An unusual cause of alveolar hemorrhage post hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A case report

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is being increasingly used in cancer therapy. Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, an early complication of stem cell transplant, results from bacterial, viral and fungal infections, coagulopathy, and engraftment syndrome, or can be idiopathic. Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage associated with Strongyloides stercoralis hyperinfection in stem cell transplant patients has been rarely reported. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe an unusual cause of alveolar hemorrhage post hematopoietic stem cell transplant due to Strongyloides hyperinfection. Therapy with parenteral ivermectin and thiabendazole was initiated but the patient deteriorated and died of respiratory failure and septic shock. CONCLUSION: Strongyloides stercoralis hyperinfection is an unusual cause of alveolar hemorrhage early after hematopoietic stem cell transplant with very high mortality

Androgen receptor–negative human prostate cancer cells induce osteogenesis in mice through FGF9-mediated mechanisms

In prostate cancer, androgen blockade strategies are commonly used to treat osteoblastic bone metastases. However, responses to these therapies are typically brief, and the mechanism underlying androgen-independent progression is not clear. Here, we established what we believe to be the first human androgen receptor–negative prostate cancer xenografts whose cells induced an osteoblastic reaction in bone and in the subcutis of immunodeficient mice. Accordingly, these cells grew in castrated as well as intact male mice. We identified FGF9 as being overexpressed in the xenografts relative to other bone-derived prostate cancer cells and discovered that FGF9 induced osteoblast proliferation and new bone formation in a bone organ assay. Mice treated with FGF9-neutralizing antibody developed smaller bone tumors and reduced bone formation. Finally, we found positive FGF9 immunostaining in prostate cancer cells in 24 of 56 primary tumors derived from human organ-confined prostate cancer and in 25 of 25 bone metastasis cases studied. Collectively, these results suggest that FGF9 contributes to prostate cancer–induced new bone formation and may participate in the osteoblastic progression of prostate cancer in bone. Androgen receptor–null cells may contribute to the castration-resistant osteoblastic progression of prostate cancer cells in bone and provide a preclinical model for studying therapies that target these cells

Genomic reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England

AbstractThe evolution of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus leads to new variants that warrant timely epidemiological characterization. Here we use the dense genomic surveillance data generated by the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium to reconstruct the dynamics of 71 different lineages in each of 315 English local authorities between September 2020 and June 2021. This analysis reveals a series of subepidemics that peaked in early autumn 2020, followed by a jump in transmissibility of the B.1.1.7/Alpha lineage. The Alpha variant grew when other lineages declined during the second national lockdown and regionally tiered restrictions between November and December 2020. A third more stringent national lockdown suppressed the Alpha variant and eliminated nearly all other lineages in early 2021. Yet a series of variants (most of which contained the spike E484K mutation) defied these trends and persisted at moderately increasing proportions. However, by accounting for sustained introductions, we found that the transmissibility of these variants is unlikely to have exceeded the transmissibility of the Alpha variant. Finally, B.1.617.2/Delta was repeatedly introduced in England and grew rapidly in early summer 2021, constituting approximately 98% of sampled SARS-CoV-2 genomes on 26 June 2021.</jats:p