Bellis prostrata Pomel (Asteraceae), a new species for Morocco

Investigations conducted in temporary wetlands of the coastal Meseta of W Morocco (Benslimane region) lead to the discovery of Bellis prostrata in a small endoreic temporary pool (ca. 1 ha) of the quartzitic-limestone plateau of Benslimane

Un nouveau cytochrome polyhemique de haut poids moleculaire isole de Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough: caracterisation et etudes structurales

SIGLEINIST T 74085 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Four vs six cycles of docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (TC) in early stage triple-negative breast cancer

Background: ABC trials established the use of non-anthracycline containing regimen, docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (TC) in the adjuvant setting in early stage breast cancer. In clinical practice, TC is commonly used in Stage I Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). However, no specific recommendations exist in literature, regarding the number of cycles that can be used. i.e. TC4 vs TC6. Our aim, was to determine if TC4 is noninferior to TC6 when used as adjuvant therapy in early stage TNBC. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 77 patients who were diagnosed with early stage TNBC between 2007 to 2017, at our institution who had received either TC4 or TC6 as adjuvant therapy. The number of cycles the patients received were based on provider preference. The two groups (TC4, TC6) were compared in regard to stage of cancer at diagnosis based on AJCC 7t hedition, grade of adverse events, recurrence and death from breast cancer recurrence. Results: Out of 77 patients, based on T stage, 25 (32.5%) were T1b, 38(49.4%) were T1c, 13(16.9%) were T2 and 1 (1.3%) was T3. All patients were node negative. 53(68.8%) received TC4 and 24(31.2%) received TC6. Regarding side effects, adverse of any grade were seen in 42(79.2%) patients who received TC4 and 23(95.8%) in patients who received TC6(p=0.091). Adverse events which were grade 3 or higher were seen in 7(15.9%) in TC4 group and 3(13%) in the TC6 group (p=1.000). Recurrence in the TC4 group was seen in 4 patients (7.5%) and 3(12.5%) patient in the TC6 group (p=0.259). Death due to breast cancer recurrence was seen in 1 patient (1.9%) in the TC4 group and 1(4.1%) patient in the TC6 group. Conclusions: In this limited series, TC4 appears to be equally effective to TC6, with fewer adverse events of any grade. However, a longer follow up and a larger patient base is required to be studied for a more definitive conclusion

PTEN increases autophagy and inhibits the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in glioma cells independently of its lipid phosphatase activity.

Two major mechanisms of intracellular protein degradation, autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, operate in mammalian cells. PTEN, which is frequently mutated in glioblastomas, is a tumor suppressor gene that encodes a dual specificity phosphatase that antagonizes the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase class I/AKT/mTOR pathway, which is a key regulator of autophagy. Here, we investigated in U87MG human glioma cells the role of PTEN in the regulation of autophagy and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, because both are functionally linked and are relevant in cancer progression. Since U87MG glioma cells lack a functional PTEN, we used stable clones that express, under the control of a tetracycline-inducible system (Tet-on), wild-type PTEN and two of its mutants, G129E-PTEN and C124S-PTEN, which, respectively, lack the lipid phosphatase activity only and both the lipid and the protein phosphatase activities of this protein. Expression of PTEN in U87MG glioma cells decreased proteasome activity and also reduced protein ubiquitination. On the contrary, expression of PTEN increased the autophagic flux and the lysosomal mass. Interestingly, and although PTEN negatively regulates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase class I/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway by its lipid phosphatase activity, both effects in U87MG cells were independent of this activity. These results suggest a new mTOR-independent signaling pathway by which PTEN can regulate in opposite directions the main mechanisms of intracellular protein degradation

Lipophilic Toxin Profile in Mytilus galloprovincialis from the North Atlantic Coast of Morocco: LC-MS/MS and Mouse Bioassay Analyses

Forthe Moroccan Phycotoxins Monitoring that is part of theSafety of theCoastal Monitoring Network(RSSL),shellfish sampleswereharvestedfromdifferentlocations at NorthAtlantic of Morocco whereharmful algaeblooms were known to have occurred. Forallshellfishsamples found positive by themouse bioassay fordiarrheicshellfishpoisoning(DSP)toxins,liquid chromatography coupled to tandem massspectrometry(LC-MS-MS) in order to search thefollowinglipophilictoxins: okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxins(DTXs), pectenotoxins(PTXs), azaspiracids(AZAs), yessotoxins(YTXs), spirolides(SPXs) and gymnodimines (GYMs).Theresultsrevealeddifferentlipophilictoxinprofiles as a function of theshellfish sampling location. It has beennoticed that allthesamples contained OA and its derivativesnamed dinophysistoxins(DTXs). In addition, other lipophilictoxinswerefound in shellfishsamples:(YTXs), and pectenotoxins(PTX-2, PTX-2-seco-acid and 7- epi-PTX-2-seco-acid) on theNorthAtlantic coast .This paper reports on thefirstdetection of YTXs,PTXsGYMs and their derivatives in Moroccan shellfish

PTEN expression in U87MG cells increases the formation of autophagosomes.

<p><b>A</b>) U87MG cells expressing WT-PTEN, C124S-PTEN and G129E-PTEN or mock-treated were incubated in high (H) or low (L) proteolysis media (see Materials and Methods) for 2 h in the presence of lysosomal inhibitors (100 µM leupeptin and 20 mM NH₄Cl). Extracts (75 µg protein) were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblot, with low and high exposure (exp.), using an antibody against LC3 and, as a loading control, an antibody that recognizes actin. A representative experiment is shown. The position of LC3-I and LC3-II bands are indicated on the left and molecular weight markers are indicated on the right. The histogram on the right shows the means ± SD of the densitometric analysis of the LC3-II/actin ratios from five different experiments. Stars indicate statistically significant differences from the corresponding (high or low proteolysis conditions) values in mock-treated cells at **<i>p</i><0.01 and ***<i>p</i><0.005. <b>B</b>) Representative fluorescent images of the indicated cell lines transitorily expressing EGFP-LC3 (at 48 h post-transfection) and incubated under high proteolysis conditions for 2 h. Quantification of autophagy by counting the number of EGFP-LC3 dots in the transfected cells (see Materials and Methods) is shown on the right. Stars indicate statistically significant differences from mock-treated cells at ***<i>p</i><0.005. Bar: 20 µm.</p