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Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and benign prostatic hyperplasia Jarvis TR, Chughtai B, Kaplan SA, - Asian... - 0 views

  • The prevalence of hypogonadism (often defined as serum testosterone < 300 ng dl−1 ) ranges from 6% [10] to as high as 38%
  • The process of BPH, however, continues as men age and despite the fact their serum testosterone decreases
  • Liu et al. [12] demonstrated that in a group of older males (mean age 59.8 years) that there was not a significant correlation of serum testosterone levels (total, free or bioavailable) with either prostate volume or International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS)
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  • in eugonadal men, studies have demonstrated that the prostate can increase in volume by approximately 12%
  • There seems to be little doubt that the treatment with testosterone of a young hypogonadal male leads to significant growth of the prostate
  • Behre et al. [22] demonstrated increased prostate volume and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in hypogonadal men
  • Most studies, however, have shown no effect of exogenous androgens on PSA or prostate volume for older hypogonadal males
  • They argue that the prostate is relatively insensitive to changes in androgen concentration at normal levels or in mild hypogonadism because the AR is saturated by androgens and therefore maximal androgen-AR binding is achieved. Conversely, the prostate is very sensitive to changes in androgen levels when testosterone is low
  • saturation model
  • visceral obesity (one of the most significant components of metabolic syndrome) is associated with prostate volume and influences prostate growth during TRT.
  • This hypothesis of inflammation induced LUTS is also argued to be a mechanism for improvement of LUTS with PDE5I
  • The concept, therefore, that treatment with TRT of hypogonadal males with metabolic syndrome might lead to improvement/stabilization of their LUTS, appears to be confirmed in recent work by Francomano et al.
  • There was also an improvement in components of the patient's metabolic syndrome (such as BMI, waist circumference, hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], insulin sensitivity, and lipid profile) as well as inflammatory markers and C-reactive protein.
  • They concluded that TRT was safe in this group of men, and hypothesize that TRT mitigates the pro-inflammatory factors associated with metabolic syndrome.
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    Authors review the literature behind Testosterone and BPH.  The authors highlight the 4 proposed theories behind BPH: Testosterone, Estrogen, inflammation, and metabolic.   The conclusion is mixed: pointing out that no high level of evidence exists on either side of the debate of Testosterone and BPH.
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
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  • 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
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    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.
Nathan Goodyear

High prevalence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: ... - 0 views

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    Hashimoto's thyroid disease associated with PCOS in women; this was found to be associated with an increased Estradiol:Progesterone ratio.  
Nathan Goodyear

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among college football linemen. - PubMed - NCBI - 0 views

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    football lineman have more features of metabolic syndrome compared to the other football positions.
Nathan Goodyear

Prevalence of chronic hypopituitarism after blast concussion -- Wilkinson et al. 27 (1)... - 1 views

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    One of the first studies to look at PCS found that 42% of soldiers produced abnormally low hormone production following TBI one year after the injury.  This study highlights the potential pituitary dysfunction that can result from TBI.
Nathan Goodyear

Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with Ménière's disease. - PubMe... - 0 views

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    Meniere's disease associated with hypothyroidism patients on thyroid medication in this study.
Nathan Goodyear

The implication of neuroactive steroids in Tourette syndrome pathogenesis: a ... - 0 views

