Correction: CD93 is expressed on chronic myeloid leukemia stem cells and identifies a quiescent population which persists after tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy

Correction to: Leukemia https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-019-0684-

Spondin-2 (SPON2), a More Prostate-Cancer-Specific Diagnostic Biomarker

BACKGROUND: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, although common, has recently been called into question. To find prostate cancer (PCa) diagnostic biomarkers that can make up for the defects of PSA, we compared the secretomes of several benign and PCa cell lines, selected candidate molecules, and then confirmed their clinical value. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first identified extracellular proteins by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) identification. We then validated the secreted proteins on a cellular level, and finally determined whether they could be used as PCa diagnostic biomarkers using prostate tissue and serum specimens of Chinese volunteers by immunohistostaining and sandwich ELISA. We obtained credible extracellular protein 2-DE graphs of prostate cell lines. The 5 spots that showed superior repeatability were selected for LC-MS/MS analysis, which identified seven candidate molecules. One of the candidate molecules, spondin-2 (SPON2), was only expressed in the conditioned media (CM) of androgen receptor (AR) positive PCa cell lines. Using tissue microarray by immunohistostaining, we found SPON2 to be over-expressed in PCa. SPON2 staining was more intense in Gleason score sum 7-8 and in PCa patients with metastasis. By receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, we found that the serum SPON2 level was elevated in PCa patients, showing sensitivity and specificity suitable for diagnostic use. We also found that SPON2 could be used to identify PCa patients with serum PSA levels no higher than 10 ng/ml from healthy elderly men. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: SPON2 is a new serum and histological diagnostic biomarker for PCa. It can avoid some of the problems of PSA testing and was here found to offer relatively high sensitivity and specificity relative to PSA

“I would rather be told than not know” - A qualitative study exploring parental views on identifying the future risk of childhood overweight and obesity during infancy

BACKGROUND: Risk assessment tools provide an opportunity to prevent childhood overweight and obesity through early identification and intervention to influence infant feeding practices. Engaging parents of infants is paramount for success however; the literature suggests there is uncertainty surrounding the use of such tools with concerns about stigmatisation, labelling and expressions of parental guilt. This study explores parents' views on identifying future risk of childhood overweight and obesity during infancy and communicating risk to parents. METHODS: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 parents and inductive, interpretive and thematic analysis performed. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged from the data: 1) Identification of infant overweight and obesity risk. Parents were hesitant about health professionals identifying infant overweight as believed they would recognise this for themselves, in addition parents feared judgement from health professionals. Identification of future obesity risk during infancy was viewed positively however the use of a non-judgemental communication style was viewed as imperative. 2) Consequences of infant overweight. Parents expressed immediate anxieties about the impact of excess weight on infant ability to start walking. Parents were aware of the progressive nature of childhood obesity however, did not view overweight as a significant problem until the infant could walk as viewed this as a point when any excess weight would be lost due to increased energy expenditure. 3) Parental attributions of causality, responsibility, and control. Parents articulated a high level of personal responsibility for preventing and controlling overweight during infancy, which translated into self-blame. Parents attributed infant overweight to overfeeding however articulated a reluctance to modify infant feeding practices prior to weaning. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to explore the use of obesity risk tools in clinical practice, the findings suggest that identification, and communication of future overweight and obesity risk is acceptable to parents of infants. Despite this positive response, findings suggest that parents' acceptance to identification of risk and implementation of behaviour change is time specific. The apparent level of parental responsibility, fear of judgement and self-blame also highlights the importance of health professionals approach to personalised risk communication so feelings of self-blame are negated and stigmatisation avoided

Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis of chromosomal aberrations in gastric tissue: the potential involvement of Helicobacter pylori

In this series of experiments, a novel protocol was developed whereby gastric cells were collected using endoscopic cytology brush techniques, and prepared, such that interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) could be performed. In total, 80 distinct histological samples from 37 patients were studied using four chromosome probes (over 32 000 cells analysed). Studies have previously identified abnormalities of these four chromosomes in upper GI tumours. Using premalignant tissues, we aimed to determine how early in Correa's pathway to gastric cancer these chromosome abnormalities occurred. Aneuploidy of chromosomes 4, 8, 20 and 17(p53) was detected in histologically normal gastric mucosa, as well as in gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia and cancer samples. The levels of aneuploidy increased as disease severity increased. Amplification of chromosome 4 and chromosome 20, and deletion of chromosome 17(p53) were the more common findings. Hence, a role for these abnormalities may exist in the initiation of, and the progression to, gastric cancer. Helicobactor pylori infection was determined in premalignant tissue using histological analysis and PCR technology. Detection rates were comparable. PCR was used to subtype H. pylori for CagA status. The amplification of chromosome 4 in gastric tissue was significantly more prevalent in H. pylori-positive patients (n=7) compared to H. pylori-negative patients (n=11), possibly reflecting a role for chromosome 4 amplification in H. pylori-induced gastric cancer. The more virulent CagA strain of H. pylori was associated with increased disease pathology and chromosomal abnormalities, although numbers were small (CagA+ n=3, CagA− n=4). Finally, in vitro work demonstrated that the aneuploidy induced in a human cell line after exposure to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) hydrogen peroxide was similar to that already shown in the gastric cancer pathway, and may further strengthen the hypothesis that H. pylori causes gastric cancer progression via an ROS-mediated mechanism

