Mesothelioma patient derived tumor xenografts with defined BAP1 mutations that mimic the molecular characteristics of human malignant mesothelioma

Background: The development and evaluation of new therapeutic approaches for malignant mesothelioma has been sparse due, in part, to lack of suitable tumor models. Methods: We established primary mesothelioma cultures from pleural and ascitic fluids of five patients with advanced mesothelioma. Electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry (IHC) confirmed their mesothelial origin. Patient derived xenografts were generated by injecting the cells in nude or SCID mice, and malignant potential of the cells was analyzed by soft agar colony assay. Molecular profiles of the primary patient tumors, early passage cell cultures, and patient derived xenografts were assessed using mutational analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and IHC. Results: Primary cultures from all five tumors exhibited morphologic and IHC features consistent to those of mesothelioma cells. Mutations of BAP1 and CDKN2A were each detected in four tumors. BAP1 mutation was associated with the lack of expression of BAP1 protein. Three cell cultures, all of which were derived from BAP1 mutant primary tumors, exhibited anchorage independent growth and also formed tumors in mice, suggesting that BAP1 loss may enhance tumor growth in vivo. Both early passage cell cultures and mouse xenograft tumors harbored BAP1 mutations and CDKN2A deletions identical to those found in the corresponding primary patient tumors. Conclusions: The mesothelioma patient derived tumor xenografts with mutational alterations that mimic those observed in patient tumors which we established can be used for preclinical development of novel drug regimens and for studying the functional aspects of BAP1 biology in mesothelioma. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1362-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Evolving Trends in Scholarly Publishing and Impact on the Monotony of Predators

Open access (OA) journals have emerged in the past two decades and have influenced scholarly publications to a great extent, contributing to the benefits of OA publishing. The research focuses on the evolving trends of OA and the measures required to address the issue of exponentially growing predatory publishing. The study concludes the research by proposing measures for the scholarly world to address predatory publishing globally. The scope of the research is qualitative, discussing the fair publishing practices and implications of Plan S and open peer review. In the methodology, the study reviews the wealth of published literature in the discipline to decide the variables and impact on the dependent variable.</jats:p

SMART AGRICULTURE: A REVIEW

Agriculture is regarded as one of the most crucial sectors in guaranteeing food security. However, as the world’s population grows, so do agri-food demands, necessitating a shift from traditional agricultural practices to smart agriculture practices, often known as agriculture 4.0. It is critical to recognize and handle the problems and challenges related with agriculture 4.0 in order to fully profit from its promise. As a result, the goal of this research is to contribute to the development of agriculture 4.0 by looking into the growing trends of digital technologies in the field of agriculture. A literature review is done to examine the scientific literature pertaining to crop farming published in the previous decade for this goal. This thorough examination yielded significant information on the existing state of digital technology in agriculture, as well as potential future opportunities.</jats:p