0000000000609371
AUTHOR
Mirjana Ziemer
Pretreatment metastatic growth rate determines clinical outcome of advanced melanoma patients treated with anti-PD-1 antibodies: a multicenter cohort study
BackgroundCheckpoint inhibitors revolutionized the treatment of metastatic melanoma patients. Although tumor burden and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are associated with overall survival (OS), the impact of tumor growth kinetics remains elusive and in part contradictory. The aims of this study were to develop a novel simple and rapid method that estimates pretreatment metastatic growth rate (MGR) and to investigate its prognostic impact in melanoma patients treated with antiprogrammed death receptor-1 (PD-1) antibodies.MethodsMGR was assessed in three independent cohorts of a total of 337 unselected consecutive metastasized stage IIIB–IV melanoma patients (discovery cohort: n=53, confirmation…
Consensus on performing skin biopsies, laboratory workup, evaluation of tissue samples and reporting of the results in patients with suspected cutaneous graft-versus-host disease
Background Histopathological diagnosis including selection of lesions, the determination of the best point of time for biopsy and workup is not trivial in cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Objectives To develop interdisciplinary recommendations on performing, the laboratory work up and reporting of the results of skin biopsies in patients with suspected cutaneous GvHD. Methods A working group consisting of dermatopathologists, dermatologists, transplant-physicians and transplant-pathologists prepared recommendations for performing skin biopsies, laboratory workup and evaluation of tissue samples, and reporting of the results in patients with cutaneous GvHD. After achieving a conse…
Immunohistochemical markers for histopathological diagnosis and differentiation of acute cutaneous graft‐versus‐host disease
Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a major complication following stem-cell or solid-organ transplantation. Accurate diagnosis of cutaneous GvHD is challenging, given that drug eruptions and viral rashes may present with similar clinical/histological manifestations. Specific markers are not available. We performed the histological examination of biopsy samples from acute GvHD (aGvHD; n = 54), Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN; n = 27), maculopapular drug eruption (MDE; n = 26) and healthy controls (n = 26). Samples of aGvHD showed a decrease in Langerhans cells (LC, p = 0.0001) and an increase in macrophages (MΦ, p = 0.0001) compared to healthy skin. Compared to …