F1000Research

Our medical research library holds 5 studies published in F1000Research (2018–2025). Each entry links to the study's record on PubMed and, where there is one, to the publisher's page and a free full text. 5 have an abstract, the authors' own summary as PubMed records it: open "Abstract" to read it.

About the journal

• Publisher: F1000 Research Ltd
• Published: 2012 to the present, England
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2046-1402 (electronic)
• Its record in the NLM Catalog

2020s

• Methodology for generating chorioallantoic membrane patient-derived xenograft (CAM-PDX) models of pleural mesothelioma and performing preclinical imaging for the translation of cancer studies and drug screening. J. Schulze, S. Barnett, L. Shaw, et al. 2025;14:481. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Background: Pleural mesothelioma is a cancer of the lung lining associated with asbestos exposure. Platinum/pemetrexed chemotherapy has been used for many years but provides little benefit and, despite recent immunotherapy advances, prognosis remains poor underpinning the need for development of novel therapeutics or drug repurposing. Fertilized hens' eggs provide a rapid and cost-effective alternative to murine models of pleural mesothelioma which are commonly used in preclinical studies, with chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) xenografts being a partial replacement for mouse flank xenografts. Here we describe methods to generate mesothelioma patient-derived xenografts on the CAM (CAM-PDX), and to subsequently assess these PDX nodules by preclinical imaging and histology.

  Methods: Fragments of surplus mesothelioma tissue obtained from patient biopsies were implanted onto the CAM on embryonic day 7 (E7), fresh or following cryopreservation, with the established PDX dissected on E14 and fixed for histological/immunohistochemical analysis. The optimal freezing method was determined by comparing tissue integrity and cellular content of cryopreserved tissue fragments with paired fresh samples via histological/immunohistochemical analyses. [ 18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) was used to assess viability of PDXs in ovo.

  Results: Methodologies for processing, cryopreservation, re-animation, and engraftment of mesothelioma tissue fragments were established. Cryopreservation of biopsy samples and parallel processing of contiguous sections allows for assessment of mesothelioma cellularity. CAM-PDXs, generated from fresh or slow-frozen tissue, were well vascularized whilst maintaining the architecture and cellular composition of the patient tissue. Furthermore, uptake of [ 18F]-FDG following intravenous injection could be visualized and quantified.

  Conclusions: The CAM is a rapid platform for engrafting patient-derived tissue, maintaining elements of the tumor microenvironment and recapitulating heterogeneity observed in mesothelioma. Combining the CAM-PDX model and FDG-PET/CT provides a quantitative in vivo platform for pre-screening of novel treatment strategies and drug combinations, with the potential for development of patient tumor avatars for predicting clinical response.

  Copyright: © 2025 Schulze J et al.

• Case Report: Can we differentiate mesothelioma from inflammatory pericardial constriction preoperatively?. S.S. Raza, I. Ullah, S.K. Awan, et al. 2020;9:513. Case report PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Primary malignant pericardial mesothelioma (PMPM) is a rare cardiac tumor. The patient usually presents with pericardial constriction, usually misdiagnosed and wrongly managed. We present the case of a 21-year-old woman with a history of pericarditis and cardiac tamponade. The patient was referred from a clinic due to nausea, vomiting and ascites with lower extremity edema, soft and watery diarrhea, and right upper quadrant pain. Surgery (sternotomy and partial pericardiectomy) was proposed after looking at the different relevant investigations; it was not until that the patient was operated on that it was established that this wasn't a mere constriction but a malignancy. The patient shortly died after the operation. Pathology made a diagnosis of PMPM. Along with the classical symptoms those who present with level 1 thoracic adenopathy a decision to operate should be very carefully made, this may lead to a misdiagnosis of PMPM which postoperatively results in patient's death.

  Copyright: © 2020 Raza SS et al.

