Year of Expanding into Circulating Biomarkers

This editorial article summarizes the achievements and current challenges for the Journal of Circulating Biomarkers (JCB) regarding a more strategic approach to branding and attracting a high quality variety of articles. More emphasis is placed on fostering engagement with academic and industry sources operating at the cutting-edge of translational technologies applied to the field of circulating biomarkers (interface between extracellular vesicles including exosomes and microvesicles, circulating tumour cells, cell-free circulating DNA and circulating protein markers) and with those in the investment arena seeking and providing private funding for this area of research

Prostate cancer – a biomarker perspective

Despite early detection and reduced risk of death, prostate cancer still remains the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. There is currently no cure for advanced prostate cancer. The multistage, stochastic and highly heterogeneous nature of prostate cancer, coupled with genetic and epigenetic alterations that occur during disease progression and response to therapy, represent fundamental challenges in our quest to understand and control this complex and prevalent disease. Recent advances in drug development and breakthroughs in omics technologies have renewed our efforts to identify novel biomarkers for prostate cancer prognosis, prediction, and therapeutic response monitoring. In this perspective article, we overview the current status and highlight future prospects of biomarkers for prostate cancer, a disease that affects millions of men worldwide

Detection and Characterization of Circulating Tumour Cells in Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease despite recent therapeutic improvements. The ability to detect and characterize MM circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood provides an alternative to replace or augment invasive bone marrow (BM) biopsies with a simple blood draw, providing real-time, clinically relevant information leading to improved disease management and therapy selection. Here we have developed and qualified an enrichment-free, cell-based immunofluorescence MM CTC assay that utilizes an automated digital pathology algorithm to distinguish MM CTCs from white blood cells (WBCs) on the basis of CD138 and CD45 expression levels, as well as a number of morphological parameters. These MM CTCs were further characterized for expression of phospho-ribosomal protein S6 (pS6) as a readout for PI3K/AKT pathway activation. Clinical feasibility of the assay was established by testing blood samples from a small cohort of patients, where we detected populations of both CD138pos and CD138neg MM CTCs. In this study, we developed an immunofluorescent cell-based assay to detect and characterize CTCs in MM

Experimental study and chemical affinity model on the inhibition of CO2 gas hydrate formation

Natural gas and water can form complex cage crystals in oil and gas pipelines under certain conditions. The natural gas hydrate formed after crystal clustering can block the pipeline and affect the operation efficiency of the pipeline, and even cause equipment damage, bringing economic and security problems to enterprises. In the present study, we experimentally investigated the inhibition of CO2 formation hydrate using attapulgite (ATP) and glucose (GLC). The kinetic influence on the formation of CO2 hydrate by the complex pairing of kinetic inhibitor ATP is conducted under the working conditions of 277.15 K and 3.5 MPa. The effect of compound inhibitors on the temperature and pressure conditions, growth process and gas consumption of hydrate formation are revealed. The chemical affinity model of CO2 hydrate formation under a compound inhibitor system is derived and established based on experimental studies. The results show that the combination of GLC and ATP can inhibit the formation of CO2 hydrate to varying degrees, prolong the induction time of hydrate, and reduce the consumption of CO2. The optimized experimental studies demonstrate that the best inhibitory compound system is 15 mg/mL GLC + 1.00 mg/mL ATP. Compared with the pure water system and single 15 mg/mL GLC system, the induction time is extended by 122.61% and 122.23%, while the gas consumption is reduced by 23.72% and 3.41%. The results provide new ideas and methods for the prediction of hydrate formation in the compound inhibitor system for the safe operation of oil and gas pipelines

Synergistic effect of octadecyl ammonium oxide and oleate amide propyl betaine and development of a foam drainage reagent for natural gas production

Betaine surfactants are used widely in oil field chemistry as well as other industrial applications, but their foaming ability is very poor so that it cannot be used in foaming. In this work, the effect of octadecyl ammonium oxide on the foam properties of oleate amide propyl betaine, a new compound foaming reagent, is studied based on foam performance. Then, a foam drainage reagent of 0.5 wt% oleate amide propyl betaine and 0.1 wt% octadecyl ammonium oxide is developed for natural gas production. Its salt resistance, methanol resistance, high temperature resistance, anti-condensate oil performance, and emulsification ability are systematically evaluated. Furthermore, the factors affecting foam performance are analyzed. The results show that the compound foaming reagent has good anti-salt, anti-methanol, and anti-condensate oil properties for meeting application requirements. The microstructures of foams derived from different reagents reveal the stability mechanism. All results reflect the fact that compounding can expand their application range in different environments to various extents, which benefits the design and use of compound surfactants

Synergistic effect of octadecyl ammonium oxide and oleate amide propyl betaine and development of a foam drainage reagent for natural gas production

Betaine surfactants are used widely in oil field chemistry as well as other industrial applications, but their foaming ability is very poor so that it cannot be used in foaming. In this work, the effect of octadecyl ammonium oxide on the foam properties of oleate amide propyl betaine, a new compound foaming reagent, is studied based on foam performance. Then, a foam drainage reagent of 0.5 wt% oleate amide propyl betaine and 0.1 wt% octadecyl ammonium oxide is developed for natural gas production. Its salt resistance, methanol resistance, high temperature resistance, anti-condensate oil performance, and emulsification ability are systematically evaluated. Furthermore, the factors affecting foam performance are analyzed. The results show that the compound foaming reagent has good anti-salt, anti-methanol, and anti-condensate oil properties for meeting application requirements. The microstructures of foams derived from different reagents reveal the stability mechanism. All results reflect the fact that compounding can expand their application range in different environments to various extents, which benefits the design and use of compound surfactants

New Year, New Name and New Milestones Scope - Journal of Circulating Biomarkers

This editorial article introduces a renaming of journal Exosomes and Microvesicles (EXMV) to the Journal of Circulating Biomarkers with a new editorial scope, mission and our approach for the upcoming year in relation to engaging at the international level, the translational art of the study of exosomes and microvesicles, and the interface between exosomes and microvesicles, circulating tumor cells, cell-free circulating DNA and circulating protein markers in precision medicine and drug development. There is a slight change in the members of the Editors in Chief, Editorial Board and extending collaborations to international societies, such as the American Society for Exosomes and Microvesicles (ASEMV)

Opposing effects of androgen deprivation and targeted therapy on prostate cancer prevention

Prostate cancer is an ideal target for chemoprevention. To date, chemoprevention clinical trials with 5a-reductase inhibitors have yielded encouraging yet ultimately confounding results. Using a preclinical mouse model of high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-PIN) induced by PTEN loss, we observed unprecedented deteriorating effects of androgen deprivation, in which surgical castration or MDV3100 treatment accelerated disease progression of the otherwise stable HG-PIN to invasive castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). As an alternative, targeting the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway via either genetic ablation of genes encoding PI3K components or pharmacologic inhibition of the PI3K pathway reversed the PTEN lossinduced HG-PIN phenotype. Finally, concurrent inhibition of the PI3K and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways was effective in blocking the growth of PTEN-null CRPC. Together, these data have revealed the potential adverse effects of antiandrogen chemoprevention in certain genetic contexts (such as PTEN loss) while showing the promise of targeted therapy in the clinical management of this complex and prevalent disease. © 2012 American Association for Cancer Research