3,671 research outputs found
Peripheral ENO1-specific T cells mirror the intratumoral immune response and their presence is a potential prognostic factor for pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive disease with an average survival of 4-6 months following diagnosis. Surgical resection is the only treatment with curative intent, but resectable PDAC patients are in the minority. Also, unlike other neoplasms, PDAC is resistant to conventional and targeted chemotherapy. Innovative treatments, such as immunotherapy, can be very important and the study of the immune response is fundamental. We previously demonstrated that PDAC patients show tumor-infiltrating T cells specific to a-enolase (ENO1), a glycolytic enzyme over expressed by pancreatic tumor cells, which plays an important role in promoting cell migration and cancer metastasis. In the present study, we evaluate the functional anticancer proprieties of ENO1-specific T cells isolated from the peripheral blood of PDAC patients. Furthermore, comparing the T cell receptor repertoire of ENO1-specific peripheral and infiltrating tumor T cells from the same patient suggests that ENO1-specific T cells, despite having a different functional profile, can recirculate from the tumor to the periphery. Finally, of clinical relevance, the presence of peripheral ENO1-specific T cells has a prognostic value and significantly correlates with a longer survival
Prognostic value of gender and primary tumor location in metastatic colon cancer
Sex might influence prognosis in patients affected by colorectal cancer. We retrospectively studied a cohort of patients affected by metastatic colon cancer (mCC) stratified by sex and primary tumor location. RAS mutational status was also included in the analysis. Overall, 616 patients met the eligibility criteria, 261 women and 355 men. Neither gender, nor RAS mutational status influenced overall survival (OS) in the entire population. As expected, patients with right-sided colon cancer (RCC) had a significant shorter OS compared to those with left-sided colon cancer (LCC) (21.3 vs 33.1 months, p= 0.002). When the analysis was performed stratifying for gender, RCC retained worse prognosis among men (OS 20.5 vs 33.9 months, p= 0.008), but not among women (p= 0.132). Similarly, the presence of RAS mutations had no prognostic effect in women, but was significantly associate with shorter survival in men (OS 29.5 vs 33.7 months, p= 0.046). In addition, when comparing clinical outcome of women or men according to sidedness and RAS mutational status, RCC was associated with dismal prognosis only in men with RAS mutated tumor (OS 17.2 vs 32.3 months, p= 0.008). Our study highlights the importance of gender in the outcome of patients with mCC
Micrometeoroid Events in LISA Pathfinder
The zodiacal dust complex, a population of dust and small particles that
pervades the Solar System, provides important insight into the formation and
dynamics of planets, comets, asteroids, and other bodies. Here we present a new
set of data obtained using a novel technique: direct measurements of momentum
transfer to a spacecraft from individual particle impacts. This technique is
made possible by the extreme precision of the instruments flown on the LISA
Pathfinder spacecraft, a technology demonstrator for a future space-based
gravitational wave observatory that operated near the first Sun-Earth Lagrange
point from early 2016 through Summer of 2017. Using a simple model of the
impacts and knowledge of the control system, we show that it is possible to
detect impacts and measure properties such as the transferred momentum (related
to the particle's mass and velocity), direction of travel, and location of
impact on the spacecraft. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic
search for impacts during 4348 hours of Pathfinder data. We report a total of
54 candidates with momenta ranging from 0.2 to
230. We furthermore make a comparison of these candidates
with models of micrometeoroid populations in the inner solar system including
those resulting from Jupiter-family comets, Oort-cloud comets, Hailey-type
comets, and Asteroids. We find that our measured population is consistent with
a population dominated by Jupiter-family comets with some evidence for a
smaller contribution from Hailey-type comets. This is in agreement with
consensus models of the zodiacal dust complex in the momentum range sampled by
LISA Pathfinder.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, accepted in Ap
Isolation of Flow and Nonflow Correlations by Two- and Four-Particle Cumulant Measurements of Azimuthal Harmonics in 200 GeV Au+Au Collisions
A data-driven method was applied to measurements of Au+Au collisions at
200 GeV made with the STAR detector at RHIC to isolate
pseudorapidity distance -dependent and -independent
correlations by using two- and four-particle azimuthal cumulant measurements.
