Epidermal growth factor, latrophilin, and seven transmembrane domain-containing protein 1 marker, a novel angiogenesis marker

Florentina Serban, Stefan-Alexandru Artene, Ada Maria Georgescu, Stefana Oana Purcaru, Daniela Elise Tache, Oana Alexandru, Anica Dricu Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania Abstract: Epidermal growth factor, latrophilin, and seven transmembrane domain-containing protein 1 on chromosome 1 (ELTD1), an orphan adhesion G-protein coupled receptor, was reported as a regulator of angiogenesis, also involved in cancer progression and development. More recently, ELTD1 was identified as a potential new tumor marker for high-grade glioma. ELTD1, belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor superfamily that comprises the biggest receptor family in the human genome. Following the discovery of ELTD1 almost a decade ago, only a few research groups have attempted to find its role in normal and tumor cells, important information about this receptor remaining still unknown. The ELTD1 ligand has not currently been identified and intracellular signaling studies have not yet been performed in normal or tumor cells. Although the current published data on ELTD1 function and structure are rather limited, this receptor seems to be very important, not only as biomarker, but also as molecular target in glioblastoma. This review summarizes and discusses the current knowledge on ELTD1 structure, function, and its role in both physiological and tumoral angiogenesis. Keywords: ELTD1, angiogenesis, glioma, biomarke

Dendritic cell immunotherapy versus bevacizumab plus irinotecan in recurrent malignant glioma patients: a survival gain analysis

Stefan-Alexandru Artene,1 Adina Turcu-Stiolica,2 Richard Hartley,1 Marius Eugen Ciurea,3 Oana Daianu,1 Corina Brindusa,1 Oana Alexandru,4 Ligia Gabriela Tataranu,5 Stefana Oana Purcaru,1 Anica Dricu1 1Unit of Biochemistry, 2Department of Biostatistics, 3Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 4Department of Neurology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, 5Department of Neurosurgery, “Bagdasar–Arseni” Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania Background: The bevacizumab and irinotecan protocol is considered a standard treatment regimen for recurrent malignant glioma. Recent advances in immunotherapy have hinted that vaccination with dendritic cells could become an alternative salvage therapy for the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma.Methods: A search was performed on PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Embase in order to identify studies with patients receiving bevacizumab plus irinotecan or dendritic cell therapy for recurrent malignant gliomas. The data obtained from these studies were used to perform a systematic review and survival gain analysis.Results: Fourteen clinical studies with patients receiving either bevacizumab plus irinotecan or dendritic cell vaccination were identified. Seven studies followed patients that received bevacizumab plus irinotecan (302 patients) and seven studies included patients that received dendritic cell immunotherapy (80 patients). For the patients who received bevacizumab plus irinotecan, the mean reported median overall survival was 7.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.84–10.16) months. For the patients who received dendritic cell immunotherapy, the mean reported median overall survival was 17.9 (95% CI 11.34–24.46) months. For irinotecan + bevacizumab group, the mean survival gain was -0.02±2.00, while that for the dendritic cell immunotherapy group was -0.01±4.54.Conclusion: For patients with recurrent malignant gliomas, dendritic cell immunotherapy treatment does not have a significantly different effect when compared with bevacizumab and irinotecan in terms of survival gain (P=0.535) and does not improve weighted survival gain (P=0.620). Keywords: malignant glioma, irinotecan, bevacizumab, dendritic cell, systematic analysi