Microbiological Load of Selected Oral Liquid Pharmaceuticals

The microbiological quality of 24 samples of oral pharmaceuticals comprising antacids, cough and paracetamolsyrups purchased randomly from different drug stores operating in Abakaliki metropolis were assessed. They wereanalyzed by pour plate method. Their microbial load was determined using the viable cell count method. The resulting contaminating microorganisms were isolated and characterized by standard methods. The results revealed fungal and bacterial contaminations in 16 and 19 samples respectively. Contaminant bacteria include Bacillus spp.,Staphylococcus spp., E.coli, Proteus spp, Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas spp. with Staphylococcus spp. being the most predominant bacterial contaminant, while fungi contaminants were basically Mucor and Aspergillus species. The pH values of the analyzed drugs ranged from 5 to 9. The variations in the stated pH of sampled products were however, not justified in this work; thus queries the stated drug pH and why certain isolated organisms could grow on such pH outside their normal habitats’ pH. This study has shown therefore, that some oral pharmaceuticals sold in drug stores maybe heavily contaminated by varying microbial agents.Keywords: Oral, Pharmaceuticals, Bacteria, Fungi, Contamination

Elevated expression of STK3 mRNA and protein is associated with poor outcome in invasive breast cancer

Purpose of the study: The mammalian sterile 20-like kinase (MST2/STK3) and its close homologue MST1(STK4) are members of the germinal centre kinase group II (GCK II) family of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). High STK3 expression is known to be correlated with poor prognosis in various cancers playing a role in cell migration and invasion. This study aimed to determine correlations of STK3 expression with clinicopathological variables in BCs. Methods: STK3 mRNA expression was investigated in the METABRIC BC cohort (n=1980) and externally validated using online BC expression datasets [bc-GenExMiner v4.0]. STK3 protein expression was studied in a well characterised series of primary invasive BCs (n=1024) using immunohistochemistry including correlations with clinicopathological parameters, other biomarkers and patient outcome. Results: Copy number (CN) gain of STK3 was correlated with adverse prognostic features: higher grade and poor NPI (p<0.0001) High STK3 expression was also associated with poor prognostic factors, including high grade, younger age, larger tumour size, poorer NPI and negative ER/PR status (p<0.001). In PAM50 subtypes, high STK3 expression was associated with Luminal B/basal like tumours. Cytoplasmic STK3(c-STK3) protein expression was associated with increased mitotic index, poorer NPI (p<0.001) and basal-like markers CK5/6 and EGFR (p<0.05). In univariate analysis, high c-STK3 expression showed poorer outcome in the whole cohort and ER+ subgroups (p<0.05). Pooled STK3 gene expression data in the external validation cohort confirmed association with poor outcome (p<0.0001, HR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.28–2.01). Conclusions: Results suggest c-STK3 as a poor prognostic marker in invasive BC including ER+ subgroups warranting further functional studies

Cell division cycle 25C (CDC25C) expression confers poor prognosis in invasive breast cancer

Background: CDC25C, belonging to the Cdc25 phosphatase family, plays a major role in cell cycle control, impacting on DNA repair and apoptosis. It has been shown that poor prognosis/copy number high Luminal A breast cancers (BCs) are enriched for the Aurora kinase pathway including CDC25C leading to CDK1 activation (Ciriello et al, Breast Cancer Research Treatment, 2013:409). This study examined the associations of CDC25C with clinicopathological and molecular features in BCs including the low grade ER positive cohort. Methodology: CDC25C mRNA expression was studied in the METABRIC BC cohort (n=1980) and externally validated using online expression datasets [bc-GenExMiner v4.0]. CDC25C protein expression level was assessed immunohistochemically on a large annotated series of BC (n= 1330) and correlations made with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcome. Results: High CDC25C expression was significantly associated with poor prognostic factors including high grade, large tumour size, medullary like tumours, poorer NPI, ER-/PR- Her2+ status (p<0.001) and was differentially expressed in poor prognosis integrative clusters 5 and 10 (p<0.001). Cytoplasmic CDC25C (c-CDC25C) protein showed positive association with non-NST and non-medullary tumour subtypes while nuclear CDC25C (n-CDC25C) negatively associated with tumour stage (p<0.05). There was no association with ER, PR status, NPI and lymph nodes. However, high c-CDC25C resulted in poor survival at 20 years in the Grade 1 ER+ cohort (p=0.007), while high n-CDC25C showed better long term survival (p<0.001). Pooled CDC25C expression data in the external validation cohort showed an association with poor outcome (p<0.0001, HR = 1.45, 95 % CI 1.28—1.64). Conclusion: CDC25C appears to be associated with poor prognosis in BC including the Grade 1 ER+ cohort, indicating the importance of further functional analyses