  • The typical onset of TS occurs at 6–7 years of age and is characterized by the appearance of simple, recurrent motor tics, followed by the manifestation of phonic tics after several months [12]. In most children, TS symptoms undergo a progressive exacerbation, which reaches its zenith at the beginning of puberty (11–12 years of age), and is then followed by a gradual remission in the majority of patients
  • 30–40% of TS-affected children retain their symptoms in adulthood
  • Multiple neurotransmitters have been implicated in TS, including dopamine (DA), serotonin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, glutamate and γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA)
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  • female gender may predict greater tic severity in adulthood
  • male gender is a major risk factor for TS (with a male:female prevalence ratio estimated at ~4:1)
  • the typical age of onset coincides with adrenarche (6–7 years old); symptoms increase in severity until the beginning of puberty (12 years old) and then undergo a spontaneous amelioration, which becomes apparent with the end of puberty (at 18–19 years of age)
  • TS is diagnosed later in females than males
  • ample evidence supports the involvement of DAergic dysfunctions in TS
  • a number of clinical observations showed that tics in TS patients could be exacerbated by anabolic androgens
  • steroidogenic enzymes and androgen receptors may serve as putative therapeutic targets for this disorder
  • Unlike males, tic severity is typically increased after puberty in females
  • 26% of females were found to experience exacerbation of tics in the estrogenic phase of the menstrual cycle, and this phenomenon was found to be correlated with increased tic severity at menarche
  • biochemical hallmark of adrenarche is the acquisition of 17,20 lyase activity by cytochrome P450 C17 (CYP17A1)
  • increased synthesis of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione, which leads to the growth of axillary and pubic hair as well as enhancement in the oiliness of the skin
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    interesting read on hormones and tourette's.. Proposed that 5 alpha reductase activity is involved in worsening of tics.  This makes sense as Testosterone in men with low T is known to increase dopamine and dopaminergic dysfunction is known to play a role in tourette's;  the clinical presentation of girls vs boys is very different.  The authors of this article propose that 5 alpha reductase activity controls a back door method where by progesterone is converted to androgens.
Nathan Goodyear

Anticancer mechanisms of cannabinoids - 0 views

  • modulating key cell signalling pathways involved in the control of cancer cell proliferation and survival
  • cannabinoids inhibit angiogenesis and decrease metastasis in various tumour types in laboratory animals
  • Cannabis sativa L. (marijuana)
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  • of the approximately 108 cannabinoids produced by C. sativa, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (thc) is the most relevant because of its high potency and abundance in plant preparations
  • Tetrahydrocannabinol exerts a wide variety of biologic effects by mimicking endogenous substances—the endocannabinoids anandamide3 and 2-arachidonoylglycerol4,5—that engage specific cell-surface cannabinoid receptors
  • the cb2 receptor was initially described to be present in the immune system6, but was more recently shown to also be expressed in cells from other origins
  • transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V, member 1
  • orphan G protein–coupled receptor 55
  • Most of the effects produced by cannabinoids in the nervous system and in non-neural tissues rely on cb1 receptor activation
  • two major cannabinoid-specific receptors—cb1 and cb2
  • cardiovascular tone, energy metabolism, immunity, and reproduction
  • cannabinoids are well known to exert palliative effects in cancer patients
  • best-established use is the inhibition of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
  • thc and other cannabinoids exhibit antitumour effects in a wide array of animal models of cancer
  • cannabinoid receptors and their endogenous ligands are both generally upregulated in tumour tissue compared with non-tumour tissue
