Phenolic compounds present in Sardinian wine extracts protect against the production of inflammatory cytokines induced by oxysterols in CaCo-2 human enterocyte-like cells.

Cholesterol auto-oxidation products, namely oxysterols, are widely present in cholesterol-rich foods. They are thought to potentially interfere with homeostasis of the human digestive tract, playing a role in intestinal mucosal damage. This report concerns the marked up-regulation in differentiated CaCo-2 colonic epithelial cells of two key inflammatory interleukins, IL-6 and IL-8, caused by a mixture of oxysterols representative of a high cholesterol diet. This strong pro-inflammatory effect appeared to be dependent on the net imbalance of red-ox equilibrium with the production of excessive levels of reactive oxygen species through the colonic NADPH-oxidase NOX1 activation. Induction of NOX1 was markedly while not fully inhibited by CaCo-2 cell pre-incubation with phenolic extracts obtained from well-selected wines from typical grape varieties grown in Sardinia. Oxysterol-dependent NOX1 activation, as well as interleukin synthesis, were completely prevented by Cannonau red wine extract that contains an abundant phenolic fraction, in particular phenolic acids and flavonoids. Conversely, cell pre-treatment with Vermentino white wine extract with smaller phenolic fraction showed only a partial NOX1 down-regulation and was ineffective in interleukin synthesis induced by dietary oxysterols. It is thus likely that the effects of Sardinian wine extracts against intestinal inflammation induced by dietary oxysterols are mainly due to their high phenolic content: low doses of phenolics would be responsible only for direct scavenging oxysterol-dependent ROS production. Besides this direct activity, an excess of phenolic compounds detectable in red wine, may exert an additional indirect action by blocking oxysterol-related NOX1 induction, thus totally preventing the pro-oxidant and proinflammatory events triggered by dietary oxysterols

Multiplexed Evaluation of Microdosed Antineoplastic Agents In Situ in the Tumor Microenvironment of Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma

PURPOSE: A persistent issue in cancer drug development is the discordance between robust antitumor drug activity observed in laboratory models and the limited benefit frequently observed when patients are treated with the same agents in clinical trials. Difficulties in accurately modeling the complexities of human tumors may underlie this problem. To address this issue, we developed Comparative In Vivo Oncology (CIVO), which enables in situ investigation of multiple microdosed drugs simultaneously in a patient's tumor. This study was designed to test CIVO's safety and feasibility in patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a single arm, prospective, 13-patient pilot study. Patients scheduled for incisional biopsy or tumor resection were CIVO-injected 1 to 3 days prior to surgery. Saline or microdoses of anticancer agents were percutaneously injected into the tumor in a columnar fashion through each of eight needles. Following excision, drug responses were evaluated in the injected tissue. RESULTS: The primary objective was met, establishing CIVO's feasibility and safety. Device-related adverse events were limited to transient grade 1 nonserious events. In addition, biomarker evaluation of localized tumor response to CIVO microinjected drugs by IHC or with NanoString GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler demonstrated consistency with known mechanisms of action of each drug, impact on the tumor microenvironment, and historic clinical activity. CONCLUSIONS: These results are an advance toward use of CIVO as a translational research tool for early evaluation of investigational agents and drug combinations in a novel approach to phase 0 trials.See related commentary by Sleijfer and Lolkema, p. 3897