Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

About: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart is a education organization based out in Milan, Lombardia, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 13592 authors who have published 31048 publications receiving 853961 citations.

Class iii beta-tubulin overexpression is a prominent mechanism of paclitaxel resistance in ovarian cancer patients

Abstract: The vast majority of women with advanced ovarian cancer will ultimately relapse and develop a drug-resistant disease with an overall 5-year survival of MDR-1 gene, point mutations at prominently expressed α-tubulin and β-tubulin genes and selective alterations in the expression of β-tubulin isotypes. MDR-1 and the β-tubulin isotypes expression were evaluated by semiquantitative and real-time PCR. On the same specimens, quantitative immunohistochemistry was also done in the tumor area. No statistically significant changes of MDR-1 expression were noticed between the sensitive and resistant patients either at the mRNA or protein level. The tubulin mutations for the ubiquitous α-tubulin and β-tubulin genes were evaluated by automated DNA sequencing, and in all patients, no mutations were detected in both resistant and sensitive cases. With regard to the expression of tubulin isoforms, a statistically significant up-regulation of class III β-tubulin was found in the resistant subset. It is worth noting that this statistically significant increase of the expression of class III β-tubulin was detectable at the mRNA and protein level. By a direct comparison of the three main known mechanisms of paclitaxel resistance, this study indicates that overexpression of class III β-tubulin is the most prominent mechanism of paclitaxel resistance in ovarian cancer.

European evidence-based consensus: Inflammatory bowel disease and malignancies

Abstract: The global prevalence of cancer is increasing, largely as more patients are living into old age. Therefore, gastroenterologists caring for patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] increasingly are managing patients with cancer, or a previous history of cancer. This often requires joint management with the patient’s oncologist, enabling case-by-case decision-making based on the characteristics and expected evolution of the index cancer. Previously, no European guidelines existed describing the impact of IBD on malignancy. For this reason, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation [ECCO] Guidelines Committee [GuiCom] decided to elaborate a set of Consensus Statements on optimal risk/benefit strategies for treating IBD patients with cancer or a history of cancer. The development of clinical practice guidelines is expensive and time consuming, and it is the Committee’s hope that these statements will facilitate and accelerate future efforts to elaborate formal guidelines, providing useful information on areas for which evidence is lacking and where controlled studies are needed. The strategy used to produce the Consensus Statements involved five steps: 1. Two members of Guicom [VA and RE] identified four main topics that needed to be addressed: a] IBD and solid tumours; b] IBD and skin and haematological malignancies; c] malignancy related to therapy: risk and prevention; and d] management of IBD patients with a history of malignancy. During 2014, calls for participation in the drafting of consensus statements were issued to ECCO members, and selected oncologists known for their expertise and active research in the field were invited to join the Consensus. Participants were selected by the Committee, and four working groups were created, each composed of a chairperson [LE, RE, LB, and VA], two ECCO members including young members [Y-ECCO], and one or two experienced oncologists. The chairmen and their groups elaborated relevant questions on topics dealing with current practice and/or areas …

Mistrust in biomedical research and vaccine hesitancy: the forefront challenge in the battle against COVID-19 in Italy.

Abstract: Researchers have been working quickly and collaboratively for the development of vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. The effort of the scientific community in searching a vaccine for COVID-19 may be hampered by a diffused vaccine hesitancy. Two waves of data collection on representative samples of the Italian population (during the "first" and "second" phase of the Italian Covid-19 mitigation strategy) were conducted to understand citizens' perceptions and behaviors about preventive behaviors willingness to vaccine for COVID-19. Our study shows that willingness to COVID-19 vaccine is correlated to trust in research and in vaccines, which decreased between phase 1 and phase 2 of the Italian pandemic. According to the results of our study, the proportion of citizens that seem to be intentioned to get the Covid-19 vaccine is probably too small to effectively stop the spreading of the disease. This requires to foster a climate of respectful mutual trust between science and society, where scientific knowledge is not only preached but also cultivated and sustained thanks to the emphatic understanding of citizens worries, needs of reassurance and health expectations.

Improvement in cardiac function in the cardiac variant of Fabry's disease with galactose-infusion therapy.

Abstract: Fabry's disease is an X-linked inborn error of glycosphingolipid catabolism caused by deficient activity of α-galactosidase A, a lysosomal exoglycosidase.1,2 In males with the classic form of the disease, there is little if any α-galactosidase A activity. As a result, undegraded glycosphingolipids accumulate, particularly in the vascular endothelium. These deposits cause the characteristic angiokeratomas, acroparesthesias, hypohidrosis, and corneal opacities of Fabry's disease. Death in early adulthood in affected persons may be due to vascular disease of the heart, kidney, or brain. These abnormalities are absent in males with the cardiac variant of the disease. Those with the cardiac variant . . .