Author Interviews, Biomarkers, UCSF / 10.05.2015

Alan H.B. Wu, PhD, DABCC Professor Laboratory Medicine Chief, Clinical Chemistry Laboratory University of California San Francisco, CAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan H.B. Wu, PhD, DABCC Professor Laboratory Medicine Chief, Clinical Chemistry Laboratory University of California San Francisco, CA Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Clinical trials are conducted for validation of novel biomarkers.  There is considerable heterogeniety in the quality design and documentation of findings. This can have a major impact on the conclusions rendered. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Biomarkers / 27.04.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joanna Kitlinska, PhD Assistant Professor Georgetown University Medical Center Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology Washington, DC 20057 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kitlinska: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric malignancy with extremely heterogeneous phenotypes, ranging from spontaneously regressing to aggressive, untreatable tumors. Consequently, treatment strategies vary significantly between patients, depending on the initial risk assessment. Given the severe late effects of anti-cancer treatment administered to infants and children, proper disease stratification is of utmost importance for neuroblastoma patients. Due to their neuronal origin, neuroblastomas secrete neuropeptide Y (NPY), a small protein normally released from mature nerves. This, in turn, may result in elevated NPY levels in blood of neuroblastoma patients. We have found that serum NPY is particularly high in patients with aggressive, metastatic disease. Consequently, patients with elevated NPY levels have significantly worse survival. This finding is in agreement with our previous data indicating crucial role for NPY in stimulation of neuroblastoma tumor growth. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Cancer Research / 22.04.2015

Dr. Timothy Yap MD, PhD Timothy Yap, MD, PhD, NIHR BRC The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust London, United Kingdom.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Timothy Yap, MD, PhD, NIHR BRC The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust London, United Kingdom. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Yap: This is a novel phase I trial assessing for the first time if the PARP inhibitor olaparib can be combined with the AKT inhibitor AZD5363. The study was undertaken at the Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research in London, England. This targeted combination was based on strong preclinical rationale demonstrating synergy between both drugs in BRCA positive tumors and also antitumor activity in non-BRCA positive tumors. Although olaparib was recently approved by the FDA for treating advanced ovarian cancer associated with defective BRCA genes, antitumor efficacy in different non-BRCA tumors is yet to be established. The key finding for this study was that it was indeed possible to combine both drugs safely, with multiple patients with different cancers responding, including patients with and without BRCA1/2 mutations. We also assessed a new intrapatient dose escalation phase I trial design in this study, and demonstrated that the novel design could be successfully implemented, with completion of the dose escalation phase in 2 schedules of the combination with just 20 patients in 7.5 months. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, BMJ, Cancer Research, Gastrointestinal Disease / 14.04.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Hossam Haick Ph.D Department of Chemical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute Haifa, Israel Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Haick: Our study is based on the hypothesis that timely detection of premalignant lesions (PMLs) may provide a tool to decrease either cancer mortality or incidence, thought, currently, there is no perfect non-invasive tool to screen for gastric cancer (GC) and the related premalignant lesions. Using 1002 samples collected from 501 volunteers, we show for the first time that premalignant lesions (PMLs) relevant to (gastric) cancer result in detectable differences in Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) signatures that can be detected and classified non-invasively through exhaled breath. We show additionally that these premalignant lesions can be well-discriminated from various stages of gastric cancer as well as other background stomach diseases. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Lancet, Lymphoma, NIH / 06.04.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Mark Roschewski, MD and Dr Wyndham H Wilson MD-PhD Lymphoma Therapeutics Section Lymphoid Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD 20892 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Monitoring patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has relied on computed tomography (CT) scans which are imprecise, expensive and include radiation. We investigated the ability of a blood-based assay to monitor patients with DLBCL during and after their initial therapy. The assay we studied amplifies and quantifies small amounts of circulating tumor DNA from the patient’s blood. We showed that this assay effectively predicts which patients will relapse and identifies recurrence 3.5 months before CT scans. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Infections / 03.04.2015

