Immunotherapy

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Primary hepatic sarcomatoid carcinoma (HSC) is an extremely rare and aggressive subtype of primary liver cancer. HSC has uncertain pathogenesis and dismal prognosis with overall survival of only 8.3 months. The molecular alterations of HSC are also not well understood. In this study, the authors describe a patient who presented with a large liver mass. The patient underwent complete surgical resection and histological examination demonstrated HSC, infiltrating the stomach. PD-L1 was strongly positive in the tumor cells...

Immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, have heralded impressive progress for patient care in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Despite this success, some patients' disease fails to respond, and other patients experience significant side effects. Thus, development of biomarkers is needed to ensure that patients can be selected to maximize benefit from immunotherapies. Improving clinicians' ability to predict which patients will respond to immunotherapy and which are most at risk of adverse events - namely through clinical biomarkers - is indispensable for patient safety and therapeutic efficacy...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises 15-20% of all breast cancers (BC). Lacking targeted therapy options, TNBC becomes the focal point of clinical investigations aiming not only to identify drugs with enhanced response potential but also to uncover new immunological and/or metabolic pathways conducive to more effective treatments. Currently, neoadjuvant treatment for TNBC relies on standard chemotherapy in conjunction with immunotherapy, given the improved response observed with this drug combination...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment of several solid cancers, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). First approved for second-line settings, ICIs are now used for the first-line treatment of HNSCCs, mainly in combination with standard chemotherapy. This review focuses on the results of the main phase III studies evaluating ICIs in recurrent or metastatic HNSCCs. The efficacy and indications according to the PD-L1 status, the main predictive biomarker, are discussed...

Background: Oral conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), especially methotrexate, are the cornerstone of treating psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The use of csDMARDs with biologics has increased their efficacy in psoriasis. However, the combination of two oral DMARDs in patients with PsA has not been adequately reviewed. In this study, we explore the combinational use of methotrexate with DMARDs in PsA patients. Materials & methods: A review was conducted using Medline (PubMed), Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library, covering articles up to February 2023...

WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: Severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and very severe aplastic anemia (vSAA) are blood diseases of the bone marrow. If a suitable donor for bone marrow transplant as initial treatment is unavailable, standard immunosuppression is used. Standard immunosuppression treatment includes horse antithymocyte globulin (hATG) and cyclosporin A (CsA). This summary investigated the results of standard immunosuppression treatment (Group A) versus standard immunosuppression treatment with a medication called eltrombopag (Group B) in participants with SAA and vSAA...

WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: This is a summary of two publications. One publication is about the GATHER1 study, which was published in the journal Ophthalmology in 2021. The other publication is about the GATHER2 study, which was published in the journal The Lancet in 2023. Both studies included adult participants with geographic atrophy (GA). GA is an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD). The participants in both studies each received treatment in one of their eyes...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are an integral part of modern-day cancer therapy. Along with a greatly improved antitumor response come a number of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), musculoskeletal irAEs rank among the less frequent manifestations. The mechanisms behind these events are poorly understood, and so far clear guidelines for therapeutic management beyond treatment with glucocorticosteroids are lacking. We present the case of a 72-year-old patient who developed a severe ICI-induced polyarthritis that could not be controlled by glucocorticosteroids...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for malignant tumors has reached a crucial stage, with recent studies underscoring the role of T-cell exhaustion in determining the efficacy of CAR-T therapy. This trailblazing discovery has opened new avenues to augment the potency of CAR-T therapy. Basic leucine zipper ATF-like transcription factor ( BATF ) is indispensable in alleviating T-cell exhaustion and is pivotal in the early stages of CD8+ T-cell differentiation. In cooperation with other transcription factors, it plays a key role in the differentiation and maturation processes of exhausted T cells...

Tweetable abstract Immunotherapy options in RCC treatment are increasing day by day. In pursuit of this objective, we have explored the role of pathology throughout the process, from the development to the implementation of immunotherapy in this paper.

