Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mitochondrial Health Index Correlates With Plasma Circulating Cell-Free Mitochondrial Dna In Bipolar Disorder, Rafaela C Cordeiro, Camila N C Lima, Gabriel R Fries, Giovana Zunta-Soares, Jair C Soares, João Quevedo, Giselli Scaini

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although mitochondrial dysfunction is known to play an essential role in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD), there is a glaring gap in our understanding of how mitochondrial dysfunction can modulate clinical phenotypes. An emerging paradigm suggests mitochondria play an important non-energetic role in adaptation to stress, impacting cellular resilience and acting as a source of systemic allostatic load. Known as mitochondrial allostatic load, this (phenomenon) occurs when mitochondria are unable to recalibrate and maintain cell homeostasis. This study aimed to evaluate the composite mitochondrial health index (MHI) in BD subjects and non-psychiatry controls. We will also explore whether lower …

Long-Term Utilization And Benefit Of Luspatercept In Transfusion-Dependent, Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agent-Refractory Or -Intolerant Patients With Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes With Ring Sideroblasts, Uwe Platzbecker, Valeria Santini, Rami S Komrokji, Amer M Zeidan, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Rena Buckstein, Dimana Miteva, Karen Keeperman, Natalia Holot, Jose Alberto Nadal, Yinzhi Lai, Sadanand Vodala, Barbara Rosettani, Ana Carolina Giuseppi, Aylin Yucel, Pierre Fenaux

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Diverse Clinical Manifestations And Challenges Of Mucormycosis: Insights From Serial Cases, Marisa C Nielsen, Filipe M Cerqueira, Sri Bharathi Kavuri, Caitlin M Raymond, Aeman Muneeb, Andrzej S Kudlicki, Shafaq Tariq, Mingru Liu, Andrew L Routh, Suimin Qiu, Ping Ren

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mucormycosis is a severe and potentially life-threatening infection caused by a group of fungi classified as mucormycetes within the scientific order Mucorales. These infections are characterized by rapid and invasive fungal growth, presenting significant treatment challenges. Here we present 5 cases encountered from 2018 to 2022 at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, including a novel Apophysomyces species. These cases illustrate the diverse clinical manifestations of mucormycosis, including pulmonary, rhino-cerebral, gastrointestinal, and soft tissue involvement. Our investigation incorporates information provided by a multidisciplinary team of clinical collaborators, emphasizing the findings from radiology, histopathology, and microbiology. Given the …

Comparison Between Viral Vector And Mrna Based Covid-19 Vaccination In Prevalence And Severity Of Regional Immune Reactions, And 18f-Fdg Pet/Ct Features, Narjess Ayati, Scott Evans, S Rasoul Zakavi, Simon M Gruenewald

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective(s):

The coronavirus pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 commenced in late 2019, and global wide vaccination appears to be the only reasonable solution to fight this dreadful virus. There are two main types of COVID-19 immunization using viral vector and mRNA-based vaccines. However, the impact of each of type on 18F-FDG PET/CT needs to be accurately assessed. This study aimed to compare the 18F-FDG PET/CT features of these two types of COVID-19 vaccines.

Methods:

A total of 188 patients referred for 18F-FDG PET/CT with a recent history of either BioNTech/Pfizer or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination, and a control group of 40 patients …

Deep Learning-Based Dose Prediction To Improve The Plan Quality Of Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy For Gynecologic Cancers, Mary P Gronberg, Anuja Jhingran, Tucker J Netherton, Skylar S Gay, Carlos E Cardenas, Christine Chung, David Fuentes, Clifton D Fuller, Rebecca M Howell, Meena Khan, Tze Yee Lim, Barbara Marquez, Adenike M Olanrewaju, Christine B Peterson, Ivan Vazquez, Thomas J Whitaker, Zachary Wooten, Ming Yang, Laurence E Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: In recent years, deep‐learning models have been used to predict entire three‐dimensional dose distributions. However, the usability of dose predictions to improve plan quality should be further investigated.

Purpose: To develop a deep‐learning model to predict high‐quality dose distributions for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans for patients with gynecologic cancer and to evaluate their usability in driving plan quality improvements.