Wikipedia mosquitoMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amalia Z. Berna CSIRO Food and Nutrition Flagship Acton ACT 2601 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Globally an estimated 3.2 billion people in 97 countries are at risk of malaria and, in 2013, an estimated 198 million cases and 584,000 deaths were attributed to this infection. Accurate diagnosis of malaria is important to provide adequate treatment, conserve valuable drugs, and help prevent the emergence of resistant strains of the parasite. It is becoming important to be able to diagnose low level and asymptomatic cases, to support the drive towards local and/or global eradication. Detection of volatile chemicals in expired breath has been used to diagnose or monitor a small number of diseases, including Helicobacter pylori infection, diabetes and lung inflammation but, if breath analysis is to be more broadly useful, we need to identify reliable biomarkers for a wider range of diseases and to develop more robust methods for breath analysis. In collaboration with Professor James McCarthy of the QIMR Berghofer Institute and Associate Professor Kevin Saliba of the ANU, we found:
  1. Four specific thioether biomarkers in the breath of volunteers with experimentally induced blood stage Plasmodium falciparum
  2. That the levels of the volatiles strongly correlate with the levels of malaria parasitaemia.
  3. That the thioethers are not produced by in vitro cultures of falciparum.
  4. That although we do not know the metabolic origin of the thioethers, our results suggest that interplay between host and parasite metabolic pathways is involved in their production.
We think it is important to emphasise that no volunteer was infected with malaria primarily for the purpose of this study. Our research was entirely piggy-backed on pre-existing trials of malaria therapeutics. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Emergency Care, Heart Disease / 02.04.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anne Vorlat MD Department of Cardiology Antwerp University Hospital Department of Cardiology, Edegem, Belgium MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Vorlat: Early diagnosis of myocardial infarction is critical for optimal treatment and prognosis of the patient. The third universal definition of myocardial infarction states that a rise and/or fall of cardiac biomarkers (preferably troponin) with at least one value above the 99th percentile of the upper reference limit is mandatory with symptoms and or ST segment changes on the ECG. Since the development of more sensitive assays for cardiac troponins, myocardial injury can be detected earlier. This has permitted to shorten the timing of the second sampling of cardiac biomarkers from 6h to 3h after the first sampling. Recent studies have tested biomarker protocols with a very short delay (e.g., 1 hour) or with a single measurement of troponin and copeptin (a marker of endogenous stress, not cardiac specific) to rule in or to rule out myocardial injury in a population with chest pain. Although these newer protocols appear to be promising, early presenters (chest pain for less than 2 hours) are underreported. The present study evaluated the usefulness of early rule-in and rule-out biomarker protocols to estimate ischemia-induced myocardial injury in an early presenter model. The “early presenter” model was tested in 107 stable patients after a short period of myocardial ischemia, induced by stenting of a significant coronary artery stenosis. High-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT), hsTnI and copeptin were measured at the start, and 90, 180 and 360 minutes after stent implantation. We confirmed our hypothesis that short biomarkers protocols underestimate myonecrosis in early presenters. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Colon Cancer / 28.03.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Massimiliano Mazzone and Professor Hans Prenen Lab of Molecular Oncology and Angiogenesis VIB Vesalius Research Center University of Leuven Leuven Belgium Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Monocytes are circulating cells with patrolling behaviour. In case of harmful situations, they go to the site of injury rapidly to ensure immune and wound-healing functions. Once in the inflammation site, they differentiate into macrophages which are versatile cells adopting different phenotypes according to the stimuli they are subjected to. We hypothesized that cancer cells might release signals and soluble factors that educate and change monocytes already when in circulation. In this work, we proved our hypothesis and found that soluble molecules released by colorectal cancer cells imprint a specific signature in the circulating monocytes. Now, by collecting these monocytic cells from the blood, we are able to determine if colorectal cancer cells are present in the body, either at the primary site (in the colon) or in distant organs (where cancer cells give rise to metastases). (M. Mazzone). (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Rheumatology / 24.03.2015

