No abstract

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive brain tumor, characterized by short median survival and an almost 100% tumor-related mortality. The standard of care treatment for newly diagnosed GBM includes surgical resection followed by concomitant radiochemotherapy. The prevention of disease progression fails due to the poor therapeutic effect caused by the great molecular heterogeneity of this tumor. Previously, we exploited synchrotron radiation-based soft X-ray tomography and hard X-ray fluorescence for elemental microimaging of the shock-frozen GBM cells. The present study focuses instead on the biochemical profiling of live GBM cells and provides new insight into tumor heterogenicity. We studied bio-macromolecular changes by exploring the live-cell synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) microspectroscopy in a set of three GBM cell lines, including the patient-derived glioblastoma cell line, before and after riluzole treatment, a medicament with potential anticancer properties. SR-FTIR microspectroscopy shows that GBM live cells of different origins recruit different organic compounds. The riluzole treatment of all GBM cell lines mainly affected carbohydrate metabolism and the DNA structure. Lipid structures and protein secondary conformation are affected as well by the riluzole treatment: cellular proteins assumed cross β-sheet conformation while parallel β-sheet conformation was less represented for all GBM cells. Moreover, we hope that a new live-cell approach for GBM simultaneous treatment and examination can be devised to target cancer cells more specifically, i.e., future therapies can develop more specific treatments according to the specific bio-macromolecular signature of each tumor type.

The content of some biometals (Fe, K, Mg, Zn, and Mn), and two heavy metals (Pb and Cd) in nettle (Urtica dioica L.) and in the respective soils were determined by ICP-oES. The samples were collected from two locations in the vicinity of Niš and one from western Serbia. The amount of vitamin C in the samples was determined by iodometric titration. The aim of the study was to determine the percentage of fulfilling the daily needs for tested biometals and vitamin C by consuming nettle as tea or as vegetable, as well as to determine the amount of biometals that plants absorb from the soil. The obtained amount of Fe, K, Mg, Zn, Mn and vitamin C suggested that nettle can be used as an additional remedy in the treatment of anemia, and to alleviate the effects due to the lack of biometals. Some biometals were absorbed to certain saturation and some for as long as they were present in the soil.