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I. Yang



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    C - Inaugural Cochrane Workshop (ID 78)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Other Sessions
    • Track: Other Topics
    • Presentations: 1
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      C.00 - Inaugural Cochrane Workshop (ID 4023)

      07:30 - 12:00  |  Author(s): I. Yang

      • Abstract

      Abstract
      The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, independent, not-for-profit organisation of over 28,000 contributors from more than 100 countries, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health care readily available worldwide. Cochrane contributors work together to produce systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, known as Cochrane Reviews, which are published online in The Cochrane Library. Cochrane Reviews are intended to help providers, practitioners and patients make informed decisions about health care, and are the most comprehensive, reliable and relevant source of evidence on which to base these decisions. Over 5,000 Cochrane Reviews have been published so far, online in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, part of The Cochrane Library. The Collaboration also prepares the largest collection of records of randomised controlled trials in the world, called CENTRAL, published as part of The Cochrane Library. Work from the Cochrane Collaboration is internationally recognised as the benchmark for high quality information about the effectiveness of health care. The Collaboration believes that effective health care is created through equal partnerships between researcher, provider, practitioner and patient. Cochrane Reviews are unique because they are both produced by, and are relevant to, everyone interested in the effects of human health care. Based on the best available evidence, healthcare providers can decide if they should fund production of a particular drug. Practitioners can find out if an intervention is effective in a specific clinical context. Patients and other healthcare consumers can assess the potential risks and benefits of their treatment. The Cochrane Collaboration's contributors are a mix of volunteers and paid staff who are affiliated to the organisation through Cochrane entities: healthcare subject-related review groups, thematic networks (called 'fields'), groups concerned with the methodology of systematic reviews, and regional centres. Many are world leaders in their field of medicine, health policy, research methodology or consumer advocacy, and our entities are situated in some of the world's finest academic and medical institutions. The Cochrane Collaboration is named after Archie Cochrane (1909-1988), a British epidemiologist, who advocated the use of randomised controlled trials as a means of reliably informing healthcare practice. The Collaboration is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, funded by a variety of sources including governments, universities, hospital trusts, charities and personal donations. The Collaboration is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom. To tie the organisation together, there are a number of overarching structures, led by the Steering Group, which provides policy and strategic leadership for the organisation. Members of this group are democratically elected from, and by, contributors. The Cochrane Operations Unit, is based in Oxford, UK, which manages the financial, legal and administrative work of the organisation, led by the Chief Executive Officer of the Collaboration; and a Cochrane Editorial Unit, based in London, UK, which supports Cochrane Review production, editorial processes, and training and methods development, led by the Editor in Chief of The Cochrane Library. There are annual conferences, known as "Colloquia", which are open to everyone. Colloquia are designed to bring people together in one place to discuss, develop and promote our work, and to shape the organisation's future direction In addition to the core mission of producing Cochrane Reviews, contributors are involved in a number of related activities, including advocacy for evidence-based decision-making, providing training in Cochrane Review preparation, developing the methodology for preparing reviews, and translating them from English into a variety of different languages. This session includes providing an introduction to developing a Cochrane Review and is kindly supported by the Cochrane Lung Cancer Review Group, based in Barcelona Spain (website ) and uses high quality training materials developed by the Cochrane Collaboration (grateful acknowledgement of for allowing the use of the training materials) delivered by volunteer Cochrane Collaborators. The session will address topics including; Introduction to systematic reviews, Writing a Cochrane protocol, Searching for studies, Collecting data, Risk of bias, Meta-analysis, Types of data, Heterogeneity, Analysing data and Interpreting results Other training resources include Online Learning Modules as part of a self-directed learning initiative of The Cochrane Collaboration. They provide an introduction to the core skills and methods required for new authors of Cochrane systematic reviews of interventions. The modules are intended to complement other learning opportunities such as face-to-face workshops and webinars, and the guidance provided in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

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    P1.14 - Poster Session 1 - Mesothelioma (ID 194)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Poster Session
    • Track: Mesothelioma
    • Presentations: 1
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      P1.14-011 - Changes in expression of cancer drug resistance genes in mesothelioma cells exposed to carboplatin (ID 2610)

      09:30 - 16:30  |  Author(s): I. Yang

      • Abstract

      Background
      Background A proportion of patients with mesothelioma respond to chemotherapy consisting of pemetrexed and platinum, but tumour responsiveness most often becomes blunted after several cycles. To discover the mechanism of loss of sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents, we compared expression of cancer drug resistance genes between platinum sensitive and resistant mesothelioma cells.

      Methods
      Mesothelioma cells generated from three chemo-naïve patients propagated in cell culture were exposed to increasing concentrations of carboplatin until in vitro resistance of at least one log10 concentration difference in IC50 was achieved in dose response cytotoxicity assays. For each individual, cells resistant to carboplatin at 8µg/ml and at 20µg/ml were generated. Control cells from each line were passaged in parallel in medium only. Cells were in log phase growth and culture medium was free of platinum for at least two weeks prior to extraction of RNA using Qiagen RNAeasy Mini kits. High quality RNA (assessed by denaturing gel electrophoresis) was then DNase treated and reverse transcribed using Qiagen RT² Profiler PCR Array reagents. Gene expression in control and platinum resistant cells was determined from the Cancer Drug Resistance PCR Array of (Catalogue Array PAHS-004Z) according to manufacturer’s instructions.

      Results
      SULT1E1 was overexpressed in one mesothelioma line resistant to carboplatin at 8µg/ml, and in two of three resistant to 20µg/ml carboplatin, in comparison with parallel passaged controls. One of three cell lines resistant to carboplatin at both the 8µg/ml and 20µg/ml level overexpressed ERBB3, and another resistant at 20µg/ml overexpressed PPARγ. Drug resistance genes displayed more aberrant expression in cells resistant to higher concentrations of carboplatin.

      Conclusion
      The increase in expression of these three genes in mesothelioma resistant to carboplatin suggests that they may be useful targets for circumvention of resistance, but their mechanistic role in development of platinum resistance requires demonstration. In particular, since PPARγ ligands (e.g. roglitazone) have been shown to sensitise cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents, and are proposed as anticancer agents, it is possible that the functional effect of PPARγ upregulation is moderating rather than causal. Supported by Cancer Australia.