Dr Naila Rabbani Reader of Experimental Systems Biology Protein Damage and Systems Biology Research Group, Division of Metabolic & Vascular Health, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Clinical Sciences Research Laboratories, University Hospital U.K.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Naila Rabbani Reader of Experimental Systems Biology Protein Damage and Systems Biology Research Group, Division of Metabolic & Vascular Health, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Clinical Sciences Research Laboratories, University Hospital  U.K. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr Rabbani: We performed a study to investigate biochemical markers indicative of early-stage decline in joint health and development of early-stage osteoarthritis OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other inflammatory joint disease. The main finding was that by combining measures of three substances in blood - citrullinated protein (CPs), antibodies to CPs and hydroxyproline we could detect and discriminate between early-stage osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Melanoma, NYU, Personalized Medicine / 24.02.2015

Iman Osman, MD Professor, Departments of Dermatology, Medicine and Urology Associate Director, NYU Cancer Institute Director, Interdisciplinary Melanoma Program New York University Langone Medical Center New York, NY 10016MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Iman Osman, MD Professor, Departments of Dermatology, Medicine and Urology Associate Director The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center Director, Interdisciplinary Melanoma Program New York University Langone Medical Center New York, NY 10016 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Osman: We were interested in exploring molecules that could be biomarkers or functional regulators of metastasis in melanoma in early-stage tumor lesions on the skin. Though these tumors are treated largely the same (by surgical removal ), patients with these tumors have vastly different outcomes (apparent cure vs. metastatic spread of the disease). The reasons for these disparities are unclear and we have little ability to identify or predict the patients that will be cured and those that won’t. We also don’t have much data to know even if these tumors have differences at the molecular level. Our findings indicate that there are molecular differences in these tumors and that some of these differences contribute to tumor spread.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Autism, Biomarkers / 17.02.2015

Alisa G. Woods, Ph.D., MSMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alisa G. Woods, Ph.D., MS Assistant Professor Biochemistry & Proteomics Group Department of Chemistry & Biomolecular Science Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, 13699 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Woods: Objective assessments for autism are greatly needed in order to understand autism cause and also to diagnose autism. Currently autism is diagnosed based on behavior, despite theories that autism may have a biological cause. We sought to develop a non-invasive biological test for autism, using saliva and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. We found nine statistically significant proteins that were elevated in the saliva of children with autism relative to typically developing controls and three proteins that were significantly decreased or absent. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Lung Cancer / 06.02.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Teresa W-M. Fan PhD and Andrew N Lane, PhD Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  The study began about eight years ago at the University of Louisville as a collaboration between thoracic surgeon Michael Bousamra II, immunologist Jun Yan and our metabolomics team (T. Fan, R Higashi and A.N. Lane) now at the U. Kentucky. Lung cancer remains as the highest cancer mortality in North America, and is unfortunately often not diagnosed until the most successful treatment, surgery, is no longer an option.  Furthermore although there are numerous subtypes of the disease, the options for chemotherapy are quite limited. We wanted to know how the biochemistry of early stage (resectable) lung cancer differs from that of healthy or at least non-cancerous lung tissue from the point of view of basic tumor biology, and whether we might uncover better option for therapeutic intervention. To this end, we applied our stable isotope resolved metabolomics (SIRM) technique directly to patients who were diagnosed with resectable NSCLC. By this technique, the fate of individual atoms from a non-radioactive enriched precursor (C-13 glucose in this instance) are traced as they are taken up from the blood and metabolized in situ. This technique, along with model studies with mice, isolated cell cultures, and so-called “Warburg” slices provides tremendous detail about the functional biochemistry of a cancer within its natural microenvironments, compared with non-cancerous tissue. The major finding published in this article is that the anaplerotic enzyme pyruvate carboxylase is greatly upregulated in NSCLC compared with paired non-cancerous lung tissue, whereas the other commonly utilized anaplerotic enzyme glutaminase was not. Interestingly, only cancer cells showed strong staining for pyruvate carboxylase, whereas in the paired non-cancerous lung tissue, only resident macrophages stained for PC. Pyruvate carboxylase was further shown to be essential for tumor growth in both call culture and in mouse xenografts. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease / 03.02.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Matthias Bossard, MD Clinical and Research Fellow Cardiology Division Department of Medicine University Hospital Basel Basel Switzerland MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Bossard: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its pleiotropic effects have been implicated in the regulation of vascular and renal physiology as well as inflammation. Moreover, elevated ET-1 levels have been associated with endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Until now, data on the relationships between ET-1 and individual cardiovascular risk factors were scarce, especially from large-scale population based studies. This may be attributable to the previously used laboratory assays.The emergence of new ET-1 assays has facilitated ET-1 measurement in large populations. Our main findings are that ET-1 levels are independently associated with several individual cardiovascular risk factors an overall cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of young and healthy adults.Specifically, ET-1 levels were significantly associated with systolic blood pressure, current smoking, glomerular filtration rate and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. (more…)
Annals Thoracic Surgery, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Kidney Disease / 15.01.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professeur Sidney Chocron Chef de Service Chirurgie Thoracique et Cardio-Vasculaire CHU de Besançon - Hôpital Jean Minjoz BESANCON Cedex Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Prof. Chocron: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most frequent complications after cardiac surgery.There is a time delay between the onset of renal impairment and the resulting telltale increase in blood creatinine levels. Recent studies have underlined the promising properties of Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin (NGAL). NGAL values early after surgery could predict the duration and severity of Acute Kidney Injury. In addition, NGAL can independently predict deteriorating renal function and could therefore be useful even in the context of pre-existing renal failure. We aimed to assess the predictive ability of plasma NGAL levels to identify deteriorations in renal function after cardiac surgery in patients with pre-existing renal failure. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Prof. Chocron: One hundred sixty six patients with pre-operative renal failure i.e pre-operative creatinine clearance ≤60 mL/min/1.73m2 according to the Cockcroft Gault formula, were included in the study. The threshold NGAL values at 6 hours after operation, as determined by ROC curve analysis was 155 ng/mL with a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 58%. By multivariate analysis at 6 hours, a history of hypertension (OR=3.2 [1.2 - 8.9]), occurrence of at least 1 post-operative complication (OR=4.5 [1.3 - 15]), and an NGAL value above 155 ng/mL (OR=7.1 [2.7 - 18]) were shown to be independent predictors of the occurrence of post-operative AKI. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, PLoS / 19.12.2014

