Digital Commons Network^™

The Utilization Of Echocardiography In Children With Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteremia, Richard Bui, Lauren M Sommer, Meghan Walther, Kristina G Hulten, Jesus G Vallejo, Sheldon L Kaplan, J Chase Mcneil

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The need for echocardiography in pediatric Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) remains uncertain. We reviewed 331 pediatric SAB cases. Nine subjects, all with comorbidities, met the echocardiogram criteria for infective endocarditis (IE). IE was associated with congenital heart disease and prolonged bacteremia, suggesting that echocardiography is unnecessary in most children with SAB.

Post-Artesunate Delayed Hemolysis In Pediatric Malaria Patients In The United States, Sesh A Sundararaman, Karen L Hanze Villavicencio, Brianne Roper, Ziyi Wang, Amy K F Davis, Jonathan A Mayhew, Michelle L Wang, Nina L Tang, Vijaya L Soma, Gail F Shust, Margaret E Feeney, Indi Trehan, Jill E Weatherhead, Chandy C John, Jeffrey S Gerber, Audrey R Odom John

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Post-artesunate delayed hemolysis (PADH) occurred in 6 of 24 children treated with artesunate for severe malaria in the United States; however, severe hemolysis requiring hospitalization or transfusion was rare. In children in the United States treated with artesunate, counseling, and symptom monitoring may be preferred to weekly laboratory surveillance for PADH.

Diaphragmatic Myopathy Associated With Dual Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors In A Patient With Renal Cell Carcinoma, Jeremy R Walder, Saadia A Faiz, Sudhakar Tummala, Shiao-Pei Weathers, Nicolas L Palaskas, Maryam Buni, Ajay Sheshadri, Lara Bashoura

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have become increasingly prevalent with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) cancer treatment. We present a 79-year-old man with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who developed shortness of breath and hypercapnic respiratory insufficiency after his first cycle of nivolumab and ipilimumab. Laboratory data showed elevated creatinine kinase, troponins, and transaminases. Computed tomography of the chest demonstrated bilateral lower lobe atelectasis. Heart catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy were unremarkable. Electromyogram (EMG) and nerve conduction studies (NCS) of the limb muscles revealed mild diffuse myopathy, normal sensory nerve conductions, and low-amplitude motor responses. Subsequent diaphragmatic EMG and NCS demonstrated severe myopathy. ICI-mediated …

Antibiotic-Associated Neutropenia Is Marked By The Depletion Of Intestinal Lachnospiraceae And Associated Metabolites In Pediatric Patients, Josaura Fernandez-Sanchez, Rachel Rodgers, Arushana A Maknojia, Nusrat Shaikh, Hannah Yan, Marlyd E Mejia, Hope Hendricks, Robert R Jenq, Pavan Reddy, Ritu Banerjee, Jeremy M Schraw, Megan T Baldridge, Katherine Y King

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Prolonged antibiotic exposure causes dangerous hematologic side effects, including neutropenia, in up to 34% of patients. Murine studies established a link between the intestinal microbiota and hematopoiesis. To identify factors that predispose to neutropenia in pediatric patients, we evaluated changes in microbiota‐derived metabolites and intestinal microbiota composition after prolonged courses of antibiotics. In this multi‐center study, patients with infections requiring anticipated antibiotic treatment of two or more weeks were enrolled. Stool samples were obtained at the start and completion of antibiotics or at neutropenia onset (prospective arm). Some patients were enrolled in a retrospective arm in which a stool sample …

Circulating Galectin-3: A Prognostic Biomarker In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Shadi Chamseddine, Betul Gok Yavuz, Yehia I Mohamed, Sunyoung S Lee, James C Yao, Zishuo Ian Hu, Michael Lapelusa, Lianchun Xiao, Ryan Sun, Jeffrey S Morris, Rikita I Hatia, Manal Hassan, Dan G Duda, Maria Diab, Amr Mohamed, Ahmed Nassar, Hesham M Amin, Ahmed Omar Kaseb

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Galectin-3 plays critical roles in the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of tumor cells. Recent data have suggested that galectin-3 plays a role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, its prognostic value has not been validated. The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical and prognostic value of galectin-3 in patients with HCC.