  • cb2 promotes her2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) pro-oncogenic signalling in breast cancer
  • pharmacologic activation of cannabinoid receptors decreases tumour growth
  • endocannabinoid signalling can also have a tumour-suppressive role
  • pharmacologic stimulation of cb receptors is, in most cases, antitumourigenic. Nonetheless, a few reports have proposed a tumour-promoting effect of cannabinoids
  • most prevalent effect is the induction of cancer cell death by apoptosis and the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation
  • impair tumour angiogenesis and block invasion and metastasis
  • thc and other cannabinoids induce the apoptotic death of glioma cells by cb1- and cb2-dependent stimulation
  • Autophagy is primarily a cytoprotective mechanism, although its activation can also lead to cell death
  • autophagy is important for cannabinoid antineoplastic activity
  • autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in the mechanism of cannabinoid-induced cell death
  • the effect of cannabinoids in hormone- dependent tumours might rely, at least in part, on the ability to interfere with the activation of growth factor receptors
  • glioma cells), pharmacologic blockade of either cb1 or cb2 prevents cannabinoid-induced cell death with similar efficacy
  • other types of cancer cells (pancreatic48, breast24, or hepatic43 carcinoma cells, for example), antagonists of cb2 but not of cb1 inhibit cannabinoid antitumour actions
  • thc promotes cancer cell death in a cb1- or cb2-dependent manner (or both) at lower concentrations
  • cannabidiol (cbd), a phytocannabinoid with a low affinity for cannabinoid receptors15, and other marijuana-derived cannabinoids57 have also been proposed to promote the apoptotic death of cancer cells acting independently of the cb1 and cb2 receptors
  • In cancer cells, cannabinoids block the activation of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) pathway, an inducer of angiogenesi
  • In vascular endothelial cells, cannabinoid receptor activation inhibits proliferation and migration, and induces apoptosis
  • cb1 or cb2 receptor agonists (or both) reduce the formation of distant tumour masses in animal models of both induced and spontaneous metastasis, and inhibit adhesion, migration, and invasiveness of glioma64, breast65,66, lung67,68, and cervical68 cancer cells in culture
  • the ceramide/p8–regulated pathway plays a general role in the antitumour activity of cannabinoids targeting cb1 and cb2
  • cbd, by acting independently of the cb1 and cb2 receptors, produces a remarkable anti-tumour effect—including reduction of invasiveness and metastasis
  • cannabinoids can also enhance immune system–mediated tumour surveillance in some contexts
  • ability of thc to reduce inflammation75,76, an effect that might prevent certain types of cancer
  • recent observations suggest that the combined administration of cannabinoids with other anticancer drugs acts synergistically to reduce tumour growth
  • combined administration of gemcitabine (the benchmark agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer) and various cannabinoid agonists synergistically reduced the viability of pancreatic cancer cells
  • Other reports indicated that anandamide and HU-210 might also enhance the anticancer activity of paclitaxel89 and 5-fluorouracil90 respectively
  • Combined administration of thc and cbd enhances the anticancer activity of thc and reduces the dose of thc needed to induce its tumour growth-inhibiting activity
  • Preclinical animal models have yielded data indicating that systemic (oral or intraperitoneal) administration of cannabinoids effectively decreases tumour growth
  • Combinations of cannabinoids with classical chemotherapeutic drugs such as the alkylating agent temozolomide (the benchmark agent for the management of glioblastoma80,84) have been shown to produce a strong anticancer action in animal models
  • pharmacologic inhibition of egfr, erk83, or akt enhances the cell-death-promoting action of thc in glioma cultures (unpublished observations by the authors), which suggests that targeting egfr and the akt and erk pathways could enhance the antitumour effect of cannabinoids
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    Good review of the anticancer effects of cananbinoids.
Nathan Goodyear

