NK-cell and T-cell functions in patients with breast cancer: effects of surgery and adjuvant chemo- and radiotherapy

Breast cancer is globally the most common malignancy in women. Her2-targeted monoclonal antibodies are established treatment modalities, and vaccines are in late-stage clinical testing in patients with breast cancer and known to promote tumour-killing through mechanisms like antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. It is therefore increasingly important to study immunological consequences of conventional treatment strategies. In this study, functional tests and four-colour flow cytometry were used to detect natural killer (NK)-cell functions and receptors as well as T-cell signal transduction molecules and intracellular cytokines in preoperative breast cancer patients, and patients who had received adjuvant radiotherapy or adjuvant combined chemo-radiotherapy as well as in age-matched healthy controls. The absolute number of NK cells, the density of NK receptors as well as in vitro quantitation of functional NK cytotoxicity were significantly higher in preoperative patients than the post-treatments group and controls. A similar pattern was seen with regard to T-cell signalling molecules, and preoperative patients produced significantly higher amounts of cytokines in NK and T cells compared to other groups. The results indicate that functions of NK and T cells are well preserved before surgery but decrease following adjuvant therapy, which may speak in favour of early rather than late use of immunotherapeutic agents such as trastuzumab that may depend on intact immune effector functions

Alkyl ether and enol ether analogs of (Z)-5-decenyl acetate, a pheromone component of the turnip moth, Agrotis segetum: probing a proposed bioactive bioactive conformation for chain-elongated analogs

In order to test a previous conclusion that chain-elongated analogs of (Z)-5-decenyl acetate (1), a pheromone component of the turnip moth, Agrotis segetum, adopt a loop conformation of the terminal alkyl chain in the bioactive conformation, a series of alkyl ether and enol ether analogs of 1 and (Z)-5-dodecenyl acetate (2) have been synthesized and tested using single-cell electrophysiology. In these analogs a methylene group in positions 7 and 9 of 1 and in positions 7 and 11 in 2 have been replaced by an oxygen atom in order to energetically facilitate the formation of a loop conformation in the chain-elongated analogs. The electrophysiological results in combination with molecular mechanics (MM2 and MM3) calculated conformational energies show that the activity decreases of the chain-elongated ether analogs are significantly smaller than that for 2 and that these activity decreases parallel the conformational energies for a loop formation of the terminal chains in the analogs. The results support our previous conclusion that the terminal chain of chain-elongated analogs of 1 adopts a loop conformation in their bioactive conformations

Enantiomers of cis- and trans-3-(4-propyl-cyclopent-2-enyl)propyl acetate. A study on the bioactive conformation and chiral recognition of a moth sex pheromone component

The enantiomers of cis- and trans-3-(4-propyl-cyclopent-2-enyl) propyl acetate, which are conformationally constrained analogues of (Z)-5-decenyl acetate (1), a sex pheromone component of the turnip moth, Agrotis segetum, have been synthesized and tested using the electrophysiological single-sensillum technique. The analogues mimic a cisoid and transoid conformation of 1, respectively. In addition, the enantiomers of each of the cis- and trans-isomers are conformationally constrained analogues of enantiomeric cisoid and transoid conformations of 1. Thus, the compounds prepared and tested are well suited to investigate the nature of the bioactive conformation of the natural pheromone component 1 and the chiral sense of its interaction with the receptor. Electrophysiological single-sensillum recordings show that the activity of the most active cis-isomer, which has a (1S,4R)-configuration, is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of the most active trans-isomer. Furthermore, the (1S,4R)-isomer is at least 100 times more active than its enantiomer. These results strongly support a previously proposed cisoid bioactive conformation of 1. Furthermore, the (1S,4R)-configuration of most active stereoisomer identifies the chiral sense of the interaction between the natural pheromone component 1 and its receptor. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd

Bioisosteric approach to elucidation of binding of the acetate group of a moth sex pheromone component to its receptor

A number of analogs of (Z)-5-decenyl acetate, a pheromone component of the turnip moth, Agrotis segetum, in which the acetate group has been replaced by functional groups that may function as bioisosters, have been synthesized and tested using single-cell electrophysiology. The activities have been interpreted in terms of the molecular electrostatic potentials of the polar functional group as calculated by ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. It is concluded that both oxygens of the acetate group in (Z)-5-decenyl acetate contribute to the interactions between the pheromone component and its receptor. Furthermore, the results indicate that the crucial interaction between the carbonyl group and the receptor, which is most probably a hydrogen bonding interaction, takes place in a direction pointing away from the hydrocarbon chain of the pheromone component