Methods: A total of 79 VMAT plans for the female pelvis were used to train (47 plans), validate (16 plans), and test (16 plans) 3D dense dilated U‐Net models to predict 3D dose distributions. The models received the …

Immune Cell Identity Behind The Ktrans Mapping Of Mouse Glioblastoma, Yanrong Zhang, Olivier Keunen, Anna Golebiewska, Marco Gerosa, Jing Wang, Sara Natasha Ghobadi, Ai Huang, Qingyi Hou, Frezghi G Habte, Ningrui Li, Gerry Grant, Ramasamy Paulmurugan, Kevin S Lee, Max Wintermark

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) can assess the integrity of the blood brain barrier (BBB) and has been used in GBM patients to determine glioma grade, predict prognosis, evaluate treatment response, and differentiate treatment-induced effect from recurrence. The volume transfer constant Ktrans is the most frequently used metric in tumor assessment. Based on previous studies that a higher WHO grade of brain tumor was associated with greater impairments of immunity and and that Ktrans value was associated with the pathological grading, the relationship between differential composition of immune cells in GBM tissue and dynamic changes in Ktrans mapping was anticipated …

Real-Time Liver Motion Estimation Via Deep Learning-Based Angle-Agnostic X-Ray Imaging, Hua-Chieh Shao, Yunxiang Li, Jing Wang, Steve Jiang, You Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Real-time liver imaging is challenged by the short imaging time (within hundreds of milliseconds) to meet the temporal constraint posted by rapid patient breathing, resulting in extreme under-sampling for desired 3D imaging. Deep learning (DL)-based real-time imaging/motion estimation techniques are emerging as promising solutions, which can use a single X-ray projection to estimate 3D moving liver volumes by solved deformable motion. However, such techniques were mostly developed for a specific, fixed X-ray projection angle, thereby impractical to verify and guide arc-based radiotherapy with continuous gantry rotation.

Purpose: To enable deformable motion estimation and 3D liver imaging from individual X-ray …

Blood-Based Migration Signature Biomarker Panel Discriminates Early Stage New Onset Diabetes Related Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma From Type 2 Diabetes, Seetharaman Balasenthil, Suyu Liu, Jianliang Dai, William R Bamlet, Gloria Petersen, Suresh T Chari, Anirban Maitra, Nanyue Chen, Subrata Sen, Ann Mcneill Killary

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background and aims: While type 2 diabetes is a well-known risk factor for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), PDAC-induced new-onset diabetes (PDAC-NOD) is a manifestation of underlying PDAC. In this study, we sought to identify potential blood-based biomarkers for distinguishing PDAC-NOD from type 2 diabetes (T2DM) without PDAC.

Materials and methods: By ELISA analysis, a migration signature biomarker panel comprising tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), tenascin C (TNC-FNIII-C) and CA 19-9 was analyzed in plasma samples from 50 PDAC-NOD and 50 T2DM controls.

Results: Both TFPI (area under the curve (AUC) 0.71) and TNC-FNIII-C (AUC 0.69) outperformed CA 19-9 (AUC 0.60) …

Egfr Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors For The Treatment Of Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Harboring Uncommon Egfr Mutations: A Podcast, Xiuning Le, Eric Nadler, Daniel B Costa, John Victor Heymach

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

See the video and supplementary file.

Germline Sequencing Analysis To Inform Clinical Gene Panel Testing For Aggressive Prostate Cancer, Burcu F Darst, Ed Saunders, Tokhir Dadaev, Xin Sheng, Peggy Wan, Loreall Pooler, Lucy Y Xia, Stephen Chanock, Sonja I Berndt, Ying Wang, Alpa V Patel, Demetrius Albanes, Stephanie J Weinstein, Vincent Gnanapragasam, Chad Huff, Fergus J Couch, Alicja Wolk, Graham G Giles, Tu Nguyen-Dumont, Roger L Milne, Mark M Pomerantz, Julie A Schmidt, Ruth C Travis, Timothy J Key, Konrad H Stopsack, Lorelei A Mucci, William J Catalona, Beth Marosy, Kurt N Hetrick, Kimberly F Doheny, Robert J Macinnis, Melissa C Southey, Rosalind A Eeles, Fredrik Wiklund, David V Conti, Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Christopher A Haiman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: Germline gene panel testing is recommended for men with advanced prostate cancer (PCa) or a family history of cancer. While evidence is limited for some genes currently included in panel testing, gene panels are also likely to be incomplete and missing genes that influence PCa risk and aggressive disease.

Objective: To identify genes associated with aggressive PCa.

