Real-time surveillance of severe acute respiratory infections in Scottish hospitals: an electronic register-based approach, 2017-2022.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of routine syndromic surveillance of respiratory infections, specifically new cases of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI). This surveillance often relies on questionnaires carried out by research nurses or transcriptions of doctor's notes, but existing, routinely collected electronic healthcare data sets are increasingly being used for such surveillance. We investigated how patient diagnosis codes, recorded within such data sets, could be used to capture SARI trends in Scotland. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective observational study using electronic healthcare data sets between 2017 and 2022. METHODS: Sensitive, specific and timely case definition (CDs) based on patient diagnosis codes contained within national registers in Scotland were proposed to identify SARI cases. Representativeness and sensitivity analyses were performed to assess how well SARI cases captured by each definition matched trends in historic influenza and SARS-CoV-2 data. RESULTS: All CDs accurately captured the peaks seen in laboratory-confirmed positive influenza and SARS-CoV-2 data, although the completeness of patient diagnosis records was discovered to vary widely. The timely CD provided the earliest detection of changes in SARI activity, whilst the sensitive CD provided insight into the burden and severity of SARI infections. CONCLUSIONS: A universal SARI surveillance system has been developed and demonstrated to accurately capture seasonal SARI trends. It can be used as an indicator of emerging secondary care burden of emerging SARI outbreaks. The system further strengthens Scotland's existing strategies for respiratory surveillance, and the methods described here can be applied within any country with suitable electronic patient records.

Informing the public health response to COVID-19: a systematic review of risk factors for disease, severity, and mortality.

BACKGROUND: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has challenged public health agencies globally. In order to effectively target government responses, it is critical to identify the individuals most at risk of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), developing severe clinical signs, and mortality. We undertook a systematic review of the literature to present the current status of scientific knowledge in these areas and describe the need for unified global approaches, moving forwards, as well as lessons learnt for future pandemics. METHODS: Medline, Embase and Global Health were searched to the end of April 2020, as well as the Web of Science. Search terms were specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19. Comparative studies of risk factors from any setting, population group and in any language were included. Titles, abstracts and full texts were screened by two reviewers and extracted in duplicate into a standardised form. Data were extracted on risk factors for COVID-19 disease, severe disease, or death and were narratively and descriptively synthesised. RESULTS: One thousand two hundred and thirty-eight papers were identified post-deduplication. Thirty-three met our inclusion criteria, of which 26 were from China. Six assessed the risk of contracting the disease, 20 the risk of having severe disease and ten the risk of dying. Age, gender and co-morbidities were commonly assessed as risk factors. The weight of evidence showed increasing age to be associated with severe disease and mortality, and general comorbidities with mortality. Only seven studies presented multivariable analyses and power was generally limited. A wide range of definitions were used for disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: The volume of literature generated in the short time since the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 has been considerable. Many studies have sought to document the risk factors for COVID-19 disease, disease severity and mortality; age was the only risk factor based on robust studies and with a consistent body of evidence. Mechanistic studies are required to understand why age is such an important risk factor. At the start of pandemics, large, standardised, studies that use multivariable analyses are urgently needed so that the populations most at risk can be rapidly protected. REGISTRATION: This review was registered on PROSPERO as CRD42020177714 .

Primary analysis of a prospective, randomized, single-blinded phase II trial evaluating the HER2 peptide AE37 vaccine in breast cancer patients to prevent recurrence.

