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Several reports have suggested that the mechanism of protection induced by antiidiotypic vaccination against low-grade lymphoproliferative disorders is likely to be antibody mediated. Here we test the hypothesis that DNA vaccination with the short peptide encompassing the complementary-determining region 3 hypervariable region of immunoglobulin heavy chain (VH-CDR3) may elicit a specific antibody immune response able to recognize the native antigens in the form required for therapy. As a test system, we used the VH-CDR3 sequences derived from two patients with non-Hodgkin's B lymphomas (PA, AS) and one patient with hairy cell leukemia (BA) to immunize outbred Swiss mice. This experimental model could mimic a clinical setting in which different patients present distinct HLA haplotypes. Individual tumor-specific VH-CDR3 sequences were amplified by a two-step procedure and directly cloned into multigenic plasmid vectors (pRC100 and derived) with and without mouse interleukin 2 (mIL-2). Each tumor-specific sequence was characterized by sequencing. Female Swiss mice were vaccinated i.m. with plasmids expressing the tumor-specific VH-CDR3 sequence alone (pRC101-PA), mIL-2 plus the VH-CDR3 sequence (pRC111-PA), or a different unrelated antigen (NS3 of hepatitis C virus; pRC112), the sole mIL-2 (pRC110), and the empty plasmid (pRC100). Boost injections were performed at 3 and 16 weeks from the first vaccination, and sera were drawn before each vaccination and at 6, 9, and 19 weeks. Induction of anti-VH-CDR3s antibodies in the sera and their ability to recognize native antigens on patients' tumor cells were evaluated by FACS analysis. Up to 56% (n = 25) of mice vaccinated with pRC111-PA plasmid and 20% (n = 15) of mice vaccinated with pRC101-PA developed a specific immune response that was maintained throughout 19 weeks of observation in 40% of pRC111-PA-vaccinated mice. No response was detected in sera obtained from mice vaccinated with the other plasmids (n = 45). pRC111-PA injection s.c. was less effective (13%, n = 15) than i.m. injection (53%, n = 15). Indeed, we demonstrated that antibodies elicited by naked DNA vaccination against three different patient-derived VH-CDR3 peptides (pRC111-PA or BA or AS) readily reacted with binding epitopes on the idiotypic proteins expressed on the surface of tumor cells derived from each patient; 60, 40, and 40% of, respectively, PA-, BA-, and AS-vaccinated mice developed specific antibodies. No cross-reactivity was detected among the three different CDR3s against tumor cells derived from the other two patients. The outbred mouse strategy confirmed the significant matching potential of three different VH-CDR3 peptides to be efficaciously presented through different MHCs. We conclude that individual VH-CDR3 DNA vaccination can result in a potentially effective specific immune response against non-Hodgkin's B lymphoma cells by a rapid and low-cost therapeutic approach.

The authors describe the difficulties and possible complications of pregnancy in colonostomized women. In the neoplastic forms, generally appearing in advanced age, the knowledge of the basic disease discourages any possible attempt at pregnancy. In the chronic inflammatory diseases (ulcerous rectocolitis and Crohn's disease), typical of young age, pregnancy, if opportunely followed and programmed, can get an absolutely favourable course. The authors report their own experiences and some other authors' ones.

Administration of prohibited substances to enhance athletic performance represents an emerging medical, social, ethical and legal issue. Traditional controls are based on direct detection of substances or their catabolites. However out-of-competition doping may not be easily revealed by standard analytical methods. Alternative indirect control strategies are based on the evaluation of mid- and long-term effects of doping in tissues. Drug-induced long-lasting changes of gene expression may be taken as effective indicators of doping exposure. To validate this approach, we used real-time PCR to monitor the expression pattern of selected genes in human haematopoietic cells exposed to nandrolone, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) or growth hormone (GH). Some candidate genes were found significantly and consistently modulated by treatments. Nandrolone up-regulated AR, ESR2 and PGR in K562 cells, and SRD5A1, PPARA and JAK2 in Jurkat cells; IGF-I up-regulated EPOR and PGR in HL60 cells, and SRD5A1 in Jurkat; GH up-regulated SRD5A1 and GHR in K562. GATA1 expression was down-regulated in IGF-1-treated HL60, ESR2 was down-regulated in nandrolone-treated Jurkat, and AR and PGR were down-regulated in GH-treated Jurkat. This pilot study shows the potential of molecular biology-based strategies in anti-doping controls.