Daniel Irimia, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor Division of Surgery, Science & Bioengineering Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Associate Director, BioMEMS Resource Center Boston, MA 02129MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel Irimia, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor Division of Surgery, Science & Bioengineering Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Associate Director, BioMEMS Resource Center Boston, MA 02129 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sepsis is affecting more than half of the patients with major burn injuries (20 percent of body surface) and is the leading cause of death among these patients.  Sepsis is also a significant complication for other critically ill patients. More than one million Americans are affected and it has been estimated that approximately 30% of these people die, despite significant advances in life support and antibiotics.  Early diagnosis is essential, and it has been calculated that every 6 hours of delay in a sepsis diagnosis decreases the chances of survival by 10 percent. We have found that the motility of the white blood cells called neutrophils, inside a microfluidic device, is significantly altered two to three days before sepsis develops. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease / 13.12.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mette Bjerre, Associate Professor, PhD Medical Research Laboratory Aarhus University Hospital & Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr.Bjerre: Recently, a connection between bone regulatory proteins and vascular biology has attracted attention, suggesting osteoprotegerin (OPG), a secreted glycoprotein that regulates bone resorption, as a possible mediator of vascular calcification. Indeed, we and others has shown that high levels of circulating OPG predicts long-term outcome in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the mechanism remains poorly understood. In order to elucidate the role of OPG in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI), our study aimed to evaluate the progression of OPG levels, in four consecutive blood-samples obtained pre-PCI, post-PCI, day 1 and day 2. OPG levels did indeed change during treatment. OPG levels peaked post-PCI and then decreased; mean concentrations (95% confidence interval) pre-PCI 2650ng/L (2315-3036ng/L), post-PCI 2778ng/L (2442-3363ng/L), day 1 2024ng/L (1775-2306ng/L) and day 2 1808ng/L (1551-2106), (repeated measures ANOVA, F=33.192, p<0.001). Additional, high OPG level is independently associated with impaired LVEF (LVEF < 40%). Adjustment for BMI and traditional cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and current smoking) did not significantly impact the association between OPG response and reduced LVEF. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Lung Cancer / 20.11.2014

