Clin Cancer Res
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Treatment of myeloma has benefited from the introduction of more effective and better tolerated agents, improvements in supportive care, better understanding of disease biology, revision of diagnostic criteria, and new sensitive and specific tools for disease prognostication and management. Assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) in response to therapy is one of these tools, as longer progression-free survival (PFS) is seen consistently among patients who have achieved MRD negativity. Current therapies lead to unprecedented frequency and depth of response, and next-generation flow and sequencing methods to measure MRD in bone marrow are in use and being developed with sensitivities in the range of 10-5 to 10-6 cells. ⋯ Most importantly, better understanding of MRD should also contribute to better treatment monitoring. Potentially, MRD status could be used as a prognostic factor for making treatment decisions and for informing timing of therapeutic interventions. Clin Cancer Res; 23(15); 3980-93. ©2017 AACR.
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Purpose: With recent approval of inhibitors of PD-1 in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and renal cell carcinoma, extensive efforts are under way to develop biomarkers predictive of response. PD-L1 expression has been most widely studied, and is more predictive in NSCLC than renal cell carcinoma or melanoma. We therefore studied differences in expression patterns across tumor types. ⋯ The higher response rate in melanoma patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors is likely related to PD-L1 in tumor-associated inflammatory cells. Further studies are warranted to validate the predictive role of inflammatory cell PD-L1 expression in melanoma and determine its biological significance. Clin Cancer Res; 23(15); 4270-9. ©2017 AACR.
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Purpose: C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) is known to be involved in both developmental and adult angiogenesis; however, its role in tumor angiogenesis remains largely unknown. Here, the role of vascular CXCR4 in regulating vascular structure in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was assessd, and the clinical value of CXCR4 was explored. Experimental Design: The expression of CXCR4 in HCC was determined by IHC and immunofluorescence. ⋯ Moreover, high CXCR4 vascular density in resected tumor tissues before sorafenib treatment was associated with prolonged survival in patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib. Conclusions: These data revealed that CXCR4 is a novel HCC vascular marker for vessel sprouting and could serve as a potential therapeutic target and a predictive factor for sorafenib treatment in patients with HCC. Clin Cancer Res; 23(15); 4482-92. ©2017 AACR.