Bladder Cancer Markers and Recent Innovations

Bladder cancer (urothelial carcinoma) is the most common tumor of the urinary tract. It occurs more frequently among men about 65 years old on average. Two forms of the tumor are known: a non–muscle-invasive one and a muscle-invasive one. The latter turns out to be very aggressive with a survival of 5 years average. The non–muscle-invasive form frequently recurs (60–70%) and in 15% of cases, it progresses into the invasive form. The diagnosis is made mainly by cystoscopy and urine cytology. A high number of researches were dedicated in order to find a simple test using voided urine to frequently monitor possible tumor recurrence. During the last 10 years, many tests were proposed concerning either special proteins of which the most common are the bladder tumor antigen (BTA) and the nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP22) or the presence of genetic mutations [most frequently, fibroblasts growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) and TP53], alteration of DNA methylation, chromatin structure and, more recently, the presence of specific micro-RNA. Recently the analysis of lipids present in voided urine showed a difference in fatty acids between healthy individuals and those affected by non-invasive forms. These markers appear to have a high specificity and sensitivity: a deepening of these results could lead to the development of a test that avoids invasive treatment and the cost of cystoscopy

Advances in biotechnology: genomics and genome editing

Genomics, the study of genes, their functions and related techniques has become a crucial science for developing understanding of life processes and how they evolve. Since the advent of the human genome project, huge strides have been made in developing understanding of DNA and RNA sequence information and how it can be put to good use in the biotechnology sector. Newly derived sequencing and bioinformatics tools have added to the torrent of new insights gained, so that 'sequence once and query often' type DNA apps are now becoming reality. Genome editing, using tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease or Cpf1 nuclease, provide rapid methods for inserting, deleting or modifying DNA sequences in highly precise ways, in virtually any animal, plant or microbial system. Recent international discussions have considered human germline gene editing, amongst other aspects of this technology. Whether or not gene edited plants will be considered as genetically modified remains an important question. This will determine the regulatory processes adopted by different groups of nations and applicability to feeding the world's ever growing population. Questions surrounding the intellectual property rights associated with gene editing must also be resolved. Mitochondrial replacement therapy leading to '3-Parent Babies' has been successfully carried out in Mexico, by an international team, to correct mother to child mitochondrial disease transmission. The UK has become the first country to legally allow 'cautious use' of mitochondrial donation in treatment. Genomics and genome editing will continue to advance what can be achieved technically, whilst society determines whether or not what can be done should be applied

iga anticardiolipin in patients with gastroenteric tumor

Recently the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with cancer has been demonstrated, suggesting an involvement of autoimmune response in neoplastic conditions. The presence of antiphospholipid antibodies in tumor disease is highly correlated with the risk of developing thrombotic complications, which represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. Interestingly, it has been highlighted that high levels of IgM and IgG anticardiolipin antibodies are more often produced in patients with gastroenteric tumor than in patients with either ovarian or breast tumor. Thus far, there are no data looking into the role or measurements of IgA in patients with solid cancer. Our preliminary results, in this study, demonstrate that testing only for IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies may increase the incidence of false positive because 44% who were IgA positive and IgG and IgM negative had high titres of CA19.9 and CEA. We suggest that taking into account the role of IgA could substantially improve the detection of antiphospholipids antibodies in subjects with solid cancer, and this detection may allow us for better prevention and management of thrombotic complications in these patients

Phosphatidylcholine/sphingomyelin metabolism crosstalk inside the nucleus

International audienceIt is known that the phospholipids represent a "minor component" of chromatin. Recently it has been highlighted that these lipids are metabolised directly inside the nucleus thanks to the presence of the enzymes related to their metabolism such as neutral sphingomyelinase, sphingomyelin-synthase, reverse sphingomyelin-synthase and phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C. The chromatin enzymatic activities change during cell proliferation, differentiation and/or apoptosis independently of the enzyme activities present in the nuclear membrane, microsomes or cell membranes. The present research was aimed to investigate the crosstalk of the lipid metabolisms in nuclear membrane and chromatin isolated from rat liver in vitro and in vivo. The effect of neutral-sphingomyelinase activity on phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C and sphingomyelin-synthase, which enrich the intranuclear diacylglycerol pool and the effect of phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C activity on neutral sphingomyelinase and reverse sphingomyelin-synthase, which enrich the intranuclear ceramide pool, were investigated. The results show that in chromatin exists a phosphatidylcholine/sphingomyelin metabolism crosstalk which regulates the intranuclear ceramide/diacylglycerol pool. Its specificity was demonstrated by D609 inhibitor effect. The chromatin lipid metabolism is activated in vivo during cell proliferation indicating that it could play a role on cell function. The possible mechanism of the crosstalk was discussed considering the recent literature in the field

Perspectives of biotechnology

This paper presents our continuous-time Hierarchical Field Programmable Analogue Array (HFPAA) designed as a result of our research efforts to enable rapid prototyping for analogue system design. Here, we present our continuous-time configurable analogue block (CAB) used for our HFPAA, with increased flexibility in facilitating a hierarchical approach to analogue design and also in configuring target applications. This is achieved by minimising the dependence of our CAB on external passive components and with our hierarchical structure formed by “clustering” these CABs. On the basis of results from our first prototype HFPAA fabricated in AMS 0.6?m CMOS process, we also present our methodology of establishing the relationship between the routability of our HFPAA and the flexibility of its interconnection structures. The analysis of the hierarchical interconnection structure is performed using our algorithm we introduce here, as we believe there has been no prior work/methodology established for an HFPAA. Our algorithm for interconnectivity analysis of our HFPAA, is presented here. Work to date has established our design methodology and feasibility of our hierarchical approach to analogue system design

Current Applications of Biotechnology

This book is focused on the main aspects of biotechnology

Innovations in biotechnology

The main innovations in biotechnology are described