Breast cancer accounts for 11.6% of all cancer cases in both genders. Even though several diagnostic techniques have been developed, the mostly used are invasive, complex, time-consuming, and cannot guarantee an early diagnosis, significantly constraining the tumor treatment success rate. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that carry biomolecules from tissues to the peripheral circulation, representing an emerging noninvasive source of markers for early cancer diagnosis. Current techniques for exosomes analysis are frequently complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Raman spectroscopy interest has risen lately, because of its nondestructive analysis and little to no sample preparation, while having very low analyte concentration/volume, because of surface enhancement signal (SERS) possibility. However, active SERS substrates are needed, and commercially available substrates come with a high cost and low shelf life. In this work, composites of commercial nata de coco to produce bacterial nanocellulose and in-situ-synthesized silver nanoparticles are tested as SERS substrates, with a low cost and green approach. Enhancement factors from 104 to 105 were obtained, detecting Rhodamine 6G (R6G) concentrations as low as 10–11 M. Exosome samples coming from MCF-10A (nontumorigenic breast epithelium) and MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer) cell cultures were tested on the synthesized substrates, and the obtained Raman spectra were subjected to statistical principal component analysis (PCA). Combining PCA with Raman intravariability and intervariability in exosomal samples, data grouping with 95% confidence was possible, serving as a low-cost, green, and label-free diagnosis method, with promising applicability in clinical settings.
The aim of this case report is to alert physicians to the possibility that hookworm disease can lead to acute pancreatitis. Method: We report a case of hookworm infestation associated with acute pancreatitis and food intolerance. Result: The patient presented on the emergency department complaining of anorexia, asthenia, nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain and fever. Blood test showed a amylase of 512U/L and a lipase of 1902, normal levels of hepatic aminotransferases, bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase and a slight elevation of the Creactive protein. An ultrasound showed no cholelithiasis, thickening of vesicular wall or dilation of the common bile duct and the computed tomography (CT) showed a normal pancreas with no evidence of cholecystitis or peripancreatic fluid. An upper digestive endoscopy was done because of food intolerance and revealed gastric stasis and duodenal mucosa congestive, friable, with loss of the usual pleating with biopsies revealing the presence of Ancylostoma duodenale. The patient was treated with albendazole and remains asymptomatic in a 3-year follow-up. Conclusion: Hookworm infestation is usually asymptomatic. Ampulla of Vater-migrating hookworms resulting in acute pancreatitis is a very rare event.
Prostate cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer worldwide, and the second cause of cancer death in men. The treatments currently available are not always effective. For that reason, new treatment options need to be explored, which can include the use of drugs, already clinically available, used for the treatment of other conditions, such as -blockers. The present study aimed to explore the effects of several -blockers and cytostatic drugs in prostate cancer cell lines (22Rv1, LNCaP and PC3) and a normal prostate cell line (PNT-2). Cells were exposed up to 72 h to increasing concentrations of propranolol, carvedilol (both nonselective -blockers), atenolol, metoprolol (both 1-blockers), cisplatin (a cytostatic drug) and flutamide (an androgen receptor blocker) and cell viability was assessed. The non-selective blockers selected, propranolol and carvedilol and cytostatic drugs displayed cytotoxic effect on all cell lines, while the 1-blockers, metoprolol and atenolol did not alter significantly cells viability. Of the tested cell lines, 22Rv1 was the most sensitive to propranolol, carvedilol and cisplatin and PC3 was the most resistant. Therefore, sensitive line 22Rv1, resistant line PC3 and normal cell line PNT-2 were chosen for combined treatment between propranolol and cytostatic cisplatin and flutamide. Overall, the combined exposures revealed concentration dependent interactions between the cytostatic drugs and propranolol.
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