Under a Creative Commons license.-- Review.-- et al., Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of >personalized> oncology have achieved notablesuccesses in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targetedtherapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a fewdisease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistantimmortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are notreliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, aninternational task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity >broad-spectrum> therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspectsof relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a widerange of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For thesetargets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which werephytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed forknown effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procar-cinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixedevidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of therelationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. Thisnovel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types ofcancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for futureresearch is offered., Amr Amin was funded by Terry Fox Foundation Grant # TF-13-20 and UAEU Program for Advanced Research (UPAR) #31S118; Jack Arbiser was funded by NIHAR47901; Alexandra Arreola was funded by NIH NRSA Grant F31CA154080; Alla Arzumanyan was funded by NIH (NIAID) R01: Combination therapies for chronic HBV, liver disease, and cancer (AI076535); Work in the lab of Asfar S. Azmi is supported by NIH R21CA188818 as well as from Sky Foundation Inc. Michigan; Fabian Benencia was supported by NIH Grant R15 CA137499-01; Alan Bilsland was supported by the University of Glasgow, Beatson Oncology Centre Fund, CRUK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) Grant C301/A14762; Amancio Carnero was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, ISCIII (Fis: PI12/00137, RTICC: RD12/0036/0028) co-funded by FEDER from Regional Development European Funds (European Union), Consejeria de Ciencia e Innovacion (CTS-6844 and CTS-1848) and Consejeria de Salud of the Junta de Andalucia (PI-0135-2010 and PI-0306-2012). His work on this project has also been made possible thanks to the Grant PIE13/0004 co-funded by the ISCIII and FEDER funds; Stephanie C. Casey was supported by NIH Grant F32CA177139; Mrinmay Chakrabarti was supported by the United Soybean Board; Rupesh Chaturvedi was supported by an NIH NCCAM Grant (K01AT007324); Georgia Zhuo Chen was supported by an NIH NCI Grant (R33 CA161873-02); Helen Chen acknowledges financial support from the Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Foundation Graduate Studentship; Sophie Chen acknowledges financial support from the Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Research Trust, UK; Yi Charlie Chen acknowledges financial support from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission/Division of Science Research, his research was also supported by NIH grants (P20RR016477 and P20GM103434) from the National Institutes of Health awarded to the West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence; Maria Rosa Ciriolo was partially supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) Grants #IG10636 and #15403; Helen M. Coley acknowledges financial support from the GRACE Charity, UK and the Breast Cancer Campaign, UK; Marisa Connell was supported by a Michael Cuccione Childhood Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship; Sarah Crawford was supported by a research grant from Connecticut State University; Charlotta Dabrosin acknowledges financial support from the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Research Society; Giovanna Damia gratefully acknowledges the generous contributions of The Italian Association for Cancer Research (IG14536 to G.D.), Santanu Dasgupta gratefully acknowledges the support of the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Tyler, Elsa U. Pardee Foundation; William K. Decker was supported in part by CPRIT, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas; Anna Mae E. Diehl was supported by NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Gilead and Shire Pharmaceuticals; Q. Ping Dou was partially supported by NIH/NCI (1R01CA20009, 5R01CA127258-05 and R21CA184788), and NIH P30 CA22453 (to Karmanos Cancer Institute); Janice E. Drew was supported by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division; Eyad Elkord thanks the National Research Foundation, United Arab Emirates University and the Terry Fox Foundation for supporting research projects in his lab; Bassel El-Rayes was supported by Novartis Pharmaceutical, Aveo Pharmaceutical, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Bayer Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, and Kyowa Kirin; Mark A. Feitelson was supported by NIH/NIAID Grant AI076535, Dean W. Felsher was