Marie-Christine Aubry, M.D. Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Consultant, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marie-Christine Aubry, M.D. Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Consultant, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Aubry: Up to 20% of patients will present with multifocal lung cancer or will develop a second lung cancer.  The main clinical issue is distinguishing between independent primaries from true intrapulmonary metastases since this distinction will drive the therapy of the patient.  Currently no ancillary studies allows for this distinction and the distinction is provider specific based on a combination of clinical, radiologic and pathologic assumptions. Based on our prior research using a method called mate pair sequencing , we observed that the probability of detecting identical chromosomal breakpoints in two unrelated tumors, from 2 different patients was basically zero. Similarly, when assessing different components within a single tumor, we always found identical chromosomal breakpoints between these components.  We thus hypothesized that if two tumors within a patient were related, i.e. true metastasis, we should always find a number of identical chromosomal breakpoints between the tumors. And in contrast, if 2 tumors were truly independent primaries, we should not observe any chromosomal breakpoints in common. We first studied a control group of patients that had 1- a primary lung cancer with a known distant metastasis (usually brain metastasis), 2- two lung cancers of different histologic subtype, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma which are accepted as true independent primaries and 3- 1 tumor with different portions of the tumor being analyzed individually and compared as true relatedness. There were thus a total of 11 pairs of tumors with predetermined status of independent primaries versus relatedness (ie metastasis or same tumor).  The mate pair generated data showed a perfect concordance with this status.  We then studied 11 pairs of lung tumors of similar histology (2 adenocarcinomas or 2 squamous cell carcinomas).  The current gold standard for the distinction between independent primaries and intrapulmonary metastasis relies on a pathologist’s comparative morphologic assessment. In order to strengthen this gold standard, 2 pulmonary pathologists independently made this assessment. Interestingly, the pathologists agreed on the status of independent primaries and intrapulmonary metastasis in 9 (of 11) cases demonstrating the shortcomings of this gold standard.  Furthermore, there were discordance between the pathologists’ prediction and the clinicians’ assessment in 3 of the 11 patients and the clinician could not come to a final assessment in 1 patient.  The MP data was concordant with the pathology assessment in 8 of these 9 cases, and supported the pathologists’ prediction in 2 (of the 3) discordance with the clinical assumptions. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Infections, Nature, UCLA / 19.11.2014

Weian Zhao PhD Assistant Professor at the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California, Irvine. Founder of Velox BiosystemsMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Weian Zhao PhD Assistant Professor at the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California, Irvine. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Zhao: Bloodstream infections are a major cause of illness and death. In particular, infections associated with antimicrobial-resistant pathogens are a growing health problem in the U.S. and worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, more than 2 million people a year globally get antibiotic-resistant blood infections, with about 23,000 deaths. The extremely high mortality rate for blood infections is due, in part, to the inability to rapidly diagnose and treat patients in the early stages. The present gold standard to detect a blood infections, is a blood culture and it takes 2-5 days for the detection and the identification of the bacteria. Recent molecular diagnosis methods, including polymerase chain reaction, can reduce the assay time to hours but are often not sensitive enough to detect bacteria that occur at low concentrations in blood, as is common in patients with blood infections.  Therefore, less expensive and less technically demanding methods are urgently needed for the rapid and sensitive identification of blood infections. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Ophthalmology, Stanford / 07.11.2014

