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BACKGROUND: Urinary bladder cancer is a common malignancy worldwide. Environmental factors and chronic inflammation are correlated with the disease risk. Diagnosis is performed by transurethral resection of the bladder, and patients with muscle invasive disease preferably proceed to radical cystectomy, with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The anti-tumour immune responses, known to be initiated in the tumour and draining lymph nodes, may play a major role in future treatment strategies. Thus, increasing the knowledge of tumour-associated immunological processes is important. Activated CD4⁺ T cells differentiate into four main separate lineages: Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg, and they are recognized by their effector molecules IFN-γ, IL-13, IL-17A, and the transcription factor Foxp3, respectively. We have previously demonstrated signature CpG sites predictive for lineage commitment of these four major CD4⁺ T cell lineages. Here, we investigate the lineage commitment specifically in tumour, lymph nodes and blood and relate them to the disease stage and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

RESULTS: Blood, tumour and regional lymph nodes were obtained from patients at time of transurethral resection of the bladder and at radical cystectomy. Tumour-infiltrating CD4⁺ lymphocytes were significantly hypomethylated in all four investigated lineage loci compared to CD4⁺ lymphocytes in lymph nodes and blood (lymph nodes vs tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes: IFNG -4229 bp p < 0.0001, IL13 -11 bp p < 0.05, IL17A -122 bp p < 0.01 and FOXP3 -77 bp p > 0.05). Examination of individual lymph nodes displayed different methylation signatures, suggesting possible correlation with future survival. More advanced post-cystectomy tumour stages correlated significantly with increased methylation at the IFNG -4229 bp locus. Patients with complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy displayed significant hypomethylation in CD4⁺ T cells for all four investigated loci, most prominently in IFNG p < 0.0001. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy seemed to result in a relocation of Th1-committed CD4⁺ T cells from blood, presumably to the tumour, indicated by shifts in the methylation patterns, whereas no such shifts were seen for lineages corresponding to IL13, IL17A and FOXP3.

CONCLUSION: Increased lineage commitment in CD4⁺ T cells, as determined by demethylation in predictive CpG sites, is associated with lower post-cystectomy tumour stage, complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and overall better outcome, suggesting epigenetic profiling of CD4⁺ T cell lineages as a useful readout for clinical staging.

Objective: To explore possible associations between adipose tissue (AT) blood flow (ATBF), AT depot sizes and adipocyte-derived hormones (adipokines) in women.

Subjects: In all, 43 healthy women were divided into four groups: normal-weight (n=11) and obese (n=11) pre-menopausal women and normal-weight (n=10) and obese (n=11) post-menopausal women.

Methods: Fasting levels of adipokines were obtained, and a single-slice computed tomography scan at the level of L4-L5 was used to estimate fat depot sizes. ATBF was assessed by xenon washout while in a fasting state and after oral glucose load. We also measured glucose, insulin and non-esterified fatty acids.

Results: Total, subcutaneous and visceral AT areas strongly correlated with ATBF (all P<0.001). Circulating leptin levels strongly and inversely correlated with ATBF (P=0.001), but this association did not remain after adjustment for body mass index. Adiponectin was not associated with blood flow.

Conclusion: ATBF is closely linked to subcutaneous and visceral AT size. Further analyses are needed to determine possible mediators of this association, including mechanistic studies to assess a putative role for leptin as a significant modulator of blood flow. International Journal of Obesity advance online publication, 26 July 2011; doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.152.

Treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma with either dacarbazine (DTIC) or interferon-[alpha] (IFN[alpha]) as single drugs, or in combination, results in a response rate of approximately 15–20%. This study evaluated the activity and toxicity following treatment with a combination of DTIC, IFN[alpha]2b and verapamil (VPL). Thirty patients with disseminated metastatic melanoma received DTIC 250 mg/m2 on days 1–5 of a 4 week schedule, IFN[alpha]2b 3 MIU on days 1–5 each week, and VPL 80 mg three times a day throughout the cycle, until either disease progression or serious toxicity was observed. Among the 28 evaluable patients, there were four complete responses (CRs), five partial responses (PRs) and eight patients with stable disease (SD). The overall response rate (CR + PR) was 32%. Two patients with a CR were long-term survivors (45 and 34 months) and a third is still in complete remission after 49 months. The fourth CR patient relapsed and died with progressive brain metastases after 8 months. Among the eight patients with SD, one survived for 22 months and another for 34 months. Despite one toxic death, these results suggest that this treatment regimen is well tolerated and seems to be more effective than DTIC alone in a subset of patients. A controlled randomized study would be required to determine the value of adding VPL and IFN[alpha]2b to DTIC.