METHODS: We prospectively enrolled and collected clinicopathologic data and serum samples from 767 patients with HCC between 2001 and 2014 at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Two hundred patients without HCC were also enrolled and had data collected. The Kaplan-Meier …

Covid-19 Breakthrough Infection After Vaccination And Substance Use Disorders: A Longitudinal Cohort Of People With And Without Hiv Receiving Care In The United States Veterans Health Administration, Elena M Soyer, Kathleen A Mcginnis, Amy C Justice, Evelyn Hsieh, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Emily C Williams, Lesley S Park

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Research regarding HIV, substance use disorders (SUD), and SARS-CoV-2 infections after COVID-19 vaccination is limited. In the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS)-HIV cohort, we followed vaccinated persons with HIV (PWH) and without HIV (PWoH) from 12/2020 to 3/2022 and linked SARS-CoV-2 test results for laboratory-confirmed breakthrough infection through 9/2022. We examined associations of substance use (alcohol use disorder [AUD], other SUD, smoking status) and HIV status and severity with breakthrough infections, using Cox proportional hazards regression hazard ratios (HR). To test for potential interactions between substance use and HIV, we fit survival models with a multiplicative interaction term. Among 24,253 …

Access To Treatment For Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease In The Americas: A Call For Action A Joint Perspective From The Brazilian Thoracic Society, Canadian Thoracic Society, Latin American Thoracic Society, And The American Thoracic Society, Francesca Polverino, Mohit Bhutani, Gustavo Zabert, Frederico Leon Arrabal Fernandes, Karen Czischke, Luiz Fernando Pereira Ferreira, Lian Szabo, Juan P Wisnivesky, Margareth Pretti Dalcolmo, Juan C Celedón

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem in the Americas (a region of the world comprising North, Central, and South America), although there is substantial variation in disease prevalence, morbidity, and mortality between and within nations. Across the Americas, COPD disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including minoritized populations and impoverished persons, who are more likely to be exposed to risk factors such as tobacco use, air pollution, infections such as tuberculosis, and biomass smoke, but less likely to have adequate healthcare access. Management of COPD can be challenging across the Americas, with some barriers being specific to …

Overcoming The Effects Of Increasing Antimicrobial Resistance On Helicobacter Pylori Therapy, David Yates Graham, Theodore Rokkas

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Resistance to the antibiotics used to treat Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has risen to alarming levels worldwide emphasizing the need to reconsider the approach to therapy generally and to reconsider whether to continue use of many previously highly effective treatment regimens.

Areas covered: This review covers current aspects management of the response to the effects of antimicrobial resistance on H. pylori therapy.

Expert opinion: The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance to H. pylori is increasing and must now be integrated into management of the infection. Bacterial factors responsible for resistance include mutations, efflux pumps, and biofilm formation. Societal …

Lack Of Detection Of Norwalk Virus In Saliva Samples From A Controlled Human Infection Model, Robert L Atmar, Frederick H Neill, Nicole M Hayes, Antone R Opekun, David Y Graham, Mary K Estes, Sasirekha Ramani

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Following recent reports of norovirus replication in salivary gland cells, we examined whether the prototype norovirus strain, Norwalk virus (GI.1), could be detected in the saliva of 21 experimentally infected persons. Viral RNA was not detected in saliva 2 and 7 days after challenge despite high levels being present in feces.

Multidisciplinary Amputation Prevention At The Debakey Va Hospital: Our First Decade, Neal R Barshes, Aimee D Garcia, Cezarina Mindru, Maria Rodriguez-Barradas, Panos Kougias, David M Green, Samir S Awad

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) undertook multidisciplinary efforts to improve care for patients with nonhealing foot ulcers and reduce leg amputation rates. This article examines the impact of interdisciplinary care for amputation prevention in the VHA.