supported by NIH grants (R01CA170378, U54CA149145, and U54CA143907); Lynnette R Ferguson was financially supported by the Auckland Cancer Society and the Cancer Society of New Zealand; Gary L. Firestone was supported by NIH Public Service Grant CA164095 awarded from the National Cancer Institute; Christian Frezza “would like to acknowledge funding from a Medical Research Council CCU-Program Grant on cancer metabolism, and a unique applicant AICR project grant”; Mark M. Fuster was supported by NIH Grant R01-HL107652; Alexandros G. Georgakilas was supported by an EU Marie Curie Reintegration Grant MC-CIG-303514, Greek National funds through the Operational Program ‘Educational and Lifelong Learning of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)-Research Funding Program THALES (Grant number MIS 379346) and COST Action CM1201 ‘Biomimetic Radical Chemistry’; Michelle F. Green was supported by a Duke University Molecular Cancer Biology T32 Training Grant; Brendan Grue was supported by a National Sciences Engineering and Research Council Undergraduate Student Research Award in Canada; Dorota Halicka was supported by by NIH NCI grant NCI RO1 28704; Petr Heneberg was supported by the Charles University in Prague projects UNCE 204015 and PRVOUK P31/2012, by the Czech Science Foundation projects 15-03834Y and P301/12/1686, by the Czech Health Research Council AZV project 15-32432A, and by the Internal Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic project NT13663-3/2012; Matthew D. Hirschey wishes to acknowledge Duke University Institutional Support, the Duke Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) Program in Aging Research supported by the National Institute of Aging (P30AG028716-01) and NIH/NCI training grants to Duke University (T32-CA059365-19 and 5T32-CA059365), Lorne J. Hofseth was supported by NIH grants (1R01CA151304, 1R03CA1711326, and 1P01AT003961); Kanya Honoki was supported in part by the grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (No. 24590493); Hsue-Yin Hsu was supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (CCMP101-RD-031 and CCMP102-RD-112) and Tzu-Chi University (61040055-10) of Taiwan; Lasse D. Jensen was supported by Svenska Sallskapet for Medicinsk Forskning, Gosta Fraenkels Stiftelse, Ak.e Wibergs Stiftelse, Ollie och Elof Ericssons Stiftelse, Linkopings Universitet and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden; Wen G. Jiang wishes to acknowledge the support by Cancer Research Wales, the Albert Hung Foundation, the Fong Family Foundation, and Welsh Government A4B scheme; Lee W. Jones was supported in part by grants from the NIH NCI; W Nicol Keith was supported by the University of Glasgow, Beatson Oncology Centre Fund, CRUK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) Grant C301/A14762; Sid P. Kerkar was supported by the NIH Intramural Research Program; Rob J. Kulathinal was supported by the National Science Foundation, and the American Cancer Society; Byoung S. Kwon was supported in part by National Cancer Center (NCC-1310430-2) and National Research Foundation (NRF-2005-0093837); Anne Le was supported by Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Grant 80028595, a Lustgarten Fund Grant 90049125 and Grant NIHR21CA169757 (to Anne Le); Michael A. Lea was funded by the The Alma Toorock Memorial for Cancer Research; Ho-Young Lee., This work was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (MSIP), Republic of Korea (Nos. 2011-0017639 and 2011-0030001) and by a NIH Grant R01 CA100816; Liang-Tzung Lin was supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan (TMUTOP103005-4); Jason W. Locasale acknowledges support from NIH awards (CA168997 and AI110613) and the International Life Sciences Institute; Bal L. Lokeshwar was supported in part by United States’ Public Health Services Grants: NIH R01CA156776 and VA-BLR&D Merit Review Grant No. 5I01-BX001517-02; Valter D. Longo acknowledges support from NIH awards (P01AG034906 and R01AG020642) and from the V Foundation; Costas A. Lyssiotis was funded in part by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network as a Pathway to Leadership Fellow and through a Dale F. Frey Breakthrough award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation; Karen L. MacKenzie wishes to acknowledge the support from the Children's Cancer Institute Australia (affiliated with the University of New South Wales, Australia and the Sydney Children's Hospital Network); Maria Marino was supported by grant from University Roma Tre to M.M. (CLA 2013) and by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC-Grant #IG15221), Ander Matheu is funded by Carlos III Health Institute (AM: CP10/00539), Basque Foundation for Science (IKERBASQUE) and Marie Curie CIG Grant (AM: 2012/712404); Christopher Maxwell was supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, in partnership with the Avon Foundation for Women (OBC-134038) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Salary Award (MSH-136647); Eoin McDonnell received Duke University Institutional