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Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive asbestos-related cancer, against which no curative modalities exist. Oncolytic virotherapy is a promising therapeutic approach, for which MM is an ideal candidate; indeed, the pleural location provides direct access for the intra-tumoral injection of oncolytic viruses (OVs). Some non-human OVs offer advantages over human OVs, including the non-pathogenicity in humans and the absence of pre-existing immunity. We previously showed that caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1), a non-pathogenic virus for humans, can kill different human cancer cell lines. Here, we assessed CpHV-1 effects on MM (NCI-H28, MSTO, NCI-H2052) and non-tumor mesothelial (MET-5A) cells. We found that CpHV-1 reduced cell viability and clonogenic potential in all MM cell lines without affecting non-tumor cells, in which, indeed, we did not detect intracellular viral DNA after treatment. In particular, CpHV-1 induced MM cell apoptosis and accumulation in G0/G1 or S cell cycle phases. Moreover, CpHV-1 strongly synergized with cisplatin, the drug currently used in MM chemotherapy, and this agent combination did not affect normal mesothelial cells. Although further studies are required to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the selective CpHV-1 action on MM cells, our data suggest that the CpHV-1-cisplatin combination could be a feasible strategy against MM.

Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient modulating several physiopathological processes in the human body. The aim of the study is to characterize the molecular effects determined by Se-supplementation in thyroid follicular cells, using as model the well-differentiated rat thyroid follicular cell line FRTL5. Experiments have been performed to evaluate the effects of Se on cell growth, mortality and proliferation and on modulation of pro- and antiapoptotic pathways. The results indicate that Se-supplementation improves FRTL5 growth rate. Furthermore, Se reduces the proportion of cell death and modulates both proapoptotic (p53 and Bim) and antiapoptotic (NF-kB and Bcl2) mRNA levels. In addition, incubation with high doses of Na-Se might prevent the ER-stress apoptosis induced by tunicamycin, as assessed by membrane integrity maintenance, reduction in caspase 3/7 activities, and reduction in Casp-3 and PARP cleavage. Taken together, these results provide molecular evidences indicating the role of Se supplementation on cell death and apoptosis modulation in thyroid follicular cells. These observations may be useful to understand the effects of this micronutrient on the physiopathology of the thyroid gland.

© 2015 American Chemical Society. We report the synthesis, thermal stability, and RNase H substrate activity of 2′-deoxy-2′,4′-difluoroarabino-modified nucleic acids. 2′-Deoxy-2′,4′-difluoroarabinouridine (2,′4′-diF-araU) was prepared in a stereoselective way in six steps from 2′-deoxy-2′-fluoroarabinouridine (2′-F-araU). NMR analysis and quantum mechanical calculations at the nucleoside level reveal that introduction of 4′-fluorine introduces a strong bias toward the North conformation, despite the presence of the 2′-βF, which generally steers the sugar pucker toward the South/East conformation. Incorporation of the novel monomer into DNA results on a neutral to slightly stabilizing thermal effect on DNA-RNA hybrids. Insertion of 2′,4′-diF-araU nucleotides in the DNA strand of a DNA-RNA hybrid decreases the rate of both human and HIV reverse transcriptase-associated RNase H-mediated cleavage of the complement RNA strand compared to that for an all-DNA strand or a DNA strand containing the corresponding 2′-F-araU nucleotide units, consistent with the notion that a 4′-fluorine in 2′-F-araU switches the preferred sugar conformation from DNA-like (South/East) to RNA-like (North).

We report the complete genome sequence of Ebola virus from a health worker linked to a cluster of cases occurring in the fishing community of Aberdeen, Sierra Leone (February 2015), which were characterized by unusually severe presentation. The sequence, clustering in the SL subclade 3.2.4, harbors mutations potentially relevant for pathogenesis.

