DMF Activates NRF2 to Inhibit the Pro-Invasion Ability of TAMs in Breast Cancer

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) account for more than 50% of the cells in the tumor immune microenvironment of patients with breast cancer. A high TAM density is associated with a poor clinical prognosis. Targeting TAMs is a promising therapeutic strategy because they promote tumor growth, development, and metastasis. In this study, we found that dimethyl formamide (DMF) significantly inhibited the tumor invasion-promoting ability of TAMs in the co-culture system and further showed that DMF functioned by reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in TAMs. The orthotopic 4T1 cell inoculation model and the spontaneous mouse mammary tumor virus-polyoma middle tumor-antigen tumor model were used to evaluate the antitumor effect of DMF. The results showed that DMF significantly inhibited tumor metastasis and increased T-cell infiltration into the tumor microenvironment. Mechanistically, NRF2 activation was necessary for DMF to exert its function, and DMF can play a role in breast cancer as an anticancer drug targeting TAMs.

BRAF-V600E and microsatellite instability prediction through CA-19-9/CEA ratio in patients with colorectal cancer.

e15065 Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease. Specifically for patients with BRAF-V600E mutations and/or mismatch repair deficiency or microsatellite instability-high (dMMR/MSI-High), there have been significant advances in terms of treatment options. Early identification of these subsets of patients has both prognostic and predictive value. We wanted to highlight an observation of utilizing 2 simple, rapid and universally available lab tests i.e. carbohydrate cancer antigen 19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen tumor markers, the ratio (CA-19-9/CEA) of which can distinctly identify these patients. Methods: We included and analyzed the ratio of CA-19-9/CEA levels in patients with metastatic CRC at Mayo Clinic from December 2016 to February 2019, where both the results were available. Non-parametric tests were done to compare and contrast the differences in the median ratio and tumor marker levels. Results: BRAF-V600E mutant CRC patients had a discordantly profound elevation in CA-19-9 levels as opposed to the CEA levels. The median CA-19-9/CEA ratio was 20 (range: 0.3-167.3) in BRAF-V600E MSS patients as opposed to 4.40 (range: 0.003-216.2) in all other patients, p-value of 0.007 (Table). Similarly, the mean CA-19-9/CEA ratio for BRAF V600E MSS tumors was 57.15 (S.D.± 62.76) versus 10.5 (S.D.± 33.90) for all other types. Furthermore, this discordant elevation is not seen in BRAF-mutant MSI-High or any MSI-High patients (median CA-19-9/CEA ratio - 0.46). Conclusions: To date, this is the first report utilizing the ratio of tumor markers CA-19-9/CEA as predictive rather than just prognostic markers. It clearly identifies BRAF-V600E MSS and the MSI-High CRC patients from other subsets.[Table: see text]

Conformational Search on the Lewis X Structure by Molecular Dynamic: Study of Tri- and Pentasaccharide

Carbohydrates play vital roles in many biological processes, such as recognition, adhesion, and signalling between cells. The Lewis X determinant is a trisaccharide fragment implicated as a specific differentiation antigen, tumor antigen, and key component of the ligand for the endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule, so it is necessary or essential to determine and to know their conformational and structural properties. In this work, conformational analysis was performed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with the AMBER10 program package in order to study the dynamic behavior of of the Lewis X trisaccharide (β-D-Gal-(1,4)-[α-L-Fuc-(1,3)]-β-D-GlcNAc-OMe) and the Lewis X pentasaccharide (β-D-Gal-(1,4)-[α-L-Fuc-(1,3)]-β-D-GlcNAc-(1,3)-β-D-Gal-(1,4)-β-D-Glu-OMe) in explicit water model at 300 K for 10 ns using the GLYCAM 06 force field.