METHODS: The VHA patient population was characterized using internal registries. Texas hospital admission data were used to identify sex and zip-code matched cohorts. VHA provided data on national and local frequencies of various amputations and the number of patients with diabetes.

RESULTS: Compared to matched nonveteran patients, veterans treated at VHA hospitals were older and more often self-identified as Black. They …

Effectiveness Of Original Monovalent And Bivalent Covid-19 Vaccines Against Covid-19-Associated Hospitalization And Severe In-Hospital Outcomes Among Adults In The United States, September 2022-August 2023, Jennifer Decuir, Diya Surie, Yuwei Zhu, Adam S Lauring, Manjusha Gaglani, Tresa Mcneal, Shekhar Ghamande, Ithan D Peltan, Samuel M Brown, Adit A Ginde, Aimee Steinwand, Nicholas M Mohr, Kevin W Gibbs, David N Hager, Harith Ali, Anne Frosch, Michelle N Gong, Amira Mohamed, Nicholas J Johnson, Vasisht Srinivasan, Jay S Steingrub, Akram Khan, Laurence W Busse, Abhijit Duggal, Jennifer G Wilson, Nida Qadir, Steven Y Chang, Christopher Mallow, Jennie H Kwon, Matthew C Exline, Nathan I Shapiro, Cristie Columbus, Ivana A Vaughn, Mayur Ramesh, Basmah Safdar, Jarrod M Mosier, Jonathan D Casey, H Keipp Talbot, Todd W Rice, Natasha Halasa, James D Chappell, Carlos G Grijalva, Adrienne Baughman, Kelsey N Womack, Jillian P Rhoads, Sydney A Swan, Cassandra Johnson, Nathaniel Lewis, Sascha Ellington, Fatimah S Dawood, Meredith Mcmorrow, Wesley H Self, Investigating Respiratory Viruses In The Acutely Ill (Ivy) Network

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Assessments of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness are needed to monitor the protection provided by updated vaccines against severe COVID-19. We evaluated the effectiveness of original monovalent and bivalent (ancestral strain and Omicron BA.4/5) COVID-19 vaccination against COVID-19-associated hospitalization and severe in-hospital outcomes.

METHODS: During September 8, 2022 to August 31, 2023, adults aged ≥ 18 years hospitalized with COVID-19-like illness were enrolled at 26 hospitals in 20 US states. Using a test-negative case-control design, we estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) with multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, admission date, and geographic region.

RESULTS: Among 7028 patients, 2924 (41.6%) were …

Car-Redirected Natural Killer T Cells Demonstrate Superior Antitumor Activity To Car-T Cells Through Multimodal Cd1d-Dependent Mechanisms, Xin Zhou, Ying Wang, Zhangqi Dou, Gloria Delfanti, Ourania Tsahouridis, Caroline Marnata Pellegry, Manuela Zingarelli, Gatphan Atassi, Mark G Woodcock, Giulia Casorati, Paolo Dellabona, William Y Kim, Linjie Guo, Barbara Savoldo, Ageliki Tsagaratou, J Justin Milner, Leonid S Metelitsa, Gianpietro Dotti

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Human natural killer T (NKT) cells have been proposed as a promising cell platform for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy in solid tumors. Here we generated murine CAR-NKT cells and compared them with CAR-T cells in immune-competent mice. Both CAR-NKT cells and CAR-T cells showed similar antitumor effects in vitro, but CAR-NKT cells showed superior antitumor activity in vivo via CD1d-dependent immune responses in the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, we show that CAR-NKT cells eliminate CD1d-expressing M2-like macrophages. In addition, CAR-NKT cells promote epitope spreading and activation of endogenous T cell responses against tumor-associated neoantigens. Finally, we observed that CAR-NKT cells …

