Antwerp University Hospital (UZA)

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Medicine

Chronic Constriction Injury of the Rat's Infraorbital Nerve (IoN-CCI) to Study Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain

¹Translational Neurosciences, University of Antwerp, ²Multidisciplinary Pain Center, Antwerp University Hospital

This manuscript describes a rodent model to study trigeminal neuropathic pain. The methods described include surgical procedures to perform a chronic constriction injury of the rat’s infraorbital nerve and the post-surgical behavioral tests to measure the changes in spontaneous and evoked behavior that are indicative of persistent pain and allodynia.

Medicine

Exosomal miRNA Analysis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients' Plasma Through qPCR: A Feasible Liquid Biopsy Tool

Marco Giallombardo^*1,2, Jorge Chacártegui Borrás^*2,3, Marta Castiglia⁴, Nele Van Der Steen³, Inge Mertens^5,6, Patrick Pauwels^7,3, Marc Peeters^8,3, Christian Rolfo^2,3

¹Department of Biopathology and Medical Biotechnology, Section of Biology and Genetics, University of Palermo, ²Phase I-Early Clinical Trials Unit, Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), ³Center for Oncological Research (CORE), Antwerp University, ⁴Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Sciences, Section of Medical Oncology, University of Palermo, ⁵Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), ⁶CORE, Campus Groenenborger, Antwerp University, ⁷Molecular Pathology, Pathology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), ⁸Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA)

This protocol describes the feasibility to perform miRNA profiling in exosomes, released in plasma of NSCLC patients, through a commercial exosome isolation kit with Proteinase K and RNAse treatments, in order to avoid circulating miRNAs contamination and evaluate their biomarker features in NSCLC.

Education

Objective Nociceptive Assessment in Ventilated ICU Patients: A Feasibility Study Using Pupillometry and the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex

Davina Wildemeersch¹, Jens Gios², Philippe G. Jorens³, Guy H. Hans²

¹Multidisciplinary Pain Center, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), University of Antwerp (UA), ²Multidisciplinary Pain Center (PCT), Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), ³Critical Care Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), University of Antwerp (UA)

Pain assessment in anesthetized patients who cannot communicate with the outside world in any way remains challenging despite the development of innovative objective pain evaluation tools. In this project, the pupillary dilation reflex and the nociception flexion reflex are assessed in critically ill, mechanically ventilated adult patients.

Cancer Research

Multiparametric Tumor Organoid Drug Screening Using Widefield Live-Cell Imaging for Bulk and Single-Organoid Analysis

Maxim Le Compte¹, Edgar Cardenas De La Hoz², Sofía Peeters¹, Evelien Smits¹, Filip Lardon¹, Geert Roeyen^1,3, Steve Vanlanduit², Hans Prenen^1,4, Marc Peeters^1,4, Abraham Lin^1,5, Christophe Deben¹

¹Center for Oncological Research (CORE), Integrated Personalized & Precision Oncology Network (IPPON), University of Antwerp, ²Industrial Vision Lab, University of Antwerp, ³Department of Hepatobiliary Transplantation and Endocrine Surgery, University Hospital Antwerp (UZA), ⁴Department of Oncology, University Hospital Antwerp (UZA), ⁵Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine ANTwerp (PLASMANT), University of Antwerp

This protocol describes a semi-automated method for medium- to high-throughput organoid drug screenings and microscope-agnostic, automated image analysis software to quantify and visualize multiparametric, single-organoid drug responses to capture intratumor heterogeneity.