronic ER stress in peripheral metabolic tissues such as adipocytes, liver, muscle, and pancreatic cells is a salient feature of overnutrition-related diseases
  • recent literature supports a model that brain ER stress and NF-κB activation reciprocally promote each other in the development of central metabolic dysregulations
  • when intracellular stresses remain unresolved, prolonged autophagy upregulation progresses into autophagy defect
  • autophagy defect can induce NF-κB-mediated inflammation in association with the development of cancer or inflammatory diseases (e.g., Crohn's disease)
  • The connection between autophagy defect and proinflammatory activation of NF-κB pathway can also be inferred in metabolic syndrome, since both autophagy defect [126-133;200] and NF-κB activation [20-33] are implicated in the development of overnutrition-related metabolic diseases
  • Both TLR pathway and cytokine receptor pathways are closely related to IKKβ/NF-κB signaling in the central pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome
  • Overnutrition, especially in the form of HFD feeding, was shown to activate TLR4 signaling and downstream IKKβ/NF-κB pathway
  • TLR4 activation leads to MyD88-dependent NF-κB activation in early phase and MyD88-indepdnent MAPK/JNK pathway in late phase
  • these studies point to NF-κB as an immediate signaling effector for TLR4 activation in central inflammatory response
  • TLR4 activation has been shown to induce intracellular ER stress to indirectly cause metabolic inflammation in the hypothalamus
  • central TLR4-NF-κB pathway may represent one of the early receptor-mediated events in overnutrition-induced central inflammation.
  • cytokines and their receptors are both upstream activating components and downstream transcriptional targets of NF-κB activation
  • central administration of TNF-α at low dose can mimic the effect of obesity-related inflammatory milieu to activate IKKβ/NF-κB proinflammatory pathways, furthering the development of overeating, energy expenditure decrease, and weight gain
  • the physiological effects of IKKβ/NF-κB activation seem to be cell type-dependent, i.e., IKKβ/NF-κB activation in hypothalamic agouti-related protein (AGRP) neurons primarily leads to the development of energy imbalance and obesity [34]; while in hypothalamic POMC neurons, it primarily results in the development of hypertension and glucose intolerance
  • the hypothalamus, is the central regulator of energy and body weight balance [
  •  
    Great article chronicles the biochemistry of "over nutrition" and inflammation through NF-kappaB activation and its impact on the brain.
krsnaphysio1

Physiotherapist in Gurgaon - 0 views

  •  
    Since its establishment in the year 2011, Krshna Physio Plus is aimed to provide patients with comprehensive, high quality and professional physiotherapy treatments and rehabilitation to people in need. The efficient team of three, Dr. Ravi Sahauta - A very well-known complex trauma surgeon and Orthopaedician, Dr. Dharm Pal Sharma - an ex-Air force Physio trainer and Dr. Parmila Sharma - an experienced and talented physio expert, Krshna Physio Plus is counted among the well-known Physiotherapy clinic in Gurgaon and Delhi/NCR regions.  This clinic is one of the oldest organizations which was started with a vision to help people suffering from diverse dysfunctionalities with proper guidance and treatment which encompasses mainly physical, psychological, emotional, and social well being. With 8 centers in Delhi/NCR and Bihar, we are aimed at setting over 300 centers across Asia by 2020 and become the Physiotherapy clinic in Gurgaon.  Moreover, KRSNA Physio Plus is well equipped with various advanced facilities and equipment used to treat people to assure patient satisfaction and fast recovery. We have with us Top Physiotherapist in Gurgaon and Delhi/NCR regions with us who are specialized in offering treatment in physiotherapy dealing with Orthopedic, Neurological, Pediatric, Cardio-pulmonary, and Sports Injury, etc. All the experts here put their best for providing the best results.  Our experienced team of doctors and physiotherapists in Gurgaon who would be better able to diagnose what might be making it impossible for you to crane your neck, or pick articles off the floor, or simply kneel before your deity. Sports-Related Injuries Could Happen to Anyone It could be just that badminton match on a winter evening, or an office football match. Before you realize what is happening you've pulled a back muscle or your hamstring. Playing tug-of-war in colleges and office parties is fraught with the risk of a rotator cuff injury. Cricketers diving to save
umar111

Computer Science: Computer hardware - 0 views

  •  
    Computer Science Tuesday, April 25, 2023 Computer hardware Computer hardware is the physical components that make up a computer system. It includes everything from the central processing unit (CPU) to the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Understanding the different types of hardware and how they work together is essential for anyone who works with computers. In this article, we will explore the various components of computer hardware, including internal and external components, and the peripherals that connect to them. We will also discuss the importance of hardware maintenance, the latest advancements in computer technology, and factors to consider when choosing the right hardware for your needs. Whether you are a computer technician, a gamer, or simply someone who uses a computer for everyday tasks, this article will help you better understand the world of computer hardware. Introduction to Computer Hardware Computer hardware refers to the physical components that make up a computer system. It includes everything from the processor and memory to input/output devices such as the keyboard and monitor. In this article, we will explore the different types of computer hardware and their functions. What is Computer Hardware Computer hardware refers to the physical components of a computer system. It includes all the components that can be touched, seen, and used to interact with a computer, such as the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Hardware is different from computer software, which refers to the programs and applications that run on a computer system. History of Computer Hardware The history of computer hardware dates back to the 1820s when Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, and inventor, designed the first analytical engine, which was considered to be the first mechanical computer. With time, more complex electronic computers were developed, including the first Intel microprocessor in 1971. Since then, computer hardware has continued to evolve, becoming
1 - 20 of 8472 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page