Revealing Patterns Of Sars-Cov-2 Variant Emergence And Evolution Using Rbd Amplicon Sequencing Of Wastewater, Xingwen Chen, John Balliew, Cici X Bauer, Jennifer Deegan, Anna Gitter, Blake M Hanson, Anthony W Maresso, Michael J Tisza, Catherine L Troisi, Janelle Rios, Kristina D Mena, Eric Boerwinkle, Fuqing Wu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in the emergence of numerous variants, posing significant challenges to public health surveillance. Clinical genome sequencing, while valuable, has limitations in capturing the full epidemiological dynamics of circulating variants in the general population. This study aimed to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 variant community dynamics and evolution using receptor-binding domain (RBD) amplicon sequencing of wastewater samples.

Methods: We sequenced wastewater from El Paso, Texas, over 17 months, compared the sequencing data with clinical genome data, and performed biodiversity analysis to reveal SARS-CoV-2 variant dynamics and evolution.

Results: We identified 91 variants and observed waves of …

Ga2len Anacare Consensus Statement: Potential Of Omalizumab In Food Allergy Management, Torsten Zuberbier, Antonella Muraro, Ulugbek Nurmatov, Stefania Arasi, Katarina Stevanovic, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Roberta Bonaguro, Sharon Chinthrajah, Gideon Lack, Alessandro Fiocchi, Thuy-My Le, Paul Turner, Montserrat Alvaro Lozano, Elizabeth Angier, Simona Barni, Phillippe Bégin, Barbara Ballmer-Weber, Victoria Cardona, Carsten Bindslev-Jensen, Antonella Cianferoni, Nicolette De Jong, Debra De Silva, Antoine Deschildre, Audrey Dunn Galvin, Motohiro Ebisawa, David M Fleischer, Jennifer Gerdts, Mattia Giovannini, Josefine Gradman, Susanne Halken, Syed Hasan Arshad, Ekaterina Khaleva, Susanne Lau, Richard Loh, Mika J Mäkelä, Mary Jane Marchisotto, Laura Morandini, Charlotte G Mortz, Caroline Nilsson, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, Marcia Podestà, Lars K Poulsen, Graham Roberts, Pablo Rodríguez Del Río, Hugh A Sampson, Angel Sánchez, Sabine Schnadt, Peter K Smith, Hania Szajewska, Natasa Teovska Mitrevska, Alice Toniolo, Carina Venter, Amena Warner, Gary W K Wong, Robert Wood, Margitta Worm

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Immunoglobulin E (IgE)‐mediated food allergies are the most common type of food allergy, often causing rapid symptoms after exposure to allergens posing a serious health risk and a high impact on patient's and caregiver's quality of life. Omalizumab, a humanized anti‐IgE monoclonal antibody, reduces allergic reactions by binding to circulating IgE. Omalizumab has been successfully used in allergic asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, and chronic urticaria, and was recently approved for treating IgE‐mediated food allergies by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This GA2LEN ANACARE Consensus Statement presents our position on the use of omalizumab for treating IgE‐mediated …

A Comparison Of The Diagnostic Capability Of Kato-Katz And Real-Time Pcr For The Assessment Of Treatment Efficacy Of Ivermectin And Albendazole Combination Against T Trichiura Infections, Gabriela Matamoros, Ana Sanchez, Ruben Cimino, Alejandro Krolewiecki, Rojelio Mejia

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Trichuris trichiura is humans' second most prevalent soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection after Ascaris lumbricoides, affecting approximately 460 million people worldwide. Despite its sub-optimal sensitivity, especially in low prevalence and infection intensity settings, the modified Kato-Katz (K-K) is still recommended as a diagnostic method by the World Health organization (WHO) guidelines.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Within a randomized clinical trial (RCT) comprising four treatment arms with two different anthelmintics, the present study reports an important secondary research objective to determine the diagnostic agreement between K-K and real-time PCR evaluating treatment efficacy against T. trichiura. The parasitological results were analyzed, including cure rates …

Automated Electronic Health Record Data Extraction And Curation Using Extractehr, Tamara P Miller, Kelly D Getz, Edward Krause, Yun Gun Jo, Sandhya Charapala, M Monica Gramatages, Karen Rabin, Michael E Scheurer, Jennifer J Wilkes, Brian T Fisher, Richard Aplenc

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: Although the potential transformative effect of electronic health record (EHR) data on clinical research in adult patient populations has been very extensively discussed, the effect on pediatric oncology research has been limited. Multiple factors contribute to this more limited effect, including the paucity of pediatric cancer cases in commercial EHR-derived cancer data sets and phenotypic case identification challenges in pediatric federated EHR data.