BACKGROUND: AE37 is the Ii-Key hybrid of the MHC class II peptide, AE36 (HER2 aa:776-790). Phase I studies showed AE37 administered with granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to be safe and highly immunogenic. A prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II adjuvant trial was conducted to evaluate the vaccine's efficacy. METHODS: Clinically disease-free node-positive and high-risk node-negative breast cancer patients with tumors expressing any degree of HER2 [immunohistochemistry (IHC) 1-3+] were enrolled. Patients were randomized to AE37 + GM-CSF versus GM-CSF alone. Toxicity was monitored. Clinical recurrences were documented and disease-free survival (DFS) analyzed. RESULTS: The trial enrolled 298 patients; 153 received AE37 + GM-CSF and 145 received GM-CSF alone. The groups were well matched for clinicopathologic characteristics. Toxicities have been minimal. At the time of the primary analysis, the recurrence rate in the vaccinated group was 12.4% versus 13.8% in the control group [relative risk reduction 12%, HR 0.885, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.472-1.659, P = 0.70]. The Kaplan-Meier estimated 5-year DFS rate was 80.8% in vaccinated versus 79.5% in control patients. In planned subset analyses of patients with IHC 1+/2+ HER2-expressing tumors, 5-year DFS was 77.2% in vaccinated patients (n = 76) versus 65.7% in control patients (n = 78) (P = 0.21). In patients with triple-negative breast cancer (HER2 IHC 1+/2+ and hormone receptor negative) DFS was 77.7% in vaccinated patients (n = 25) versus 49.0% in control patients (n = 25) (P = 0.12). CONCLUSION: The overall intention-to-treat analysis demonstrates no benefit to vaccination. However, the results confirm that the vaccine is safe and suggest that vaccination may have clinical benefit in patients with low HER2-expressing tumors, specifically TNBC. Further evaluation in a randomized trial enrolling TNBC patients is warranted.

Open-label randomized clinical trial of standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel followed by FEC versus the combination of paclitaxel and everolimus followed by FEC in women with triple receptor-negative breast cancer†.

BACKGROUND: Everolimus synergistically enhances taxane-induced cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo in addition to demonstrating a direct antiproliferative activity. We aim to determine pharmacodynamics changes and response of adding everolimus to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Phase II study in patients with primary TNBC randomized to T-FEC (paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) i.v. weekly for 12 weeks, followed by 5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m(2), epirubicin 100 mg/m(2), and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m(2) every 3 weeks for four cycles) versus TR-FEC (paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2) i.v. and everolimus 30 mg PO weekly for 12 weeks, followed by FEC). Tumor samples were collected to assess molecular changes in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, at baseline, 48 h, 12 weeks, and at surgery by reverse phase protein arrays (RPPA). Clinical end points included 12-week clinical response rate (12-week RR), pathological complete response (pCR), and toxicity. RESULTS: Sixty-two patients were registered, and 50 were randomized, 27 received T-FEC, and 23 received TR-FEC. Median age was 48 (range 31-75). There was downregulation of the mTOR pathway at 48 h in the TR-FEC arm. Twelve-week RR by ultrasound were 29.6% versus 47.8%, (P = 0.075), and pCR were 25.9% versus 30.4% (P = 0.76) for T-FEC and TR-FEC, respectively. mTOR downregulation at 48 h did not correlate with 12-week RR in the TR-FEC group (P = 0.58). Main NCI grade 3/4 toxicities included anemia, neutropenia, rash/desquamation, and vomiting in both arms. There was one case of grade 3 pneumonitis in the TR-FEC arm. No grade 3/4 stomatitis occurred. CONCLUSION: The addition of everolimus to paclitaxel was well tolerated. Everolimus downregulated mTOR signaling but downregulation of mTOR at 48 h did not correlate with 12-week RR in the TR-FEC group. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: NCT00499603.

Prognostic value of the trichorhinophalangeal syndrome-1 (TRPS-1), a GATA family transcription factor, in early-stage breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: TRPS-1 is a new GATA transcription factor that is differentially expressed in breast cancer (BC) where it been found recently to regulate epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We carried out a quantitative immunohistochemistry (qIHC) analysis of TRPS-1 expression in 341 primary-stage I-III BC samples in relation to patient clinical characteristics as well as its prognostic value, especially in an estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) subgroup. RESULTS: Higher TRPS-1 expression was significantly associated with a number of clinical and pathological characteristics as well as with improved overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Among stage I/II ER+ BC patients who received endocrine therapy alone, those with high TRPS-1 expression had significantly longer OS and DFS. There was also a strong association between TRPS-1 levels and the EMT marker E-cadherin in the ER+ invasive ductal carcinoma cases. Analysis of gene expression data on a panel of BC lines found that TRPS-1 expression was low or absent in BC lines having enriched mesenchymal features. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that TRPS-1 is an independent prognostic marker in early-stage BC and a new EMT marker that can distinguish patients with ER+ BC who will respond longer to adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Copy number imbalances between screen- and symptom-detected breast cancers and impact on disease-free survival.

