Aspects of development and feeding in 'Paragnathia formica' (Hesse, 1864)

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Antibacterial paperboard packaging using microfibrillated cellulose

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Brooding and embryonic development in the crustacean 'Paragnathia formica' (Hesse, 1864) (Peracarida:Isopoda: Gnathiidae)

The crustacean family Gnathiidae Leach, 1814 (Peracarida: Isopoda) comprises 12 genera known mostly from marine environments. Juvenile gnathiid isopods are fish ectoparasites, feeding on blood and tissue fluids in order to complete their life cycles. Gnathiid juvenile development generally includes three moults, the last involving metamorphosis to non feeding, adult stages. The blood meal ingested by juveniles provides resources for adult survival, reproduction and embryological development. Reproductive biology in the brackish water gnathiid, Paragnathia formica (Hesse, 1864), is unusual amongst crustaceans, since brooding females have paired internal uterine sacs, rather than an external brood pouch. Known embryological development for P. formica includes three post gastrulation stages. In the current study, brooding and embryological development in this gnathiid were reexamined using histological and fluorescence methods, and by scanning electron microscopy. Novel observations were made of the blastodisc and germ cell migration within developing eggs, release of Stage 2 embryos by rupture of embryonic membranes, the in utero moult of Stage 2 to Stage 3 embryos, and the asynchronous development of the brood within the paired uterine sacs. These findings highlight the remarkable nature of brooding in P. formica and expand the paucity of knowledge of embryological development in gnathiids in general

Deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying the binding of the TWIST1/E12 complex to regulatory E-box sequences

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Structure-activity relationship study: Mechanism of cyto-genotoxicity of Nitropyrazole-derived high energy density materials family

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Metabolomics and cytotoxicity of monomethylhydrazine (MMH) and (E)-1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-2-tetrazene (TMTZ), two liquid propellants

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Integrated analysis highlights APC11 protein expression as a likely new independent predictive marker for colorectal cancer

International audienceAfter a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), approximately 50% of patients will present distant metastasis. Although significant progress has been made in treatments, most of them will die from the disease. We investigated the predictive and prognostic potential of APC11, the catalytic subunit of APC/C, which has never been examined in the context of CRC. The expression of APC11 was assessed in CRC cell lines, in tissue microarrays (TMAs) and in public datasets. Overexpression of APC11 mRNA was associated with chromosomal instability, lymphovascular invasion and residual tumor. Regression models accounting for the effects of well-known protein markers highlighted association of APC11 protein expression with residual tumor (odds ratio: OR = 6.51; 95% confidence intervals: CI = 1.54-27.59; P = 0.012) and metastasis at diagnosis (OR = 3.87; 95% CI = 1.20-2.45; P = 0.024). Overexpression of APC11 protein was also associated with worse distant relapse-free survival (hazard ratio: HR = 2.60; 95% CI = 1.26-5.37; P = 0.01) and worse overall survival (HR = 2.69; 95% CI = 1.31-5.51; P = 0.007). APC11 overexpression in primary CRC thus represents a potentially novel theranostic marker of metastatic CRC. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent cancer and the fourth cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide 1. Patient survival is highly dependent on the stage of CRC at the time of diagnosis but approximately 50% of the patients will be concerned by distant metastasis development, either present at diagnosis (20%) or occurring after the curative-intent surgery of the primary tumor. The most frequent sites affected by metastatic CRC (mCRC) are the liver and lung 1. The current first-line standard-of-care for mCRC relies on the combination of cytotoxic chemotherapy (5FU/FA, oxaliplatin, irinotecan) and biologic agents (anti VEGF(R) or anti-EGFR mon-oclonal antibodies) guided by the molecular profile of the tumor. Surgery or local tumor ablation may also play a role in the treatment of mCRC patients, especially those with oligometastatic disease. Several biomarkers, mostly predictive, are routinely used for mCRC 2,3. Activating RAS mutations (KRAS and NRAS), present in nearly 50% of mCRC cases, are negative predictive markers of anti-EGFR inhibitor efficacy (cetuximab, panitumumab) and RAS testing is now mandatory in all mCRC patients, from the first-line meta-static setting. V600E-BRAF mutation is a significant negative poor-prognostic marker for patients with mCRC and may be a negative predictive factor for anti-EGFR therapies

Semi-automatic PD-L1 Characterization and Enumeration of Circulating Tumor Cells from Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients by Immunofluorescence

International audienceCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) derived from the primary tumor are shed into the bloodstream or lymphatic system. These rare cells (1-10 cells per mL of blood) warrant a poor prognosis and are correlated with shorter overall survival in several cancers (e.g., breast, prostate and colorectal). Currently, the anti-EpCAM-coated magnetic bead-based CTC capturing system is the gold standard test approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for enumerating CTCs in the bloodstream. This test is based on the use of magnetic beads coated with anti-EpCAM markers, which specifically target epithelial cancer cells. Many studies have illustrated that EpCAM is not the optimal marker for CTC detection. Indeed, CTCs are a heterogeneous subpopulation of cancer cells and are able to undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) associated with metastatic proliferation and invasion. These CTCs are able to reduce the expression of cell surface epithelial marker EpCAM, while increasing mesenchymal markers such as vimentin. To address this technical hurdle, other isolation methods based on physical properties of CTCs have been developed. Microfluidic technologies enable a label-free approach to CTC enrichment from whole blood samples. The spiral microfluidic technology uses the inertial and Dean drag forces with continuous flow in curved channels generated within a spiral microfluidic chip. The cells are separated based on the differences in size and plasticity between normal blood cells and tumoral cells. This protocol details the different steps to characterize the programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression of CTCs, combining a spiral microfluidic device with customizable immunofluorescence (IF) marker set