Support; Kapil Mehta was supported by Bayer Healthcare System G4T (Grants4Targets); Gregory A. Michelotti received support from NIH NIDDK, NIH NIAAA, and Shire Pharmaceuticals; Vinayak Muralidhar was supported by the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Research Assistantship Award; Elena Niccolai was supported by the Italian Ministry of University and the University of Italy; Virginia R. Parslow gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC); Graham Pawelec was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) Grant number 16SV5536K, and by the European Commission (FP7 259679 “IDEAL”); Peter L. Pedersen was supported by NIH Grant CA-10951; Brad Poore was supported by Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Grant 80028595, the Lustgarten Fund Grant 90049125, and Grant NIHR21CA169757 (to Anne Le); Satya Prakash was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant (MOP 64308); Lizzia Raffaghello was supported by an NIH Grant (P01AG034906-01A1) and Cinque per Mille dell’IRPEF–Finanziamento della Ricerca Sanitaria; Jeffrey C. Rathmell was supported by an NIH Grant (R01HL108006); Swapan K. Ray was supported by the United Soybean Board; Domenico Ribatti received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant agreement n°278570; Luigi Ricciardiello was supported by the AIRC Investigator Grants 10216 and 13837, and the European Community's Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007–2013 under Grant agreement 311876; Francis Rodier acknowledges the support of the Canadian Institute for Health Research (FR: MOP114962, MOP125857), Fonds de Recherche Québec Santé (FR: 22624), and the Terry Fox Research Institute (FR: 1030), Gian Luigi Russo contributed to this effort while participating in the Fulbright Research Scholar Program 2013–14; Isidro Sanchez-Garcia is partially supported by FEDER and by MICINN (SAF2012-32810), by NIH Grant (R01 CA109335-04A1), by Junta de Castilla y León (BIO/SA06/13) and by the ARIMMORA project (FP7-ENV-2011, European Union Seventh Framework Program). Isidro Sanchez-Garcia's lab is also a member of the EuroSyStem and the DECIDE Network funded by the European Union under the FP7 program; Andrew J. Sanders wishes to acknowledge the support by Cancer Research Wales, the Albert Hung Foundation, the Fong Family Foundation, and Welsh Government A4B scheme; Neeraj K. Saxena was supported by grant funding from NIH NIDDK (K01DK077137, R03DK089130); Dipali Sharma was partially funded by NIH NCI grants (R01CA131294, R21 CA155686), the Avon Foundation and a Breast Cancer Research Foundation Grant (90047965); Markus David Siegelin received funding from National Institute of Health, NINDS Grant K08NS083732, and the 2013 AACR-National Brain Tumor Society Career Development Award for Translational Brain Tumor Research, Grant Number 13-20-23-SIEG; Neetu Singh was supported by funds from the Department of Science and Technology (SR/FT/LS-063/2008), New Delhi, India; Carl Smythe was supported by Yorkshire Cancer Research and The Wellcome Trust, UK; Carmela Spagnuolo was supported by funding from Project C.I.S.I.A., act n. 191/2009 from the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance Project CAMPUS-QUARC, within program FESR Campania Region 2007/2013, objectives 2.1, 2.2; Diana M. Stafforini was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (5P01CA073992), IDEA Award W81XWH-12-1-0515 from the Department of Defense, and by the Huntsman Cancer Foundation; John Stagg was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Pochi R. Subbarayan was supported by the University of Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Pilot Research Grant (CTSI-2013-P03) and SEEDS You Choose Awards; Phuoc T. Tran was funded by the DoD (W81XWH-11-1-0272 and W81XWH-13-1-0182), a Kimmel Translational Science Award (SKF-13-021), an ACS Scholar award (122688-RSG-12-196-01-TBG) and the NIH (R01CA166348); Kathryn E. Wellen receives funding from the National Cancer Institute, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Pew Charitable Trusts, American Diabetes Association, and Elsa U. Pardee Foundation; Huanjie Yang was partially supported by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Oversea Scholars, State Education Ministry and Scientific and Technological Innovation Project, Harbin (2012RFLXS011), Paul Yaswen was supported by funding from the United States National Institutes of Health (ES019458) and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (17UB-8708); Clement Yedjou was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (Grant # G1200MD007581), through the RCMI-Center for Environmental Health; Xin Yin was supported by NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Training Grant T32HL098062.; Jiyue Zhu was supported by NIH Grant R01GM071725; Massimo Zollo was supported by the European FP7-TuMIC HEALTH-F2-2008-201662, the Italian Association for Cancer research (AIRC) Grant IG # 11963 and the Regione Campania L.R:N.5, the European National Funds PON01-02388/1 2007-2013.