Methods: The ExtractEHR software package was initially developed as a tool to improve clinical trial adverse event reporting but has expanded its use cases to include the development of multisite EHR data sets and the support …

Risk-Stratified Treatment For Drug-Susceptible Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Vincent K Chang, Marjorie Z Imperial, Patrick P J Phillips, Gustavo E Velásquez, Payam Nahid, Andrew Vernon, Ekaterina V Kurbatova, Susan Swindells, Richard E Chaisson, Susan E Dorman, John L Johnson, Marc Weiner, Amina Jindani, Thomas Harrison, Erin E Sizemore, William Whitworth, Wendy Carr, Kia E Bryant, Deron Burton, Kelly E Dooley, Melissa Engle, Pheona Nsubuga, Andreas H Diacon, Nguyen Viet Nhung, Rodney Dawson, Radojka M Savic, Aids Clinical Trial Group, Tuberculosis Trials Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Phase 3 randomized controlled trial, TBTC Study 31/ACTG A5349 (NCT02410772) demonstrated that a 4-month rifapentine-moxifloxacin regimen for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis was safe and effective. The primary efficacy outcome was 12-month tuberculosis disease free survival, while the primary safety outcome was the proportion of grade 3 or higher adverse events during the treatment period. We conducted an analysis of demographic, clinical, microbiologic, radiographic, and pharmacokinetic data and identified risk factors for unfavorable outcomes and adverse events. Among participants receiving the rifapentine-moxifloxacin regimen, low rifapentine exposure is the strongest driver of tuberculosis-related unfavorable outcomes (HR 0.65 for every 100 µg∙h/mL increase, …

Type I Met Inhibitors Cooperate With Pd-1 Blockade To Promote Rejection Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Ricardo Deazevedo, Madeline Steiner, Broderick X Turner, Arthur Liu, Sherwin Newton, Joanna Schmidt, Rachel Fleming, Angelica Tolentino, Ahmed O Kaseb, Michael A Curran

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Blockade of the immune checkpoints programmed death-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic lymphocyte antigen 4 has improved outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), yet most still fail to achieve objective clinical benefit. MET plays key roles in both HCC tumorigenesis and immunosuppressive conditioning; however, inhibition of MET causes upregulation of PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1) suggesting the use of these inhibitors in the context of PD-1 blockade. We sought to investigate across the Hepa1-6, HCA-1 and diethylnitrosamine (DEN) models of HCC whether the combination of more specific type I versus more pleiotropic type II MET inhibitors would confer superior outcomes in combination with …

Ten Challenges And Opportunities In Computational Immuno-Oncology, Riyue Bao, Alan Hutson, Anant Madabhushi, Vanessa D Jonsson, Spencer R Rosario, Jill S Barnholtz-Sloan, Elana J Fertig, Himangi Marathe, Lyndsay Harris, Jennifer Altreuter, Qingrong Chen, James Dignam, Andrew J Gentles, Edgar Gonzalez-Kozlova, Sacha Gnjatic, Erika Kim, Mark Long, Martin Morgan, Eytan Ruppin, David Van Valen, Hong Zhang, Natalie Vokes, Daoud Meerzaman, Song Liu, Eliezer M Van Allen, Yi Xing

