Recurrent tibial intra-cortical osteosarcoma: a case report and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Intra-cortical osteosarcoma is the rarest subtype of osseous-producing tumor. Most reported cases present a low-grade histology with slow progression and good oncological control after adequate treatment. In this report, we describe a case and review the literature to propose adequate treatment.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a 21-year-old Thai woman who was thought to have an intra-cortical osteosarcoma of the right tibia. We performed a wide resection and reconstruction with bone transportation using an Ilizarov external fixator. The tumor recurred five years later at the same site with a similar histology. We performed a new resection and reconstruction by ankle arthrodesis with adjuvant chemotherapy. At the last follow-up, she had remained active and free from disease for seven years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case report of recurrent intra-cortical osteosarcoma describes an atypical presentation. The low-grade histology, adequate surgical margin and adjuvant chemotherapy of the recurrent lesion were favorable factors, and our patient has remained free of any tumor recurrence.</p

Fungal volatile organic compounds: emphasis on their plant growth-promoting

Fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) commonly formed bioactive interface between plants and countless of microorganisms on the above- and below-ground plant-fungus interactions. Fungal-plant interactions symbolize intriguingly biochemical complex and challenging scenarios that are discovered by metabolomic approaches. Remarkably secondary metabolites (SMs) played a significant role in the virulence and existence with plant-fungal pathogen interaction; only 25% of the fungal gene clusters have been functionally identified, even though these numbers are too low as compared with plant secondary metabolites. The current insights on fungal VOCs are conducted under lab environments and to apply small numbers of microbes; its molecules have significant effects on growth, development, and defense system of plants. Many fungal VOCs supported dynamic processes, leading to countless interactions between plants, antagonists, and mutualistic symbionts. The fundamental role of fungal VOCs at field level is required for better understanding, so more studies will offer further constructive scientific evidences that can show the cost-effectiveness of ecofriendly and ecologically produced fungal VOCs for crop welfare

Exploring targeted therapy of osteosarcoma using proteomics data

Parunya Chaiyawat,1 Jongkolnee Settakorn,2 Apiruk Sangsin,1 Pimpisa Teeyakasem,1 Jeerawan Klangjorhor,1 Aungsumalee Soongkhaw,2 Dumnoensun Pruksakorn1,3 1Orthopedic Laboratory and Research Netting Center, Department of Orthopedics, 2Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, 3Excellence Center in Osteology Research and Training Center, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand Abstract: Despite multimodal therapeutic treatments of osteosarcoma (OS), some patients develop resistance to currently available regimens and eventually end up with recurrent or metastatic outcomes. Many attempts have been made to discover effective drugs for improving outcome; however, due to the heterogeneity of the disease, new therapeutic options have not yet been identified. This study aims to explore potential targeted therapy related to protein profiles of OS. In this review of proteomics studies, we extracted data on differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) from archived literature in PubMed and our in-house repository. The data were divided into three experimental groups, DEPs in 1) OS/OB: OS vs osteoblastic (OB) cells, 2) metastasis: metastatic vs non-metastatic sublines plus fresh tissues from primary OS with and without pulmonary metastasis, and 3) chemoresistance: spheroid (higher chemoresistance) vs monolayer cells plus fresh tissues from biopsies from good and poor responders. All up-regulated protein entities in the list of DEPs were sorted and cross-referenced with identifiers of targets of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved agents and chemical inhibitors. We found that many targets of FDA-approved antineoplastic agents, mainly a group of epigenetic regulators, kinases, and proteasomes, were highly expressed in OS cells. Additionally, some overexpressed proteins were targets of FDA-approved non-cancer drugs, including immunosuppressive and antiarrhythmic drugs. The resulting list of chemical agents showed that some transferase enzyme inhibitors might have anticancer activity. We also explored common targets of OS/OB and metastasis groups, including amidophosphoribosyltransferase (PPAT), l-lactate dehydrogenase B chain (LDHB), and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) as well as the common target of all categories, cathepsin D (CTSD). This study demonstrates the benefits of a text mining approach to exploring therapeutic targets related to protein expression patterns. These results suggest possible repurposing of some FDA-approved medicines for the treatment of OS and using chemical inhibitors in drug screening tests. Keywords: osteosarcoma, proteomics, targeted therapy, text mining, FDA-approved drug

Antibody levels to the class I and II epitopes of the M protein and myosin are related to group A streptococcal exposure in endemic populations

Rheumatic fever (RF)/rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis are thought to be autoimmune diseases, and follow group A streptococcal (GAS) infection. Different GAS M types have been associated with rheumatogenicity or nephritogenicity and categorized into either of two distinct classes (I or II) based on amino acid sequences present within the repeat region ('C' repeats) of the M protein. Sera from ARF patients have previously been shown to contain elevated levels of antibodies to the class I-specific epitope and myosin with the class I-specific antibodies also being cross-reactive to myosin, suggesting a disease association. This study shows that immunoreactivity of the class I-specific peptide and myosin does not differ between controls and acute RF (ARF)/RHD in populations that are highly endemic for GAS, raising the possibility that the association is related to GAS exposure, not the presence of ARF/RHD. Peptide inhibition studies suggest that the class I epitope may be conformational and residue 10 of the peptide is critical for antibody binding. We demonstrate that correlation of antibody levels between the class I and II epitope is due to class II-specific antibodies recognizing a common epitope with class I which is contained within the sequence RDL-ASRE. Our results suggest that antibody prevalence to class I and II epitopes and myosin is associated with GAS exposure, and that antibodies to these epitopes are not an indicator of disease nor a pathogenic factor in endemic populations