Contributions of cell kill and posttreatment tumor growth rates to the repopulation of intracerebral 9L tumors after chemotherapy: An MRI study

The drought of progress in clinical brain tumor therapy provides an impetus for developing new treatments as well as methods for testing therapeutics in animal models. The inability of traditional assays to simultaneously measure tumor size, location, growth kinetics, and cell kill achieved by a treatment complicates the interpretation of therapy experiments in animal models. To address these issues, tumor volume measurements obtained from serial magnetic resonance images were used to noninvasively estimate cell kill values in individual rats with intracerebral 9L tumors after treatment with 0.5, 1, or 2 × LD10 doses of 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea. The calculated cell kill values were consistently lower than those reported using traditional assays. A dose-dependent increase in 9L tumor doubling time after treatment was observed that significantly contributed to the time required for surviving cells to repopulate the tumor mass. This study reveals that increases in animal survival are not exclusively attributable to the fraction of tumor cells killed but rather are a function of the cell kill and repopulation kinetics, both of which vary with treatment dose.

Molecular basis for a link between complement and the vascular complications of diabetes

Activated terminal complement proteins C5b to C9 form the membrane attack complex (MAC) pore. Insertion of the MAC into endothelial cell membranes causes the release of growth factors that stimulate tissue growth and proliferation. The complement regulatory membrane protein CD59 restricts MAC formation. Because increased cell proliferation characterizes the major chronic vascular complications of human diabetes and because increased glucose levels in diabetes cause protein glycation and impairment of protein function, we investigated whether glycation could inhibit CD59. Glycation-inactivation of CD59 would cause increased MAC deposition and MAC-stimulated cell proliferation. Here, we report that (i) human CD59 is glycated in vivo, (ii) glycated human CD59 loses its MAC-inhibitory function, and (iii) inactivation of CD59 increases MAC-induced growth factor release from endothelial cells. We demonstrate by site-directed mutagenesis that residues K41 and H44 form a preferential glycation motif in human CD59. The presence of this glycation motif in human CD59, but not in CD59 of other species, may help explain the distinct propensity of humans to develop vascular proliferative complications of diabetes.

Tight blood pressure control and risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes: UKPDS 38

Objective: To determine whether tight control of blood pressure prevents macrovascular and microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Efficacy of atenolol and captopril in reducing risk of macrovascular and microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes: UKPDS 39

Objective: To determine whether tight control of blood pressure with either a β blocker or an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor has a specific advantage or disadvantage in preventing the macrovascular and microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes.

Preferences for chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: descriptive study based on scripted interviews

Objective: To determine how patients with lung cancer value the trade off between the survival benefit of chemotherapy and its toxicities.