Human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cell: electrochemistry and nicotine stimulation

Recently, it was demonstrated that colorectal cancer HT-29 cells can secrete epinephrine (adrenaline) in an autocrine manner to auto-stimulate cellular growth by adrenoreceptors activation, and that this secretion is enhanced by nicotine, showing an indirect relation between colorectal cancer and tobacco. The electrochemical behaviour of human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells from a colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line, the hormone and neurotransmitter epinephrine, and nicotine, were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, using indium tin oxide (ITO), glassy carbon (GC) and screen printed carbon (SPC) electrodes. The oxidation of the HT-29 cells, previously grown onto ITO or SPC surfaces, followed an irreversible oxidation process that involved the formation of a main oxidation product that undergoes irreversible reduction, as in the epinephrine oxidation mechanism. The effect of nicotine stimulation of the HT-29 cells was also investigated. Nicotine, at different concentration levels 1, 2 and 15 mM, was introduced in the culture medium and an increase with incubation time, 0 to 3 h and 30 min, of the HT-29 cells oxidation and reduction peaks was observed. The interaction of nicotine with the HT-29 cells stimulated the epinephrine secretion causing an increase in epinephrine release concentration, and enabling the conclusion that epinephrine and nicotine play an important role in the colorectal tumour growth

STM fingerprint of molecule–adatom interactions in a self-assembled metal–organic surface coordination network on Cu(111)

7 páginas, 5 figuras, 3 tablas.-- El pdf del artículo es la versión pre-print.A novel approach of identifying metal atoms within a metal–organic surface coordination network using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) is presented. The Cu adatoms coordinated in the porous surface network of 1,3,8,10-tetraazaperopyrene (TAPP) molecules on a Cu(111) surface give rise to a characteristic electronic resonance in STM experiments. Using density functional theory calculations, we provide strong evidence that this resonance is a fingerprint of the interaction between the molecules and the Cu adatoms. We also show that the bonding of the Cu adatoms to the organic exodentate ligands is characterised by both the mixing of the nitrogen lone-pair orbitals of TAPP with states on the Cu adatoms and the partial filling of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the TAPP molecule. Furthermore, the key interactions determining the surface unit cell of the network are discussed.This work was financially supported by the European Union through the Marie Curie Research Training Network PRAIRIES (MRTN-CT-2006-035810). Support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) ‘‘Nanoscale Science’’ and the Wolfermann Naegeli Stiftung is also acknowledged. MP is also grateful for support from the Swedish Research Council (VR).Peer reviewe

A robust prognostic signature for hormone-positive node-negative breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Systemic chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting can cure breast cancer in some patients that would otherwise recur with incurable, metastatic disease. However, since only a fraction of patients would have recurrence after surgery alone, the challenge is to stratify high-risk patients (who stand to benefit from systemic chemotherapy) from low-risk patients (who can safely be spared treatment related toxicities and costs). METHODS: We focus here on risk stratification in node-negative, ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. We use a large database of publicly available microarray datasets to build a random forests classifier and develop a robust multi-gene mRNA transcription-based predictor of relapse free survival at 10 years, which we call the Random Forests Relapse Score (RFRS). Performance was assessed by internal cross-validation, multiple independent data sets, and comparison to existing algorithms using receiver-operating characteristic and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Internal redundancy of features was determined using k-means clustering to define optimal signatures with smaller numbers of primary genes, each with multiple alternates. RESULTS: Internal OOB cross-validation for the initial (full-gene-set) model on training data reported an ROC AUC of 0.704, which was comparable to or better than those reported previously or obtained by applying existing methods to our dataset. Three risk groups with probability cutoffs for low, intermediate, and high-risk were defined. Survival analysis determined a highly significant difference in relapse rate between these risk groups. Validation of the models against independent test datasets showed highly similar results. Smaller 17-gene and 8-gene optimized models were also developed with minimal reduction in performance. Furthermore, the signature was shown to be almost equally effective on both hormone-treated and untreated patients. CONCLUSIONS: RFRS allows flexibility in both the number and identity of genes utilized from thousands to as few as 17 or eight genes, each with multiple alternatives. The RFRS reports a probability score strongly correlated with risk of relapse. This score could therefore be used to assign systemic chemotherapy specifically to those high-risk patients most likely to benefit from further treatment

The Rewiring of Ubiquitination Targets in a Pathogenic Yeast Promotes Metabolic Flexibility, Host Colonization and Virulence

