| 1. |
- Berthomier, M., et al.
(author)
-
Alfven : magnetosphere-ionosphere connection explorers
- 2012
-
In: Experimental astronomy. - Dordrecht : Springer. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 33:2-3, s. 445-489
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aurorae are dynamic, luminous displays that grace the night skies of Earth's high latitude regions. The solar wind emanating from the Sun is their ultimate energy source, but the chain of plasma physical processes leading to auroral displays is complex. The special conditions at the interface between the solar wind-driven magnetosphere and the ionospheric environment at the top of Earth's atmosphere play a central role. In this Auroral Acceleration Region (AAR) persistent electric fields directed along the magnetic field accelerate magnetospheric electrons to the high energies needed to excite luminosity when they hit the atmosphere. The "ideal magnetohydrodynamics" description of space plasmas which is useful in much of the magnetosphere cannot be used to understand the AAR. The AAR has been studied by a small number of single spacecraft missions which revealed an environment rich in wave-particle interactions, plasma turbulence, and nonlinear acceleration processes, acting on a variety of spatio-temporal scales. The pioneering 4-spacecraft Cluster magnetospheric research mission is now fortuitously visiting the AAR, but its particle instruments are too slow to allow resolve many of the key plasma physics phenomena. The Alfv,n concept is designed specifically to take the next step in studying the aurora, by making the crucial high-time resolution, multi-scale measurements in the AAR, needed to address the key science questions of auroral plasma physics. The new knowledge that the mission will produce will find application in studies of the Sun, the processes that accelerate the solar wind and that produce aurora on other planets.
|
|
| 2. |
- Bridel, Claire, et al.
(author)
-
Diagnostic Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light Protein in Neurology : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- 2019
-
In: JAMA Neurology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2168-6149 .- 2168-6157. ; 76:9, s. 1035-1048
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Importance Neurofilament light protein (NfL) is elevated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a number of neurological conditions compared with healthy controls (HC) and is a candidate biomarker for neuroaxonal damage. The influence of age and sex is largely unknown, and levels across neurological disorders have not been compared systematically to date.Objectives To assess the associations of age, sex, and diagnosis with NfL in CSF (cNfL) and to evaluate its potential in discriminating clinically similar conditions.Data Sources PubMed was searched for studies published between January 1, 2006, and January 1, 2016, reporting cNfL levels (using the search terms neurofilament light and cerebrospinal fluid) in neurological or psychiatric conditions and/or in HC.Study Selection Studies reporting NfL levels measured in lumbar CSF using a commercially available immunoassay, as well as age and sex.Data Extraction and Synthesis Individual-level data were requested from study authors. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the fixed effects of age, sex, and diagnosis on log-transformed NfL levels, with cohort of origin modeled as a random intercept.Main Outcome and Measure The cNfL levels adjusted for age and sex across diagnoses.Results Data were collected for 10 059 individuals (mean [SD] age, 59.7 [18.8] years; 54.1% female). Thirty-five diagnoses were identified, including inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (n = 2795), dementias and predementia stages (n = 4284), parkinsonian disorders (n = 984), and HC (n = 1332). The cNfL was elevated compared with HC in a majority of neurological conditions studied. Highest levels were observed in cognitively impaired HIV-positive individuals (iHIV), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Huntington disease. In 33.3% of diagnoses, including HC, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer disease (AD), and Parkinson disease (PD), cNfL was higher in men than women. The cNfL increased with age in HC and a majority of neurological conditions, although the association was strongest in HC. The cNfL overlapped in most clinically similar diagnoses except for FTD and iHIV, which segregated from other dementias, and PD, which segregated from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.Conclusions and Relevance These data support the use of cNfL as a biomarker of neuroaxonal damage and indicate that age-specific and sex-specific (and in some cases disease-specific) reference values may be needed. The cNfL has potential to assist the differentiation of FTD from AD and PD from atypical parkinsonian syndromes.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bonagas, Nadilly, et al.