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immuno-oncology has transformed the treatment of cancer, with several immunotherapies becoming the standard treatment across histologies. Despite these advancements, the majority of patients do not experience durable clinical benefits, highlighting the imperative for ongoing advancement in immuno-oncology. Computational immuno-oncology emerges as a forefront discipline that draws on biomedical data science and intersects with oncology, immunology, and clinical research, with the overarching goal to accelerate the development of effective and safe immuno-oncology treatments from the laboratory to the clinic. In this review, we outline 10 critical challenges and opportunities in computational immuno-oncology, emphasizing the importance of robust computational strategies and interdisciplinary …

A Call To Action: The Shea Research Agenda To Combat Healthcare-Associated Infections, Jennie H Kwon, Sonali D Advani, Westyn Branch-Elliman, Barbara I Braun, Vincent Chi-Chung Cheng, Kathleen Chiotos, Peggy Douglas, Shruti K Gohil, Sara C Keller, Eili Y Klein, Sarah L Krein, Eric T Lofgren, Katreena Merrill, Rebekah W Moehring, Elizabeth Monsees, Luci Perri, Felicia Scaggs Huang, Mark A Shelly, Felicia Skelton, Emily S Spivak, Pranavi V Sreeramoju, Katie J Suda, Joseph Y Ting, Gregory David Weston, Mohamed H Yassin, Matthew J Ziegler, Lona Mody

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Tick-Borne Diseases And Pregnancy: A Narrative Review Evaluating Pregnancy Complications Caused By Tick-Borne Diseases, Michael W Curtis, Job E Lopez

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Ticks are vectors of public health concern because the pathogens they transmit can cause detrimental diseases in humans. Lyme disease, tick-borne relapsing fever, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick-borne encephalitis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and babesiosis are some of the most common diseases caused by the pathogens transmitted by ticks. The overlap between human activities and tick habitats is growing, contributing to an increase in tick-borne disease cases. Unfortunately, pregnancy as a risk factor for tick-borne diseases is largely ignored. In this narrative review we use case reports, epidemiological studies, and animal studies to evaluate the maternal, pregnancy, and …

Impact Of Select Actionable Genomic Alterations On Efficacy Of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy In Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Nicolas Zhou, Cheuk H Leung, William N William, Annikka Weissferdt, Apar Pataer, Myrna C B Godoy, Brett W Carter, Frank V Fossella, Anne S Tsao, George R Blumenschein, Xiuning Le, Jianjun Zhang, Ferdinandos Skoulidis, Jonathan M Kurie, Mehmet Altan, Charles Lu, Bonnie S Glisson, Lauren A Byers, Yasir Y Elamin, Reza J Mehran, David C Rice, Garrett L Walsh, Wayne L Hofstetter, Jack A Roth, Hai T Tran, Jia Wu, Luisa M Solis Soto, Humam Kadara, Stephen G Swisher, Ara A Vaporciyan, Don L Gibbons, Heather Y Lin, J Jack Lee, John V Heymach, Marcelo V Negrao, Boris Sepesi, Tina Cascone

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved survival outcomes compared with chemotherapy in resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the impact of actionable genomic alterations (AGAs) on the efficacy of neoadjuvant ICIs remains unclear. We report the influence of AGAs on treatment failure (TF) in patients with resectable NSCLC treated with neoadjuvant ICIs.

Methods: Tumor molecular profiles were obtained from patients with stage I-IIIA resectable NSCLC (American Joint Committee on Cancer seventh edition) treated with either neoadjuvant nivolumab (N, n=23) or nivolumab+ipilimumab (NI, n=21) followed by surgery in a previously reported phase-2 randomized study (NCT03158129). TF …

Micrornas Are Enriched At Covid-19 Genomic Risk Regions, And Their Blood Levels Correlate With The Covid-19 Prognosis Of Cancer Patients Infected By Sars-Cov-2, Simone Anfossi, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Joseph Quinlan, Steliana Calin, Masayoshi Shimizu, Meng Chen, Paola Rausseo, Michael Winters, Elena Bogatenkova, Kim-Anh Do, Ivan Martinez, Ziyi Li, Loredana Antal, Tudor Rares Olariu, Ignacio Wistuba, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cancer patients are more susceptible to an aggressive course of COVID-19. Developing biomarkers identifying cancer patients at high risk of COVID-19-related death could help determine who needs early clinical intervention. The miRNAs hosted in the genomic regions associated with the risk of aggressive COVID-19 could represent potential biomarkers for clinical outcomes.

