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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitously occurring pollutants with different chemical and toxicological properties. In this study we evaluated blood plasma samples of two PCB-exposed cohorts for their ability to alter telomerase (hTERT) gene expression. Blood plasma from PCB-exposed individuals inhibited hTERT expression depending solely on the concentration of lower chlorinated PCBs, with the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) at a plasma concentration between 0.5 and 2 µg/L of LC PCBs. Individual OH-metabolites derived from the WHO indicator congeners PCB 28 and PCB 101 mimicked these effects on hTERT expression in vitro with high toxicity, including DNA damage. However, by the combination of different OH-metabolites, the bio effective PCB concentration was reduced and the respective effects on hTERT expression could be increased. At a concentration which showed no toxic activity in MTT assay, hTERT inhibition reflected the interference of OH-PCBs with the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which could lead to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As individual OH-metabolites already showed a much stronger inhibition of hTERT gene expression at a lower concentration than their parental compounds, the hTERT gene expression bioassay described in this study seems to indicate metabolic activation of LC PCBs rather than the mere effect of LC PCBs on their own. In summary, this study provides dose-response linkages between effects of lower chlorinated PCBs and their concentrations in human plasma.

Background: Genome-wide studies identified pan-cancer genes and shared biological networks affected by epigenetic dysregulation among diverse tumor entities. Here, we systematically screened for hypermethylation of DNA damage repair (DDR) genes in a comprehensive candidate-approach and exemplarily identify and validate candidate DDR genes as targets of epigenetic inactivation unique to bladder cancer (BLCA), which may serve as non-invasive biomarkers., Methods: Genome-wide DNA methylation datasets (2755 CpG probes of n  = 7819 tumor and n  = 659 normal samples) of the TCGA network covering 32 tumor entities were analyzed in silico for 177 DDR genes. Genes of interest were defined as differentially methylated between normal and cancerous tissues proximal to transcription start sites. The lead candidate gene was validated by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and/or bisulfite-pyrosequencing in different human cell lines ( n  = 36), in primary BLCA tissues ( n  = 43), and in voided urine samples ( n  = 74) of BLCA patients. Urines from healthy donors and patients with urological benign and malignant diseases were included as controls ( n  = 78). mRNA expression was determined using qRT-PCR in vitro before ( n  = 5) and after decitabine treatment ( n  = 2). Protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry ( n  = 42). R 3.2.0. was used for statistical data acquisition and SPSS 21.0 for statistical analysis., Results: Overall, 39 DDR genes were hypermethylated in human cancers. Most exclusively and frequently methylated (37%) in primary BLCA was RBBP8 , encoding endonuclease CtIP. RBBP8 hypermethylation predicted longer overall survival (OS) and was found in 2/4 bladder cancer cell lines but not in any of 33 cancer cell lines from entities with another origin like prostate. RBBP8 methylation was inversely correlated with RBBP8 mRNA and nuclear protein expression while RBBP8 was re-expressed after in vitro demethylation. RBBP8 methylation was associated with histological grade in primary BLCA and urine samples. RBBP8 methylation was detectable in urine samples of bladder cancer patients achieving a sensitivity of 52%, at 91% specificity., Conclusions: RBBP8 was identified as almost exclusively hypermethylated in BLCA. RBBP8 /CtIP has a proven role in homologous recombination-mediated DNA double-strand break repair known to sensitize cancer cells for PARP1 inhibitors. Since RBBP8 methylation was detectable in urines, it may be a complementary marker of high specificity in urine for BLCA detection., Competing Interests: As stated in the “Methods” section, tissue and urine samples for the anonymized and retrospective study were obtained from the archives of the Institute of Pathology (RWTH Aachen University), the RWTH centralized biomaterial bank (RWTH cBMB), and the Technical University of Munich and approved by the local Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Medical Faculty of RWTH Aachen University and the Technical University of Munich.Not applicable.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This study was designed to identify and validate potential new biomarkers for prostate cancer and to distinguish patients with and without biochemical relapse. Prostate tissue samples analyzed by 2D-DIGE (two-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis) and mass spectrometry (MS) revealed downregulation of secernin-1 (P<0.044) in prostate cancer, while vinculin showed significant upregulation (P<0.001). Secernin-1 overexpression in prostate tissue was validated using Western blot and immunohistochemistry while vinculin expression was validated using immunohistochemistry. These findings indicate that secernin-1 and vinculin are potential new tissue biomarkers for prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis, respectively. For validation, protein levels in urine were also examined by Western blot analysis. Urinary vinculin levels in prostate cancer patients were significantly higher than in urine from nontumor patients (P=0.006). Using multiple reaction monitoring-MS (MRM-MS) analysis, prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) showed significant higher levels in the urine of prostate cancer patients compared to controls (P=0.012), while galectin-3 showed significant lower levels in the urine of prostate cancer patients with biochemical relapse, compared to those without relapse (P=0.017). Three proteins were successfully differentiated between patients with and without prostate cancer and patients with and without relapse by using MRM. Thus, this technique shows promise for implementation as a noninvasive clinical diagnostic technique.

Objectives: In 2004, a novel grading system for papillary non-invasive bladder cancer was introduced; low grade (LG) and high grade (HG) in lieu of the former G1, G2, G3. This change allowed for increased reproducibility as well as diminished interobserver variability in histopathological grading among individual pathologists. Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight Imaging Mass Spectrometry (MALDI TOF IMS) was evaluated as an automatic and objective tool to assist grading of urothelial neoplasms and to facilitate accuracy., Design and Methods: To separate G1 (LG, n=27) and G3 (HG, n=21) papillary tumors MALDI TOF IMS was performed using an appropriate algorithm. Thereafter, the automatic assignment of a separate G2 (n=31) group was completed., Results: G1 (LG) and G3 (HG) tumors were separated with an overall cross validation of 97.18%. G2 tumors indicated a true positive rate of 78.3% for LG and 87.5% for HG, respectively., Conclusions: MALDI TOF IMS is a powerful support tool to ascertain pathological diagnosis/grading., (Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)