Extracellular vesicle-derived lncRNA-GC1 serves as a novel biomarker for predicting and monitoring the immunotherapeutic outcomes of patients with gastric cancer.

Background: Efforts to predict the outcomes of patients with gastric cancer (GC) following immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatments remain limited, owing to a lack of reliable biomarkers. Studies have found that extracellular vesicle (EV)-derived lncRNA-GC1 may serve as a GC-specific biomarker. This study was designed to expand on these previous results by estimating the usefulness of EV-derived lncRNA-GC1 as a predictive indicator for patients with GC who undergo ICI treatments.

Nav1.8 in small dorsal root ganglion neurons contributes to vincristine-induced mechanical allodynia.

Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy is a common side effect of vincristine treatment, which is accompanied by pain and can be dose-limiting. The molecular mechanisms that underlie vincristine-induced pain are not well understood. We have established an animal model to investigate pathophysiological mechanisms of vincristine-induced pain.

Early assessment of circulating exosomal lncRNA-GC1 for monitoring neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in gastric cancer.

Background: The timing of surgery for patients with gastric cancer (GC) who undergo neoadjuvant chemotherapy (neoCT) was mainly guided by serial radiologic imaging. However, an earlier assessment was indispensable to avoid delayed treatment for nonresponders and excessive toxicity for responders. Our previous study has identified circulating extracellular vesicles-derived lncRNA-GC1 as a biomarker for early detection and monitoring progression of GC.

Na1.7 gain-of-function mutation I228M triggers age-dependent nociceptive insensitivity and C-LTMR dysregulation.

Gain-of-function mutations in Scn9a, which encodes the peripheral sensory neuron-enriched voltage-gated sodium channel Na1.7, cause paroxysmal extreme pain disorder (PEPD), inherited erythromelalgia (IEM), and small fiber neuropathy (SFN). Conversely, loss-of-function mutations in the gene are linked to congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP).

A Liquid Biopsy Signature for the Early Detection of Gastric Cancer in Patients.

Background & Aims: Diagnosing gastric cancer (GC) while the disease remains eligible for surgical resection is challenging. In view of this clinical challenge, novel and robust biomarkers for early detection thus improving prognosis of GC are necessary. The present study is to develop a blood-based long noncoding RNA (LR) signature for the early-detection of GC.

Circulating exosomal gastric cancer-associated long noncoding RNA1 as a noninvasive biomarker for predicting chemotherapy response and prognosis of advanced gastric cancer: A multi-cohort, multi-phase study.

Background: A previous validated study has identified the diagnostic value of circulating exosomal lncRNA-GC1 for detecting and monitoring gastric cancer. We aimed to further determine the predictive role of circulating exosomal lncRNA-GC1 for prognosis and chemotherapy response.

Methods: We retrospectively conducted a multi-phase analysis with four independent cohorts of 981 patients.

Association of dysbindin expression with individualized postoperative prognosis and chemotherapy benefit among patients with gastric adenocarcinoma.

The current model for predicting prognosis and chemotherapy response of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma is the TNM staging system, which may lack adequate accuracy and evaluations of molecular features at the individual level. We aimed to develop a prediction model to assess the individualized prognosis and responsiveness to fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy. This retrospective study concluded 2 independent cohorts of patients with GAC.

variants and pain modulation: a missense variant in Kv7.3 contributes to pain resilience.

There is a pressing need for understanding of factors that confer resilience to pain. Gain-of-function mutations in sodium channel Nav1.7 produce hyperexcitability of dorsal root ganglion neurons underlying inherited erythromelalgia, a human genetic model of neuropathic pain.

Two independent mouse lines carrying the Nav1.7 I228M gain-of-function variant display dorsal root ganglion neuron hyperexcitability but a minimal pain phenotype.

Small-fiber neuropathy (SFN), characterized by distal unmyelinated or thinly myelinated fiber loss, produces a combination of sensory dysfunction and neuropathic pain. Gain-of-function variants in the sodium channel Nav1.7 that produce dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuron hyperexcitability are present in 5% to 10% of patients with idiopathic painful SFN.

Sodium channel Nav1.6 in sensory neurons contributes to vincristine-induced allodynia.

Vincristine, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, produces painful peripheral neuropathy. The underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we investigated whether voltage-gated sodium channels are involved in the development of vincristine-induced neuropathy.

Circulating Exosomal Gastric Cancer-Associated Long Noncoding RNA1 as a Biomarker for Early Detection and Monitoring Progression of Gastric Cancer: A Multiphase Study.

Importance: The gastric cancer (GC)-associated long noncoding RNA1 (lncRNA-GC1) plays an important role in gastric carcinogenesis. However, exosomal lncRNA-GC1 and its potential role in GC are poorly understood.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic value of circulating exosomal lncRNA-GC1 for early detection and monitoring progression of GC.

Pharmacological characterization of a rat Nav1.7 loss-of-function model with insensitivity to pain.

Sodium channel Nav1.7, encoded by the SCN9A gene, is a well-validated target that plays a key role in controlling pain sensation. Loss-of-function mutations of Nav1.

Differential aging-related changes in neurophysiology and gene expression in IB4-positive and IB4-negative nociceptive neurons.

Despite pain prevalence altering with age, the effects of aging on the properties of nociceptors are not well understood. Nociceptors, whose somas are located in dorsal root ganglia, are frequently divided into two groups based on their ability to bind isolectin B4 (IB4). Here, using cultured neurons from 1-, 3-, 5-, 8-, 12-, and 18-month-old mice, we investigate age-dependent changes in IB4-positive and IB4-negative neurons.

Conditional knockout of Na1.6 in adult mice ameliorates neuropathic pain.

Voltage-gated sodium channels Na1.7, Na1.8 and Na1.

Reverse pharmacogenomics: carbamazepine normalizes activation and attenuates thermal hyperexcitability of sensory neurons due to Na 1.7 mutation I234T.

Background And Purpose: Pharmacotherapy for pain currently involves trial and error. A previous study on inherited erythromelalgia (a genetic model of neuropathic pain due to mutations in the sodium channel, Na 1.7) used genomics, structural modelling and biophysical and pharmacological analyses to guide pharmacotherapy and showed that carbamazepine normalizes voltage dependence of activation of the Na 1.

Dendritic spine remodeling following early and late Rac1 inhibition after spinal cord injury: evidence for a pain biomarker.

Neuropathic pain is a significant complication following spinal cord injury (SCI) with few effective treatments. Drug development for neuropathic pain often fails because preclinical studies do not always translate well to clinical conditions. Identification of biological characteristics predictive of disease state or drug responsiveness could facilitate more effective clinical translation.

HCN2 ion channels play a central role in inflammatory and neuropathic pain.

The rate of action potential firing in nociceptors is a major determinant of the intensity of pain. Possible modulators of action potential firing include the HCN ion channels, which generate an inward current, I(h), after hyperpolarization of the membrane. We found that genetic deletion of HCN2 removed the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-sensitive component of I(h) and abolished action potential firing caused by an elevation of cAMP in nociceptors.