(author)
-
Pharmacological targeting of MTHFD2 suppresses acute myeloid leukemia by inducing thymidine depletion and replication stress
- 2022
-
In: NATURE CANCER. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2662-1347. ; 3:2, s. 156-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The folate metabolism enzyme MTHFD2 (methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase) is consistently overexpressed in cancer but its roles are not fully characterized, and current candidate inhibitors have limited potency for clinical development. In the present study, we demonstrate a role for MTHFD2 in DNA replication and genomic stability in cancer cells, and perform a drug screen to identify potent and selective nanomolar MTHFD2 inhibitors; protein cocrystal structures demonstrated binding to the active site of MTHFD2 and target engagement. MTHFD2 inhibitors reduced replication fork speed and induced replication stress followed by S-phase arrest and apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo, with a therapeutic window spanning four orders of magnitude compared with nontumorigenic cells. Mechanistically, MTHFD2 inhibitors prevented thymidine production leading to misincorporation of uracil into DNA and replication stress. Overall, these results demonstrate a functional link between MTHFD2-dependent cancer metabolism and replication stress that can be exploited therapeutically with this new class of inhibitors. Helleday and colleagues describe a nanomolar MTHFD2 inhibitor that causes replication stress and DNA damage accumulation in cancer cells via thymidine depletion, demonstrating a potential therapeutic strategy in AML tumors in vivo.
|
|
| 4. |
- Baliakas, Panagiotis, et al.
(author)
-
Clinical effect of stereotyped B-cell receptor immunoglobulins in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a retrospective multicentre study
- 2014
-
In: The Lancet Haematology. - 2352-3026. ; 1:2, s. 74-84
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background About 30% of cases of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) carry quasi-identical B-cell receptor immunoglobulins and can be assigned to distinct stereotyped subsets. Although preliminary evidence suggests that B-cell receptor immunoglobulin stereotypy is relevant from a clinical viewpoint, this aspect has never been explored in a systematic manner or in a cohort of adequate size that would enable clinical conclusions to be drawn. Methods For this retrospective, multicentre study, we analysed 8593 patients with CLL for whom immunogenetic data were available. These patients were followed up in 15 academic institutions throughout Europe (in Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK) and the USA, and data were collected between June 1, 2012, and June 7, 2013. We retrospectively assessed the clinical implications of CLL B-cell receptor immunoglobulin stereotypy, with a particular focus on 14 major stereotyped subsets comprising cases expressing unmutated (U-CLL) or mutated (M-CLL) immunoglobulin heavy chain variable genes. The primary outcome of our analysis was time to first treatment, defined as the time between diagnosis and date of first treatment. Findings 2878 patients were assigned to a stereotyped subset, of which 1122 patients belonged to one of 14 major subsets. Stereotyped subsets showed significant differences in terms of age, sex, disease burden at diagnosis, CD38 expression, and cytogenetic aberrations of prognostic significance. Patients within a specific subset generally followed the same clinical course, whereas patients in different stereotyped subsets-despite having the same immunoglobulin heavy variable gene and displaying similar immunoglobulin mutational status-showed substantially different times to first treatment. By integrating B-cell receptor immunoglobulin stereotypy (for subsets 1, 2, and 4) into the well established Dohner cytogenetic prognostic model, we showed these, which collectively account for around 7% of all cases of CLL and represent both U-CLL and M-CLL, constituted separate clinical entities, ranging from very indolent (subset 4) to aggressive disease (subsets 1 and 2). Interpretation The molecular classification of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia based on B-cell receptor immunoglobulin stereotypy improves the Dohner hierarchical model and refines prognostication beyond immunoglobulin mutational status, with potential implications for clinical decision making, especially within prospective clinical trials.
|
|
| 5. |
- Baliakas, Panagiotis, et al.
(author)
-
Not all IGHV3-21 chronic lymphocytic leukemias are equal: prognostic considerations.
- 2015
-
In: Blood. - : American Society of Hematology. - 1528-0020 .- 0006-4971. ; 125:5, s. 856-859
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An unresolved issue in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is whether IGHV3-21 gene usage, in general, or the expression of stereotyped B-cell receptor immunoglobulin defining subset #2 (IGHV3-21/IGLV3-21), in particular, determines outcome for IGHV3-21-utilizing cases. We reappraised this issue in 8593 CLL patients of whom 437 (5%) used the IGHV3-21 gene with 254/437 (58%) classified as subset #2. Within subset #2, immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV)-mutated cases predominated, whereas non-subset #2/IGHV3-21 was enriched for IGHV-unmutated cases (P = .002). Subset #2 exhibited significantly shorter time-to-first-treatment (TTFT) compared with non-subset #2/IGHV3-21 (22 vs 60 months, P = .001). No such difference was observed between non-subset #2/IGHV3-21 vs the remaining CLL with similar IGHV mutational status. In conclusion, IGHV3-21 CLL should not be axiomatically considered a homogeneous entity with adverse prognosis, given that only subset #2 emerges as uniformly aggressive, contrasting non-subset #2/IGVH3-21 patients whose prognosis depends on IGHV mutational status as the remaining CLL.
|
|
| 6. |
- Buggert, Marcus, et al.