Theodore Leng, MD, MS , one of the article’s senior authors Byers Eye Institute at Stanford Stanford University School of Medicine Palo Alto, CA 94303MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Theodore Leng, MD, MS , one of the article’s senior authors Byers Eye Institute at Stanford Stanford University School of Medicine Palo Alto, CA 94303   Dr. Leng: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Medical Research: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness and central vision loss among adults older than 65 years. 80-85% of patients have the dry, non-exudative, form of the disease, but the wet, exudative, form of advanced AMD is of primary concern as it accounts for a majority of severe vision loss in Age-related macular degeneration. In wet AMD, abnormal blood vessels grow under the retina and can leak blood and fluid. Until now, there has been no effective way to tell which patients with dry AMD are likely to progress to the wet stage. In our recent Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science article, we describe a new mathematical model that can predict which patients are likely to progress. The predictive model identifies likely progressors by analyzing 3D spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) retinal imaging data that’s routinely obtained during retinal encounters. We analyzed data from 2,146 SD-OCT scans of 330 eyes in 244 patients seen at The Byers Eye Institute at Stanford over a five-year period. We found that the area and height of drusen, the amount of reflectivity at the macular surface and the degree of change in these features over time, could be weighted to generate a patient’s risk score. Predictions from the model were compared with cases where patients actually progressed to wet Age-related macular degeneration. Our model accurately predicted every occurrence of progression within a year. There was a false positive rate of around 40%, but we thought this was a good tradeoff because we would not miss any potential progressors by using this sensitivity threshold. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, BMJ, Ovarian Cancer / 03.11.2014

Ben Van Calster PhD Department of Development and Regeneration KU Leuven, Herestraat Leuven, BelgiumMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ben Van Calster PhD Department of Development and Regeneration KU Leuven, Herestraat Leuven, Belgium   MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Van Calster: Ovarian cancer is a very common type of cancer among women, with over 200,000 new cases per year worldwide. It is the most lethal of gynecological malignancies. Research has shown that the referral of patients with ovarian cancer to specialized gynecological oncologists in high volume centers improves survival. However, audits in Europe and the United States also show that only a minority of women with ovarian cancer are appropriately triaged to receive specialist care. In addition, different types of malignancies are not treated in the same way. Hence optimal personalized management of an ovarian tumor hinges on the detailed preoperative diagnosis of its nature. Unfortunately, current prediction models focused on the discrimination between benign and malignant tumors without further specification of the likely type of malignancy. Various prediction models and rules have been developed to help predict whether an ovarian mass is benign or malignant. A recent systematic review meta-analysis has shown that the IOTA model LR2 and simple rules perform better than any other previous test. However none of these tests give anything other than a dichotomous outcome – i.e. cancer or non-cancer. In practice the position is more nuanced. The ADNEX model estimates the likelihood that a tumor is benign, borderline malignant, stage I cancer, stage II-IV cancer, or secondary metastatic cancer. This model is the first that is able to differentiate between benign and these four subtypes of malignancy. To do so, ADNEX uses three clinical predictors (age, serum CA-125 level, and type of center), and six ultrasound characteristics of the tumor (maximum diameter of lesion, proportion of solid tissue, more than 10 cyst locules, number of papillary projections, acoustic shadows, and ascites). The model is based on data from almost 6,000 women recruited at 24 centers in 10 countries. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Nature, Pancreatic / 03.11.2014

Dr. Murray Korc MD, Professor Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Pancreatic Cancer Signature Center IU Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, IndianaMedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Murray Korc MD, Professor Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Pancreatic Cancer Signature Center IU Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, Indiana Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Korc: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly cancer with an overall 5-year survival rate of 6%. Currently, there are no highly specific and sensitive biomarkers in the blood that can be used for definitively diagnosing the presence of this cancer. In addition, in spite of the usefulness of CA19-9 in differentiating between patients with pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis, this test may yield a significant number of false positive and false negative results, and it may be influenced by the presence of jaundice. These difficulties are compounded by the fact that patients with pancreatitis are at-risk for developing Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We decided to carry out a study of microRNAs using plasma from treatment-naïve PDAC patients, chronic pancreatitis patients, and controls without pancreatic disease. We focused on microRNAs because they are known to be present in the blood and to be very stable. We chose to conduct these assays in plasma because we reasoned that there would be fewer confounding factors by comparison with either whole blood or serum. We determined that five microRNAs were elevated in plasma from PDAC patients by comparison with either chronic pancreatitis or controls. Importantly, among these five microRNAs, high levels of miR-10b, miR-155, and miR-106b in the plasma were highly accurate in diagnosing Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with ~95% sensitivity and ~100% specificity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers / 28.10.2014