Design, setting, and participants: A 2-stage exome sequencing case-only genetic association study was conducted including men of European ancestry from 18 international studies. Data analysis was performed from January 2021 to March 2023. Participants were 9185 men with aggressive PCa (including 6033 …

Considerations For Intensity Modulated Total Body Or Total Marrow And Lymphoid Irradiation, David Parsons, Tze Yee Lim, Jose R Teruel, Paulina Galavis, Stefano Agostinelli, Jieming Liang, Pietro Mancosu, Amanda Cherpak, Dennis N Stanley, Kang-Hyun Ahn, Bingqi Guo, Yesenia Gonzalez, Jay Burmeister, Jeffrey Y C Wong, Xuejun Gu, Grace Gwe-Ya Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We compiled a sampling of the treatment techniques of intensity-modulated total body irradiation, total marrow irradiation and total marrow and lymphoid irradiation utilized by several centers across North America and Europe. This manuscript does not serve as a consensus guideline, but rather is meant to serve as a convenient reference for centers that are considering starting an intensity-modulated program.

Circulating Micrornas And Cytokines As Prognostic Biomarkers For Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiac Injury And For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of An Exercise Intervention, Prince Jeyabal, Anchit Bhagat, Fei Wang, Michael Roth, J Andrew Livingston, Susan C Gilchrist, Jose Banchs, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Joya Chandra, Anita Deswal, Efstratios Koutroumpakis, Jian Wang, Najat C Daw, Theresa A Honey, Eugenie S Kleinerman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: To define a set of biomarkers that can be used to identify patients at high risk of developing late doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiac morbidity with the goal of focused monitoring and early interventions.

Experimental design: Mice received phosphate buffered saline or DOX 2.5 mg/kg 2x/week for 2 weeks. Blood samples were obtained before and after therapy for quantification of miRNAs (6 and 24 hours), cytokines (24 hours), and troponin (24 hours, 4 and 6 weeks). Cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiography before and 24 hours after therapy. To assess the effectiveness of exercise intervention in preventing DOX-induced cardiotoxicity blood samples …

Cell-Autonomous Effects Of Apoe4 In Restricting Microglial Response In Brain Homeostasis And Alzheimer’S Disease, Chia-Chen Liu, Na Wang, Yuanxin Chen, Yasuteru Inoue, Francis Shue, Yingxue Ren, Minghui Wang, Wenhui Qiao, Tadafumi C Ikezu, Zonghua Li, Jing Zhao, Yuka Martens, Sydney V Doss, Cassandra L Rosenberg, Suren Jeevaratnam, Lin Jia, Ana-Caroline Raulin, Fangfang Qi, Yiyang Zhu, Alla Alnobani, Joshua Knight, Yixing Chen, Cynthia Linares, Aishe Kurti, John D Fryer, Bin Zhang, Long-Jun Wu, Betty Y S Kim, Guojun Bu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Microglial involvement in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology has emerged as a risk-determining pathogenic event. While apolipoprotein E (APOE) is known to modify AD risk, it remains unclear how microglial apoE impacts brain cognition and AD pathology. Here, using conditional mouse models expressing apoE isoforms in microglia and central nervous system-associated macrophages (CAMs), we demonstrate a cell-autonomous effect of apoE3-mediated microglial activation and function, which are negated by apoE4. Expression of apoE3 in microglia/CAMs improves cognitive function, increases microglia surrounding amyloid plaque and reduces amyloid pathology and associated toxicity, whereas apoE4 expression either compromises or has no effects on these outcomes …

Identification Of Novel Genetic Loci For Risk Of Multiple Myeloma By Functional Annotation, Angelica Macauda, Klara Briem, Alyssa Clay-Gilmour, Wendy Cozen, Asta Försti, Matteo Giaccherini, Chiara Corradi, Juan Sainz, Yasmeen Niazi, Rob Ter Horst, Yang Li, Mihai G Netea, Ulla Vogel, Kari Hemminki, Susan L Slager, Judit Varkonyi, Vibeke Andersen, Elzbieta Iskierka-Jazdzewska, Joaquin Mártinez-Lopez, Jan Zaucha, Nicola J Camp, S Vincent Rajkumar, Agnieszka Druzd-Sitek, Parveen Bhatti, Stephen J Chanock, Shaji K Kumar, Edyta Subocz, Grzegorz Mazur, Stefano Landi, Mitchell J Machiela, Andrés Jerez, Aaron D Norman, Michelle A T Hildebrandt, Katalin Kadar, Sonja I Berndt, Elad Ziv, Gabriele Buda, Arnon Nagler, Charles Dumontet, Malgorzata Raźny, Marzena Watek, Aleksandra Butrym, Norbert Grzasko, Marek Dudzinski, Malwina Rybicka-Ramos, Eva-Laure Matera, Ramón García-Sanz, Hartmut Goldschmidt, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Artur Jurczyszyn, Esther Clavero, Graham G Giles, Matteo Pelosini, Daria Zawirska, Marcin Kruszewski, Herlander Marques, Eva Haastrup, José Manuel Sánchez-Maldonado, Uta Bertsch, Marcin Rymko, Marc-Steffen Raab, Elizabeth E Brown, Jonathan N Hofmann, Celine Vachon, Daniele Campa, Federico Canzian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Cost-Effectiveness Of [99mtc]Tilmanocept Relative To [99mtc]Sulfur Colloid For Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy In Early Stage Oral Cavity Cancer, Karen Y Choi, Qiang Hao, Kathryn Carlisle, Christopher S Hollenbeak, Stephen Y Lai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated varying rates of efficacy, reliability, and sensitivity of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in identifying occult nodal disease for early stage oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) depending on the radionuclide agent utilized. No head-to-head comparison of cost or clinical outcomes of SLNB when utilizing [99mTc]tilmanocept versus [99mTc]sulfur colloid has been performed. The goal of this study was to develop a decision model to compare the cost-effectiveness of [99mTc]tilmanocept versus [99mTc]sulfur colloid in early stage OCSCC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A decision model of disease and treatment as a function of SLNB was created. Patients with …

