Repeated intratumoral administration of ONCOS-102 leads to systemic antitumor CD8+ T-cell response and robust cellular and transcriptional immune activation at tumor site in a patient with ovarian cancer.

Adenoviruses are excellent immunotherapeutic agents with a unique ability to prime and boost immune responses. Recombinant adenoviruses cause immunogenic cancer cell death and subsequent release of tumor antigens for antigen presenting cells, resulting in the priming of potent tumor-specific immunity. This effect may be further enhanced by immune-stimulating transgenes expressed by the virus. We report a case of a 38-year-old female with Stage 3 metastatic micropapillary serous carcinoma of the ovary. She was treated in a Phase I study with a granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GMCSF)-expressing oncolytic adenovirus, Ad5/3-D24-GMCSF (ONCOS-102). The treatment resulted in progressive infiltration of CD8+ lymphocytes into the tumor and concomitant systemic induction of several tumor-specific CD8+ T-cell populations. The patient was alive at the latest follow up more than 20 months after initiation of the study.

pH-sensitive film coatings: towards a better understanding and facilitated optimization.

The major aims of this study were: (i) to prepare and characterize polymeric film coatings with pH-dependent properties for oral administration; and (ii) to better understand the underlying mass transport mechanisms upon exposure to simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Propylene glycol alginate (containing free carboxylic groups) was chosen as a pH-sensitive film former, which was blended with different amounts of ethylcellulose (being water-insoluble throughout the gastro-intestinal tract). The water uptake kinetics of thin free films in 0.1M HCl and phosphate buffer pH 7.4 were monitored gravimetrically and quantitatively described using an appropriate analytical solution of Fick's law of diffusion. Interestingly, the addition of only a low percentage (2.5-10%) of propylene glycol alginate to ethylcellulose significantly increased both, the rate and extent of the films' water uptake, irrespective of the pH of the release medium. Importantly, diffusion was found to be the pre-dominant mass transport mechanism for all system compositions and types of release media. The apparent water diffusivity in the polymeric films could quantitatively be determined as a function of the polymer blend ratio. It significantly increased with increasing pH of the release medium, due to the presence of the free carboxylic groups in propylene glycol alginate. Also the dry mass loss of the polymer networks was much more pronounced at high compared to low pH. The differences in both water uptake as well as dry mass loss resulted in a clear pH-dependence of the drug release kinetics from coated pellets. Importantly, desired pH-sensitive release rates can easily be adjusted by varying the propylene glycol alginate content.

Hurricane Allen's Impact on Jamaican Coral Reefs.

Coral reefs of north Jamaica, normally sheltered, were severely damaged by Hurricane Allen, the strongest Caribbean hurricane of this century. Immediate studies were made at Discovery Bay, where reef populations were already known in some detail. Data are presented to show how damage varied with the position and orientation of the substraturn and with the shape, size, and mechanical properties of exposed organisms. Data collected over succeeding weeks showed striking differences in the ability of organisms to heal and survive.

Detection, pursuit, and overgrowth of tropical gorgonians by milleporid hydrocorals: perseus and medusa revisited.

Encounters leading to competitive interactions between colonies on coral reefs are to some extent accidents of patterns of recruitment and growth. In contrast, colonies of Millepora spp. actively detect nearby arborescent gorgonians and subsequently redirect growth in order to contact and overgrow them. Detection is dependent on water flow over the two colonies.