The role of vitamin C in the treatment of pain: new insights - 0 views

  • recommended that during illness one should be careful about the intake of vitamin C, keeping in mind that acute illness rapidly depletes stores of ascorbic acid
  • it is possible that other hospital-associated pain may be partly due to vitamin C deficiency, which is relatively prevalent in hospital settings
  • Vitamin C deficiency (defined as plasma vitamin C concentrations <11 µmol/L
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  • Vitamin C is cost effective and appears to be a safe and effective adjunctive therapy for specific pain relief
  • it decreases the requirement for opioid analgesics, particularly post surgically and for bone metastasis
  • recent research has indicated a positive impact of high dose vitamin C on cancer- and chemotherapy-related quality of life, including pain
  • Cameron and Campbell [81] reported a number of cases of dramatic to complete amelioration of bone pain in patients with severe cancer-related pain given both high dose oral and intravenous vitamin C
  • hypovitaminosis C (defined as plasma vitamin C concentrations <23 µmol/L
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    vitamin C reduces pain; mechanism of action likely anti-inflammatory antioxidant, but yet inconclusive.
Nathan Goodyear

Estrogenic regulation of skeletal muscle proteome: a study of premenopausal women and p... - 0 views

  • Female aging is characterized by menopausal change in sex steroid hormones concomitant to increase in aging-related decrements in skeletal muscle performance that can be attenuated by HRT use
  • The major canonical pathways found to be differentially regulated included mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, and TCA-cycle, strong indicators for affected energy metabolism
  • E2 to exert anti-apoptotic effects in muscle progenitor cells by improving mitochondrial function
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  • E2 is a major regulator of human skeletal muscle signaling in women
  • After menopause, when ovarian E2 production is ceased, the prevalence of cardio-metabolic diseases increases. Our result that different trajectories of the energy pathways in the skeletal muscle may be regulated by E2 provides candidate molecules as key targets for future interventions to prevent or treat postmenopausal metabolic dysregulation
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    Study finds Estradiol regulates human skeletal muscle cell signaling (mitochondrial function, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, and TCA cycle) in study of pre/post menopause women through proteome analysis. This study would have been complete if they had carried to search beyond that of protein to epigenetics.
Nathan Goodyear

In vivo loss-of-function screens identify KPNB1 as a new druggable oncogene in epitheli... - 0 views

  • we functionally validated a potent EOC oncogene, KPNB1, and showed its clinical relevance to human EOC
  • a well-established antiparasitic drug, ivermectin, has antitumor effects on EOC through its inhibition of KPNB1
  • EOC has high intertumor and intratumor heterogeneity at the molecular and epigenetic levels
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  • the mortality rate of EOC has not been significantly changed for several decades
  • Sequencing revealed that almost all tumors (96%) had mutations in TP53, which serves as a major driver of this cancer
  • Low-prevalence but statistically significant mutations in nine other genes including NF1, BRCA1, BRCA2, RB1, and CDK12 were also identified, but the majority of genes were mutated at low frequency, making it difficult to distinguish between driver and passenger mutations
  • KPNB1 inhibition via any of three KPNB1 siRNAs or importazole treatment induced apoptosis in human EOC cell lines (Fig. 3 A–F and Fig. S4), and was accompanied by an increase in the expression levels of the proapoptotic proteins BAX and cleaved caspase-3
  • Stable overexpression of KPNB1 in SKOV3 and OVCAR3 (Fig. S6) significantly accelerated cell proliferation/survival (Fig. 5 A–C), confirming that KPNB1 functions as an oncogene in EOC
  • KPNB1 overexpression significantly decreased caspase-3/7 activity (Fig. 5D), in addition to the expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and BAX proteins (Fig. 5E). KPNB1 overexpression also decreased p21 and p27 protein levels (Fig. 5E), as opposed to their increase by KPNB1 inhibition
  • KPNB1 functions as an antiapoptotic and proproliferative oncogene in EOC.
  • Patients with higher expression levels of KPNB1 showed earlier recurrence and worse prognosis than those with lower expression levels of KPNB1
  • KPNB1 acts as an oncogene in human EOC and represents a promising therapeutic target.
  • ivermectin treatment suppressed cell proliferation/viability in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 7A), indicating that it exerts an antitumor effect on EOC
  • ivermectin also induced apoptosis
  • ivermectin increased the expression levels of BAX, and cleaved PARP, as well as p21 and p27
  • KPNB1 inhibition is responsible for the antitumor effect of ivermectin
  • we found that ivermectin synergistically reduced cell proliferation/viability in combination with paclitaxel in human EOC cells
  • Single treatment of ivermectin or paclitaxel reduced tumor growth in nude mice, but, notably, combination treatment of ivermectin and paclitaxel almost completely suppressed tumor growth
  • ERBB2, is amplified and overexpressed in many cancers, including breast (31), ovary (31), colon (32), bladder (33), non-small-cell lung (34), and gastric cancer (35), and is a poor prognostic factor in certain cancer types
  • KPNB1 was the second-highest-ranked gene identified in our screen
  • Increased KPNB1 protein levels have been reported in several cancers, including cervical cancer (42), hepatocellular carcinoma (43), and glioma (44), suggesting KPNB1’s oncogenic potential in these tumor types
  • our findings suggest that KPNB1 might serve as a master regulator of cell cycle by regulating several cell cycle-related proteins, including p21, p27, and APC/C family members
  • higher and/or more-frequent doses of ivermectin than currently approved for humans are well tolerated in humans
  • none of the mice in this study treated with the effective dosage of ivermectin for in vivo anticancer therapy showed severe adverse event
  • we found that the combination of ivermectin and paclitaxel produces a stronger antitumor effect on EOC cell lines than either drug alone
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    Ivermectin found to be pro-apoptotic for the epithelial ovarian cancer oncogene, KPNB1 in in Vivo study.  This effective anti-parasitic drug inhibits the KPNB1 oncogene.
Nathan Goodyear

