Immunotherapy
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The treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer has changed after the development of the immune checkpoint inhibitors. Although the most studied biomarker is PD-L1 expression, its clinical significance is still debatable. In this article, we show the updated survival analysis of all published data. ⋯ PD-L1 overexpression predicts activity as well as better survival for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
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Review Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Risk of endocrine adverse events in cancer patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
We conducted this meta-analysis to investigate the overall incidence and risk of endocrine complications in cancer patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors. ⋯ Treatment with PD-1 inhibitors is associated with an increased risk of developing hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, but not for hypophysitis.
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Immunotherapy is an emerging therapeutic strategy with a promising clinical outcome in some solid tumors, particularly metastatic melanoma. One approach to immunotherapy is immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as blockage of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1. ⋯ Criticism and perspective of this treatment are also discussed. Biological and clinical considerations rule out the use of tremelimumab as single agent for MM and, more generally, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors for MM is still largely questionable and not supported by evidences.
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Adoptive transfer of patient-derived T-cells engineered with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting the pan-B-cell marker CD19 has led to complete remission in patients with B-cell leukemias while response rates are more modest for B-cell lymphomas. This can be attributed to the fact that the semi-solid structure of lymphomas impedes T-cell infiltration and that the immune suppressive microenvironment within these tumors dampens the effect of CAR T-cells. These obstacles are even more pronounced for solid tumors where dense and often highly immunosuppressive structures are found. This article focuses on different aspects of how to improve CAR T-cells for solid tumors, primarily by decreasing their sensitivity to the harsh tumor microenvironment, by altering the immunosuppressive microenvironment inside tumors and by inducing bystander immunity.
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Review Case Reports
Blinatumomab-induced donor T-cell activation for post-stem cell transplant-relapsed acute CD19-positive biphenotypic leukemia.
Post-stem cell transplantation (SCT) relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has extremely poor prognosis with median survival of less than 1 year. Donor lymphocyte infusion, second transplantation, chemotherapy or cytokine treatment have been tried as a salvage regimen without significant clinical benefit. ⋯ Literature on blinatumomab use in biphenotypic ALL along with Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph(+)) ALL is limited. We report a case of post-SCT relapsed CD19 expressing biphenotypic lymphoblastic leukemia patient who achieved complete remission after blinatumomab treatment and has lasting remission for 1 year.