A Simple, Effective Technique for Port-Site Closure After Laparoscopy

The authors describe a technique that allows suture of the abdominal fascia at sites using a transcurtaneous approach and standard surgical instruments

Chemotherapy accelerates immune-senescence and functional impairments of Vδ2pos T cells in elderly patients affected by liver metastatic colorectal cancer.

Human (gamma delta) γδ T cells are unconventional innate-like lymphocytes displaying a broad array of anti-tumor activities with promising perspectives in cancer immunotherapy. In this context, Vδ2pos T cells represent the preferential target of several immunotherapy protocols against solid tumors. However, the impact of both aging and chemotherapy (CHT) on Vδ2pos T cells is still unknown. The present study evaluates with multi-parametric flow cytometry the frequencies, terminal differentiation, senescence and effector-functions of peripheral blood and tumor infiltrating Vδ2pos T cells purified from liver metastases (CLM) of patients affected by colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to those of sex- and age-matched healthy donors. The peripheral blood of CLM patients underwent CHT is characterized by decreased amounts of Vδ2pos T cells showing a relative increase of terminally-differentiated CD27neg/CD45RApos (TEMRA) cells. The enrichment of this latter subset is associated with an increased expression of the senescent marker CD57. The acquisition of CD57 on TEMRA Vδ2pos T cells is also coupled with impairments in cytotoxicity and production of TNF-α and IFN-γ. These features resemble the acquisition of an immune-senescent profile by Vδ2pos T cells from CLM patients that received CHT, a phenomenon that is also associated with the loss of the co-stimulatory marker CD28 and with the induced expression of CD16. The group of CLM patients underwent CHT and older than 60 years old showed higher frequencies of CD57pos and TEMRA Vδ2pos T cells. Similar results were found for tumor infiltrating Vδ2pos T cell subset purified from CLM specimens of patients treated with CHT. The toxicity of CHT regimens also affects the homeostasis of Vδ2pos T cells by inducing higher frequencies of circulating CD57pos TEMRA subset in CLM underwent CHT and younger than 60 years old. Taken together, our data demonstrate that the enrichment of senescent Vδ2pos T cells in CLM patients is not only induced by patients' aging but also by the toxicity of CHT that further accelerates the accumulation of CD57pos TEMRA cells highly dysfunctional in their anti-tumor activities. These results are important to both predict the clinical outcome of CLM and to optimize those protocols of cell cancer immunotherapy employing unconventional Vδ2pos T cells

Scanning electrochemical microscopy as a local probe of oxygen permeability in cartilage

The use of scanning electrochemical microscopy, a high-resolution chemical imaging technique, to probe the distribution and mobility of solutes in articular cartilage is described. In this application, a mobile ultramicroelectrode is positioned close (not, vert, similar1 μm) to the cartilage sample surface, which has been equilibrated in a bathing solution containing the solute of interest. The solute is electrolyzed at a diffusion-limited rate, and the current response measured as the ultramicroelectrode is scanned across the sample surface. The topography of the samples was determined using Ru(CN)64−, a solute to which the cartilage matrix was impermeable. This revealed a number of pit-like depressions corresponding to the distribution of chondrocytes, which were also observed by atomic force and light microscopy. Subsequent imaging of the same area of the cartilage sample for the diffusion-limited reduction of oxygen indicated enhanced, but heterogeneous, permeability of oxygen across the cartilage surface. In particular, areas of high permeability were observed in the cellular and pericellular regions. This is the first time that inhomogeneities in the permeability of cartilage toward simple solutes, such as oxygen, have been observed on a micrometer scale

Hepatobiliary surgeons meet immunologists : the case of colorectal liver metastases patients

The burgeoning field of cancer immunology demands a change in the paradigm of cancer patient management. The understanding of the course of a given malignant disease should also include the host immune system as one of the key factors in determining the patient's prognosis. Surgical and medical oncologists need to understand the basic and advanced applications of immunotherapies, which are rapidly evolving, and are nowadays an integral part of the armamentarium for the treatment of cancer patients. In the present work, we review the current knowledge concerning the immune landscape of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with liver metastases, as recently discovered

Serum micrornas as novel biomarkers for primary sclerosing cholangitis and cholangiocarcinoma

The diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is difficult due to the lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers, as is the early diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CC), a complication of PSC. The aim of this study was to identify specific serum miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for PSC and CC