A djuvant treatment in patients at high risk of recurrence of thymoma: Efficacy and safety of a three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy regimen

The clinical benefits of postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for patients with thymoma are still controversial. In the absence of defined guidelines, prognostic factors such as stage, status of surgical margins, and histology are often considered to guide the choice of adjuvant treatment (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy). In this study, we describe our single-institution experience of three-dimensional conformal PORT administered as adjuvant treatment to patients with thymoma. METHODS: Twenty-two consecutive thymoma patients (eleven male and eleven female) with a median age of 52 years and treated at our institution by PORT were analyzed. The patients were considered at high risk of recurrence, having at least one of the following features: stage IIB or III, involved resection margins, or thymic carcinoma histology. Three-dimensional conformal PORT with a median total dose on clinical target volume of 50 (range 44-60) Gy was delivered to the tumor bed by 6-20 MV X-ray of the linear accelerator. Follow-up after radiotherapy was done by computed tomography scan every 6 months for 2 years and yearly thereafter. RESULTS: Two of the 22 patients developed local recurrence and four developed distant metastases. Median overall survival was 100 months, and the 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 83% and 74%, respectively. Median disease-free survival was 90 months, and the 5-year recurrence rate was 32%. On univariate analysis, pathologic stage III and presence of positive surgical margins had a significant impact on patient prognosis. Radiation toxicity was mild in most patients and no severe toxicity was registered. CONCLUSION: Adjuvant radiotherapy achieved good local control and showed an acceptable toxicity profile in patients with high-risk thymoma

Comment on Kopańska et al. Disorders of the Cholinergic System in COVID-19 Era—A Review of the Latest Research. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 672

We read the recent review article by Marta Kopańska et al. [...

Influence of Hermetia illucens meal dietary inclusion on the histological traits, gut mucin composition and the oxidative stress biomarkers in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Insect protein meals are considered as a promising alternative feedstuff in aquafeeds, but until now the effects induced by its dietary inclusion on histological features, gut mucin composition and oxidative stress in fish are still not assessed. In the present study, we describe these effects after inclusion of a partially defatted Hermetia illucens (HI) larvae meal in Oncorhynchus mykiss diets. Three isoproteic, isolipidic and isoenergetics diets were formulated containing HI larvae meal in partial substitution of fish meal: 0% (HI0, control diet), 25% (HI25) and 50% (HI50), corresponding to dietary inclusion levels of 0, 20% and 40% of HI. Fish were fed for 78\u202fdays with the experimental diets and at the end of the growing trial, histological and histochemical evaluations were performed on spleen, liver and gut samples of control and treatment groups. Oxidative stress biomarkers, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidases, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione reductase, total glutathione and malondialdehyde were investigated in liver and kidney of experimental groups. Histopathological examination of liver, spleen and gut revealed no adverse effects following increasing levels of insect meal inclusions. Hermetia illucens consumption stimulated higher production of neutral than acidic mucins. Altered values of several antioxidant biomarkers indicated an unbalance of oxidative homeostasis in liver and mainly in kidney, linked to the feeding conditions. While lowering of glutathione peroxidase activity may reflect slight adverse effect of HI meals in both tissues, strengthening in levels of ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, glutathione S-transferase and total glutathione may indicate the shielding of HI meals-mediated oxidative process. Although the administration of both inclusion levels of insect meal did not negatively affect the histological features in fish, the changes of oxidative stress biomarkers advise for an HI dietary inclusion lower than 20%

Design and Characterization of a Peptide Mimotope of the HIV-1 gp120 Bridging Sheet

The Bridging Sheet domain of HIV-1 gp120 is highly conserved among the HIV-1 strains and allows HIV-1 binding to host cells via the HIV-1 coreceptors. Further, the bridging sheet domain is a major target to neutralize HIV-1 infection. We rationally designed four linear peptide epitopes that mimic the three-dimensional structure of bridging sheet by using molecular modeling. Chemically synthesized peptides BS3 and BS4 showed a fair degree of antigenicity when tested in ELISA with IgG purified from HIV+ broadly neutralizing sera while the production of synthetic peptides BS1 and BS2 failed due to their high degree of hydrophobicity. To overcome this limitation, we linked all four BS peptides to the COOH-terminus of GST protein to test both their antigenicity and immunogenicity. Only the BS1 peptide showed good antigenicity; however, no envelope specific antibodies were elicited upon mice immunization. Therefore we performed further analyses by linking BS1 peptide to the NH2-terminus of the E2 scaffold from the Geobacillus Stearothermophylus PDH complex. The E2-BS1 fusion peptide showed good antigenic results, however only one immunized rabbit elicited good antibody titers towards both the monomeric and oligomeric viral envelope glycoprotein (Env). In addition, moderate neutralizing antibodies response was elicited against two HIV-1 clade B and one clade C primary isolates. These preliminary data validate the peptide mimotope approach as a promising tool to obtain an effective HIV-1 vaccine