Characterization of the cytotoxic effects of the combination of cisplatin and flavanol (-)-epicatechin on human lung cancer cell line A549. An isobolographic approach

Background: Among malignancies, lung cancer is a leading cause of death. Platinum-based therapeutic compounds used to treat lung cancer have not been able to increase the survival of patients and such compounds have a high incidence of adverse and toxic effects. It has been proposed that flavonoids such as catechins may significantly reduce the risk of developing cancer, alongside with other health benefits. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of (-)-epicatechin, the main flavanol found in cocoa, on the proliferation of the lung non-small cell adenocarcinoma cancer cell line A549, and to determine its effects when added simultaneously with cisplatin. Materials and Methods: Concentration-response curves for cisplatin and epicatechin were obtained, inhibitory concentrations calculated and an isobolographic analysis was then performed. Results: We found that epicatechin has a concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on proliferation of tumor cells and the isobolographic analysis reveals that the effect of its combination with cisplatin is synergistic. It was also observed that epicatechin promotes cell death by apoptosis. Conclusions: Epicatechin might be considered for future studies to explore its possible use as coadjuvant in cisplatin-based treatments

Thermal Liquid Biopsy (TLB) Focused on Benign and Premalignant Pancreatic Cyst Diagnosis

19 pags., 7 figs., 2 tabs. -- This article belongs to the Special Issue Gastrointestinal Cancers and Personalized MedicineBackground: Current efforts in the identification of new biomarkers are directed towards an accurate differentiation between benign and premalignant cysts. Thermal Liquid Biopsy (TLB) has been previously applied to inflammatory and tumor diseases and could offer an interesting point of view in this type of pathology. Methods: In this work, twenty patients (12 males and 8 females, average ages 62) diagnosed with a pancreatic cyst benign (10) and premalignant (10) cyst lesions were recruited, and biological samples were obtained during the endoscopic ultrasonography procedure. Results: Proteomic content of cyst liquid samples was studied and several common proteins in the different groups were identified. TLB cyst liquid profiles reflected protein content. Also, TLB serum score was able to discriminate between healthy and cysts patients (71% sensitivity and 98% specificity) and between benign and premalignant cysts (75% sensitivity and 67% specificity). Conclusions: TLB analysis of plasmatic serum sample, a quick, simple and non-invasive technique that can be easily implemented, reports valuable information on the observed pancreatic lesion. These preliminary results set the basis for a larger study to refine TLB serum score and move closer to the clinical application of TLB providing useful information to the gastroenterologist during patient diagnosis.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European ERDF Funds (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, EU) (BFU2016-78232-P to A.V.C.); Projects funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Union (ESF, ”Investing in your future”): “PI15/00663 (FIS project to O.A)”, “PI18/00349 (FIS project to O.A. and Contract to LC)”, “FI19/00146 (PFIS contract for SHD)”, “CPII13/00017 (Miguel Servet Program to OA)”; Diputación General de Aragón (Protein Targets and Bioactive Compounds Group E45_17R to A.V.C. and Digestive Pathology Group B25_17R to O.A.); and the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd).Peer reviewe

Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using 318 pb^{-1} of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We select ttbar decays into the final states e nu + jets and mu nu + jets, in which at least one b quark from the t-quark decays is identified using a secondary vertex-finding algorithm. Assuming a top quark mass of 178 GeV/c^2, we measure a cross section of 8.7 +-0.9 (stat) +1.1-0.9 (syst) pb. We also report the first observation of ttbar with significance greater than 5 sigma in the subsample in which both b quarks are identified, corresponding to a cross section of 10.1 +1.6-1.4(stat)+2.0-1.3 (syst) pb.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Review Letters, 7 page

Precision measurement of the top quark mass from dilepton events at CDF II

We report a measurement of the top quark mass, M_t, in the dilepton decay channel of $t\bar{t}\to b\ell'^{+}\nu_{\ell'}\bar{b}\ell^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb^{-1} of p\bar{p} collisions collected with the CDF II detector. We apply a method that convolutes a leading-order matrix element with detector resolution functions to form event-by-event likelihoods; we have enhanced the leading-order description to describe the effects of initial-state radiation. The joint likelihood is the product of the likelihoods from 78 candidate events in this sample, which yields a measurement of M_{t} = 164.5 \pm 3.9(\textrm{stat.}) \pm 3.9(\textrm{syst.}) \mathrm{GeV}/c^2, the most precise measurement of M_t in the dilepton channel.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, version includes changes made prior to publication by journa