Patients and methods: Plasma samples were collected at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from cancer patients (N = 128) affected by COVID-19. Serum samples were collected from vaccinated healthy individuals (n = 23) at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Teaching Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. An in …

Perioperative Chemoimmunotherapy Induces Strong Immune Responses And Long-Term Survival In Patients With Hla Class I-Deficient Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Marta Molina-Alejandre, Francisco Perea, Virginia Calvo, Cristina Martinez-Toledo, Ernest Nadal, Belén Sierra-Rodero, Marta Casarrubios, Joaquín Casal-Rubio, Alex Martinez-Martí, Amelia Insa, Bartomeu Massuti, Santiago Viteri, Isidoro Barneto Aranda, Delvys Rodriguez-Abreu, Javier De Castro, Joaquín Mosquera Martínez, Manuel Cobo, Ignacio I Wistuba, Edwin R Parra, Javier Martín-López, Diego Megías, Rafael Muñoz-Viana, Federico Garrido, Natalia Aptsiauri, Francisco Ruiz-Cabello, Mariano Provencio, Alberto Cruz-Bermúdez

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Loss of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) are common events implicated in the primary resistance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to immunotherapy. However, there is no data on perioperative chemoimmunotherapy (ChIO) efficacy or response mechanisms in the context of HLA class I defects.

METHODS: Baseline HLA class I tumor status (HLA-deficient (HLA-DEF) or HLA-proficient (HLA-PRO)) was determined by DNA LOH combined with immunohistochemistry for protein levels in tissue of 24 patients with NSCLC treated with perioperative nivolumab plus chemotherapy from NADIM trial (NCT03081689). We integrated HLA tumor status with molecular data …

Norovirus Acute Gastroenteritis Amongst Us And European Travellers To Areas Of Moderate To High Risk Of Travellers’ Diarrhoea: A Prospective Cohort Study, Martin Alberer, Christine L Moe, Christoph Hatz, Kerstin Kling, Amy E Kirby, Lisa Lindsay, Hans D Nothdurft, Margarita Riera-Montes, Robert Steffen, Thomas Verstraeten, Henry M Wu, Herbert L Dupont

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a major medical condition for travellers worldwide, particularly travellers to low- and middle-income countries. Norovirus (NoV) is the most common cause of viral AGE in older children and adults, but data on prevalence and impact amongst travellers is limited.

METHODS: Prospective, multi-site, observational cohort study conducted 2015-2017, amongst adult international travellers from the US and Europe to areas of moderate to high risk of travel-acquired AGE. Participants provided self-collected pre-travel stool samples and self-reported AGE symptoms whilst travelling. Post-travel stool samples were requested from symptomatic subjects and a sample of asymptomatic travellers within 14 days …

Safety Of Kidney Transplantation From Donors With Hiv, Christine M Durand, Allan Massie, Sander Florman, Tao Liang, Meenakshi M Rana, Rachel Friedman-Moraco, Alexander Gilbert, Peter Stock, Sapna A Mehta, Shikha Mehta, Valentina Stosor, Marcus R Pereira, Michele I Morris, Jonathan Hand, Saima Aslam, Maricar Malinis, Ghady Haidar, Catherine B Small, Carlos A Q Santos, Joanna Schaenman, John Baddley, David Wojciechowski, Emily A Blumberg, Karthik Ranganna, Oluwafisayo Adebiyi, Nahel Elias, Jose A Castillo-Lugo, Emmanouil Giorgakis, Senu Apewokin, Diane Brown, Darin Ostrander, Yolanda Eby, Niraj Desai, Fizza Naqvi, Serena Bagnasco, Natasha Watson, Erica Brittain, Jonah Odim, Andrew D Redd, Aaron A R Tobian, Dorry L Segev

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Kidney transplantation from donors with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to recipients with HIV is an emerging practice. It has been performed since 2016 under the U.S. congressional HIV Organ Policy Equity Act and is currently approved for research only. The Department of Health and Human Services is considering expanding the procedure to clinical practice, but data are limited to small case series that did not include donors without HIV as controls.