Screening mammography results in the increased detection of indolent tumors. We hypothesized that screen- and symptom-detected tumors would show genotypic differences as copy number imbalances (CNI) that, in part, explain differences in the clinical behavior between screen- and symptom-detected breast tumors. We evaluated 850 women aged 40 and above diagnosed with stage I and II breast cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 1985 and 2000 with information available on method of tumor detection (screen vs. symptoms). CNIs in screen- and symptom-detected tumors were identified using high-density molecular inversion probe arrays. Cox proportional modeling was used to estimate the effect of method of tumor detection on disease-free survival after adjusting for age, stage, and the CNIs. The majority of tumors were symptom detected (n = 603) compared with screen detected (n = 247). Copy number gains in chromosomes 2p, 3q, 8q, 11p, and 20q were associated with method of breast cancer detection (P < 0.00001). We estimated that 32% and 63% of the survival advantage of screen detection was accounted for by age, stage, nuclear grade, and Ki67 in women aged 50 to 70 and aged 40 to 87, respectively. In each age category, an additional 20% of the survival advantage was accounted for by CNIs associated with method of detection. Specific CNIs differ between screen- and symptom-detected tumors and explain part of the survival advantage associated with screen-detected tumors. Measurement of tumor genotype has the potential to improve discrimination between indolent and aggressive screen-detected tumors and aids patient and physician decision making about use of surgical and adjuvant treatments.

Addition of GM-CSF to trastuzumab stabilises disease in trastuzumab-resistant HER2+ metastatic breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: One of the proposed mechanisms of trastuzumab-induced regression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) tumours includes facilitation of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) mediates ADCC. We presented our pilot study of adding GM-CSF to trastuzumab in patients with trastuzumab-resistant HER2+ metastatic breast cancer. METHODS: Patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer that progressed after trastuzumab +/- chemotherapy were continued on trastuzumab 2 mg kg(-1) intravenous weekly and GM-CSF 250 µg m(-2) subcutaneous daily. Patients were assessed for response every 8 weeks. Treatment was continued until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. RESULTS: Seventeen patients were evaluable (median age 48 years, range 27-75 years). The median number of metastatic sites was 2 (range 1-3); the most common site was the liver (n=10). The median number of prior regimens for metastatic disease was 2 (range 1-5). No objective disease response was observed, but five patients (29%) had stable disease for a median duration of 15.8 (range 10-53.9) weeks. The most common adverse event was rash at the injection site. No grade 4 or irreversible adverse event was seen. CONCLUSION: The addition of GM-CSF to trastuzumab alone had a modest clinical benefit and acceptable safety profile in heavily pretreated patients with trastuzumab-resistant HER2+ metastatic breast cancer.

Paclitaxel in the multimodality treatment for inflammatory breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory breast carcinoma (IBC) is a rare but aggressive form of breast carcinoma. Anthracycline-based regimens represent the standard of treatment for IBC. Reports of significant clinical activity of paclitaxel in metastatic breast carcinoma led the authors to investigate the role of this drug in the management of IBC. METHODS: Forty-four patients with IBC were enrolled between February 1994 and January 1998. The treatment plan consisted of induction chemotherapy (IC), mastectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Forty-two patients received IC with four cycles of fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide. If the clinical response was less than partial, patients were "crossed over" to paclitaxel before mastectomy. All patients received adjuvant paclitaxel. Patients unresectable after paclitaxel were offered high-dose chemotherapy with autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell support. RESULTS: Thirty-four patients (81%) achieved an objective clinical remission; 3 patients (7%) achieved a clinical complete remission, 31 (74%) a partial remission. Six patients (14%) achieved pathologic complete remission. Sixteen patients were treated with paclitaxel, 7 of them (44%) were able to undergo mastectomy. Median time to progression (TTP) was 22 months. Median overall survival (OS) was 46 months. Concordance between clinical and pathologic response was documented in only 8 patients (24%). No differences in TTP and OS compared with a historical group of 178 IBC patients treated with anthracycline-based regimens. CONCLUSIONS: Paclitaxel improves tumor resectability in anthracycline-refractory IBC. The impact of paclitaxel on the prognosis of IBC needs to be better evaluated in future trials using more dose-intensive schedules of administration. New imaging modalities may contribute to improve assessment of response to IC.

