Dasatinib Inhibits CXCR4 Signaling in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Cells and Impairs Migration Towards CXCL12

Chemokines and their ligands play a critical role in enabling chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) cells access to protective microenvironmental niches within tissues, ultimately resulting in chemoresistance and relapse: disruption of these signaling pathways has become a novel therapeutic approach in CLL. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib inhibits migration of several cell lines from solid-organ tumours, but effects on CLL cells have not been reported. We studied the effect of clinically achievable concentrations of dasatinib on signaling induced by the chemokine CXCL12 through its'' receptor CXCR4, which is highly expressed on CLL cells. Dasatinib pre-treatment inhibited Akt and ERK phosphorylation in CLL cells upon stimulation with CXCL12. Dasatinib also significantly diminished the rapid increase in actin polymerisation observed in CLL cells following CXCL12 stimulation. Moreover, the drug significantly inhibited chemotaxis in a transwell assay, and reduced the percentage of cells able to migrate beneath a CXCL12-expressing murine stromal cell line. Dasatinib also abrogated the anti-apoptotic effect of prolonged CXCL12 stimulation on cultured CLL cells. These data suggest that dasatinib, akin to other small molecule kinase inhibitors targeting the B-cell receptor signaling pathway, may redistribute CLL cells from protective tissue niches to the peripheral blood, and support the investigation of dasatinib in combination strategies.     

A morphological investigation of Culicoides spp. biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the Caribbean.

Features of the antennae, maxillary palps, and mouthparts of the females of seven species of Culicoides spp. biting midges collected from a montane rainforest site in Trinidad, West Indies, were studied by light and scanning electron microscopy. Comparisons were made with two British species, Culicoides impunctatus and Culicoides nubeculosus. Species-specific differences were demonstrated in the camber and pitch of mandibular teeth, the size and shape of the subapical labral sensilla, the size and depth of the palpal sensory pit, and the number and shape of heads of the palpal sensilla. Counts of sensilla coeloconica and palpal sensilla were suggested as being contributory features for the prediction of host preference, indicating that Culicoides darlingtonae, Culicoides glabellus, Culicoides insinuatus, Culicoides paraensis, and Culicoides pseudodiabolicus were probably mammalophilic species. The host preferences of Culicoides heliconiae and Culicoides flavivenula could not be determined accurately.     

Cell Optical Density and Molecular Composition Revealed by Simultaneous Multimodal Label-Free Imaging

We show how Raman imaging can be combined with independent but simultaneous phase measurements of unlabeled cells, with the resulting data providing information on how the light is retarded and/or scattered by molecules in the cell. We then show, for the first time to our knowledge, how the chemistry of the cell highlighted in the Raman information is related to the cell quantitative phase information revealed in digital holographic microscopy by quantifying how the two sets of spatial information are correlated. The results show that such a multimodal implementation is highly useful for the convenience of having video rate imaging of the cell during the entire Raman measurement time, allowing us to observe how the cell changes during Raman acquisition. More importantly, it also shows that the two sets of label-free data, which result from different scattering mechanisms, are complementary and can be used to interpret the composition and dynamics of the cell, where each mode supplies label-free information not available from the other mode.     

Gut microbiota in wild and captive Guizhou snub‐nosed monkeys,Rhinopithecus brelichi

Many colobine species—including the endangered Guizhou snub‐nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi) are difficult to maintain in captivity and frequently exhibit gastrointestinal (GI) problems. GI problems are commonly linked to alterations in the gut microbiota, which lead us to examine the gut microbial communities of wild and captive R. brelichi. We used high‐throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to compare the gut microbiota of wild (N = 7) and captive (N = 8) R. brelichi. Wild monkeys exhibited increased gut microbial diversity based on the Chao1 but not Shannon diversity metric and greater relative abundances of bacteria in the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae families. Microbes in these families digest complex plant materials and produce butyrate, a short chain fatty acid critical to colonocyte health. Captive monkeys had greater relative abundances of Prevotella and Bacteroides species, which degrade simple sugars and carbohydrates, like those present in fruits and cornmeal, two staples of the captive R. brelichi diet. Captive monkeys also had a greater abundance of Akkermansia species, a microbe that can thrive in the face of host malnutrition. Taken together, these findings suggest that poor health in captive R. brelichi may be linked to diet and an altered gut microbiota.