Over the past decade, there has been a change in the epidemiology of oral cavity squamous cell cancer (OC‐SCC). Many new cases of OC‐SCC lack the recognized risk factors of smoking, alcohol and human papilloma virus. The aim of this study was to determine if the oral microbiome may be associated with OC‐SCC in nonsmoking HPV negative patients. We compared the oral microbiome of HPV‐negative nonsmoker OC‐SCC(n = 18), premalignant lesions(PML) (n = 8) and normal control patients (n = 12). Their oral microbiome was sampled by oral wash and defined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We report that the periodontal pathogens Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Alloprevotella were enriched while commensal Streptococcus depleted in OC‐SCC. Based on the four genera plus a marker genus Veillonella for PML, we classified the oral microbiome into two types. Gene/pathway analysis revealed a progressive increase of genes encoding HSP90 and ligands for TLRs 1, 2 and 4 along the controls→PML → OC‐SCC progression sequence. Our findings suggest an association between periodontal pathogens and OC‐SCC in non smoking HPV negative patients.
Three diterpene-benzoate natural products, with novel carbon skeletons and an unusual proposed biosynthesis, were isolated from extracts of the Fijian red alga Callophycus serratus and identified by a combination of X-ray crystallographic, NMR, and mass spectral analyses. Bromophycolide A (1) displayed cytotoxicity against several human tumor cell lines via specific apoptotic cell death. This represents the first discovery of natural products incorporating a diterpene and benzoate skeleton into a macrolide system.The discovery of novel carbon skeletons in natural products research is uncommon, providing new targets for synthetic chemists and pharmacologists, and leading to testable hypotheses regarding biosynthetic mechanisms and ecological function. Red macroalgae are well-known for the production of brominated metabolites, including terpenoids and phenols, yet some taxa within the Rhodophyta remain relatively unstudied. Only six secondary metabolites, one oxylipin and five bromophenols, have been previously characterized from the red algal family Solieriaceae. 1,2 Herein, we report the discovery of a unique structural class of macrolides from Callophycus serratus, an understudied member of the Solieriaceae.We used bioassay-guided fractionation followed by spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic analyses to identify three novel natural products (1-3) of unusual biosynthetic origin and possessing promising antineoplastic and antimicrobial activities. Supporting Information Available: Additional acknowledgments, experimental details, 2D NMR data (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY, ROESY), 1 H NMR spectra for 1-3, and X-ray crystallographic data (tables and CIF files) for 1 and 2. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. The most abundant natural product from C. serratus, bromophycolide A (1), displayed an [M -H] − molecular ion with m/z 661.0194 and characteristic tribrominated isotopic pattern, suitable for a molecular formula of C 27 H 37 O 4 Br 3 . X-ray diffraction analysis of 1 revealed a 15-membered macrolide within a diterpene-benzoate framework (Figures 1 and 2). The bromine atom within the isopropyl appendage was disordered with respect to the isopropyl methyls over two primary positions, with 70% and 30% occupancies. The Flack parameter was refined to be −0.002(16), indicating that the geometry shown is the absolute configuration. NIH Public AccessThe NMR spectral data of 1 supported the structure derived from X-ray diffraction analysis (Table 1; Supporting Information). HMBC correlations from the methyl groups anchored the carbon skeleton, enabling assignments of all quaternary carbons. COSY and additional HMBC correlations provided the connectivity within spin systems (Supporting Information).From high-resolution mass spectral data, bromophycolide B (2) appeared to be an isomer of 1, with a parent ion with m/z 661.0191. X-ray diffraction analysis of 2 indicated a 16-membered macrolide with absolute stereochemistry predicted as in Figures 1 and 2. Chemical shift...