Molecular anatomy of CCR5 engagement by physiologic and viral chemokines and HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins: differences in primary structural requirements for RANTES, MIP-1 alpha, and vMIP-II Binding.

Molecular analysis of CCR5, the cardinal coreceptor for HIV-1 infection, has implicated the N-terminal extracellular domain (N-ter) and regions vicinal to the second extracellular loop (ECL2) in this activity. It was shown that residues in the N-ter are necessary for binding of the physiologic ligands, RANTES (CCL5) and MIP-1 alpha (CCL3). vMIP-II, encoded by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, is a high affinity CCR5 antagonist, but lacks efficacy as a coreceptor inhibitor. Therefore, we compared the mechanism for engagement by vMIP-II of CCR5 to its interaction with physiologic ligands. RANTES, MIP-1 alpha, and vMIP-II bound CCR5 at high affinity, but demonstrated partial cross-competition. Characterization of 15 CCR5 alanine scanning mutants of charged extracellular amino acids revealed that alteration of acidic residues in the distal N-ter abrogated binding of RANTES, MIP-1 alpha, and vMIP-II. Whereas mutation of residues in ECL2 of CCR5 dramatically reduced the binding of RANTES and MIP-1 alpha and their ability to induce signaling, interaction with vMIP-II was not altered by any mutation in the exoloops of the receptor. Paradoxically, monoclonal antibodies to N-ter epitopes did not block chemokine binding, but those mapped to ECL2 were effective inhibitors. A CCR5 chimera with the distal N-ter residues of CXCR2 bound MIP-1 alpha and vMIP-II with an affinity similar to that of the wild-type receptor. Engagement of CCR5 by vMIP-II, but not RANTES or MIP-1 alpha blocked the binding of monoclonal antibodies to the receptor, providing additional evidence for a distinct mechanism for viral chemokine binding. Analysis of the coreceptor activity of randomly generated mouse-human CCR5 chimeras implicated residues in ECL2 between H173 and V197 in this function. RANTES, but not vMIP-II blocked CCR5 M-tropic coreceptor activity in the fusion assay. The insensitivity of vMIP-II binding to mutations in ECL2 provides a potential rationale to its inefficiency as an antagonist of CCR5 coreceptor activity. These findings suggest that the molecular anatomy of CCR5 binding plays a critical role in antagonism of coreceptor activity.

Cationic liposome-mediated E1A gene transfer to human breast and ovarian cancer cells and its biologic effects: a phase I clinical trial.

PURPOSE: Preclinical studies have demonstrated that the adenovirus type 5 E1A gene is associated with antitumor activities by transcriptional repression of HER-2/neu and induction of apoptosis. Indeed, E1A gene therapy is known to induce regression of HER-2/neu-overexpressing breast and ovarian cancers in nude mice. Therefore, we evaluated the feasibility of intracavitary injection of E1A gene complexed with DC-Chol cationic liposome (DCC-E1A) in patients with both HER-2/neu-overexpressing and low HER-2/neu-expressing breast and ovarian cancers in a phase I clinical trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An E1A gene complexed with DCC-E1A cationic liposome was injected once a week into the thoracic or peritoneal cavity of 18 patients with advanced cancer of the breast (n = 6) or ovary (n = 12). RESULTS: E1A gene expression in tumor cells was detected by immunohistochemical staining and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. This E1A gene expression was accompanied by HER-2/neu downregulation, increased apoptosis, and reduced proliferation. The most common treatment-related toxicities were fever, nausea, vomiting, and/or discomfort at the injection sites. CONCLUSION: These results argue for the feasibility of intracavitary DCC-E1A administration, provide a clear proof of preclinical concept, and warrant phase II trials to determine the antitumor activity of the E1A gene.

Phase I-II vinorelbine (Navelbine) by continuous infusion in patients with metastatic breast cancer: cumulative toxicities limit dose escalation.

