A new hope for early T cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy based on STAT5+ leukemic stem cell targeting.

Leukemia stem cells are known to drive tumor progression, drug resistance, microenvironmental shift, and relapse, which would make them a perfect therapeutic target. However, their phenotypic and functional similarity to their normal counterparts leaves limited road maps for their selective elimination. Tremblay et al. recently unraveled the fundamental role of overactivated pSTAT5 as a functional marker of early T cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia stem cells driving leukemic progression and highlighted its potential use as a therapeutic target to prevent fatal outcomes.

On the Similarity Between the Reinforcing and the Discriminative Properties of Intracranial Self-Stimulation.

Rats work very hard for intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) and tradeoff effort or time allocation for intensity and frequency parameters producing a sigmoidal function of the subjective reward magnitude of ICSS. Previous studies using electrical intracranial stimuli (ICS) as a discriminative cue focused on estimating detection thresholds or on the discrimination between intensities. To our knowledge, there is no direct comparison of the reinforcer tradeoff functions with the discriminative functions. Rats were trained to press and hold the lever for ICSS using the maximum reinforcing intensity below motor alterations or avoidance behavior. First, rats were trained to hold the lever for 1 s; after stability, they undergo trials where intensity or frequency was decreased on 0.1 log step. Thereafter, they undergo further training with a hold of 2 and later of 4 s to determine tradeoff with intensity or frequency. The same rats were trained on a discrimination task where the previously used ICSS signaled a lever where a 1 s hold response was followed by a reinforcing ICSS; on randomly alternating trials, a -0.6 log ICS signaled an alternate lever where a similar hold response led to a reinforcer. After mastering discrimination, generalization tests were carried out with varying intensity or frequency. Rats completed training with 2 and later 4 s hold response. After the completion of each task, the rats had different doses of a pimozide challenge while their intensity and hold-down requirement were varied. With regards to the rats' tradeoff response time allocation as a function of intensity or frequency, sigmoid functions were displaced to the right when long responses were required. Rats that learned the discrimination task attained a discrimination index of 90-98%. Discrimination accuracy decreased slightly with the increase of hold requirement, but generalization gradients were not displaced to the right as a function of the response requirement. Pimozide induced a dose-dependent displacement of the time-allocation gradients, but it did not affect the generalization gradients. It is concluded that rats integrate response requirements as part of the reinforcement tradeoff function, but the response cost is not integrated into the discriminative function of ICSS.

Inhibition of cancer stem cells promoted by Pimozide.

Over the past years, studies have described that users of antipsychotics are less likely to develop cancer than the population in general due to cytotoxic properties of this class of drugs on cancer cells. For this reason, Pimozide has been widely studied as a potential anticancer treatment, and satisfactory results in melanoma, central nervous system tumours, osteosarcoma, neuroblastoma, myeloproliferative neoplasms, breast, lung, prostate, ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic, and hepatocellular carcinoma have been showed. Moreover, advantages as clinical use approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), high clinical safety, low side effects, and reasonable price have stimulated the treatment with Pimozide instead of other agents. The action mechanism remains unclear, but three vias associated to cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis show that Pimozide: (a) blocks CSC features, as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), through inhibition of Wnt-ß/catenin signalling; (b) acts as an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT-3 and 5), pathway which is activated and up-regulated in CSCs; (c) inhibits ubiquitine specific protease (USP1) and WD repeat-containing protein 48 (WDR48), that are proteins responsible to inhibit the differentiation and to maintain the cell in an undifferentiated state. Based on this perspective, the aim of this manuscript is to review the antineoplastic role of Pimozide during tumorigenesis and its potential to revert the process of undifferentiation and proliferation of CSC through different vias.

Delirio de parasitosis: a propósito de doce casos / Delusion of parasitosis: report of twelve cases

En el presente trabajo se da cuenta de la historia del síndrome delirante crónico conocido como "delirio de parasitosis o síndrome de Ekbom", sus principales características clínicas, evolutivas, la ubicación nosográfica y las estrategias terapéuticas utilizadas. Los hallazgos de la principal literatura publicada se comparan con la experiencia de los autores al haber estudiado doce pacientes portadores de esta sintomatología. Asimismo, se indaga acerca de la posible conexión con otros cuadros psicopatológicos, más específicamente con el espectro obsesivo-compulsivo.

In this paper, the history of the chronic delusional syndrome known as delusional parasitosis or Ekbom syndrome is reviewed as well as its main clinical characteristics, evolution, nosographic position and therapeutic approaches. The findings in the published literature are compared with the clinical experience of the authors who have studied twelve cases. The possible connection with other mental diseases, specifically Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum, is evaluated.

Diseño y evaluación de la formulación de tabletas de pimozida 1 y 4 mg

Se estudiaron diferentes formulaciones de tabletas de pimozida en dosis de 1 y 4 mg, diseñadas con el objetivo de obtener una formulación que cumpla con los parámetros establecidos en la Farmacopea de los Estados Unidos XXII para el control de la calidad del producto terminado, así como los requerimientos necesarios para su revestimiento. Entre las formulaciones establecidas la denominada PP cumplió con los parámetros de calidad establecidos, antes y posterior al revestimiento. Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio de vida en estante de las tabletas revestidas fabricadas a escala semiindustrial demostraron que hasta 1 año posterior a la fabricación, éstas cumplen con las especificaciones establecidas en la Farmacopea, lo cual soporta la factibilidad para su escalado al nivel industrial.

Different formulations of Pimozide 1 and 4 mg tablets designed to obtain a formulation that meets the parameters established by the United States Pharmacopeia XXII for controlling the quality of the finished product, as well as the necessary requirement for its coating, were studied. Among these formulations, the so-called PP fulfilled the established quality parameters before and after coating. The results obtained in the shelf life study of the coated tablets made at semiindustrial scale showen that even one year after their making they meet the specifications established by the Pharmacopeia, which supports the feasibility for their scale-up at industrial level.