Somewhere in between: blogging as an intermediate and accessible space

The learning process involves contextualising new knowledge with prior experiences and beliefs. In the scientific discipline, the focus of learning is geared towards learning how to do science, but there are significant barriers to learning, including jargonised terminology and excessive use of acronyms. Scientific discoveries are made by experimentation, but science as a discipline progresses through a series of ongoing conversations. Blogging provides a platform that widens access to these conversations by communicating science in a style of writing that sits somewhere in between the formal and informal. Regenring scientific writing as a blog can enhance student learning by breaking down the barriers to learning posed by ‘intellectually inaccessible’ information. Here, I describe an experimental approach to teaching cancer biology by regenring a classic review article in the field as a series of blog pieces, using everyday metaphors and analogies to describe the characteristics and behaviour of cancer cells. Other aspects of discipline, identity, ‘voice’ and communities of practice are also considered. Until such time as blogging is recognised as a valid academic output, however, it will remain firmly somewhere in between

Cancer-associated fibroblasts in undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a putative role for the EBV-encoded oncoprotein, LMP1

Undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is 100% associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection, and biopsies display variable levels of expression of the viral oncoprotein, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1). Emerging evidence suggests an important role for cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the NPC tumour microenvironment, yet the interaction between the virus, its latent gene products and the recruitment and activation of CAFs in the NPC tumour stroma remains unclear. This short review will discuss the current evidence for the importance of CAFs in NPC pathogenesis and outline a putative role for the EBV-encoded oncoprotein, LMP1, in governing tumour–stromal interactions

Epstein–Barr Virus

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous gamma herpesvirus aetiologically linked to different lymphoid and epithelial malignancies and a number of systemic autoimmune diseases. The virus has a unique ability to transform resting B lymphocytes in vitro by expressing a set of latent genes, subsets of which are present in EBV‐associated tumours. EBV exploits the physiology of normal B‐cell differentiation to persist within the memory B‐cell pool of the immunocompetent host with strong T‐cell responses important for controlling EBV infection. Immunosuppressed transplant recipients and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infected individuals are at increased risk of developing EBV‐transformed B‐cell proliferations which often present as monoclonal non‐Hodgkin lymphomas. The major EBV‐associated tumours (Burkitt lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma) show restricted forms of latent viral gene expression reflecting a more complex pathogenesis involving additional cofactors. A number of pharmacological and immunotherapeutic approaches are being developed to treat or prevent these EBV‐associated tumours

Visualising your research with infographics: theory and practice

Visualising your research with infographics: theory and practic

Determining conditions for successful culture of multi-cellular 3D tumour spheroids to investigate the effect of mesenchymal stem cells on breast cancer cell invasiveness

Mesenchymal stem cells have been widely implicated in tumour development and metastases. Moving from the use of two-dimensional (2D) models to three-dimensional (3D) to investigate this relationship is critical to facilitate more applicable and relevant research on the tumour microenvironment. We investigated the effects of altering glucose concentration and the source of foetal bovine serum (FBS) on the growth of two breast cancer cell lines (T47D and MDA-MB-231) and human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) to determine successful conditions to enable their co-culture in 3D tumour spheroid models. Subsequently, these 3D multicellular tumour spheroids were used to investigate the effect of hBM-MSCs on breast cancer cell invasiveness. Findings presented herein show that serum source had a statistically significant effect on two thirds of the growth parameters measured across all three cell lines, whereas glucose only had a statistically significant effect on 6%. It was determined that the optimum growth media composition for the co-culture of 3D hBM-MSCs and breast cancer cell line spheroids was 1 g/L glucose DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS from source A. Subsequent results demonstrated that co-culture of hBMMSCs and MDA-MB-231 cells dramatically reduced invasiveness of both cell lines (F(1,4) = 71.465, p = 0.001) when embedded into a matrix comprising of growth-factor reduced base membrane extract (BME) and collagen

Identification of research priorities in exercise oncology: a consensus study

The growth of research in the field of exercise oncology has resulted in a large evidence base for the role of physical activity in preventing and managing cancer outcomes. Nonetheless, there remain many unanswered questions across the multidisciplinary field. This study aimed to determine the priority research questions within exercise oncology using a systematic consensus method. Forty-seven exercise oncology experts engaged in the five-step process of the Nominal Group Technique to generate a list of research questions in small groups and rank the 10 most important. One hundred questions resulted from the process and fifteen received total scores (sum of ranks) of at least 50 from a maximum score of 470. The highest ranked question (score of 125) related to the identification of functional markers of recovery. The next five questions concerned minimum exercise parameters, health professional education, translation of behavioural interventions, effects of exercise on the tumour microenvironment and development of in vitro models to study the impact of exercise on cancer cell growth and metastasis. The study has demonstrated the importance of future research across all disciplinary areas of exercise oncology and identified the priority questions to which resources might be directed

The Epstein-Barr virus encoded LMP1 oncoprotein modulates cell adhesion via regulation of activin A/TGFβ and β1 integrin signalling