We identified a component of the correlation that is -independent,
which is likely dominated by anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations. It was
also found to be independent of within the measured range of
pseudorapidity . The relative flow fluctuation was found to be for particles of transverse momentum
less than GeV/. The -dependent part may be attributed to
nonflow correlations, and is found to be relative to the
flow of the measured second harmonic cumulant at
Charged-to-neutral correlation at forward rapidity in Au+Au collisions at =200 GeV
Event-by-event fluctuations of the ratio of inclusive charged to photon
multiplicities at forward rapidity in Au+Au collision at =200
GeV have been studied. Dominant contribution to such fluctuations is expected
to come from correlated production of charged and neutral pions. We search for
evidences of dynamical fluctuations of different physical origins. Observables
constructed out of moments of multiplicities are used as measures of
fluctuations. Mixed events and model calculations are used as baselines.
Results are compared to the dynamical net-charge fluctuations measured in the
same acceptance. A non-zero statistically significant signal of dynamical
fluctuations is observed in excess to the model prediction when charged
particles and photons are measured in the same acceptance. We find that, unlike
dynamical net-charge fluctuation, charge-neutral fluctuation is not dominated
by correlation due to particle decay. Results are compared to the expectations
based on the generic production mechanism of pions due to isospin symmetry, for
which no significant (<1%) deviation is observed.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Beam energy dependent two-pion interferometry and the freeze-out eccentricity of pions in heavy ion collisions at STAR
We present results of analyses of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions
at = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4 and 200 GeV measured in the
STAR detector as part of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan program. The extracted
correlation lengths (HBT radii) are studied as a function of beam energy,
azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane, centrality, and transverse mass
() of the particles. The azimuthal analysis allows extraction of the
eccentricity of the entire fireball at kinetic freeze-out. The energy
dependence of this observable is expected to be sensitive to changes in the
equation of state. A new global fit method is studied as an alternate method to
directly measure the parameters in the azimuthal analysis. The eccentricity
shows a monotonic decrease with beam energy that is qualitatively consistent
with the trend from all model predictions and quantitatively consistent with a
hadronic transport model.Comment: 27 pages; 27 figure
Beam-energy dependence of charge separation along the magnetic field in Au+Au collisions at RHIC
Local parity-odd domains are theorized to form inside a Quark-Gluon-Plasma
(QGP) which has been produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The local
parity-odd domains manifest themselves as charge separation along the magnetic
field axis via the chiral magnetic effect (CME). The experimental observation
of charge separation has previously been reported for heavy-ion collisions at
the top RHIC energies. In this paper, we present the results of the beam-energy
dependence of the charge correlations in Au+Au collisions at midrapidity for
center-of-mass energies of 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV from the STAR
experiment. After background subtraction, the signal gradually reduces with
decreased beam energy, and tends to vanish by 7.7 GeV. The implications of
these results for the CME will be discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Lett (more model
comparisons have been added in version 2
Energy dependence of acceptance-corrected dielectron excess mass spectrum at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at and 200 GeV
The acceptance-corrected dielectron excess mass spectra, where the known
hadronic sources have been subtracted from the inclusive dielectron mass
spectra, are reported for the first time at mid-rapidity in
minimum-bias Au+Au collisions at = 19.6 and 200 GeV. The excess
mass spectra are consistently described by a model calculation with a broadened
spectral function for GeV/. The integrated
dielectron excess yield at = 19.6 GeV for
GeV/, normalized to the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity, has
a value similar to that in In+In collisions at = 17.3 GeV. For
= 200 GeV, the normalized excess yield in central collisions is
higher than that at = 17.3 GeV and increases from peripheral to
central collisions. These measurements indicate that the lifetime of the hot,
dense medium created in central Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
is longer than those in peripheral collisions and at lower energies.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Measurement of longitudinal spin asymmetries for weak boson production in polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC
We report measurements of single- and double- spin asymmetries for
and boson production in longitudinally polarized collisions
at GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The asymmetries for
were measured as a function of the decay lepton pseudorapidity, which
provides a theoretically clean probe of the proton's polarized quark
distributions at the scale of the mass. The results are compared to
theoretical predictions, constrained by recent polarized deep inelastic
scattering measurements, and show a preference for a sizable, positive up
antiquark polarization in the range .Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Physical Review Letters; replaced
with published versio
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