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Gefitinib is a selective inhibitor of the epidermal growth factor receptor that is used to treat advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Dermatological adverse reactions are most commonly associated with gefitinib treatment. The cause of adverse reactions in individuals is multifactorial. Pharmacogenetics is an effective tool to detect such adverse reactions. This case report describes a female patient with NSCLC who was administered gefitinib at a dose of 250 mg/day. However, due to severe adverse dermatological reactions, the treatment was interrupted for 15 d and antibiotic therapy was administered to manage the skin rashes, maculopapular rashes, and hyperpigmentation. Treatment adherence was adequate, and no drug interactions were detected. A pharmacogenetic analysis revealed homozygosity in the ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-B1 rs1128503 (c.1236A>G), heterozygosity in ABCG2 rs2231142 (c.421G>T) and rs2622604 (c.-20+614T>C), and a non-functional variant of the cytochrome P450 family 3, subfamily A, member 5 ( CYP3A5 ). The relationship between altered genetic variants and the presence of adverse reactions induced by gefitinib is still controversial. Overall, this case report highlights the importance of continuing to study pharmacogenetics as predictors of adverse drug reactions.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to verify the association between the genetic variants of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette subfamily B member 1 ( ABCB1 ) and ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 2 ( ABCG2 ) genes and the presence and severity of gefitinib-associated adverse reactions. We systematically searched PubMed, Virtual Health Library/Bireme, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science databases for relevant studies published up to February 2024. In total, five studies were included in the review. Additionally, eight genetic variants related to ABCB1 (rs1045642, rs1128503, rs2032582, and rs1025836) and ABCG2 (rs2231142, rs2231137, rs2622604, and 15622C>T) genes were analyzed. Meta-analysis showed a significant association between the ABCB1 gene rs1045642 TT genotype and presence of diarrhea (OR = 5.41, 95% CI: 1.38-21.14, I 2 = 0%), the ABCB1 gene rs1128503 TT genotype and CT + TT group and the presence of skin rash (OR = 4.37, 95% CI: 1.51-12.61, I 2 = 0% and OR = 6.99, 95%CI: 1.61-30.30, I 2 = 0%, respectively), and the ABCG2 gene rs2231142 CC genotype and presence of diarrhea (OR = 3.87, 95% CI: 1.53-9.84, I 2 = 39%). No ABCB1 or ABCG2 genes were positively associated with the severity of adverse reactions associated with gefitinib. In conclusion, this study showed that ABCB1 and ABCG2 variants are likely to exhibit clinical implications in predicting the presence of adverse reactions to gefitinib.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. The initial treatment of lung cancer depends on the definition of the tumor type and its staging. The most common treatment is chemotherapy, and the first-line treatment is a combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel. Although this treatment has good efficacy, there is a high prevalence of adverse events, particularly hematological reactions. Studies on new biomarkers related to these adverse events, such as circulating microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs), are important for optimizing the quality of life of patients. miRNAs have high stability in several biological fluids and they have specific expressions in different tissues or pathologies. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the relationship between circulating miRNAs and adverse hematologic reactions caused by treatment with carboplatin + paclitaxel in patients with lung cancer. Blood was collected from patients before and 15 days after chemotherapy for hematological adverse reaction analysis, microarray and quantitative (q)PCR validation. Adverse reactions were classified according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0. Microarray analysis was performed using plasma from six patients without anemia and six patients with anemia, and nine miRNAs were differentially expressed. miR-1273g-3p, miR-3613-5p and miR-455-3p, identified using microarray, were assessed using qPCR in 20 patients without anemia and 26 patients with anemia. Bioinformatic analyses of miR-455-3p were performed using miRWalk, the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery and GeneMania software. Microarray analysis of patients with and without anemia revealed nine significant differentially-expressed plasma miRNAs among these patients. Of these, miR-1273g-3p, miR-3613-5p and miR-455-3p were chosen for further assessment. Only miR-455-3p demonstrated a significant reduction in expression (P=0.04) between the groups before chemotherapy with carboplatin + paclitaxel. Bioinformatics analysis of miR-455-3p revealed a relationship between this miRNA and the hematopoietic pathway, particularly with respect to the RUNX family transcription factor 1 ( RUNX1 ) and TAL bHLH transcription factor 1, erythroid differentiation factor ( TAL1 ) genes. The most prevalent adverse reactions in patients with lung cancer treated with carboplatin + paclitaxel were hematological, particularly anemia. This adverse reaction, caused by dysfunction of the hematopoietic system, may be explained by a possible association between the important genes in this system, RUNX1 and TAL1 , and hsa-miR-455-3p., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024, Spandidos Publications.)

Olive stones (OS) were submitted to hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) in order to evaluate the possibility of producing high added-value products, mainly furfural (FU) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) on one hand and hydrochars and carbons on the other hand. Temperature (160-240 °C), residence time (1-8 h), initial pH (1-5.5) and liquid/solid ratio (4-48 w/w) were systematically varied in order to study the main products and to optimise FU production. FU production yield up to 19.9 %, based on the hemicellulose content, was obtained. Other minor, but valuable, compounds such as 5-methylfurfural (5-MF) and some phenolic compounds were also produced. The hydrochar was carbonised at 900 °C, and the resultant carbon material was highly ultramicroporous with a peak of pore size distribution centred on 0.5 nm and a surface area as high as 1065 m 2  g -1 , typical of most carbon molecular sieves.

This paper presents the results of the application of the advanced LBET and QSDFT methods compared to the BET and DR approach to the comprehensive analysis of the porous structure of activated carbons obtained by chemical activation of demineralised Kraft lignin with potassium and sodium hydroxides. Based on the analysis of nitrogen adsorption isotherms, the influence of the preparation process conditions on the porous structure formation was investigated. Particularly, the impact of the type of activating agent, the activation temperature, the hydroxide to lignin mass ratio, and the flow rate of inert gas on the porous structure formation was assessed. This work proves how useful the used methods of structure analysis are when evaluating the influence of preparation conditions on the formation of the porous structure of activated carbons., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Tyre pyrolysis char (TPC), produced when manufacturing pyrolysis oil from waste tyre, was used as raw material to prepare activated carbons (ACs) by KOH activation. KOH to TPC weight ratios (W) between 0.5 and 6, and activation temperatures from 600 to 800 °C, were used. An increase in W resulted in a more efficient development of surface area, microporosity and mesoporosity. Thus, ACs derived from TPC (TPC-ACs) with specific surface areas up to 814 m(2) g(-1) were obtained. TPC, TPC-ACs and a commercial AC (CAC) were tested for removing Tetracycline (TC) in aqueous phase, and systematic adsorption studies, including equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamic aspects, were performed. Kinetics was well described by the pseudo-first order model for TPC, and by a pseudo second-order kinetic model for ACs. TC adsorption equilibrium data were also fitted by different isotherm models: Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, Dubinin-Radushkevich, Dubinin-Astokov, Temkin, Redlich-Peterson, Radke-Prausnitz and Toth. The thermodynamic study confirmed that TC adsorption onto TPC-ACs is a spontaneous process. TC adsorption data obtained in the present study were compared with those reported in the literature, and differences were explained in terms of textural properties and surface functionalities. TPC-ACs had similar performances to those of commercial ACs, and might significantly improve the economic balance of the production of pyrolysis oil from waste tyres., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)