Background Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and heterotaxy show high postsurgical morbidity/mortality, with some developing respiratory complications. Although this finding is often attributed to the CHD, airway clearance and left-right patterning both require motile cilia function. Thus, airway ciliary dysfunction (CD) similar to that of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) may contribute to increased respiratory complications in heterotaxy patients. Methods and Results We assessed 43 CHD patients with heterotaxy for airway CD. Videomicrocopy was used to examine ciliary motion in nasal tissue, and nasal nitric oxide (nNO) was measured; nNO level is typically low with PCD. Eighteen patients exhibited CD characterized by abnormal ciliary motion and nNO levels below or near the PCD cutoff values. Patients with CD aged >6 years show increased respiratory symptoms similar to those seen in PCD. Sequencing of all 14 known PCD genes in 13 heterotaxy patients with CD, 12 without CD, 10 PCD disease controls, and 13 healthy controls yielded 0.769, 0.417, 1.0, and 0.077 novel variants per patient, respectively. One heterotaxy patient with CD had the PCD causing DNAI1 founder mutation. Another with hyperkinetic ciliary beat had 2 mutations in DNAH11, the only PCD gene known to cause hyperkinetic beat. Among PCD patients, 2 had known PCD causing CCDC39 and CCDC40 mutations. Conclusions Our studies show that CHD patients with heterotaxy have substantial risk for CD and increased respiratory disease. Heterotaxy patients with CD were enriched for mutations in PCD genes. Future studies are needed to assess the potential benefit of prescreening and prophylactically treating heterotaxy patients for CD.
Bromophycolides C-I (1−7) were isolated from extracts of the Fijian red alga Callophycus serratus, and identified by NMR and mass spectral techniques. These novel natural products share a carbon skeleton and biosynthetic origin with previously identified bromophycolides A (8) and B (9), which form a rare group of diterpene-benzoate macrolides. Bromophycolides C-I (1−7) displayed modest antineoplastic activity against a range of human tumor cell lines.Marine red algae have been the source of numerous isoprenoid and phenolic metabolites, 1 although natural products of combined isoprenoid and shikimate biosynthetic origin are less common. As part of a continuing investigation of bioactive substances from Fijian coral reef organisms, we recently reported the identification of three structurally unusual diterpenebenzoate macrolides from the red alga Callophycus serratus. 2 Herein, we provide data in support of the identification of seven related compounds, bromophycolides C-F (1−7), whose structures were elucidated by NMR and mass spectral analyses and by comparison with previously isolated bromophycolides A-B (8−9) and debromophycolide A (10). Results and discussionGuided by a toxicity assay using ingestion rates of the invertebrate Brachionus calyciflorus (Rotifera), 3 extracts of Callophycus serratus were separated by liquid-liquid partitioning, reversed-phase HPLC, and normal-phase HPLC, yielding bromophycolides C-I (1−7), which each represented 0.027−0.092% of algal dry mass (see Experimental section for details).Bromophycolide C (1), with an ESI molecular ion of m/z 599.1010 suitable for molecular formula C 27 H 38 O 5 Br 2 , appeared to differ from previously identified bromophycolide A (8) 2 only by the substitution of a bromine for a hydroxyl group. Comparison of NMR spectral data for 1 (Table 1 ; Supporting information) and for 8 2 suggested that the sole difference lay near the diterpene head. Specifically, the resonance for C-15 of 8 occurred at δ 67.3, compared with δ 72.0 in 1. Position 14, curiously, was not greatly affected ( 13 C δ 81.7 vs. 80.4; 1 H δ 4.75 vs. 4.65, for 1 and 8, respectively), but 13 C chemical shifts for positions 13, 26, and 27 in 1 were *To whom correspondence should be addressed: telephone: 404−894−8424; fax: 404−385−4440; email: julia.kubanek@biology.gatech.edu. Supporting Information Available: COSY, HMBC, and NOE data, and 1 H NMR spectra for 1−7, available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript 2−7 ppm downfield relative to these positions in 8. All other 13 C and 1 H chemical shifts for 1 and 8 were within ca. 1 ppm. 1 H-1 H scalar couplings were also very similar for 1 and 8, suggesting that their relative configurations did not differ. In particular, H-14 appeared as a doublet of doublets (J=2 and 11 Hz) for both 1 and 8, establishing a common dihedral relationship to the two H-13 protons, consistent with the 14S configuration previously confirmed by the X...
Our findings showed that heterotaxy-CHD patients with CD may have increased risks for respiratory deficiencies. Overall, there was a trend toward increased mortality in CD patients with intermediate follow-up evaluation. Because β-agonists are known to increase ciliary beat frequency, presurgical screening for CD and perioperative treatment of CD patients with inhaled β-agonists may improve postoperative outcomes and survival.
