Wei-Lun Lo

Taipei Medical University | TMU · Department of Neurosurgery

The pursuit of activating the HDAC inhibitory template towards additional mechanisms spurred us to design dual modulators (Sig-1R agonist - HDAC inhibitor) via utilization of the core structural unit of donepezil (an FDA-approved anti-Alzheimer's agent) as a surface recognition part. Literature precedents coupled with our experience rendered us wit...

Background Sp1 is involved in the recurrence of glioblastoma (GBM) due to the acquirement of resistance to temozolomide (TMZ). Particularly, the role of Sp1 in metabolic reprogramming for drug resistance remains unknown. Methods RNA-Seq and mass spectrometry were used to analyze gene expression and metabolites amounts in paired GBM specimens (prim...

Objective: The goal of the study was to define and quantify brain arteriovenous malformation (bAVM) compactness and to assess its effect on outcomes after Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for unruptured bAVMs. Methods: Unsupervised machine learning with fuzzy c-means clustering was used to differentiate the tissue constituents of bAVMs on T2-weig...

Objective: The use of robotics in spinal surgery has gained popularity because of its promising accuracy and safety. ROSA is a commonly used surgical robot system for spinal surgery. The aim of this study was to compare outcomes between robot-guided and freehand fluoroscopy-guided instrumentation in minimally invasive surgery (MIS)-transforaminal...

Background Sp1 is involved in the recurrence of glioblastoma (GBM) due to the acquirement of resistance to temozolomide (TMZ). Particularly, the role of Sp1 in metabolic reprogramming for drug resistance remains unknown. Methods RNA-Seq and mass spectrometry were used to analyze gene expression and metabolites amounts in paired GBM specimens (prim...

DNA repair promotes the progression and recurrence of glioblastoma (GBM). However, there remain no effective therapies for targeting the DNA damage response and repair (DDR) pathway in the clinical setting. Thus, we aimed to conduct a comprehensive analysis of DDR genes in GBM specimens to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying treatment re...

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has remained one of the most lethal and challenging cancers to treat. Previous studies have shown encouraging results when irinotecan was used in combination with temozolomide (TMZ) for treating GBM. However, irinotecan has a narrow therapeutic index: a slight dose increase in irinotecan can induce toxicities that outw...

B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI1) appears to be essential for promoting certain types of cancer, and its inhibition effectively reduced the stemness of cancer cells. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential role of BMI1 in glioma. To this end, we first investigated BMI1 expression in brain tumor...

Hurdled and marred by the notorious nature of glioblastomas (GBM) in terms of resistance to therapy and limited drug delivery into the brain, the anti-GBM drug pipeline is required to be loaded with mechanistically diverse agents. The consideration of HDAC inhibition as a prudent approach to circumvent the resistance issue in GBM spurred us to prag...

BMI-1 is a transcriptional repressor and overexpresses in various human cancer tissues, which is also known to involve in the maintenance of “stem cell” features in a cell sub-population within the tumor. Here, we investigate the roles of BMI1 oncogene in brain tumors, notably involving drug-resistant metabolism. Interestingly, microarray datasets...

Patients with glioblastoma are at high risk of local recurrences after initial treatment with standard therapy, and recurrent tumor cells appear to be resistant to first-line drug temozolomide. Thus, finding an effective second-line agent for treating primary and recurrent glioblastomas is critical. Betulinic acid (BA), a natural product of plant o...

Background: Intratumor subsets with tumor-initiating features in glioblastoma are likely to survive treatment. Our goal is to identify the key factor in the process by which cells develop temozolomide (TMZ) resistance. Methods: Resistant cell lines derived from U87MG and A172 were established through long-term co-incubation of TMZ. Primary tumor...

OBJECTIVE The current anti-neoplastic drug for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is limited because of insufficient blood-brain-barrier (BBB) penetration and development of resistance. Betulinic acid (BA) is a natural product of plant origin, has been reported to induce Sp1 degradation against temozolomide (TMZ)-resistant GBM and capacity of BBB passag...

Fig. S1. Representative image of serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) immunoreactivity scores. Fig. S2. Cell proliferation rate and migratory activity. Fig. S3. Levels of integrin αV and β3 in different GBM cells. Fig. S4. Frequencies of (A) integrin αV (ITGAV) and (B) integrin β3 (ITGB3) gene expression in patients with different brain tumor grades and norm...

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly malignant type of brain tumor found in humans. GBM cells reproduce quickly, and the median survival time for patients after therapy is approximately 1 year with a high relapse rate. Current therapies and diagnostic tools for GBM are limited; therefore, we searched for a more favorable therapeutic target or...

Glioblastoma multiform (GBM) is the most fatal cancer of all brain cancers, and the standard care protocol of GBM patients is surgical tumor resection followed by radiotherapy and temozolomide (TMZ)-mediated chemotherapy. However, tumor recurrence always occurs, and recurrent GBM exhibits more malignant and less sensitivity in response to chemother...

In Gamma Knife forward treatment planning, normalization effect may be observed when multiple shots are used for treating large lesions. This effect can reduce the proportion of coverage of high-value isodose lines within targets. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of forward treatment planning techniques using the Leksell Gamma...

Steroidogenesis-mediated production of neurosteroids is important for brain homeostasis. Cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1), which converts pregnenolone to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in endocrine organs and the brain, is required for prostate cancer progression and acquired chemotherapeutic resistance. However, whether CYP17A1-mediated DHEA synthesi...

Steroidogenesis-mediated production of neurosteroids is important for brain homeostasis. Cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1), which converts pregnenolone to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in endocrine organs and the brain, is required for prostate cancer progression and acquired chemotherapeutic resistance. However, whether CYP17A1-mediated DHEA synthesi...

Purpose Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) provides a noninvasive treatment modality for patients with medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia. The root entry zone (REZ) has been proposed to be an ideal stereotactic target because it is partially composed of centrally produced myelin, conferring a theoretical increased sensitivity to irradiation as...

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Introduction: The lower limit of the treatment for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKS) was traditionally defined at the level of the craniocervical junction. Intracranial lesions with downward extension to infra-skull base region often pose difficulty of treatment or unable to be completely treated by GKS. However, recent advent of Perfexion Gamma Knife...

Degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine, which are common among elderly people, cause back pain and radicular symptoms and lead to a poor quality of life. Lumbar spinal fusion is a standardized and widely accepted surgical procedure used for treating degenerative lumbar diseases; however, the classical posterior approach used in this procedure is...

Background The Novalis linear accelerator system, a well developed modality, can be used for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). The aim of this study was to clarify the efficiency and safety of Novalis SRS in treating vestibular schwannomas. Materials and methods This 4-year retrospective study enrolled 23 patients with 26 vestibular schwannomas (3...

Background Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) in patients 65 years old is not uncommon, but its exact situation is not well-clarified. Purposes In this study, we compare the clinical variables between two age groups (≤65 years and >65 years), and focus on the characteristics of younger adults. Methods In this 2-year retrospective study, 98 patients...