Obesity and type II diabetes are closely linked metabolic syndromes that afflict >100 million people worldwide. Although protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) has emerged as a promising target for the treatment of both syndromes, the discovery of pharmaceutically acceptable inhibitors that bind at the active site remains a substantial challenge. Here we describe the discovery of an allosteric site in PTP1B. Crystal structures of PTP1B in complex with allosteric inhibitors reveal a novel site located approximately 20 A from the catalytic site. We show that allosteric inhibitors prevent formation of the active form of the enzyme by blocking mobility of the catalytic loop, thereby exploiting a general mechanism used by tyrosine phosphatases. Notably, these inhibitors exhibit selectivity for PTP1B and enhance insulin signaling in cells. Allosteric inhibition is a promising strategy for targeting PTP1B and constitutes a mechanism that may be applicable to other tyrosine phosphatases.

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Abnormal salience attribution is implicated in heroin addiction. Previously, combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a drug cue-reactivity task, we demonstrated abnormal patterns of subjective response and brain reactivity in heroin-dependent individuals. However, whether the changes in cue-induced brain response were related to relapse was unknown. In a prospective study, we recruited 49 heroin-dependent patients under methadone maintenance treatment, a gold standard treatment (average daily dose 41.8 ± 16.0 mg), and 20 healthy subjects to perform the heroin cue-reactivity task during fMRI. The patients' subjective craving was evaluated. They participated in a follow-up assessment for 3 months, during which heroin use was assessed and relapse was confirmed by self-reported relapse or urine toxicology. Differences between relapsers and non-relapsers were analyzed with respect to the results from heroin-cue responses. Compared with healthy subjects, relapsers and non-relapsers commonly demonstrated significantly increased brain responses during the processing of heroin cues in the mesolimbic system, prefrontal regions and visuospatial-attention regions. However, compared with non-relapsers, relapsers demonstrated significantly greater cue-induced craving and the brain response mainly in the bilateral nucleus accumbens/subcallosal cortex and cerebellum. Although the cue-induced heroin craving was low in absolute measures, the change in craving positively correlated with the activation of the nucleus accumbens/subcallosal cortex among the patients. These findings suggest that in treatment-seeking heroin-dependent individuals, greater cue-induced craving and greater specific regional activations might be related to reward/craving and memory retrieval processes. These responses may predict relapse and represent important targets for the development of new treatment for heroin addiction.

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BackgroundThe formation of compulsive pattern of drug use is related to abnormal regional neural activity and functional reorganization in the heroin addicts’ brain, but the relationship between heroin-use-induced disrupted local neural activity and its functional organization pattern in resting-state is unknown.Methodology/Principal FindingsWith fMRI data acquired during resting state from 17 male heroin dependent individuals (HD) and 15 matched normal controls (NC), we analyzed the changes of amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in brain areas, and its relationship with history of heroin use. Then we investigated the addiction related alteration in functional connectivity of the brain regions with changed ALFF using seed-based correlation analysis. Compared with NC, the ALFF of HD was obviously decreased in the right caudate, right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), right superior medial frontal cortex and increased in the bilateral cerebellum, left superior temporal gyrus and left superior occipital gyrus. Of the six regions, only the ALFF value of right caudate had a negative correlation with heroin use. Setting the six regions as “seeds”, we found the functional connectivity between the right caudate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) was reduced but that between the right caudate and cerebellum was enhanced. Besides, an abnormal lateral PFC-dACC connection was also observed in HD.ConclusionsThe observations of dysfunction of fronto-striatal and fronto-cerebellar circuit in HD implicate an altered balance between local neuronal assemblies activity and their integrated network organization pattern which may be involved in the process from voluntary to habitual and compulsive drug use.

PurposeTo evaluate the treatment outcome of salvage concurrent radio-chemotherapy for patients with loco-recurrent esophageal cancer after surgery.Methods50 patients with loco-recurrent squamous-cell cancer after curative esophagectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were treated with radiotherapy (median 60 Gy) combined with chemotherapy consisting of either 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plus cisplatin (DDP) (R-FP group) or paclitaxel plus DDP (R-TP group).ResultsThe median follow-up period was 16.0 months. The 1-year and 3-year survival rates were 56% and 14%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) time was 9.8 and 13.3 months respectively. There was no statistical significance of the PFS of the two groups. The OS (median 16.3 months) in the R-TP group was superior to that in the R-FP group (median: 9.8 months) (p = 0.012). Among the patients who had received ≥60 Gy irradiation dose, the median PFS (10.6 months) and OS (16.3 months) were significantly superior to the PFS (8.7 months) and OS (11.3 months) among those patients did not (all p < 0.05). Grade 3 treatment-related gastritis were observed in 6 (27.3%) and 7 (25%) patients in the R-FP and R-TP group respectively. By univariate survival analysis, the age (<60 years), TP regimen and higher irradiation dose might improve the OS of such patients in present study.ConclusionsFor those patients with post-operative loco-recurrent squamous-cell esophageal carcinoma, radiotherapy combined with either FP or TP regimen chemotherapy was an effective salvage treatment. Younger age, treatment with the TP regimen and an irradiation dose ≥60 Gy might improve the patients’ treatment outcome.