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Even moderate temperature elevations soon acute cerebral damage may markedly worsen initial brain injury. These effects may justify aggressive antipyretic treatment in neurosurgical intensive care unit (NICU). On the basis of a literature survey, it is observed that fever is extraordinarily common in the neurosurgical intensive care unit during the acute phase of subarachnoid hemorrhage, stroke, and traumatic brain injury. Several clinical studies also suggest worsened neurologic outcome in patients who are febrile compared to those who are not. Pyrexia is more frequent in infected than noninfected patients. Infections (mainly in the respiratory tract) are usually diagnosed in the majority of febrile NICU patients. Laboratory investigations are quite clear regarding the adverse effects of fever in terms not only of functional outcomes, but also histological and neurochemical injury. Even though fever may cause diagnostic confusion (central fever vs infectious), the potentially devastating effects of pyrexia in patients with cerebral diseases may proceed to treat in any case. An attempt to correct fever appears warranted in all patients with acute cerebral damage in order to obtain a better functional recovery and to limit maximally any further insult to the brain. Some of the more common and innovative methods to control body temperature in order to mitigate the detrimental effects of pyrexia following acute neurological injury are explored. Maintenance of normothermia appears to be a desirable therapeutic goal in managing the patients with damaged or at-risk brain tissue. However, it has not been established conclusively that the benefits of antipyretic therapy outweigh its risks and that despite a sound physiologic argument for controlling fever in the brain-injured patient, there is no evidence that doing so will improve their outcome.

Global cerebral oxygenation can be measured by means of a catheter introduced in the internal jugular vein and placed retrograde in the jugular bulb. The measure of oxygen saturation sampled from the jugular vein (SjvO2) depends on cerebral metabolism and blood flow. This parameter describes the relative balance between oxygen delivery to the brain and oxygen consumption by the brain. SjvO2 remains normal until cerebral blood flow is proportional to cerebral metabolic demands. Any disturbances that increase cerebral metabolism and/or diminishes cerebral oxygen supply determines a reduction of SjvO2. Correspondingly, a decrease of oxygen consumption and/or an increase of oxygen supply may induce an increase of SjvO2. Therefore, SjvO2 is a useful monitor to assess the adequacy of cerebral circulation in patients with neurologic illness, allowing detection of state of hypoperfusion. Monitoring cerebral oximetry in comatose patients is of great importance in order to prevent, detect, control and understand secondary brain insults and damage which are mainly ischemic/hypoxic in nature. Although SjvO2 was shown to be highly sensitive in the presence of global hypoxia or ischemia, the occurrence of focal ischemia may still go undetected. Besides this, elevated SjvO2 should not be universally interpreted as hyperaemia. Instead, the presence of an elevated SjvO2 is a heterogeneous condition. Increased SjvO2 may be alarming prognostic indicators that carry important implications for comatose patients management.

We evaluated the usefulness of monitoring jugular saturation (SjO2) in subarachnoid haemorrhage patients. SjO2 is an index of the global ratio between cerebral blood flow and metabolism. Low SjO2 identified global cerebral flow reduction, as due to low cerebral perfusion pressures or hypocapnia, but not regional ischemic phenomena related to vasospasm.

The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo the antiproliferative effect of an inhibitor of isoprenoids metabolism, lovastatin, in an experimental model of propylthiouracil-induced goiter. In thyroid cells, thyrotropin (TSH)-induced proliferation requires active isoprenoid synthesis, and the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors have antiproliferative effects in vitro. Propylthiouracil treatment (PTU) of rats led to thyroid hypertrophy and hyperplasia by TSH-induced activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Immunohistochemistry showed an increased number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells in the thyroid gland of PTU-treated rats. Moreover, the phosphorylation of ERK1 and ERK2 was increased in the extract from goiter tissue as compared with the thyroid tissue of untreated rats. To determine whether the inhibition of selected pro-survival pathways (i.e., p21ras-MAPK) was sufficient to affect goitrogenesis, thyroids from 12 PTU-treated rats were injected in vivo with an adenovirus transducing a dominant-negative ras gene (Rad-L61.S186) and another set of 12 rats were injected with a pharmacological inhibitor of MAPK (PD98059). Both Rad-L61.S186 and PD98059 were able to inhibit the PTU-induced goiter. It is interesting to note that lovastatin, when administered in drinking water, significantly prevented the thyroid gland enlargement. Therefore, lovastatin-treated thyroid glands were significantly smaller than those treated with PTU alone. In addition, the lovastatin-treated glands also showed a decreased expression of phosphorylated ERK1/2 and a number of PCNA-positive cells. Our data suggest that lovastatin is an efficient inhibitor of goitrogenesis and provide a rationale for innovative therapeutic strategies employing statins in the treatment of nodular goiter in humans.