Dr. Adam Woolley PhD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Brigham Young UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Adam Woolley PhD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Brigham Young University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Woolley: High-performance biomarker analysis methods are usually complex and expensive. In contrast, simple and inexpensive biomarker detection methods typically have low performance. Our study demonstrates a simple nucleic acid measurement system that requires no detection instrumentation. Nucleic acid mimics of microRNA were quantified with sequence specificity down to 10 pg/mL levels. (more…)
Biomarkers, Lung Cancer / 10.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Giulia Scioscia Coauthor of this study with the Prof. Carpagnano University of Foggia. Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Scioscia: The principal and newest findings of our study are:
  • Airways inflammation and neoangionesis are critical component of the lung cancer pathogenesis and they contribute to the regulation of airways temperature. They cause a regional hyperthermia in the lung lesion.
  • The exhaled Breath temperature has been proven to be the expression of the airways temperature and for this reason of their inflammation and neoangionesis.
  • For the first time we have measured this hyperthermia in lung cancer patients with the xhalo. The patient with diagnosis of tumor shows an higher temperature than in healthy ones and this values correlate with cigarette smoking and tumor progression.
(more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Heart Disease / 08.08.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rakesh K. Mishra, MD San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Francisco, CA 94121. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Mishra: Increased levels of both BNP and NT-proBNP are associated with elevated risk of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary artery disease. However, when added to existing clinical models of risk, NT-proBNP is superior to BNP for risk reclassification. (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, OBGYNE / 23.06.2014

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ali Abbara Imperial College London, United Kingdom Dr. Abbara: What are the main findings of the study? MedicalResearch: We found that a novel blood test for kisspeptin was able to identify asymptomatic pregnant women who were at increased risk of subsequent miscarriage. Blood kisspeptin performed better than the more commonly measured pregnancy hormone BHCG in identifying women at increased risk of miscarriage.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Rheumatology / 12.06.2014

Dr Christian Beyer Department of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Dr Christian Beyer Department of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Beyer: Our study aimed to identify specific micro RNAs as preditors for osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a progressive and long-standing disease. It's early and very early stages are clinically silent, which means that patients do not experience symptoms or present with obvious signs of the disease. Preventive measures and early therapies, however, would be probably most effective in treating this very common condition. Thus, markers to identify individuals at risk for osteoarthritis or in early clinical stages are highly important, but are not available for clinical routine yet. Micro RNAs are group of molecules that have signaling functions in the human body and that can reflect states of disease and health. Since they are very stable and easily accessible in the peripheral blood (by venous puncture without complicated procedures like biopsies), the represent promising biomarkers in many different fields of medicine. In this context, we wondered if specific micro RNAs might predict the development of severe osteoarthritis. Indeed, we could identify thre micro RNAs, named mir-454, mir-885-5p and let-7e, out of a total of 377 micro RNAs, that help to predict the risk for developing severe osteoarthritis. (more…)
Biomarkers, Journal Clinical Oncology, Lung Cancer / 02.06.2014

Prof. Nir Peled MD PhD FCCP Pulmonologist & Medical Oncologist Thoracic Cancer Unit, Davidoff Cancer Center, RMC, Kaplan St, Petach Tiqwa, Israel International Lung Cancer Association; Committee Chair; Prevention, Screening & Early Detection of Lung Cancer, IASLC.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Nir Peled MD PhD FCCP Pulmonologist & Medical Oncologist Thoracic Cancer Unit, Davidoff Cancer Center, RMC, Kaplan St, Petach Tiqwa, Israel International Lung Cancer Association;  Committee Chair; Prevention, Screening & Early Detection of Lung Cancer, IASLC. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Peled: The study focuses on early detection of lung cancer through the exhale breath NaNose which was developed by Prof Hossam Haick (Israel).   The study included 358 patients who were diagnosed or at risk for lung cancer. The multisite enrollments included UC Denver (Dr Fred Hirsch), Tel Aviv University (Dr Nir Peled), Jacksonville (Dr Stuart Millstone, Dr Douglas Johnson) and Liverpool (Dr John Field). The NaNose was able to detect lung cancer with a very high accuracy (~90%) even when the lung nodule was tiny and hard to sample. It was even able to discriminate between sub histologies of cancer, which was unexpected. (more…)