Irreversible T cell exhaustion limits the efficacy of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) blockade. We observed that dual CD40-TLR4 stimulation within a single tumor restored PD-1 sensitivity and that this regimen triggered a systemic tumor-specific CD8 + T cell response. This approach effectively treated established tumors in diverse syngeneic cancer models, and the systemic effect was dependent on the injected tumor, indicating that treated tumors were converted into necessary components of this therapy. Strikingly, this approach was associated with the absence of exhausted PD-1 hi T cells in treated and distant tumors, while sparing the intervening draining lymph node and spleen. Furthermore, patients with transcription changes like those induced by this therapy experienced improved progression-free survival with anti-PD-1 treatment. Dual CD40-TLR4 activation within a single tumor is thus an approach for overcoming resistance to PD-1 blockade that is unique in its ability to cause the loss of exhausted T cells within tumors while sparing nonmalignant tissues.
BackgroundViral-based immunotherapy can overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and fill the unmet needs of many patients with cancer. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are defined as engineered or naturally occurring viruses that selectively replicate in and kill cancer cells. OVs also induce antitumor immunity. The purpose of this study was to compare the antitumor effects of live oncolytic vaccinia viruses versus the inactivated versions and elucidate their underlying immunological mechanisms.MethodsWe engineered a replication-competent, oncolytic vaccinia virus (OV-GM) by inserting a murine GM-CSF gene into the thymidine kinase locus of a mutant vaccinia E3L∆83N, which lacks the Z-DNA-binding domain of vaccinia virulence factor E3. We compared the antitumor effects of intratumoral (IT) delivery of live OV-GM versus heat-inactivated OV-GM (heat-iOV-GM) in a murine B16-F10 melanoma bilateral implantation model. We also generated vvDD, a well-studied oncolytic vaccinia virus, and compared the antitumor effects of live vvDD vs heat-inactivated vvDD (heat-ivvDD) in a murine A20 B-cell lymphoma bilateral tumor implantation model.ResultsHeat-iOV-GM infection of dendritic cells (DCs) and tumor cells in vitro induced type I interferon and proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, whereas live OV-GM did not. IT live OV-GM was less effective in generating systemic antitumor immunity compared with heat-iOV-GM. Similar to heat-iOV-GM, the antitumor effects of live OV-GM also require Batf3-dependent CD103+ dendritic cells. When combined with systemic delivery of ICB, IT heat-iOV-GM was more effective in eradicating tumors, compared with live OV-GM. IT heat-ivvDD was also more effective in treating murine A20 B-cell lymphoma, compared with live vvDD.ConclusionsTumor lysis induced by the replication of oncolytic vaccinia virus has a limited effect on the generation of systemic antitumor immunity. The activation of Batf3-dependent CD103+ DCs is critical for antitumor effects induced by both live OV-GM and heat-iOV-GM, with the latter being more potent than live OV-GM in inducing innate and adaptive immunity in both locally injected and distant, non-injected tumors. We propose that evaluations of both innate and adaptive immunity, induced by IT oncolytic viral immunotherapy at injected and non-injected tumors, should be included as potential biomarkers for host responses to viral therapy.
SUMMARY Phosphatidylserine (PS) is exposed on the surface of apoptotic cells and is known to promote immunosuppressive signals in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Antibodies that block PS interaction with its receptors have been shown to repolarize the TME into a proinflammatory state. Radiation therapy (RT) is an effective focal treatment of isolated solid tumors but is less effective at controlling metastatic cancers. We found that tumor-directed RT caused an increase in expression of PS on the surface of viable immune infiltrates in mouse B16 melanoma. We hypothesize that PS expression on immune cells may provide negative feedback to immune cells in the TME. Treatment with an antibody that targets PS (mch1N11) enhanced the anti-tumor efficacy of tumor-directed RT and improved overall survival. This combination led to an increase in proinflammatory tumor-associated macrophages. The addition of anti-PD-1 to RT and mch1N11 led to even greater anti-tumor efficacy and overall survival. We found increased PS expression on several immune subsets in the blood of patients with metastatic melanoma after receiving tumor-directed RT. These findings highlight the potential of combining PS targeting with RT and PD-1 pathway blockade to improve outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancers.
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