2010s

• Epigenetic silencing of lncRNA MORT in 16 TCGA cancer types. L. Vrba, B.W. Futscher. 2018;7:211. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  We have previously described a hominid-specific long non-coding RNA, MORT (also known as ZNF667-AS1, Gene ID: 100128252), which is expressed in all normal cell types, but epigenetically silenced during cancer-associated immortalization of human mammary epithelial cells. Initial analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) showed that 15 of 17 cancer types, which represent the 10 most common cancers in women and men, display DNA methylation associated MORT silencing in a large fraction of their tumors. In this study we analyzed MORT expression and DNA methylation state in the remaining 16 TCGA cancer types not previously reported. Seven of the 16 cancer types showed DNA methylation linked MORT silencing in a large fraction of their tumors. These are carcinomas (cervical cancer, and cancers of esophagus, stomach, and bile duct), and the non-epithelial tumors mesothelioma, sarcoma, and uterine carcinosarcoma. Together with the findings from our previous report, MORT expression is silenced by aberrant DNA methylation in 22 of 33 of TCGA cancer types. These 22 cancers include most carcinoma types, blood derived cancers and sarcomas. In conclusion, results suggest that the MORT gene is one of the most common epigenetic aberrations seen in human cancer. Coupled with the timing of MORT gene silencing during in vitro epithelial cell immortalization and its occurrence early in the temporal arc of human carcinogenesis, this provides strong circumstantial evidence for a tumor suppressor role for MORT.

• Factors influencing malignant mesothelioma survival: a retrospective review of the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank cohort. W. Amin, F. Linkov, D.P. Landsittel, et al. 2018;7:1184. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Background: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare but deadly malignancy with about 3,000 new cases being diagnosed each year in the US. Very few studies have been performed to analyze factors associated with mesothelioma survival, especially for peritoneal presentation. The overarching aim of this study is to examine survival of the cohort of patients with malignant mesothelioma enrolled in the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB). Methods: 888 cases of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases were selected from the NMVB database, which houses data and associated biospecimens for over 1400 cases that were diagnosed from 1990 to 2017. Kaplan Meier's method was performed for survival analysis. The association between prognostic factors and survival was estimated using Cox Hazard Regression method and using R software for analysis. Results: The median overall survival (OS) rate of all MM patients, including pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases is 15 months (14 months for pleural and 31 months for peritoneal). Significant prognostic factors associated with improved survival of malignant mesothelioma cases in this NMVB cohort were younger than 45, female gender, epithelioid histological subtype, stage I, peritoneal occurrence, and having combination treatment of surgical therapy with chemotherapy. Combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment was associated with improved survival of 23 months in comparison to single line therapies. Conclusions: There has not been improvement in the overall survival for patients with malignant mesothelioma over many years with current available treatment options. Our findings show that combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment in peritoneal mesothelioma is associated with improved survival compared to local therapy alone.

• Multimodality treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. L. Berzenji, P. Van Schil. 2018;7. Review PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare disease of the pleura and is largely related to asbestos exposure. Despite recent advancements in technologies and a greater understanding of the disease, the prognosis of MPM remains poor; the median overall survival rate is about 6 to 9 months in untreated patients. The main therapeutic strategies for MPM are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (RT). The two main surgical approaches for MPM are extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), in which the lung is removed en bloc, and pleurectomy/decortication, in which the lung stays in situ. Chemotherapy usually consists of a platinum-based chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, often combined with a folate antimetabolite, such as pemetrexed. More recently, immunotherapy has emerged as a possible therapeutic strategy for MPM. Evidence suggests that single-modality treatments are not an effective therapeutic approach for MPM. Therefore, researchers have started to explore different multimodality treatment approaches, in which often combinations of surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and RT are investigated. There is still no definitive answer to the question of which multimodality treatment combinations are most effective in improving the poor prognosis of MPM. Research into the effects of trimodality treatment approaches have found that radical approaches such as EPP and hemithoracic RT post-EPP are less effective than was previously assumed. In general, there are still a great number of unanswered questions and unknown factors regarding the ideal treatment approach for MPM. Hopefully, more research into multimodality therapy will provide insight into which combination of treatment modalities is most effective.

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