Approximately 20% of global cancer incidence is causally linked to an infectious agent. EpsteinBarr virus (EBV) accounts for around 1% of all virus-associated cancers and is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), the major oncoprotein encoded by EBV, behaves as a constitutively active tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptor activating a variety of signalling pathways, including the three classic MAPKs (ERK-MAPK, p38 MAPK and JNK/SAPK). The present study identifes novel signalling properties for this integral membrane protein via the induction and secretion of activin A and TGFβ1, which are both required for LMP1’s ability to induce the expression of the extracellular matrix protein, fbronectin. However, it is evident that LMP1 is unable to activate the classic Smad-dependent TGFβ signalling pathway, but rather elicits its efects through the non-Smad arm of TGFβ signalling. In addition, there is a requirement for JNK/SAPK signalling in LMP1-mediated fbronectin induction. LMP1 also induces the expression and activation of the major fbronectin receptor, α5β1 integrin, an efect that is accompanied by increased focal adhesion formation and turnover. Taken together, these fndings support the putative role for LMP1 in the pathogenesis of NPC by contributing to the metastatic potential of epithelial cells

Supplementary information files for Mind-body therapies adjuvant to chemotherapy improve quality of life and fatigue in top cancers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

https://doi.org/10.17028/rd.lboro.24681255 © the authors, CC-BY 4.0Supplementary files for article Mind-body therapies adjuvant to chemotherapy improve quality of life and fatigue in top cancers: A systematic review and meta-analysisBackgroundBreast, lung and colorectal cancers are 3 of the top 4 most common cancers worldwide. Their treatment with chemotherapy often results in adverse effects on quality of life, fatigue and functional exercise capacity amongst patients. Mind-body therapies, including yoga, Tai chi and Qigong, are commonly used as complementary and alternative therapies in cancer. This meta-analysis evaluates the effects of yoga, Tai chi and Qigong in alleviating the adverse effects of chemotherapy.MethodsVarious databases were systematically interrogated using specific search terms, returning 1901 manuscripts. Removal of duplicates, irrelevant studies, those lacking available data and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria reduced this number to 9 manuscripts for inclusion in the final meta-analyses. Mean differences were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes using RStudio.ResultsThis is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to demonstrate significant improvements in fatigue for colorectal cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with a reduction of −1.40 (95 % CI: −2.24 to −0.56; p = 0.001) observed in mind-body therapy intervention groups.ConclusionYoga, Tai chi and Qigong could all be implemented alongside adjuvant therapies to alleviate the adverse effects on colorectal cancer patient fatigue during chemotherapy treatment.Review registrationThis systematic review and meta-analysis is registered on InPlasy: registration number INPLASY202390035; doi: https://doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2023.9.0035</p

Mind-body therapies adjuvant to chemotherapy improve quality of life and fatigue in top cancers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Breast, lung and colorectal cancers are 3 of the top 4 most common cancers worldwide. Their treatment with chemotherapy often results in adverse effects on quality of life, fatigue and functional exercise capacity amongst patients. Mind-body therapies, including yoga, Tai chi and Qigong, are commonly used as complementary and alternative therapies in cancer. This meta-analysis evaluates the effects of yoga, Tai chi and Qigong in alleviating the adverse effects of chemotherapy. Methods Various databases were systematically interrogated using specific search terms, returning 1901 manuscripts. Removal of duplicates, irrelevant studies, those lacking available data and applying inclusion/exclusion criteria reduced this number to 9 manuscripts for inclusion in the final meta-analyses. Mean differences were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes using RStudio. Results This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to demonstrate significant improvements in fatigue for colorectal cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with a reduction of −1.40 (95 % CI: −2.24 to −0.56; p = 0.001) observed in mind-body therapy intervention groups. Conclusion Yoga, Tai chi and Qigong could all be implemented alongside adjuvant therapies to alleviate the adverse effects on colorectal cancer patient fatigue during chemotherapy treatment. Review registration This systematic review and meta-analysis is registered on InPlasy: registration number INPLASY202390035; doi: https://doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2023.9.0035</p

An exploration of the role of exercise in modulating breast cancer progression in vitro (a systematic review and meta-analysis)

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide. In the UK, approximately 5% of all breast cancers are already metastatic at the time of diagnosis. An abundance of literature shows exercise can have beneficial effects on the outcome and prognosis of breast cancer patients, yet the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. There are several in vitro models that aim to recapitulate the response of breast cancer to exercise in vivo: this systematic review and meta-analysis summarises the existing literature. Methods: The following search terms were used to conduct a systematic literature search using a collection of databases (last search performed May 2020): 'in vitro' and 'exercise' and 'breast cancer'. Only studies that investigated the effects of exercise on breast cancer in vitro were included. Standardised mean differences (SMD) were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes. Results: This meta-analysis has successfully demonstrated that various identified exercise interventions on breast cancer cells in vitro significantly reduced breast cancer cell viability, proliferation, and tumourigenic potential (SMD: -1.76, p = 0.004, SMD: -2.85, p = 0.003 and SMD: -3.15, p = 0.0008, respectively). A clear direction of effect was found with exercise on breast cancer cell migration in vitro, however this effect was not significant (SMD: -0.62, p = 0.317). Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis and systematic review investigating and summarising literature on exercise and breast cancer in vitro, highlighting models used and priority areas for future research focus