Polycomb-mediated silencing in neuroendocrine prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is a highly aggressive subtype of prostate cancer (PCa) for which the median survival remains less than a year. Current treatments are only palliative in nature, and the lack of suitable pre-clinical models has hampered previous efforts to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Addressing this need, we have recently established the first in vivo model of complete neuroendocrine transdifferentiation using patient-derived xenografts. Few genetic differences were observed between parental PCa and relapsed NEPC, suggesting that NEPC likely results from alterations that are epigenetic in nature. Thus, we sought to identify targetable epigenetic regulators whose expression was elevated in NEPC using genome-wide profiling of patient-derived xenografts and clinical samples. RESULTS: Our data indicate that multiple members of the polycomb group (PcG) family of transcriptional repressors were selectively upregulated in NEPC. Notably, CBX2 and EZH2 were consistently the most highly overexpressed epigenetic regulators across multiple datasets from clinical and xenograft tumor tissues. Given the striking upregulation of PcG genes and other transcriptional repressors, we derived a 185-gene list termed 'neuroendocrine-associated repression signature' (NEARS) by overlapping transcripts downregulated across multiple in vivo NEPC models. In line with the striking upregulation of PcG family members, NEARS was preferentially enriched with PcG target genes, suggesting a driving role for PcG silencing in NEPC. Importantly, NEARS was significantly associated with high-grade tumors, metastatic progression, and poor outcome in multiple clinical datasets, consistent with extensive literature linking PcG genes and aggressive disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: We have explored the epigenetic landscape of NEPC and provided evidence of increased PcG-mediated silencing associated with aberrant transcriptional regulation of key differentiation genes. Our results position CBX2 and EZH2 as potential therapeutic targets in NEPC, providing opportunities to explore novel strategies aimed at reversing epigenetic alterations driving this lethal disease

Growth and weight status in treatment-naïve 12-16 year old adolescents with Alcohol Use Disorders in Cape Town, South Africa

The original publication is available at http://www.nutritionj.com/Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.Abstract: Background Heavy alcohol consumption during adolescence has many known harmful health and social consequences and is strongly associated with numerous health risk behaviours. The consequences of heavy alcohol use during adolescence on nutritional status, specifically growth and weight status are largely unknown at this time. Methods Substance use, anthropometric indices of growth and weight, dietary energy intake and physical activity in heavy drinking adolescents (meeting DSM-IV criteria for alcohol use disorders) and matched light/non-drinking control adolescents were assessed. Results Lifetime alcohol dose, measured in standard drinks of alcohol, was orders of magnitude higher in adolescents with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) compared to controls. The AUDs group was selected to represent relatively 'pure' AUDs, with minimal other drug use and no psychiatric diagnoses. The growth and weight status of adolescents with AUDs were generally comparable to that of controls, and is in line with the growth and weight status of the South African adolescent population. A greater proportion of overweight/obese females was found in both groups, with this percentage tending to be greater, although not significantly so, in the AUDs group. Adolescent females with AUDs had increased odds of being overweight/obese compared to controls, after adjustment for smoking, physical activity and energy intake. Conclusion Anthropometric indices of growth and weight status of participants in the Control and AUD groups were generally comparable. Female adolescents with AUDs may have an increased risk of being overweight/obese compared to adolescent females without AUDs. The presence of an AUD in our adolescent sample was associated with higher energy intake. Longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate the effects of heavy alcohol use on energy balance, growth and weight status in adolescents as they age. Nonetheless, the current study contributes to our understanding of the impacts of heavy alcohol consumption on important aspects of adolescent development.Publishers' versio

Defining the Functional Domain of Programmed Cell Death 10 through Its Interactions with Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-Trisphosphate

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) are vascular abnormalities of the central nervous system predisposing blood vessels to leakage, leading to hemorrhagic stroke. Three genes, Krit1 (CCM1), OSM (CCM2), and PDCD10 (CCM3) are involved in CCM development. PDCD10 binds specifically to PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 and OSM. Using threading analysis and multi-template modeling, we constructed a three-dimensional model of PDCD10. PDCD10 appears to be a six-helical-bundle protein formed by two heptad-repeat-hairpin structures (α1–3 and α4–6) sharing the closest 3D homology with the bacterial phosphate transporter, PhoU. We identified a stretch of five lysines forming an amphipathic helix, a potential PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 binding site, in the α5 helix. We generated a recombinant wild-type (WT) and three PDCD10 mutants that have two (Δ2KA), three (Δ3KA), and five (Δ5KA) K to A mutations. Δ2KA and Δ3KA mutants hypothetically lack binding residues to PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 at the beginning and the end of predicted helix, while Δ5KA completely lacks all predicted binding residues. The WT, Δ2KA, and Δ3KA mutants maintain their binding to PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. Only the Δ5KA abolishes binding to PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. Both Δ5KA and WT show similar secondary and tertiary structures; however, Δ5KA does not bind to OSM. When WT and Δ5KA are co-expressed with membrane-bound constitutively-active PI3 kinase (p110-CAAX), the majority of the WT is co-localized with p110-CAAX at the plasma membrane where PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 is presumably abundant. In contrast, the Δ5KA remains in the cytoplasm and is not present in the plasma membrane. Combining computational modeling and biological data, we propose that the CCM protein complex functions in the PI3K signaling pathway through the interaction between PDCD10 and PtdIns(3,4,5)P3