(author)
-
Limited immune surveillance in lymphoid tissue by cytolytic CD4+ T cells during health and HIV disease
- 2018
-
In: PLoS Pathogens. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7374. ; 14:4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- CD4+ T cells subsets have a wide range of important helper and regulatory functions in the immune system. Several studies have specifically suggested that circulating effector CD4+ T cells may play a direct role in control of HIV replication through cytolytic activity or autocrine β-chemokine production. However, it remains unclear whether effector CD4+ T cells expressing cytolytic molecules and β-chemokines are present within lymph nodes (LNs), a major site of HIV replication. Here, we report that expression of β-chemokines and cytolytic molecules are enriched within a CD4+ T cell population with high levels of the T-box transcription factors T-bet and eomesodermin (Eomes). This effector population is predominately found in peripheral blood and is limited in LNs regardless of HIV infection or treatment status. As a result, CD4+ T cells generally lack effector functions in LNs, including cytolytic capacity and IFNγ and β-chemokine expression, even in HIV elite controllers and during acute/early HIV infection. While we do find the presence of degranulating CD4+ T cells in LNs, these cells do not bear functional or transcriptional effector T cell properties and are inherently poor to form stable immunological synapses compared to their peripheral blood counterparts. We demonstrate that CD4+ T cell cytolytic function, phenotype, and programming in the peripheral blood is dissociated from those characteristics found in lymphoid tissues. Together, these data challenge our current models based on blood and suggest spatially and temporally dissociated mechanisms of viral control in lymphoid tissues.
|
|
| 7. |
- Mochalina, Natalia, et al.
(author)
-
Antithrombotic therapy in patientswith non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Southern Sweden : A population-based cohort study
- 2016
-
In: Thrombosis Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0049-3848 .- 1879-2472. ; 140, s. 94-99
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Oral anticoagulants in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) with moderate-to-high stroke risk are strongly recommended by the current guidelines.Materials and methods: Population-based register study of all 13,837 patients with incident non-valvular AF diagnosed during 2011-2014 in primary and secondary care (including all in-and outpatient visits) in Skane County, Sweden. The outcome was the prescription of direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOAC), warfarin or acetylsalicylic acid (ASA).Results and conclusion: Guideline adherence increased from 47.6% in 2011 to 66.1% in 2014, mostly due to decrease in undertreatment. In patients with CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc score >= 2, ASA uptake decreased from 29.9% to 14.7% and DOAC uptake increased from 2.1% to 25.1%. The use of ASA was more common among elderly and with increasing stroke-and bleeding risk. Overall, 47.4% of patients with CHA(2)DS(2)-VASc score >= 2 did not receive oral anticoagulants. Undertreatment was particularly common in women < 65 years (55.8%) and in patients >84 years (65.3% in women and 62% in men). Overtreatment of patients at low stroke risk was 35.9% in men and 36.4% in women. Provider speciality affected the choice of treatment only to a minor degree. Despite increasing guideline adherence, there is a suboptimal use of antithrombotic therapy in a large proportion of AF patients diagnosed in different clinical settings. Efforts to further improve guideline adherence should particularly be targeted on women < 65 years, elderly > 84 years and patients at low stroke risk.
|
|
| 8. |
- Sandberg, Maria E C
(author)
-
Contralateral breast cancer : risk and prognosis
- 2012
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The objective of this thesis was to investigate different aspects of contralateral breast cancer. This disease is of increasing importance as the mortality of breast cancer is decreasing while the incidence remains very high, consequently the population at risk for non-simultaneous (metachronous) contralateral breast cancer is increasing. Further, both simultaneously occurring (synchronous) contralateral breast cancer and non-simultaneous (metachronous) contralateral breast cancer have a worse prognosis than breast cancer in general. The population-based cohort used in all four studies includes all patients diagnosed with contralateral breast cancer in the Stockholm region during 1976-2005 (N=1422). In the first paper, which investigates the timing of diagnosis of contralateral breast cancer, we conclude that the diagnostic work-up has not improved over the last 25 years; the second cancers are neither found earlier, nor at smaller tumor size. In our second study we investigate the effect of adjuvant radiotherapy for the first breast cancer and conclude that radiotherapy seems to worsen tumor characteristics (TNM-stage and differentiation grade) and prognosis after contralateral breast cancer. In analyzing estrogen receptors of the two breast tumors we, in our third study, show how estrogen receptors of both tumors taken together have an important prognostic value. We also find several indications of endocrine therapy resistance in patients with two metachronous estrogen receptor positive tumors. The fourth and final study investigates mammographic density as a risk factor for contralateral breast cancer, studying both mammographic density at diagnosis of the first cancer and changes in density following the first cancer. We find no effect on the risk of contralateral breast cancer by mammographic density at the time of diagnosis of the first cancer; however, there is a significant risk decrease for patients who experience a decrease in breast density during follow-up after the first cancer.