Funding: This work was funded by the European Research Council [http://erc.europa.eu/], AJPB (STRIFE Advanced Grant; C-2009-AdG-249793). The work was also supported by: the Wellcome Trust [www.wellcome.ac.uk], AJPB (080088, 097377); the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council [www.bbsrc.ac.uk], AJPB (BB/F00513X/1, BB/K017365/1); the CNPq-Brazil [http://cnpq.br], GMA (Science without Borders fellowship 202976/2014-9); and the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research [www.nc3rs.org.uk], DMM (NC/K000306/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments We thank Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (Mycology Reference Laboratory, Bristol) for providing strains, and the Aberdeen Proteomics facility for the biotyping of S. cerevisiae clinical isolates, and to Euroscarf for providing S. cerevisiae strains and plasmids. We are grateful to our Microscopy Facility in the Institute of Medical Sciences for their expert help with the electron microscopy, and to our friends in the Aberdeen Fungal Group for insightful discussions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nanoalloying in real time: a high resolution STEM and computer simulation study

Bimetallic nanoparticles constitute a promising type of catalysts, mainly because their physical and chemical properties may be tuned by varying their chemical composition, atomic ordering, and size. Today, the design of novel nanocatalysts is possible through a combination of virtual lab simulations on massive parallel computing and modern electron microscopy with picometre resolution on one hand, and the capability of chemical analysis at the atomic scale on the other. In this work we show how the combination of theoretical calculations and characterization can solve some of the paradoxes reported about nanocatalysts: Au-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles. In particular, we demonstrate the key role played by adsorbates, such as carbon monoxide (CO), on the structure of nanoalloys. Our results imply that surface condition of nanoparticles during synthesis is a parameter of paramount importance.Fil: Mariscal, Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Mayoral, Alba. Universidad de Zaragoza. Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón; EspañaFil: Olmos Asar, Jimena Anahí. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Físico-química de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Magen, César. Universidad de Zaragoza. Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón; EspañaFil: Mejia Rosales, Sergio Javier. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Pérez Tijerina, Eduardo. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: José Yacamán, Miguel. University of Texas; Estados Unido

Measurement of the vector and tensor analyzing powers for Dp-elastic scattering at the energy of 800 MeV

The vector Ay and tensor analyzing powers Ayy and Axx for dp-elastic scattering were measured at the energy of 800 MeV and at the angular range from 60° to 135° in the center-of-mass system at the JINR Nuclotron. The experimental data are compared with the calculations obtained within framework of relativistic multiple scattering approac

Research on the reduction of SO2 doses in winemaking using lysozyme and oenological tannin

The effect of reducing the dose of sulfur dioxide on the physico-chemical and organoleptic properties of wines with Murfatlar controlled designation of origin was studied in this paper, experimenting with different prefermentative oenological treatments. For this purpose, a series of experimental variants was carried out on two Romanian grape cultivars for white wines ('Fetească regală') and red wines ('Fetească neagră'), using two yeast strains that produce low amounts of SO2 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. bayanus and Metschnikowia pulcherrima, a Non-Saccharomyces strain) and four prefermentative treatments with different doses of sulfur dioxide, lysozyme and oenological tannin. The obtained results highlighted the fact that reducing the dose of sulfur dioxide using lysozyme and oenological tannin can provide oxidative protection during the alcoholic fermentation stage, improving the organoleptic characteristics of white and red wines. From the physico-chemical point of view, the wines did not show statistically significant differences, except for the color intensity, which was higher in the case of the variants supplemented with 500 mg/L lysozymes, for both of the yeast strains used for fermentation. This study encourages the continuation of research regarding the experimentation of alternative products, to reduce the sulfur dioxide normally used in the winemaking process, in order to obtain healthy products, in accordance with current consumer requirements

First results on the energy scan of the vector Ay and tensor Ayy and Axx analyzing powers in deuteronproton elastic scattering at Nuclotron

New results on the vector A y and tensor Ayy and Axx analyzing powers in deuteronproton elastic scattering obtained at Nuclotron in the energy range 400-1800 MeV are presented. These data have been obtained in 2016-2017 at DSS setup at internal target station using polarized deuteron beam from new source of polarized ions. The preliminary data on the deuteron analyzing powers in in the wide energy range demonstrate the sensitivity to the shortrange spin structure of the nucleon-nucleon correlation