Prognostic significance of DNA cytometry in cutaneous malignant lymphomas.

The current classification of cutaneous malignant lymphomas (ML) into low-grade and high-grade lymphomas was found to be of limited reproducibility and permitted only a rough prediction about outcome. With this in mind, the relationship between nuclear DNA content and both prognosis and histologic grading according to the Kiel classification was evaluated on Feulgen-stained imprint specimens. In all, 49 cases of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, primary of the skin or with an involvement of the skin as one of the first symptoms, were studied using a computerized high-resolution image analysis system. The 2c deviation index (2cDI), which reflects the variation of the nuclear DNA values around the normal diploid peak, was found to be the best prognostically relevant criterion. Using the 2cDI, a significant discrimination (P less than 0.001 in the U test) between low-grade and high-grade ML was achieved. The prognostic benefit of the 2cDI was well documented by a significant inverse correlation between the 2cDI and the period of time until the patients progressed at least into one higher stage or died of lymphoma (r equals -0.63, P less than 0.05). In addition, the 2cDI enabled prognosis of the course of disease. In the group with low 2cDI values (2cDI, less than 0.5), no progression of the disease was observed after 1 year. In the groups presenting with a 2cDI between 0.5 and 1.0 and higher than 1.0, a progression was found in 57% and 64% of the cases studied, respectively. In conclusion, these measurements indicate that the determination of DNA distribution patterns in imprint specimens allows a precise and objective prognostic evaluation of cutaneous ML

From basic mechanisms to clinical applications in heart protection, new players in cardiovascular diseases and cardiac theranostics: meeting report from the third international symposium on "New frontiers in cardiovascular research"

In this meeting report, particularly addressing the topic of protection of the cardiovascular system from ischemia/reperfusion injury, highlights are presented that relate to conditioning strategies of the heart with respect to molecular mechanisms and outcome in patients' cohorts, the influence of co-morbidities and medications, as well as the contribution of innate immune reactions in cardioprotection. Moreover, developmental or systems biology approaches bear great potential in systematically uncovering unexpected components involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury or heart regeneration. Based on the characterization of particular platelet integrins, mitochondrial redox-linked proteins, or lipid-diol compounds in cardiovascular diseases, their targeting by newly developed theranostics and technologies opens new avenues for diagnosis and therapy of myocardial infarction to improve the patients' outcome

Impact of intravenous heparin on quantification of circulating microRNAs in patients with coronary artery disease

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that are detectable in plasma and serum. Circulating levels of microRNAs have been measured in various studies related to cardiovascular disease. Heparin is a potential confounder of microRNA measurements due to its known interference with polymerase chain reactions. In this study, platelet-poor plasma was obtained from patients undergoing cardiac catheterisation for diagnostic coronary angiography, or for percutaneous coronary intervention, both before and after heparin administration. Heparin had pronounced effects on the assessment of the exogenous C. elegans spike-in control (decrease by approx. 3 cycles), which disappeared 6 hours after the heparin bolus. Measurements of endogenous microRNAs were less sensitive to heparin medication. Normalisation of individual microRNAs with the average cycle threshold value of all microRNAs provided a suitable alternative to normalisation with exogenous C. elegans spike-in control in this setting. Thus, both the timing of blood sampling relative to heparin dosing and the normalisation procedure are critical for reliable microRNA measurements in patients receiving intravenous heparin. This has to be taken into account when designing studies to investigate the relation of circulating microRNAs to acute cardiovascular events or coronary intervention