9 research outputs found
High-grade ovarian serous carcinoma patients exhibit profound alterations in lipid metabolism
Ovarian cancer is a very severe type of disease with poor prognosis. Treatment of ovarian cancer is challenging because of the lack of tests for early detection and effective therapeutic targets. Thus, new biomarkers are needed for both diagnostics and better understanding of the cellular processes of the disease. Small molecules, consisting of metabolites or lipids, have shown emerging potential for ovarian cancer diagnostics. Here we performed comprehensive lipidomic profiling of serum and tumor tissue samples from high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients to find lipids that were altered due to cancer and also associated with progression of the disease. Ovarian cancer patients exhibited an overall reduction of most lipid classes in their serum as compared to a control group. Despite the overall reduction, there were also specific lipids showing elevation, and especially alterations in ceramide and triacylglycerol lipid species were dependent on their fatty acyl side chain composition. Several lipids showed progressive alterations in patients with more advanced disease and poorer overall survival, and outperformed CA-125 as prognostic markers. The abundance of many serum lipids correlated with their abundance in tumor tissue samples. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation of serum lipids with 3-hydroxybutyric acid, suggesting an association between decreased lipid levels and fatty acid oxidation. In conclusion, here we present a comprehensive analysis of lipid metabolism alterations in ovarian cancer patients, with clinical implications.Peer reviewe
Human Vestibular Cortex as Identified with Caloric Stimulation in fMRI
Anatomische und elektrophysiologische Studien an Affen haben eine detaillierte
Vorstellung kortikaler Areale mit vestibulÀren Afferenzen ergeben. Dabei ist
festzuhalten, dass es im Unterschied zu anderen sensorischen Systemen keinen
primÀr vestibulÀren Kortex gibt, sondern die Verarbeitung vestibulÀrer Signale
in eine Reihe mulitsensorischer Areale erfolgt. Beim Menschen ist die Kenntnis
ĂŒber die kortikale Verarbeitung vestibulĂ€rer Signale unvollstĂ€ndig. In der
vorgelegten Arbeit nutzten wir den BOLD-Kontrast der funktionellen
Kernspintomographie nach seitengetrennter kalorische Stimulation als Surrogat-
Marker kortikaler vestibulÀrer Signalverarbeitung im Menschen. Im Hinblick auf
die empirisch belegte Asymmetrie kortikaler ReprÀsentation rÀumlicher
Aufmerksamkeit galt unser Interesse dabei auch einer möglichen
HemisphĂ€rendominanz vestibulĂ€rer Signalverarbeitung. Die an fĂŒnf gesunden
RechtshÀndern erhobenen Daten wurden sowohl einer Gruppenanalyse als einer
individuellen Analyse unterzogen. Zur Gruppenanalyse wurden die individuellen
DatensÀtze in eine standardisierte dreidimensionale Matrix, den sogenannten
âTalairach-Raumâ, transformiert und die Ergebnisse auf der rekonstruierten
OberflĂ€che eines standardisierten Gehirns des âMontrĂ©al Neurological
Instituteâ visualisiert. Bei der Individualanalyse wurden die Daten auf einer
individuellen Kortex-Rekonstruktion der jeweiligen Probanden dargestellt. Die
statistische Auswertung erfolgte innerhalb beider Analysen anhand des
âAllgemeinen Linearen Modellsâ. Es gelang uns, eine Reihe umschriebener
kortikaler Areale mit signifikantem BOLD-Signal-Anstieg bei vestibulÀrer
Stimulation zu identifizieren. Auf beiden HemisphÀren zeigten sich
lokalisationssymmetrisch BOLD-Signal-Anstiege im Bereich der Insel, des
Temporallappens, des Parietallappens, des Sulcus centralis und -praecentralis,
des Okzipitallappens, des Frontallappens und des Cingulums. Subkortikal wurden
Aktivierungen im Bereich der Nuclei pulvinares des medial-posterioren
Thalamus, des Nucleus caudatus, des Globus pallidus lateralis sowie des
Putamens aufgezeigt. Unter Bezugnahme auf andere tierexperimentelle und human
bildgebende Arbeiten versuchten wir eine Zuordnung der von uns
identifizierten, an vestibulÀrer Signalverarbeitung beteiligten Areale in
Anlehnung an die etablierte Nomenklatur: So konnte das in der hinteren
Inselregion gelegene aktivierte Areal als humanes Homolog des parieto-
insulÀren vestibulÀren Kortex (hPIVC) identifiziert werden. Des Weiteren
belegen Aktivierungen im posterioren Bereich des Gyrus bzw. Sulcus temporalis
superior und im Bereich des Sulcus temporalis inferior die Bedeutung des
Temporallappens bei der Verarbeitung vestibulÀre Signale. Es wurden
potentielle Homologe der bei Affen beschriebenen vestibulÀr assoziierten
Regionen Area 2v, 7, LIP und VIP im Bereich des Ăbergang vom Sulcus
postcentralis zum Sulcus intraparietalis bzw. des kaudalen Pols des Sulcus
intraparietalis identifiziert. Die im Bereich der Gyri occipitales laterales
gefundenen BOLD-Signal-Anstiege stellen vermutlich den humanen MT/MST-Komplex
dar, fĂŒr den bisher am Menschen keine SensitivitĂ€t gegenĂŒber vestibulĂ€ren
Reizen nachgewiesen wurde. Die Aktivierungen im Bereich des Sulcus centralis
und praecentralis entsprechen möglicherweise der Area 3a. Im Bereich des
Operculum frontoparietale wurde ein BOLD-Signal-Anstieg nachgewiesen, der die
humane âpremotor region 6â reprĂ€sentiert, ein im kaudalen Anteil des Sulcus
frontalis superior gelegenes Aktivierungsareal ist dem frontalen Augenfeld
zuzuordnen. Die Aktivierung der humanen Homologe der Areale 3a, 2v und PIVC
durch vestibulÀre Stimulation lÀsst die Integration der vestibulÀren Signale
innerhalb eines âinneren vestibulĂ€ren Kreisesâ, wie er bei Primaten
beschrieben ist, auch beim Menschen vermuten. UnabhÀngig von der