Measurement of the Ratios of Branching Fractions B(Bs -> Ds pi pi pi) / B(Bd -> Dd pi pi pi) and B(Bs -> Ds pi) / B(Bd -> Dd pi)

Using 355 pb^-1 of data collected by the CDF II detector in \ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron, we study the fully reconstructed hadronic decays B -> D pi and B -> D pi pi pi. We present the first measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(Bs -> Ds pi pi pi) / B(Bd -> Dd pi pi pi) = 1.05 pm 0.10 (stat) pm 0.22 (syst). We also update our measurement of B(Bs -> Ds pi) / B(Bd -> Dd pi) to 1.13 pm 0.08 (stat) pm 0.23 (syst) improving the statistical uncertainty by more than a factor of two. We find B(Bs -> Ds pi) = [3.8 pm 0.3 (stat) pm 1.3 (syst)] \times 10^{-3} and B(Bs -> Ds pi pi pi) = [8.4 pm 0.8 (stat) pm 3.2 (syst)] \times 10^{-3}.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Cross Section Measurements of High-pTp_T Dilepton Final-State Processes Using a Global Fitting Method

We present a new method for studying high-$p_T$ dilepton events ($e^{\pm}e^{\mp}$, $\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$, $e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$) and simultaneously extracting the production cross sections of $p\bar{p} \to t\bar{t}$, $p\bar{p} \to W^+W^-$, and p\bar{p} \to \ztt at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV. We perform a likelihood fit to the dilepton data in a parameter space defined by the missing transverse energy and the number of jets in the event. Our results, which use $360 {\rm pb^{-1}}$ of data recorded with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, are $\sigma(t\bar{t}) = 8.5_{-2.2}^{+2.7}$ pb, $\sigma(W^+W^-) = 16.3^{+5.2}_{-4.4}$ pb, and \sigma(\ztt) =291^{+50}_{-46} pb.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, to be submitted to PRD-R

Top Quark Mass Measurement from Dilepton Events at CDF II with the Matrix-Element Method

We describe a measurement of the top quark mass using events with two charged leptons collected by the CDF II detector from $p\bar{p}$ collisions with $\sqrt s = 1.96$ TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The likelihood in top mass is calculated for each event by convoluting the leading order matrix element describing $q\bar{q} \to t\bar{t} \to b\ell\nu_{\ell}\bar{b}\ell'\nu_{\ell'}$ with detector resolution functions. The presence of background events in the data sample is modeled using similar calculations involving the matrix elements for major background processes. In a data sample with integrated luminosity of 340 pb$^{-1}$, we observe 33 candidate events and measure $M_{top} = 165.2 \pm 6.1(\textrm{stat.}) \pm 3.4(\textrm{syst.}) \mathrm{~GeV}/c^2.$ This measurement represents the first application of this method to events with two charged leptons and is the most precise single measurement of the top quark mass in this channel.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure

Search for New Physics in Lepton + Photon + X Events with L=305 pb-1 of ppbar Collisions at roots=1.96 TeV

We present results of a search for anomalous production of events containing a charged lepton (either electron or muon) and a photon, both with high transverse momentum, accompanied by additional signatures, X, including missing transverse energy (MET) and additional leptons and photons. We use the same kinematic selection criteria as in a previous CDF search, but with a substantially larger data set, 305 pb-1, a ppbar collision energy of 1.96 TeV, and the upgraded CDF II detector. We find 42 Lepton+Photon+MET events versus a standard model expectation of 37.3 +- 5.4 events. The level of excess observed in Run I, 16 events with an expectation of 7.6 +- 0.7 events (corresponding to a 2.7 sigma effect), is not supported by the new data. In the signature of Multi-Lepton+Photon+X we observe 31 events versus an expectation of 23.0 +- 2.7 events. In this sample we find no events with an extra photon or MET and so find no events like the one ee+gg+MET event observed in Run I.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted to PR