Vinorelbine (Navelbine) has significant activity against breast carcinoma and is less neurotoxic than vinblastine. Because vinblastine has improved activity when administered by continuous infusion, we conducted a Phase I-II study to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of vinorelbine when given by continuous infusion and the response rates to it in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients. Between April 1994 and August 1997, 87 patients were entered in the study. All were female and had proven metastatic breast cancer. Ninety-five percent of them had received prior doxorubicin treatment, and 74% had received prior paclitaxel treatment. In Phase I of the study, all patients received 8 mg of vinorelbine by intravenous (i.v.) bolus followed by a continuous infusion of vinorelbine over 96 hr. When the MTD was determined, patients were entered in the Phase II arm to assess treatment responses and cumulative toxic reactions. In the Phase I arm (43 patients, 182 cycles), we determined the MTD of vinorelbine to be 8 mg by i.v. bolus followed by a continuous infusion of 11 mg/m2/day over 4 days. The dose-limiting toxic reaction was grade 3-4 granulocytopenia in 35% of the cycles and neutropenic fever in 15% of the cycles. Forty-four patients (193 cycles) were treated at the MTD. Seven (16%) of them had a response (2 complete responses, 5 partial responses). The median durations of response and survival were 4.3 and 8.6 months, respectively. However, cumulative toxic reactions (neutropenic fever and stomatitis) in 22 patients (50%) required dose reductions. A continuous infusion of vinorelbine can be safely administered but with a narrow therapeutic index because of cumulative toxic reactions. We recommend a modified MTD of vinorelbine: 8 mg by i.v. bolus followed by a continuous infusion of 10 mg/m2/day over 4 days. However, this treatment schedule offers no apparent advantage over the commonly used weekly vinorelbine schedule.

Phase I trial of intratumoral liposome E1A gene therapy in patients with recurrent breast and head and neck cancer.

PURPOSE: We conducted a Phase 1 study to determine the maximal tolerated dose and maximum biologically active dose of the E1A gene delivered by intratumoral injection as a lipid complex with 3 beta[N-(n',n'-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl] cholesterol/dioleoylphosphatidyl-ethanolamine (tgDCC-E1A). The E1A adenovirus gene functions as a tumor inhibitor gene by repressing oncogene transcription; modulating gene expression, resulting in cellular differentiation; and inducing apoptosis of cancer cells. E1A also sensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs such as etoposide, cisplatin, and taxol. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Nine patients with recurrent and unresectable breast cancer and nine patients with head and neck cancer were enrolled. One tumor nodule in each patient was injected with tgDCC-E1A. Safety, tumor response, E1A gene transfer, and down-regulation of HER-2/neu were evaluated. RESULTS: No dose-limiting toxicity was observed in the four dose groups (15, 30, 60, and 120 microg DNA/cm of tumor). All patients tolerated the injections, although several experienced pain and bleeding at the injection site. A maximally tolerated dose was not reached in this study. E1A gene transfer was demonstrated in 14 of 15 tumor samples tested, and down-regulation of HER-2/neu was demonstrated in two of the five patients who overexpressed HER-2/neu at baseline. HER-2/neu could not be assessed in other posttreatment tumor samples because of extensive necrosis. In one breast cancer patient, no pathological evidence of tumor was found on biopsy of the treated tumor site at week 12. In 16 patients evaluable for tumor response, 2 had minor responses, 8 had stable disease, and 6 had progressive disease. CONCLUSIONS: Gene therapy with an E1A gene:lipid complex appears to be safe and warrants further testing.

Stimulation of inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo by lipophilic HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors.

The enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase catalyses the rate limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis and is markedly inhibited by the statin family of drugs. The effect of statins on lipid lowering is clearly defined, but the ability of the drugs to directly regulate inflammatory functions has not been well explored. In this report, we show that there are differences among the statins in their capacity to induce proinflammatory responses both in human monocytes in vitro, and in leukocytes in mice in vivo. Treatment of human monocytes with lipophilic statins alone stimulated the production of MCP-1, IL-8, TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta and markedly sensitized the cells to subsequent challenge with inflammatory agents. Lipophilic statins also increased the production of reactive oxygen species in monocytes. In contrast, pretreatment of cells with the hydrophilic pravastatin did not induce these heightened inflammatory responses. Furthermore, treatment of mice with lipophilic statins caused a markedly higher influx of leukocytes into the inflamed peritoneal cavity following challenge with thioglycollate. Overall, these results demonstrate that the lipophilic statins influence a regulatory pathway in monocytes that controls cytokine production and that the statins induce different pro-inflammatory responses both in vitro and in vivo.