Characteristics And Clinical Outcomes Of Patients With Myeloid Malignancies And Ddx41 Variants, Alex Bataller, Sanam Loghavi, Yoheved Gerstein, Alexandre Bazinet, Koji Sasaki, Kelly S Chien, Danielle Hammond, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Gautam Borthakur, Nicholas Short, Ghayas C Issa, Tapan M Kadia, Naval Daver, Guilin Tang, Andres Quesada, Keyur P Patel, Farhad Ravandi, Warren Fiskus, Cristopher P Mill, Hagop M Kantarjian, Kapil Bhalla, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Betul Oran, Courtney D Dinardo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DDX41 is the most frequently mutated gene in myeloid neoplasms associated with germline predisposition including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We analyzed 3795 patients with myeloid neoplasms and identified 151 (4%) with DDX41 variants and a diagnosis of AML (n = 96), MDS (n = 52), and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (n = 3). The most frequent DDX41 variants were the somatic variant p.R525H, followed by the germline variants p.M1I and p.D140fs. Most neoplasms had a normal karyotype (59%) and the most frequent co-mutations were TP53 (16%) and ASXL1 (15%). 30% of patients had no concomitant mutations besides …

Geographic Disparity Of Outcome In Patients With Cancer Over Decades: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, And End Results, Koji Sasaki, Kiyomi Morita, Hagop Kantarjian, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Elias Jabbour, Farhad Ravandi, Marina Konopleva, Gautam Borthakur, William Wierda, Naval Daver, Koichi Takahashi, Courtney Dinardo, Guillermo Montalban Bravo, Ghayas C Issa, Sherry A Pierce, Kelly A Soltysiak, Martha S Tingen, Jorge E Cortes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Improvements in prevention, early detection, and effective cancer therapy have decreased cancer-related mortality; however, significant health disparities exist. Therefore, we investigated the impact of these disparities on survival.

Methods: In the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results, we identified 784,341 patients with cancer between 1990 and 2016 in Georgia, 68,493 between 1990 and 1999; 371,353 between 2000 and 2009; and 322,932 between 2010 and 2016. We assessed the overall survival (OS) of patients with all cancers, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and lung cancer, given the dramatic improvement in outcomes in patients with CML since 2000 compared to the generally considerably …

Prevalence And Implications Of Significance Testing For Baseline Covariate Imbalance In Randomised Cancer Clinical Trials: The Table 1 Fallacy, Alexander D Sherry, Pavlos Msaouel, Zachary R Mccaw, Joseph Abi Jaoude, Eric J Hsu, Ramez Kouzy, Roshal Patel, Yumeng Yang, Timothy A Lin, Cullen M Taniguchi, Claus Rödel, Emmanouil Fokas, Chad Tang, Clifton David Fuller, Bruce Minsky, Tomer Meirson, Ryan Sun, Ethan B Ludmir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The 'Table 1 Fallacy' refers to the unsound use of significance testing for comparing the distributions of baseline variables between randomised groups to draw erroneous conclusions about balance or imbalance. We performed a cross-sectional study of the Table 1 Fallacy in phase III oncology trials.

Methods: From ClinicalTrials.gov, 1877 randomised trials were screened. Multivariable logistic regressions evaluated predictors of the Table 1 Fallacy.

