Phase Ⅲ Clinical Trials of the Cell Differentiation Agent-2 （CDA-2）： Therapeutic Efficacy on Breast Cancer, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Primary Hepatoma

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to explore the effect of CDA-2, a selective inhibitor of abnormal methylation enzymes in cancer cells, on the therapeutic efficacy of cytotoxic chemotherapy. METHODS Advanced cancer patients, all of whom had previously undergone chemotherapy, were randomly divided into 2 groups, one receiving chemotherapy only as the control group, and the other receiving CDA-2 in addition to chemotherapy as the combination group. The therapeutic efficacies and the toxic maniestations of the 2 groups were compared based on the WHO criteria. RESULTS Of 454 cancer patients enrolled in phase Ⅲ clinical trials of CDA-2, 80, 188, and 186 were breast cancer, NSCLC, and primary hepatoma patients, respectively. Among them 378 patients completed treatments according to the protocols. The results showed that the overall effective rate of the combination group was 2.6 fold that of the control group, 4.8 fold in the case of breast cancer, 2.3 fold in the case of primary hepatoma, and 2.2 fold in the case of NSCLC. Surprisingly, the combination therapy appeared to work better for stage Ⅳ than stage Ⅲ patients. CDA-2 did not contribute additional toxicity. On the contrary, it reduced toxic manifestations of chemotherapy, particularly regarding white blood cells, nausea and vomiting. CONCLUSION Modulation of abnormal methylation enzymes by CDA-2 is definitely helpful to supplement chemotherapy. It significantly increased the therapeutic efficacy and reduced the toxic manifestation of cytotoxic chemotherapy on breast cancer and NSCLC.

Thermometry strategy developed based on fluorescence contrast driven by varying excitations in codoped LiNbO3

We propose what we believe is a novel optical thermometry strategy(FIR-Ex)based on the fluorescence intensity ratio(FIR)between two radiations associated with the same emission peak but different excitation wavelengths,in contrast to the traditional approach(FIR-Em),which depends on the FIR at varying emission wavelengths.The temperature-dependent FIR within the FIR-Ex strategy arises from the different charge/energy evolution routes,rather than the distribution of thermally coupled levels within the FIR-Em strategy.Considerable diversity in thermal behaviors and luminescence mechanisms was demonstrated by analyzing the 618 nm red emission in Pr^3+-doped congruent LiNbO3(Pr:CLN)under 360 and 463 nm excitations.The temperature sensitivity was further improved via Mg^2+ codoping due to the optimization of charge dynamics and energy transfer processes.Given its wide detection scope,relatively high absolute sensitivity at low temperature,and high tunability of temperature sensitivity,the FIR-Ex strategy is promising for developing optical temperature-sensing materials with high performance.