The Detection of Androgen Receptor Splice Variant 7 in Plasma-derived Exosomal RNA Strongly Predicts Resistance to Hormonal Therapy in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients
Abstract Background The androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) is associated with resistance to hormonal therapy in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Due to limitations of the methods available for AR-V7 analysis, the identification of a reliable detection method may facilitate the use of this biomarker in clinical practice. Objective To confirm AR-V7 as a predictor of resistance to hormonal therapy and develop a new approach to assess AR-V7 by highly sensitive digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) in plasma-derived exosomal RNA. Design, setting, and participants Plasma samples were collected from 36 CRPC patients before they began second-line hormonal treatment. …
Treatment and outcome(s) of a large cohort of Italian patients (pts) with poor-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma (prRCC)
e15568 Background: With the exception of the Temsirolimus (Tem) registration trial, prRCC pts are grossly underrepresented in trials that have evaluated different therapeutic strategies. Methods: W...
Immune responses during COVID-19 infection
International audience; Over the past 16 years, three coronaviruses (CoVs), severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV (SARS-CoV) in 2002, Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV) in 2012 and 2015, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, have been causing severe and fatal human epidemics. The unpredictability of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) poses a major burden on health care and economic systems across the world. This is caused by the paucity of in-depth knowledge of the risk factors for severe COVID-19, insufficient diagnostic tools for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, as well as the absence of specific and effective drug treatments. While protective humoral and cellular immune responses are usually m…
RANDOMIZED PHASE II STUDY OF FIRST-LINE EVEROLIMUS (EVE) + BEVACIZUMAB (BEV) VERSUS INTERFERON ALFA-2A (IFN) + BEV IN PATIENTS (PTS) WITH METASTATIC RENAL CELL CARCINOMA (MRCC): RECORD-2
ABSTRACT Background Study results demonstrated that IFN augments BEV activity and improves median PFS in pts with mRCC. Thus, combination BEV + IFN is a standard first-line treatment option for mRCC. Combining BEV with the mTOR inhibitor EVE may be an efficacious and well-tolerated treatment option. The open-label, phase II RECORD-2 trial compared first-line EVE + BEV and IFN + BEV in mRCC. Patients and methods: Therapy-naive pts with clear cell mRCC and prior nephrectomy were randomized 1:1 to BEV 10 mg/kg IV every 2 weeks with either EVE 10 mg oral daily or IFN (9 MIU SC 3 times/week, if tolerated). Tumour assessments were every 12 weeks. Primary objective was treatment effect on progress…
Cross-reactivity between tumor MHC class I-restricted antigens and an enterococcal bacteriophage
International audience; Intestinal microbiota have been proposed to induce commensal-specific memory T cells that cross-react with tumor-associated antigens. We identified major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-binding epitopes in the tail length tape measure protein (TMP) of a prophage found in the genome of the bacteriophage Enterococcus hirae Mice bearing E. hirae harboring this prophage mounted a TMP-specific H-2Kb-restricted CD8+ T lymphocyte response upon immunotherapy with cyclophosphamide or anti-PD-1 antibodies. Administration of bacterial strains engineered to express the TMP epitope improved immunotherapy in mice. In renal and lung cancer patients, the presence of the ent…