\n\nMethods. We retrospectively identified NSCLC patients who underwent EGFR mutation testing and pretreatment FDG-PET and CT scans. The maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor and any metastases was measured and normalized to the SUV of blood in the pulmonary artery. We compared normalized

SUVmax values between EGFR-mutant and wild-type patients and modeled radiographic and clinical predictors of EGFR mutation status. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves NK-104 were used to identify potential SUV cutoffs predictive of genotype.\n\nResults. We included 100 patients (24 EGFR-mutant and 76 wild-type). There was a trend for higher normalized SUVmax in the primary tumors among patients with EGFR-wild-type versus mutant (median, 3.4; range, 0.6-12.8; versus median, 2.9; range, 0.4-5.0; p = .09). Normalized SUVmax of nodal and distant metastases, and CT characteristics were not associated with genotype. On multivariate analysis, low normalized SUVmax of the primary tumor was predictive for EGFR mutation (odds ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.98; p = .034). ROC curve analyses yielded an area under the curve of 0.62, and identified a potential cutoff of >= 5.0 to distinguish wild-type from mutant tumors.\n\nConclusions. In this retrospective study, high FDG avidity (normalized SUVmax >= 5) correlated with EGFR-wild-type genotype. Although genotyping

remains the gold standard, further work to validate FDG-PET as a surrogate LY2606368 research buy for tumor genotype may provide useful information in patients without available tumor tissue. The Oncologist 2011; 16: 319-326″
“Leaf and petiole explants of monocotyledonous pothos (Epipremnum aureum) ‘Jade’ were cultured on Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with N-(2-chloro-4-pyridl)-N’-phenylurea (CPPU) or N-phenyl-N’-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea (TDZ) with alpha-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Somatic embryos

appeared directly from explants after 4-8 weeks of culture; 9.1 mu M TDZ with 1.1 mu M NAA induced 61.1 % leaf discs and 94.4 % of petiole segments HSP990 inhibitor to produce plantlets through embryo conversion. Using this established regeneration method and an enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene (egfp) as a reporter marker, an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation procedure was developed. Leaf discs and petiole segments were inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 harboring a binary vector pLC902 that contains novel bi-directional duplex promoters driving the egfp gene and hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hpt), respectively. The explants were co-cultivated with strain EHA105 for 3, 5, and 7 days, respectively prior to selective culture with 25 mg l(-1) hygromycin. A 5-day co-cultivation led to 100 % of leaf discs to show transient GFP expression and 23.8 % of the discs to produce stable GFP-expressing somatic embryos. A 7-day co-cultivation of petiole explants resulted in the corresponding responses at 100 and 14.3 %, respectively.