Background: There still are few data on the long-term safety of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). The aim of this study was to assess the appearance of autoimmune diseases in patients before and after SLIT. Materials & methods: New cases of autoimmune diseases were monitored. Patients in the SLIT group (n = 816) were compared with controls (n = 1096). Results: The new incidences of autoimmune diseases in the SLIT group were lower compared with the control group: 18 (2.2%) versus 58 (5...

Objective: This research aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab (PBL) combined with albumin-bound paclitaxel (ab-Pac) and nedaplatin (NDP) for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: A total of 47 ESCC patients were administered PBL or NDP on day 1 and ab-Pac on days 1 and 8, every 21 days for one cycle. Tumor and toxicities were evaluated every two cycles and every cycle, respectively. Results: The objective response rate was 68.1% and the disease control rate was 100%...

Aim: Neurological adverse events (NAEs) are infrequent immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) outcomes poorly characterized in extant research, complicating their clinical management. Methods: This study characterized the frequency, severity, patterning and timing of NAEs using a large retrospective registry, including all patients who received at least one dose of an ICI from 2/1/2011-4/7/2022 within our health network. Results: Among 3137 patients, there were 54 NAEs (1.72% any grade; 0.8% grade 3-4). Most NAEs were peripheral (57...

A consensus guideline, iRECIST, was developed by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) working group for the use of the modified RECIST version 1.1 in cancer immunotherapy trials. iRECIST was designed to separate pseudoprogression from real progression. However, this is not the only ambiguous situation. In clinical immunotherapy trials, stable disease may reflect three tumor responses, including real stable disease, progressive disease and responsive disease. The prediction of a " true complete/partial response" is also important...

Aim: Investigate TKI sitravatinib plus anti-PD-1 antibody tislelizumab in patients with unresectable/advanced/metastatic melanoma with disease progression on/after prior first-line anti-PD-(L)1 monotherapy. Methods: Open-label, multicenter, multicohort study (NCT03666143). Patients in the melanoma cohort (N = 25) received sitravatinib once daily plus tislelizumab every 3 weeks. The primary end point was safety and tolerability. Results: Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) occurred in all patients, with ≥grade 3 TEAEs in 52...

WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: This is a summary of an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine about the EPITOPE clinical study, which tested a skin patch called ViaskinTM Peanut 250 μg (micrograms) as a treatment option for peanut allergy in children aged 1 through 3 years. The patch is a form of epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT), which is a new approach to allergen immunotherapy that delivers a small amount of peanut protein to the immune system through the skin...

Aim: To compare the protein-protein interactions of antibodies targeting PD-1 and its ligand (PD-L1) with their targets in an attempt to explain the antibodies' binding affinity. Materials & methods: The structural features of complexes between pembrolizumab, nivolumab, durvalumab, atezolizumab, avelumab and PD-1/PD-L1 are described, with the use of software and based on crystallographic data. Results: Pembrolizumab has more structural features, including the number and type of the bonds and total binding surface area, which could rationalize its different clinical behavior compared with nivolumab...

Aim: The OPTIMIzE registry study evaluated real-world outcomes in patients with advanced melanoma receiving immuno-oncology therapies. Materials and methods: Data were collected for patients treated with anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) monotherapy (nivolumab or pembrolizumab; n = 147) or nivolumab plus ipilimumab (n = 81) from 2015-2017 and followed for ≥3 years. Results: Nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus anti-PD-1 monotherapy was associated with a nonsignificantly lower risk of death (adjusted HR: 0...

Objective: To evaluate the behavior of adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and ICAM-2 in dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy. Materials & methods: 88 female Balb/c mice were divided into experimental groups. Tumors and lymph nodes were evaluated 7 and 14 days after immunotherapy. Results: Higher mean fluorescence intensity of ICAM-1 in the lymph nodes and tumors in the tumor group at 14 days was observed. Higher mean fluorescence intensity of ICAM-2 in the tumor DC vaccine group was observed after 14 days...