Methods: In an observational study conducted at 26 U.S. centers, we compared transplantation of kidneys from deceased donors with HIV and donors without HIV to recipients with HIV. …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Biofilm Formation In Helicobacter Pylori, Kartika Afrida Fauzia, Wiwin Is Effendi, Ricky Indra Alfaray, Hoda M Malaty, Yoshio Yamaoka, Muhammad Mifthussurur

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Biofilm formation in

METHODS: We conducted a literature review analysis of the published articles on the

RESULTS: The results showed that biofilm formation starts as adhesion and progresses through micro-colonies, maturation, and dispersion in a planktonic form. Moreover, specific genes modulate each phase of biofilm formation. Few studies have shown that mechanisms, such as quorum sensing and diffusible signal factors, enhance coordination among bacteria when switching from biofilm to planktonic states. Different protein expressions were also observed between planktonic and biofilm strains, and the biofilm architecture was supported by exopolysaccharides, extracellular DNA, and outer membrane vesicles.

CONCLUSIONS: This infrastructure …

Electric Potential Energy Optimized 3d Radial Sampling Trajectories For Mri, Christopher Huynh, Datta Singh Goolaub, Christopher K Macgowan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A novel method for creating “golden” 3D center-out radial MRI sampling trajectories was developed and analyzed. This method, called ELECTRO (ELECTRic potential energy Optimized), uses repulsive forces to minimize electric potential energy. An objective function , the electric potential energies of all subsets of consecutive readouts in a 3D radial trajectory, and its reduced form were minimized using a multi-stage optimization strategy. A metric called normalized mean nearest neighbor angular distance (NMNA) was proposed for describing distributions of points on a sphere. ELECTRO and other relevant golden trajectories were compared in silico using NMNA and point spread function analysis. Consecutive …

Flagellar Motility Is Mutagenic, Souvik Bhattacharyya, Shelby Lopez, Abhyudai Singh, Rasika M Harshey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Flagella are highly complex rotary molecular machines that enable bacteria to not only migrate to optimal environments but also to promote range expansion, competitiveness, virulence, and antibiotic survival. Flagellar motility is an energy-demanding process, where the sum of its production (biosynthesis) and operation (rotation) costs has been estimated to total ~10% of the entire energy budget of an

Ct Strain Metrics Allow For Earlier Diagnosis Of Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome After Hematopoietic Cell Transplant, Husham Sharifi, Christopher D Bertini, Mansour Alkhunaizi, Maria Hernandez, Zayan Musa, Carlos Borges, Ihsan Turk, Lara Bashoura, Burton F Dickey, Guang-Shing Cheng, Gregory Yanik, Craig J Galban, Huawei Henry Guo, Myrna C B Godoy, Joseph M Reinhardt, Eric A Hoffman, Mario Castro, Gabriela Rondon, Amin M Alousi, Richard E Champlin, Elizabeth J Shpall, Ying Lu, Samuel Peterson, Keshav Datta, Mark R Nicolls, Joe Hsu, Ajay Sheshadri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Quantitative computed tomography (qCT) can help diagnose advanced BOS meeting National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria (NIH-BOS) but has not been used to diagnose early, often asymptomatic BOS (early BOS), limiting the potential for early intervention and improved outcomes. Using pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to define NIH-BOS, early BOS, and mixed BOS (NIH-BOS with restrictive lung disease) in patients from 2 large cancer centers, we applied qCT to identify early BOS and distinguish between types of BOS. Patients with transient impairment or healthy lungs …