Phase I study of stealth liposomal doxorubicin in combination with gemcitabine in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE: We conducted a single-institution phase I clinical trial to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD) and define the toxic effects of stealth liposomal doxorubicin in combination with gemcitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were eligible if they had disease progression with no limit on prior number of chemotherapy regimens. Prior treatment with liposomal doxorubicin and/or gemcitabine was not allowed. The starting dose of liposomal doxorubicin was 20 mg/m(2) on day 1 only with a 20% dose escalation of the previous mg/m(2) dose until MTD was reached. Gemcitabine was given as a fixed dose of 800 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks. RESULTS: We treated 27 patients of whom six had never received chemotherapy for their disease. Most had had visceral involvement as their dominant site of disease. The dose-limiting toxicity was myelosuppression, which included neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. However, neither neutropenic fever nor episodes of bleeding were major occurrences. Significant antitumor activity was also observed with a total of two complete and seven partial responses. The recommended phase II dose is liposomal doxorubicin 24 mg/m(2) on day 1 and gemcitabine 800 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 every 21 days. CONCLUSION: The combination of liposomal doxorubicin and gemcitabine is an active and well tolerated regimen when administered on a 21-day schedule. Myelosuppression limited further dose escalation, however, it did not increase the incidence of neutropenic fever. Significant antitumor activity seen in heavily and minimally pretreated patients warrants further evaluation of this combination.

Accelerated HER-2 degradation enhances ovarian tumor recognition by CTL. Implications for tumor immunogenicity.

We investigated the ubiquitination and degradation of a tumor antigen, the HER-2/neu (HER-2) protooncogene product which is overexpressed in epithelial cancers. HER-2 degradation was investigated in the ovarian tumor line, SKOV3.A2, that constitutively overexpressed long-life HER-2. We used as agonist geldanamycin (GA), which initiated downmodulation of HER-2 from the cell surface. HER-2 was polyubiquitinated and degraded faster in the presence than in the absence of GA. GA did not decrease HLA-A2 expression. Presentation of the immunodominant cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope, E75 (369-377) from SKOV.A2 was inhibited by proteasome inhibitors, such as LLnL but was enhanced by cysteine protease inhibitors such as E64, indicating that both the proteasome and cysteine proteases are involved in epitope formation but have different effects. Enhanced tumor recognition was not an immediate or early effect of GA treatment, but was evident after 20 h of GA treatment. In contrast, 20 h GA treatment did not increase tumor sensitivity to LAK cell lysis. Twenty hour GA-treated SKOV3.A2 cells expressed an unstable HER-2 protein synthesized in the presence of GA, of faster electrophoretic mobility than control HER-2. This suggested that the newly synthesized HER-2 in the presence of GA was the main source of epitopes recognized by CTL. Twenty hour GA-treated SKOV3.A2 cells were better inducers of CTL activity directed to a number of HER-2 CTL epitopes, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared with control untreated SKOV3.A2 cells. Thus, induction of HER-2 protein instability enhanced the sensitivity of tumor for CTL lysis. Increased HER-2 CTL epitopes presentation may have implications for overcoming the poor immuno-genicity of human tumors, and design of epitope precursors for cancer vaccination.

Peptide priming of cytolytic activity to HER-2 epitope 369-377 in healthy individuals.

