Impact of a preceding radiotherapy on the outcome of immune checkpoint inhibition in metastatic melanoma: a multicenter retrospective cohort study of the DeCOG
BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) is an essential treatment option in melanoma. Its outcome may be improved by a preceding radiation of metastases. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a preceding radiotherapy on the clinical outcome of ICI treatment.MethodsThis multicenter retrospective cohort study included patients who received anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) or anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) ICI with or without preceding radiotherapy for unresectable metastatic melanoma. ICI therapy outcome was measured as best overall response (BOR), progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Response and survival analyses were adjusted …
Cutaneous lupus erythematosus: First multicenter database analysis of 1002 patients from the European Society of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (EUSCLE)
In this prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study, we assessed clinical and laboratory characteristics from patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) using the Core Set Questionnaire of the European Society of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (EUSCLE). 1002 (768 females, 234 males) patients with different subtypes of CLE, such as acute CLE (ACLE, 304 patients), subacute CLE (SCLE, 236 patients), chronic CLE (CCLE, 397 patients), and intermittent CLE (ICLE, 65 patients), from 13 European countries were collected and statistically analyzed by an SPSS database. The main outcome measures included gender, age at onset of disease, LE-specific and LE-nonspecific skin lesions, photosensi…
Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis--a rapidly progressive disabling disease with limited therapeutic options.
Background Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) affects some patients on dialysis after gadolinium contrast agent–enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. It is characterized by progressive skin fibrosis of the extremities, sometimes including the trunk and internal organs. Methods The clinical course of 10 patients with biopsy-proven NSF was analyzed retrospectively with regard to gadolinium exposition, disease onset, and progression of NSF with special emphasis on physical mobility and impact of different therapeutic approaches. Results Despite physiotherapy and different additional therapeutic approaches (eg, immunosuppression, ultraviolet A-1 phototherapy, or extracorporal photopheresis) all…
Discontinuation of braf/mek-directed targeted therapy after complete remission of metastatic melanoma : a retrospective multicenter adoreg study
The advent of BRAF/MEK inhibitors (BRAFi/MEKi) has significantly improved progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients with advanced BRAF-V600-mutant melanoma. Long-term survivors have been identified particularly among patients with a complete response (CR) to BRAF/MEK-directed targeted therapy (TT). However, it remains unclear which patients who achieved a CR maintain a durable response and whether treatment cessation might be a safe option in these patients. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of treatment cessation on the clinical course of patients with a CR upon BRAF/MEK-directed-TT. We retrospectively selected patients with BRAF-V600-mutant advanced non-res…
Extended surgical safety margins and ulceration are associated with an improved prognosis in pleomorphic dermal sarcomas
BACKGROUND Pleomorphic dermal sarcomas (PDS) are frequent UV-induced sarcomas of the skin of intermediate grade malignant potential. Despite the fact that PDS have a noteworthy potential to recur (up to 28%) as well as to metastasize (up to 20%), there are no specific clinical guidelines with respect to follow-up these patients. Moreover, little is known about clinical, histological or molecular prognostic factors in PDS. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to identify risk factors to predict relapse in a large multicentre sample cohort of PDS which could aid to optimize personalized treatment recommendations regarding surgical safety margins and adjuvant radiotherapy. METHODS Patien…
The systemic lupus erythematosus IRF5 risk haplotype is associated with systemic sclerosis.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a fibrotic autoimmune disease in which the genetic component plays an important role. One of the strongest SSc association signals outside the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region corresponds to interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 5 (IRF5), a major regulator of the type I IFN pathway. In this study we aimed to evaluate whether three different haplotypic blocks within this locus, which have been shown to alter the protein function influencing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility, are involved in SSc susceptibility and clinical phenotypes. For that purpose, we genotyped one representative single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of each block (rs10488631, r…