Stimulationsseite zeigte sich in vorliegender Arbeit ein deutliches Ăberwiegen
der rechtshemisphÀrischen Signalantworten auf vestibulÀre Stimulation. Dies
steht im Einklang mit der aktuell vorherrschenden Auffassung eines
rechtshemisphÀrisch dominant organisierten kortikalen Netzwerkes der
rÀumlichen Orientierung.Anatomic and electrophysiological studies in monkeys have yielded a detailed
map of cortex areas receiving vestibular afferents. In contrast, comparatively
little is known about the cortical representation of the human vestibular
system. In this study we applied caloric stimulation and fMRI to further
characterize human cortical vestibular areas and to test for hemispheric
dominance of vestibular information processing. For caloric vestibular
stimulation we used cold nitrogen in order to avoid susceptibility artifacts
induced by water calorics. Right and left side vestibular stimulation was
repetitively performed inducing a nystagmus for at least 90 s after the end of
the stimulation in all subjects. Only the first 60 s of this nystagmus period
were included for statistical analysis and compared with the baseline
condition. Activation maps revealed a cortical network, which in all subjects
comprised the temporo-parietal junction extending into the posterior insula,
furthermore the anterior insula, pre- and postcentral gyrus, areas in the
parietal lobe, the ventrolateral portion of the occipital lobe, and the
inferior frontal gyrus extending into the inferior part of the precentral
sulcus. These structures represent the major cortical areas involved in
vestibular cortical signal processing as identified by animal experiments.
Furthermore, this study demonstrated a strong right hemispheric dominance of
vestibular cortex areas regardless of the stimulated side, consistent with the
current view of a rightward asymmetrical cortical network for spatial
orientation. We conclude that caloric stimulation is a suitable method for the
investigation of the vestibular system with fMRI
Preoperative malnutrition as criteria for tumor resection completeness and overall survival in patients with ovarian cancer: Results of a prospective study.
Autoantibodies (AA) against the EGF/EGFR and VEGFA/VEGFR1 as prognosticator in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients.
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High-grade ovarian serous carcinoma patients exhibit profound alterations in lipid metabolism.
Ovarian cancer is a very severe type of disease with poor prognosis. Treatment of ovarian cancer is challenging because of the lack of tests for early detection and effective therapeutic targets. Thus, new biomarkers are needed for both diagnostics and better understanding of the cellular processes of the disease. Small molecules, consisting of metabolites or lipids, have shown emerging potential for ovarian cancer diagnostics. Here we performed comprehensive lipidomic profiling of serum and tumor tissue samples from high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients to find lipids that were altered due to cancer and also associated with progression of the disease. Ovarian cancer patients exhibited an overall reduction of most lipid classes in their serum as compared to a control group. Despite the overall reduction, there were also specific lipids showing elevation, and especially alterations in ceramide and triacylglycerol lipid species were dependent on their fatty acyl side chain composition. Several lipids showed progressive alterations in patients with more advanced disease and poorer overall survival, and outperformed CA-125 as prognostic markers. The abundance of many serum lipids correlated with their abundance in tumor tissue samples. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation of serum lipids with 3-hydroxybutyric acid, suggesting an association between decreased lipid levels and fatty acid oxidation. In conclusion, here we present a comprehensive analysis of lipid metabolism alterations in ovarian cancer patients, with clinical implications
Accumulated Metabolites of Hydroxybutyric Acid Serve as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Ovarian High-Grade Serous Carcinomas.
Ovarian cancer is a heterogeneous disease of low prevalence, but poor survival. Early diagnosis is critical for survival, but it is often challenging because the symptoms of ovarian cancer are subtle and become apparent only during advanced stages of the disease. Therefore, the identification of robust biomarkers of early disease is a clinical priority. Metabolomic profiling is an emerging diagnostic tool enabling the detection of biomarkers reflecting alterations in tumor metabolism, a hallmark of cancer. In this study, we performed metabolomic profiling of serum and tumor tissue from 158 patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) and 100 control patients with benign or non-neoplastic lesions. We report metabolites of hydroxybutyric acid (HBA) as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers associated with tumor burden and patient survival. The accumulation of HBA metabolites caused by HGSOC was also associated with reduced expression of succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (encoded by ALDH5A1), and with the presence of an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition gene signature, implying a role for these metabolic alterations in cancer cell migration and invasion. In conclusion, our findings represent the first comprehensive metabolomics analysis in HGSOC and propose a new set of metabolites as biomarkers of disease with diagnostic and prognostic capabilities