Role of maximum standardized uptake value in fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomog... - 0 views

  • 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) is an effective and popular technique for evaluating patients before and after breast cancer surgery.
  • Quantitative FDG-PET/CT imaging is becoming prevalent in cancer treatment as it measures glucose metabolism that reflects the growth potential and metabolic activity of malignant tumors
  • The FDG-PET/CT findings of primary lesions in colorectal and lung cancers correlate with metastasis and prognosis because FDG reflects tumor viability
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  • The technique is valuable for predicting the prognosis of patients with recurrent breast cancer and for determining and predicting the outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy
  • FDG-PET/CT is useful not only for evaluating metastasis but also for predicting the prognosis of recurrent breast cancer and measuring treatment effects
  • reports remain limited to small-scale clinical trials of about 100 patients.
  • MaxSUV, which is the most popular FDG-PET/CT value, can vary up to 30 % because of differences among PET/CT devices and among the operators who create the images
  • the degree of malignancy would increase with an increase in maxSUV when ER or HER-2 signaling is involved.
  • Factors that determine the rate of cancer progression include T-factor (tumor diameter) and N-factor (presence or absence/number of lymph node metastasis)
  • The prognostic factors applied in breast cancer can be broadly divided into those that determine staging and those that determine biological tumor characteristics
  • Prognosis was previously predicted based on T, N, and M staging, which indicates the degree of progression. However, prognosis is now predicted and treatment regimes are presently selected by also considering ER and HER-2 levels, which determine the nature of the tumor
  • maxSUV presently serves as an indicator of metabolic activity during cancer therapy. For instance, the maxSUV of primary lung and hematological cancer lesions correlates with metastasis and prognosis, whereas maxSUV also seems useful for predicting the prognosis of recurrent breast cancer and in determining and predicting the outcome of neoadjuvant chemotherapy
  • The maxSUV cut-off calculated from ROC curves for recurrence was 3.0
  • Factors that determine the nature of tumors also include ER, HER-2, Ki-67 labeling index, and nuclear grade
  • both ER status and maxSUV as independent prognostic factors
  • maxSUV has a closer correlation with prognosis
  • maxSUV, clinical T-factor and ER were significant prognostic factors
  • Our results showed that maxSUV has the potential to be a novel prognostic factor and that it can be used to determine future therapies
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    Retrospective, multi-facility finds maxSUV can be used in prognosis in cancer.  Others have shown benefit in recurrence risk.  MaxSUV was found to be an independent factor.
Nathan Goodyear

Nutrients | Free Full-Text | Vitamin C Status Correlates with Markers of Metabolic and ... - 0 views

