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Aim: Buprenorphine is one of the strongest opioids used for the relief of cancer pain. This study aims to evaluate the real‐world clinical experiences of transdermal buprenorphine used in moderate to severe cancer pain in the Asian population. Methods: This is an open‐labeled, multicenter, 4‐week observational study. Stable cancer pain patients who decided to switch the previous opioid to transdermal buprenorphine will be enrolled in this study. The safety and effectiveness were observed and collected. Pain assessment was performed using a numerical rating scale by the investigators and the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (BPI‐SF) by the patient. The safety profiles included concomitant medications and adverse events (AEs). Results: A total of 83 patients were enrolled in this study. The global pain scores in the BPI, as well as the four individual pain parameters (worst, least, average, and right now), showed a continued decrease (p <.05) from week 2 to week 4. Significant improvements were observed in normal work activities, relations with other people, sleep, enjoyment of life, and global BPI pain interference score on week 4. Pain assessments conducted by investigators demonstrated significant, continuous improvements during the study periods. In addition, transdermal buprenorphine demonstrated good safety/tolerability with limited drug‐related AEs in the Asian population with cancer pain. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that transdermal buprenorphine in the Asian population has good safety profiles and continued improvements in pain relief, sleep, and pain interferences. Transdermal buprenorphine can be an effective and convenient option as a transdermal opioid for patients with moderate to severe cancer pain in Taiwan. (NCT Number: NCT04315831) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindin (spondin-2) is an extracellular matrix protein of unknown structure that is required for efficient T-cell priming by dendritic cells. Additionally, mindin functions as a pattern recognition molecule for initiating innate immune responses. These dual functions are mediated by interactions with integrins and microbial pathogens, respectively. Mindin comprises an N-terminal F-spondin (FS) domain and C-terminal thrombospondin type 1 repeat (TSR). We determined the structure of the FS domain at 1.8-Å resolution. The structure revealed an eight-stranded antiparallel β-sandwich motif resembling that of membrane-targeting C2 domains, including a bound calcium ion. We demonstrated that the FS domain mediates integrin binding and identified the binding site by mutagenesis. The mindin FS domain therefore represents a new integrin ligand. We further showed that mindin recognizes lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through its TSR domain, and obtained evidence that C-mannosylation of the TSR influences LPS binding. Through these dual interactions, the FS and TSR domains of mindin promote activation of both adaptive and innate immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placenta is very susceptible tissue to oxidative stress and oxidative stress of placenta has been known as a pathology of gestational disease. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of maternal excess iron intake on oxidative stress of placenta during pregnancy. Ten week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were mated with male rats. Pregnant dams were fed normal Fe (35mg/kg diet), high Fe (350mg/kg diet) and excess Fe (1050mg/kg diet) diets during pregnancy. Dams were sacrificed on day 19 of gestation. There was no significant difference in weight gain and food intake of dams and in weight of total fetus and placenta according to iron intake levels. However, the contents of liver iron and ferritin of pregnant dams were significantly increased with increasing of maternal iron intake. Also, those of placenta were more increased in high and excess Fe group than normal. Maternal excess iron intake increased protein carbonyls contents, as oxidation marker of protein but not malondialdehyde (MDA). There was declined the activity antioxidant enzymes, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase in placenta of excess Fe group. The protein level of Cu-Zn SOD and MnSOD in placenta showed significant differences according to maternal iron intake level. In addition, the protein level of Bcl-2 as an antiapoptotic factor was remarkably declined with maternal excess iron. These results suggest that maternal excess iron intake may increase oxidative stress of placenta and it could affect redox status of fetal and neonatal tissue adversely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]