The presence of tumor-reactive CTLs in tumor infiltrates and in the peripheral blood of cancer patients demonstrates an immune response against tumors that apparently cannot control disease spread. This raises concerns as to whether amplification of this response may be useful during disease progression. Induction of tumor-reactive CTLs in healthy donors at risk, as well as in patients free of disease, may be therapeutically important, based on the hypothesis that CTLs that recognize tumors early may be more effective in containing their progression than CTLs that expand only when the disease progresses. To address the feasibility of priming cytolytic activity in healthy donors, we used the HER-2 peptide E75 (369-377) as an immunogen and autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived dendritic cells as antigen-presenting cells. We found that of 10 healthy donors tested, two responded at priming with E75 presented on autologous dendritic cells by induction of E75-specific CTL activity. Three other responders were identified after two additional restimulations. Of these five responders, three recognized E75 presented on the ovarian tumor line SKOV3.A2, as demonstrated by cold-target inhibition experiments. Induction of cytolytic activity at priming was enhanced in responders by tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin 12 but not in the nonresponders. AlphaB7.1 monoclonal antibody added at priming enhanced induction of lytic activity in only one of the four nonresponding donors tested, suggesting that in the majority of donors, E75-precursor CTLs were not tolerized. Because of the possibility that disease may develop in nonresponders, strategies to improve the immunogenicity of tumor antigens for healthy donors may be required for development of cancer vaccines.

Induction of determinant spreading and of Th1 responses by in vitro stimulation with HER-2 peptides.

Immunization with tumor antigens induces cellular and humoral immune responses. These responses by T cells are specific for defined epitopes (determinants) in the molecule of the immunizing tumor antigen. Extension of such responses to self-antigens requires induction of autoimmunity to the tumor. As with systems of autoimmune disease, expression of T cell autoimmunity is charaterized by diversification of responses from the inducer determinant to other responder (cryptic) determinants. Since similar strategies may be useful for therapy of human cancers, we investigated whether the induction of response to a HER-2 peptide F7 (776-789) induces enhanced reactivity of other HER-2 peptides. We found that stimulation with F7 can expand a response to another epitope F13 (884-899) in both an ovarian cancer patient with progressive disease and a healthy donor who shared HLA-DR11. This response was characterized mainly by increased interferon gamma secretion, and proliferation, but was not observed with another donor who shared HLA-DR14 and HLA-DQ5 with the patient. Since repeated vaccination with the same epitope may lead to a decline of primary cell reactivity caused by apoptosis spreading the response to other epitopes, the tumor antigen may provide an approach for maintaining an inflammatory Th1 response during cancer vaccination.

Identification of ENV determinants in V3 that influence the molecular anatomy of CCR5 utilization.

The V3 loop of the ENV glycoprotein exerts a dominant influence on the interaction of gp120 with coreceptors. Primary env genes cloned from sequential isolates from two seroconverters revealed Pro-->Ala conversion in the conserved GPG motif of the V3 crown in seven of 17 R5 ENV. ENV containing the GPG motif in the V3 crown had fusogenic activity with chimeric receptors containing either the N terminus or loops of CCR5, whereas those with the GAG variant utilized only the former. Site-directed mutagenesis of multiple primary and prototypic R5 env genes demonstrated that the GPG motif was necessary for dual utilization of the N terminus and body of CCR5 in both gain and loss-of-function experiments. All ENV containing the GPG V3 crown showed CCR5 binding in the presence of soluble CD4, whereas it was not detected with the GAG variants. Molecular dynamic simulations of a V3 peptide predicts that the Pro-->Ala substitution results in a conformational change with loss of the crown structure. These studies demonstrate that sequences in the third hypervariable region determine the specificity of coreceptor utilization for fusion, and that a conserved motif in the crown directly influences the molecular anatomy of the interaction between gp120 and CCR5.

Medical student interest in alternative medicine.

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES: An increasing sector of the American population is seeking health services from alternative practitioners and using alternative therapies. This study investigated whether medical students perceived that information on alternative therapies would be useful to them as future practicing physicians. METHODS: A one-page anonymous questionnaire was distributed to the entire first-year medical class of a large, public, Midwestern medical school during their first semester. They responded to a series of five statements concerning alternative medicine and medical school coverage of this topic. RESULTS: The majority (84%) of students reported that knowledge about alternative medical therapies would be important to them as future physicians. The respondents wanted to learn about alternative therapies while in medical school (72%), but very few thought they would receive adequate exposure to this topic (6%). The majority also reported that direct observation of alternative practitioners would be the best method of instruction in this area (58%). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that medical students are interested in learning about alternative medical therapies and they perceive this knowledge will be important to them as physicians. As medical schools undertake various curriculum reforms they should be aware of rising student interest in alternative medical therapies.