  • vitamin C deficiency is the fourth most prevalent nutrient deficiency reported in the United States
  • Hypovitaminosis C (defined as a plasma concentration ≤23 µmol/L)
  • The CHALICE (Canterbury Health, Ageing and Lifecourse) study is a unique New Zealand study comprising a comprehensive database of determinants of health
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  • The CHALICE cohort of 404 individuals aged 50 years had an average vitamin C intake of ~110 mg/day, which should provide adequate plasma concentrations [14]. Despite this, a significant proportion of the participants had inadequate plasma vitamin C status
  • inadequate plasma vitamin C concentrations (i.e., <50 µmol/L)
  • adequate plasma levels (i.e., >50 µmol/L)
  • Higher plasma vitamin C status was associated with lower weight, BMI and waist circumference
  • plasma vitamin C was negatively associated with blood triglycerides, HbA1c and insulin, and positively associated with HDL levels.
  • No correlation was found between plasma vitamin C and the two indicators of heart health; blood pressure and cardiovascular risk score.
  • 2.4% of 50-year-olds were deficient in vitamin C (i.e., <11 µmol/L)
  • hypovitaminosis C (i.e., <23 µmol/L)
  • A high proportion (63%) of our participants had inadequate plasma vitamin C concentrations (i.e., <50 µmol/L)
  • The association of low vitamin C with obesity in this study replicates results in the literature [35,40,41,42,43,44], and it is apparent that individuals with higher weight require higher intakes of vitamin C to reach adequate vitamin C status
  • higher plasma vitamin C status is associated with lower circulating levels of blood triglycerides, insulin and HbA1c
  • A role for vitamin C in the prevention or management of diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome has been suggested
  • In this study, we also demonstrate lower levels of mild cognitive impairment in those with high vitamin C status
  • The odds of mild cognitive impairment were twice as high for those below 23 μmol/L plasma vitamin C concentration.
  • Vitamin C is present at very high concentrations in the brain
  • animal models have shown that the brain is the last organ to be depleted of the vitamin during prolonged deficiency
  • A recent animal study has shown that moderate vitamin C deficiency may play a role in accelerating amyloid plaque accumulation in Alzheimer’s disease
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    New study: vitamin C levels correlate with cognitive and metabolic health. What is your vitamin C level? Despite the adequate levels of vitamin C intake, a large % of the individuals had inadequate vitamin C levels which points to a demand issue.  Higher oxidative stress, chronic inflammation... would drive demand for vitamin C higher. Lower vitamin C levels were associated with more metabolic disease, ie. DM, and more cognitive decline.
Nathan Goodyear

Frontiers | Prevalence of Non-responders for Glucose Control Markers after 10 Weeks of ... - 0 views

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    Exercise is key to healthy lifestyle: High Intensity Interval Training for Insulin resistance found to improve waist circumference, systolic bp, and HOMA-IR; Increased non-responders for insulin and glucose in those with mild IR versus severe IR.
Nathan Goodyear

Low-dose Interleukin-2 in the Treatment of Autoimmune Disease | touchONCOLOGY - 0 views

  • affect approximately 5 to 8 % of the US population
  • the incidence and prevalence of autoimmune diseases are rising
  • Type 1 diabetes (T1D), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) account for the majority of the patients with autoimmune diseases
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  • Autoimmune diseases are characterized by a breakdown of mechanisms that allow the immune system to distinguish between self and nonself and maintain immunologic self-tolerance
  • Tregs, which are important in the maintenance of peripheral immune tolerance.
  • Several subtypes of Tregs exist, the most well studied being CD4+ cells that express high-level CD25 and the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (FOXP3)
  • Treg deficiency or dysfunction is associated with autoimmune disease
  • In clinical studies, decreased levels of circulating CD25+CD4+ T cells have been reported in patients with autoimmune disease
  • These data have led to the hypothesis that augmentation of Tregs may be a useful therapeutic strategy in autoimmune disease
  • Treg augmentation has resulted in clinical improvements in numerous animal models of autoimmune diseases
  • the administration of in vitro expanded CD4+CD25highCD127-Tregs has been found to be safe and may help to preserve β-cell function in children with T1D
  • ability of IL-2 to augment the numbers and function of CD4+ Tregs.
  •  
    Great article.  Immune dysfunction plays role in autoimmune disease and cancer.  Treg cells sit at the center of autoimmunity.  This artice highlights the different uses: low dose IL2 therapy to augment Tregs and reduce autoinflammation and high dose IL2 to augment Treg cells in the fight against cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

NETosis and Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in COVID-19: Immunothrombosis and Beyond - PMC - 0 views

