Differential propagation of stroma and cancer stem cells dictates tumorigenesis and multipotency.

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is characterized by high cancer cell heterogeneity and the presence of a complex tumor microenvironment. Those factors are a key obstacle for the treatment of this tumor type. To model the disease in mice, the current strategy is to grow GBM cells in serum-free non-adherent condition, which maintains their tumor-initiating potential. However, the so-generated tumors are histologically different from the one of origin. In this work, we performed high-throughput marker expression analysis and investigated the tumorigenicity of GBM cells enriched under different culture conditions. We identified a marker panel that distinguished tumorigenic sphere cultures from non-tumorigenic serum cultures (high CD56, SOX2, SOX9, and low CD105, CD248, αSMA). Contrary to previous work, we found that 'mixed cell cultures' grown in serum conditions are tumorigenic and express cancer stem cell (CSC) markers. As well, 1% serum plus bFGF and TGF-α preserved the tumorigenicity of sphere cultures and induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition gene expression. Furthermore, we identified 12 genes that could replace the 840 genes of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) used for GBM-subtyping. Our data suggest that the tumorigenicity of GBM cultures depend on cell culture strategies that retain CSCs in culture rather than the presence of serum in the cell culture medium.

Pectic polysaccharides isolated from Malian medicinal plants protect against Streptococcus pneumoniae in a mouse pneumococcal infection model.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the pectic polysaccharides BP-II, Oc50A1.I.A and CC1P1 isolated from the Malian medicinal plants Biophytum petersianum, Opilia celtidifolia and Cola cordifolia, respectively, were able to protect against Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in mice. The pectin preparations were administered intraperitoneally 3 h before challenge with S. pneumoniae serotype 6B. Blood samples were obtained from all animals before and at 3 h, 24 h and 72 h after challenge with the pneumococci. The number of bacteria in blood was recorded and the blood concentration of a range of cytokines measured. The pretreatment with BP-II, Oc50A1.I.A and CC1P1 demonstrated a protective activity against S. pneumoniae serotype 6B infection, albeit at different range of concentrations. The pectins showed no direct antibacterial effects towards S. pneumonia; however, they induced the production of a range of cytokines and chemokines. We have previously shown that BP-II, Oc50A1.I.A and CC1P1 exhibit complement fixation activity and also that BP-II and Oc50A1.I.A stimulate macrophages to produce NO. The observed clinical effect might therefore be linked to the ability of the pectic polysaccharides to stimulate the innate immune system.

[Results after cataract surgery]. / Resultater efter operation for katarakt.

This study reports the short term surgical results in a consecutive series of 1473 patients undergoing cataract surgery (60% planned extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) and 40% phacoemulsification (KPE) on an outpatient basis in a major university eye clinic. Preoperatively, 80% of all cases had a corrected visual acuity of 0.3 (6/18) or lower. On the first day after surgery, 51% of all patients had a corrected visual acuity of 0.5 (6/12) or better and 9% had a visual acuity of 1.0 (20/20) or better. The unaided visual acuity was 0.5 (6/12) or better in 20% of all patients (78% of these after KPE). The average postoperative refraction was -0.43 D (+/- 1.03 D SD, range -6.00 D to +5.00 D). A significant improvement in refractive error was achieved in many patients. The mean intraocular lens (IOL) power prediction error was found to be +0.04 D (+/- 0.84 D). The surgically induced astigmatism (vector analysis) was found to be +4.91 D (+/- 2.08) in the ECCE cases and +1.37 D (+/- 1.38) in the KPE cases (p < 0.001). Capsular or zonular rupture and/or vitreous loss occurred in 43 (2.9%) of which 26 (1.8%) received an anterior chamber lens rather than the intended posterior chamber lens. The results of this study document the favourable results of modern cataract surgery.

[Cataract surgery using phacoemulsification]. / Operation af grå staer med phacoemulsifikation.

Clinical results are reported in a consecutive series of 111 patients undergoing cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. On the first day after surgery, 69% of all cases had a visual acuity of 20/40 or better without any spectacle correction. Four months later this percentage had increased to 79%. Compared with a series of patients, operated by conventional extracapsular extraction, the corneal astigmatism was found to be significantly reduced in the phacoemulsification series (p < 0.001). The decrease in surgically induced astigmatism together with tailoring of the power of the intraocular lens (IOL) accounted for the good unaided visual acuity in the phacoemulsification group. Phacoemulsification is concluded to offer good optical control of the postoperative refraction in cataract patients.