BACKGROUND: Experimental data suggest that exposure to ultraviolet radiation may indirectly induce DNA double-strand breaks. AIM: To investigate the contribution of the non-homologous end-joining repair pathway in basal and squamous cell carcinomas. METHODS: Levels of Ku70 and Ku80 proteins were determined by immunohistochemical analysis and Ku70-Ku80 heterodimer-binding activity by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Matched pathological normal margins and skin from healthy people were used as controls. RESULTS: A significant increase in Ku70 and Ku80 protein levels was found for both tumour types as compared with normal skin (p

Imatinib currently represents the standard treatment in the early chronic phase of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), thanks to the high percentage of cytogenetic complete remission achieved, but it is yet unclear to what extent it can eradicate leukemia. Therefore, different vaccination strategies have been suggested, mainly based on the exploitment of the junctional peptides spanning the fusion region of the Bcr/Abl proteins. To identify new potential immunologic targets, 63 Philadelphia chromosome–positive patients and 6 BCR/ABL–positive cell lines were tested in nested reverse transcriptase PCR to detect the presence of BCR/ABL transcripts arising from the alternative splicing of the main BCR/ABL transcripts. We could detect BCR/ABL transcripts with junctions between BCR exon 1, 13, or 14 and ABL exon 4 in ∼80% of patients and 84% of cell lines, beside the main fusion transcripts. Translation products of these transcripts were characterized at their COOH terminus by a large amino acid portion derived from the out of frame (OOF) reading of ABL gene. These proteins were detected in BCR/ABL–positive cell lines by immunoprecipitation and immunohistochemistry. Finally, we determined whether OOF-specific CD8+ T cells could be found in the peripheral blood of CML patients and whether they could acquire effector function following in vitro sensitization with OOF-derived peptides predicted to bind to human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-A2 and HLA-A3 molecules. We detected the presence of OOF-specific CD8+ T cells in four of four patients studied, and in one case, these T cells exhibited specific cytotoxic activity against both peptide-pulsed targets and autologous primary CML cells. [Cancer Res 2007;67(11):5300–7]

Purpose: EphA2 receptor is involved in multiple cross-talks with other cellular networks, including EGFR, FAK, and VEGF pathways, with which it collaborates to stimulate cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. Colorectal cancer (CRC) EphA2 overexpression has also been correlated to stem-like properties of cells and tumor malignancy. We investigated the molecular cross-talk and miRNAs modulation of the EphA2 and EGFR pathways. We also explored the role of EphA2/EGFR pathway mediators as prognostic factors or predictors of cetuximab benefit in patients with CRC. Experimental Design: Gene expression analysis was performed in EphA2high cells isolated from CRC of the AOM/DSS murine model by FACS-assisted procedures. Six independent cohorts of patients were stratified by EphA2 expression to determine the potential prognostic role of a EphA2/EGFR signature and its effect on cetuximab treatment response. Results: We identified a gene expression pattern (EphA2, Efna1, Egfr, Ptpn12, and Atf2) reflecting the activation of EphA2 and EGFR pathways and a coherent dysregulation of mir-26b and mir-200a. Such a pattern showed prognostic significance in patients with stage I–III CRC, in both univariate and multivariate analysis. In patients with stage IV and WT KRAS, EphA2/Efna1/Egfr gene expression status was significantly associated with poor response to cetuximab treatment. Furthermore, EphA2 and EGFR overexpression showed a combined effect relative to cetuximab resistance, independently from KRAS mutation status. Conclusions: These results suggest that EphA2/Efna1/Egfr genes, linked to a possible control by miR-200a and miR-26b, could be proposed as novel CRC prognostic biomarkers. Moreover, EphA2 could be linked to a mechanism of resistance to cetuximab alternative to KRAS mutations. Clin Cancer Res; 23(1); 159–70. ©2016 AACR.