  • Pneumonia is a typical symptom of COVID-19 infection, while acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ failure are common in severe COVID-19 patients
  • NETs are important for preventing pathogen invasion, their excessive formation can result in a slew of negative consequences, such as autoimmune inflammation and tissue damage
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection has also been linked to increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, which is associated with disease severity and clinical prognosis
  • ...40 more annotations...
  • NETosis is a special form of programmed cell death in neutrophils, which is characterized by the extrusion of DNA, histones, and antimicrobial proteins in a web-like structure known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Definition
  • increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a crucial intracellular process that causes NETosis
  • Another indirect route of SARS-CoV-2-induced NET production is platelet activation
  • When NETs are activated in the circulation, they can also induce hypercoagulability and thrombosis
  • In COVID-19, major NET protein cargos of NETs (i.e., NE, MPO, and histones) are significantly elevated.
  • SARS-CoV-2 can also infect host cells through noncanonical receptors such as C-type lectin receptors
  • Immunopathological manifestations, including cytokine storms and impaired adaptive immunity, are the primary drivers behind COVID-19, with neutrophil infiltration being suggested as a significant cause
  • NETosis and NETs are increasingly recognized as causes of vascular injury
  • SARS-CoV-2 and its components (e.g., spike proteins and viral RNA) attach to platelets and increase their activation and aggregation in COVID-19, resulting in vascular injury and thrombosis, both of which are linked to NET formation
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Connects SARS-CoV-2 to TLR on Platelets to NETosis to metastasis.
  • NET formation may be caused by activated platelets rather than SARS-CoV-2 itself
  • NETosis, leading to aberrant immunity such as cytokine storms, autoimmune disorders, and immunosuppression.
  • early bacterial coinfections were more prevalent in COVID-19 patients than those infected with other viruses
  • NETosis and NETs may also have a role in the development of post COVID-19 syndromes, including lung fibrosis, neurological disorders, tumor growth, and worsening of concomitant disease
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      NETosis-> tumor growth
  • NETs and other by-products of NETosis have been shown to act as direct inflammation amplifiers. Hyperinflammation
  • “cytokine storm”
  • SARS-CoV-2 drives NETosis and NET formation to allow for the release of free DNA and by-products (e.g., elastases and histones). This may trigger surrounding macrophages and endothelial cells to secrete excessive proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which, in turn, enhance NET formation and form a positive feedback of cytokine storms in COVID-19
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Cycle of hyperinflammation
  • NET release enables self-antigen exposure and autoantibody production, thereby increasing the autoinflammatory response
  • patients with COVID-19 who have higher anti-NET antibodies are more likely to be detected with positive autoantibodies [e.g., antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)]
  • COVID-19 NETs may act as potential inducers for autoimmune responses
  • have weakened adaptive immunity as well as a high level of inflammation
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Immunomodulation
  • tumor-associated NETosis and NETs promote an immunosuppressive environment in which anti-tumor immunity is compromised
  • NETs have also been shown to enhance macrophage pyroptosis in sepsis
  • facilitating an immunosuppressive microenvironment
  • persistent immunosuppression may result in bacterial co-infection or secondary infection
  • can enhance this process by interacting with neutrophils through toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), platelet factor 4 (PF4), and extracellular vesicle-dependent processes
  • NET-induced immunosuppression in COVID-19 in the context of co-existing bacterial infection
  • Following initial onset of COVID-19, an estimated 50% or more of COVID-19 survivors may develop multi-organ problems (e.g., pulmonary dysfunction and neurologic impairment) or have worsening concomitant chronic illness
  • NETs in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of severe COVID-19 patients cause EMT in lung epithelial cells
  • decreased E-cadherin (an epithelial marker) expression
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Leads to emt
  • COVID-19 also has a long-term influence on tumor progression
  • Patients with tumors have been shown to be more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent development of severe COVID-19
  • patients who have recovered from COVID-19 may have an increased risk of developing cancer or of cancer progression and metastasis
  • awaken cancer cells
  • NETs have been shown to change the tumor microenvironment
  • enhance tumor progression and metastasis
  • vitamin C has been tested in phase 2 clinical trials aimed at reducing COVID-19-associated mortality by reducing excessive activation of the inflammatory response
  • vitamin C is an antioxidant that significantly attenuates PMA-induced NETosis in healthy neutrophils by scavenging ROS
  • vitamin C may also inhibit NETosis and NET production in COVID-19
  • Metformin
  • Vitamin C
  •  
    NETosis intimately involved in progressive COVID, long COVID, autoimmunity, and cancer
Nathan Goodyear

Global Vitamin C Status and Prevalence of Deficiency: A Cause for Concern? - PMC - 0 views

  •  
    Vitamin levels decreased in the critically ill. https://t.me/amsterdamdarkmarket
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