• Various MRA sequences were applied for follow-up assessment of coiled intracranial aneurysms. • zTE MRA was less sensitive to susceptibility artefacts and haemodynamics. • In this monocentric study, zTE MRA was equivalent to DSA. • zTE MRA maybe an alternative to TOF MRA for follow-up assessment.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness and safety of endovascular interventional therapy, which is mechanical clot disruption combined with intrasinus thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA), for severe cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). The records of eight patients with CVST confirmed by computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance venography (MRV) and/or digital subtraction angiography were analyzed. Of the eight cases, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores were between 4 and 9 with a mean value of 8.3±2.7. All the patients had venous infarction and two cases had intracranial hemorrhagic infarcts. Mechanical clot destruction combined with intrasinus thrombolytic therapy with rt-PA was performed under general anesthesia. Intravenous heparin therapy and intracerebral pressure control were applied during this period. One patient succumbed and the other seven patients showed good treatment efficacy. The GCS scores of the seven patients reverted to 15 upon discharge from the Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital (Yangzhou, China). With regard to the modified Rankin score of the seven patients three months following surgery, six patients scored 0 and one patient scored 1. MRI and MRV follow-up examinations were performed for 3–15 months. Complete recanalization of the criminal sinus, which refer to the sinus attributable to the infarction or hemorrhage, was observed in five cases and partial recanalization was observed in two cases. Symptoms were monitored for 3–24 months and no recurrence was observed. Therefore, mechanical thrombectomy combined with intrasinus thrombolytic therapy with rt-PA is safe and effective for patients with severe CVST.

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Single-domain antibodies are attractive as tumor-targeting vehicles because of their much smaller size than intact antibody molecules. Lidamycin is a macromolecular antitumor antibiotic, which consists of a labile enediyne chromophore (AE) and a noncovalently bound apoprotein (LDP). An enediyne-energized fusion protein VH-LDP-AE composed of single-domain antibody directed against type IV collagenase and lidamycin was prepared by a novel two-step method including DNA recombination and molecular reconstitution. VH-LDP-AE demonstrated extremely potent cytotoxicity to cancer cells and marked antiangiogenic activity in vitro. In the mouse hepatoma 22 model, drugs were administered intravenously as a single dose on day 1 with maximal tolerated doses. VH-LDP-AE (0.25 mg/kg) suppressed the tumor growth by 95.9%, whereas lidamycin (0.05 mg/kg) and mitomycin (1 mg/kg) by 79.6 and 51.1%, respectively. In the HT-1080 xenograft model in nude mice, drugs were given intravenously as a single dose on day 4 after tumor implantation. VH-LDP-AE at 0.25 mg/kg suppressed tumor growth by 76% (P<0.05) compared with that of lidamycin at 0.05 mg/kg (53%) on day 18. No obvious toxic effects were observed in all groups during treatments. The results showed that energized fusion protein VH-LDP-AE was more effective than lidamycin and mitomycin. These properties, together with its much smaller size than conventional antibody-based agents, suggested that VH-LDP-AE would be a promising candidate for cancer-targeting therapy. In addition, the two-step approach could serve as a new technology platform for making a series of highly potent engineered antibody-based drugs for a variety of cancers.