Agrobacterium radiobacter bacteremia in oncologic and geriatric patients: presentation of two cases and review of the literature

INTRODUCTION: We report here two cases of Agrobacterium radiobacter bacteremia. These cases were observed at the same institution over a short time period (3 months). CASE REPORTS: The first patient was a female cancer patient receiving third-line chemotherapy for ovarian carcinoma. When she developed bacteremia, she was neutropenic and had an indwelling catheter that was removed as part of the treatment. The second case was a geriatric patient admitted from home with bacteremia, clinical signs of septic shock, and concomitant acute cholecystitis. OUTCOME: Both patients responded promptly and completely to antibiotherapy. No recurrence was observed

Association of genes involved in carcass and meat quality traits in 15 European bovine breeds

Chantier qualité GAVariations in meat quality traits are under complex genetic control and improvement has been hampered by the difficulty in their measurement. Several QTL have been reported for different meat quality related traits, but few genes have been described which explain large amounts of the phenotypic variation. The use of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker panels with predictive value for carcass traits have been evaluated for cattle and SNP are commercially available even though their predictive accuracy may be low in different breeds. To identify new molecular markers for meat quality, an association study was performed in 15 breeds of cattle using 389 SNP belonging to 206 candidate genes known to be involved in muscle development, metabolism and structure. Fifty-four SNP belonging to 20 different genes were found associated with different growth, carcass and meat quality traits. Some of them were novel associations and other were replications of known associations. Among the former, the gene-network associated with the calpain/calpastatin system was shown to be associated with meat texture, although small effects are found for the examined polymorphisms. Novel associations also included SNP in AANAT which was associated with collagen (P=0.006), CAST with fatty acid muscle composition (P=0.00003), CYP1A1 with juiciness (P=0.0005), DGAT2 with physical traits (P=0.0009) and lipid content (P=0.01) in muscle, MADH3 with the myofibrilar fragmentation index (MFI) (P=0.01), NEB with weight (P=0.00009), PCSK1 with juiciness (P=0.002), PLOD3 with carcass performance (P=0.0009) and fatty acids (P=0.04), and PGAM2 and VIM with post-mortem maturation (P=0.00008 and 0.000005, respectively). These data provide a starting point to investigate the complex gene-networks underlying economically important traits which are of importance to the beef industry for the improvement of production efficiency and meat quality

Muscle lipid composition in bulls from 15 European breeds

International audienceCattle meat provides essential nutrients necessary for a balanced diet and health preservation. Besides nutritional quality, consumers' preferences are related to specific attributes such as tenderness, taste and flavour. The present study characterizes the fatty acid composition of beef, which is an important factor in both nutritional and quality values, in 15 European cattle breeds fed a similar diet and reared in five countries (United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy and Spain). The effect of possible slight differences on diet composition which might have occurred between countries were included in the breed effect which confounds country, diet, slaughter house and slaughter day as all individuals of a same breed were managed simultaneously. The wide range of breeds studied and the significant differences on lipid profile described here provide a broad characterization of beef meat, which allows giving a better response to the variety of consumers' preferences. Regarding meat health benefits, the groups that stand out are: the double-muscled animals, which displayed lower total fat, lower proportion of saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acids, and a higher proportion of polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids; and Limousin and Charolais breeds with a significantly higher conversion of 18:3n-3 PUFA to the long chain 22:6n-3 PUFA

Final results from PRIME : randomized phase III study of panitumumab with FOLFOX4 for first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer

Background: The Panitumumab Randomized trial In combination with chemotherapy for Metastatic colorectal cancer to determine Efficacy (PRIME) demonstrated that panitumumab-FOLFOX4 significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) versus FOLFOX4 as first-line treatment of wild-type (WT) KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), the primary end point of the study. Patients and methods: Patients were randomized 1:1 to panitumumab 6.0 mg/kg every 2 weeks + FOLFOX4 (arm 1) or FOLFOX4 (arm 2). This prespecified final descriptive analysis of efficacy and safety was planned for 30 months after the last patient was enrolled. Results: A total of 1183 patients were randomized. Median PFS for WT KRAS mCRC was 10.0 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 9.3-11.4 months] for arm 1 and 8.6months (95% CI 7.5-9.5 months) for arm 2; hazard ratio (HR) = 0.80; 95% CI 0.67-0.95; P = 0.01. Median overall survival (OS) forWT KRAS mCRC was 23.9 months (95%CI 20.3-27.7 months) for arm 1 and 19.7 months (95% CI 17.6-22.7 months) for arm 2; HR = 0.88; 95% CI 0.73-1.06; P=0.17 (68%OS events). An exploratory analysis of updated survival (>80%OS events) was carried out which demonstrated improvement in OS; HR = 0.83; 95%CI 0.70-0.98; P=0.03 forWT KRASmCRC. The adverse event profile was consistent with the primary analysis. Conclusions: In WT KRAS mCRC, PFS was improved, objective response was higher, and there was a trend toward improved OS with panitumumab-FOLFOX4, with significant improvement in OS observed in an updated analysis of survival in patients with WT KRAS mCRC treated with panitumumab + FOLFOX4 versus FOLFOX4 alone (P = 0.03). These data support a positive benefit-risk profile for panitumumab-FOLFOX4 for patients with previously untreated WT KRAS mCRC. KRAS testing is critical to select appropriate patients for treatment with panitumumab. \ua9 The Author 2014

Panitumumab-FOLFOX4 treatment and RAS mutations in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that harbors KRAS mutations in exon 2 do not benefit from anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. Other activating RAS mutations may also be negative predictive biomarkers for anti-EGFR therapy. METHODS: In this prospective-retrospective analysis, we assessed the efficacy and safety of panitumumab plus oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin (FOLFOX4) as compared with FOLFOX4 alone, according to RAS (KRAS or NRAS) or BRAF mutation status. A total of 639 patients who had metastatic colorectal cancer without KRAS mutations in exon 2 had results for at least one of the following: KRAS exon 3 or 4; NRAS exon 2, 3, or 4; or BRAF exon 15. The overall rate of ascertainment of RAS status was 90%. RESULTS: Among 512 patients without RAS mutations, progression-free survival was 10.1 months with panitumumab-FOLFOX4 versus 7.9 months with FOLFOX4 alone (hazard ratio for progression or death with combination therapy, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.58 to 0.90; P = 0.004). Overall survival was 26.0 months in the panitumumab-FOLFOX4 group versus 20.2 months in the FOLFOX4-alone group (hazard ratio for death, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.99; P = 0.04). A total of 108 patients (17%) with non-mutated KRAS exon 2 had other RAS mutations. These mutations were associated with inferior progression-free survival and overall survival with panitumumab-FOLFOX4 treatment, which was consistent with the findings in patients with KRAS mutations in exon 2. BRAF mutations were a negative prognostic factor. No new safety signals were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Additional RAS mutations predicted a lack of response in patients who received panitumumab-FOLFOX4. In patients who had metastatic colorectal cancer without RAS mutations, improvements in overall survival were observed with panitumumab-FOLFOX4 therapy