|
|
| 9. |
- Sandberg, Maria E. C., et al.
(author)
-
Influence of radiotherapy for the first tumor on aggressiveness of contralateral breast cancer
- 2013
-
In: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 132:10, s. 2388-2394
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We aimed to investigate if characteristics of contralateral breast cancer (CBC) are influenced by adjuvant radiotherapy for the first breast cancer. Using information from population-based registers and medical records, we analyzed two cohorts comprising all women with CBC diagnosed >3 months after their first cancer (809 patients in Stockholm 19762005 and 750 patients in South Sweden 19772005). We used Poisson regression to calculate risk of distant metastasis after CBC, comparing patients treated and not treated with radiotherapy for the first cancer. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) of more aggressive tumor characteristics in the second cancer, compared to the first. For patients with CBC in Stockholm with <5 years between the cancers radiotherapy for the first cancer conferred a nearly doubled risk of distant metastasis [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.91; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.272.88], compared to those not treated with radiotherapy. This was replicated in the South Swedish cohort [IRR = 2.12 (95% CI: 1.403.23)]. In Stockholm, we found an increased odds that, following radiotherapy, a second cancer was of more advanced TNM-stage [OR 2.16 (95% CI 1.134.11)] and higher histological grade [OR = 2.00 (95% CI 1.083.72)] compared to the first, for patients with CBC with <5 years between the cancers. No effect on any of the investigated outcomes was seen for patients diagnosed with CBC >5 years from the first cancer. In conclusion, patients diagnosed with CBC within 5 years had worse prognosis and more aggressive tumor characteristics of the second cancer, if they had received radiotherapy for their first cancer, compared to no radiotherapy.
|
|
| 10. |
- Xochelli, Aliki, et al.
(author)
-
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Mutated IGHV4-34 Receptors : Shared and Distinct Immunogenetic Features and Clinical Outcomes
- 2017
-
In: Clinical Cancer Research. - 1078-0432 .- 1557-3265. ; 23:17, s. 5292-5301
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: We sought to investigate whether B cell receptor immunoglobulin (BcR IG) stereotypy is associated with particular clinicobiological features among chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients expressing mutated BcR IG (M-CLL) encoded by the IGHV4-34 gene, and also ascertain whether these associations could refine prognostication. Experimental Design: In a series of 19,907 CLL cases with available immunogenetic information, we identified 339 IGHV4-34expressing cases assigned to one of the four largest stereotyped M-CLL subsets, namely subsets #4, #16, #29 and #201, and investigated in detail their clinicobiological characteristics and disease outcomes. Results: We identified shared and subset-specific patterns of somatic hypermutation (SHM) among patients assigned to these subsets. The greatest similarity was observed between subsets #4 and #16, both including IgG-switched cases (IgG-CLL). In contrast, the least similarity was detected between subsets #16 and #201, the latter concerning IgM/D-expressing CLL. Significant differences between subsets also involved disease stage at diagnosis and the presence of specific genomic aberrations. IgG subsets #4 and #16 emerged as particularly indolent with a significantly (P < 0.05) longer time-to-first-treatment (TTFT; median TTFT: not yet reached) compared with the IgM/D subsets #29 and #201 (median TTFT: 11 and 12 years, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings support the notion that BcR IG stereotypy further refines prognostication in CLL, superseding the immunogenetic distinction based solely on SHM load. In addition, the observed distinct genetic aberration landscapes and clinical heterogeneity suggest that not all M-CLL cases are equal, prompting further research into the underlying biological background with the ultimate aim of tailored patient management.
|
|