Results: A total of 765 randomised controlled trials involving 553,405 patients were analysed. The Table 1 Fallacy was observed in 25% of trials (188 of 765), with 3% of comparisons deemed significant (59 of 2353), approximating …

Development And Implementation Of Optimized Endogenous Contrast Sequences For Delineation In Adaptive Radiotherapy On A 15t Mr-Linear-Accelerator: A Prospective R-Ideal Stage 0–2a Quantitative/Qualitative Evaluation Of In Vivo Site-Specific Quality-Assurance Using A 3d T2 Fat-Suppressed Platform For Head And Neck Cancer, Travis C Salzillo, M Alex Dresner, Ashley Way, Kareem A Wahid, Brigid A Mcdonald, Sam Mulder, Mohamed A Naser, Renjie He, Yao Ding, Alison Yoder, Sara Ahmed, Kelsey L Corrigan, Gohar S Manzar, Lauren Andring, Chelsea Pinnix, R Jason Stafford, Abdallah S R Mohamed, John Christodouleas, Jihong Wang, Clifton David Fuller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: To improve segmentation accuracy in head and neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy treatment planning for the 1.5T hybrid magnetic resonance imaging/linear accelerator (MR-Linac), three-dimensional (3D), T2-weighted, fat-suppressed magnetic resonance imaging sequences were developed and optimized.

Approach: After initial testing, spectral attenuated inversion recovery (SPAIR) was chosen as the fat suppression technique. Five candidate SPAIR sequences and a nonsuppressed, T2-weighted sequence were acquired for five HNC patients using a 1.5T MR-Linac. MR physicists identified persistent artifacts in two of the SPAIR sequences, so the remaining three SPAIR sequences were further analyzed. The gross primary tumor volume, metastatic lymph nodes, parotid glands, …

Tolerability And Efficacy Of The Anticluster Of Differentiation 47 Antibody Magrolimab Combined With Azacitidine In Patients With Previously Untreated Aml: Phase Ib Results, Naval G Daver, Paresh Vyas, Suman Kambhampati, Monzr M Al Malki, Richard A Larson, Adam S Asch, Gabriel Mannis, Wanxing Chai-Ho, Tiffany N Tanaka, Terrence J Bradley, Deepa Jeyakumar, Eunice S Wang, Kendra Sweet, Hagop M Kantarjian, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Rami Komrokji, Guan Xing, Giridharan Ramsingh, Camille Renard, Joshua F Zeidner, David A Sallman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Magrolimab is a first-in-class humanized monoclonal antibody against cluster of differentiation 47, an antiphagocytic signal used by cancer cells to evade phagocytosis. Azacitidine upregulates prophagocytic signals on AML cells, further increasing phagocytosis when combined with magrolimab. We report final phase Ib data for magrolimab with azacitidine in patients with untreated AML ineligible for intensive chemotherapy (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03248479).

Patients and methods: Patients with previously untreated AML, including TP53-mutant AML, received magrolimab intravenously as an initial dose (1 mg/kg, days 1 and 4), followed by 15 mg/kg once on day 8 and 30 mg/kg once weekly or every …

Patient-Reported Quality Of Life After Breast-Conserving Surgery With Radiotherapy Versus Mastectomy And Reconstruction, Kevin Diao, Xiudong Lei, Weiguo He, Reshma Jagsi, Sharon H Giordano, Grace L Smith, Abigail Caudle, Yu Shen, Susan K Peterson, Benjamin D Smith

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To compare long-term quality of life (QOL) outcomes in breast cancer survivors who received breast-conserving surgery with radiotherapy (BCS+RT) with those who received a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery (Mast+Recon) without radiotherapy and identify other important factors.

Background: The long-term differences in patient-reported QOL outcomes following BCS+RT and Mast+Recon are not well understood.

Methods: We identified patients from the Texas Cancer Registry with stage 0-II breast cancer diagnosed in 2009-2014 after BCS+RT or Mast+Recon without radiotherapy. Sampling was stratified by age and race and ethnicity. A paper survey was sent to 4800 patients which included validated BREAST-Q and PROMIS modules. …

High-Dose Chemotherapy And Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation For Relapsed Or Refractory Primary Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Hanan Alkhaldi, Alec Reinhardt, Melissa Barnett, Suprateek Kundu, Chitra Hosing, Jeremy Ramdial, Neeraj Saini, Samer Srour, Amin Alousi, Partow Kebriaei, Uday Popat, Muzaffar Qazilbash, Richard Champlin, Elizabeth J Shpall, Allison Gulbis, Terri Lynn Shigle, Bouthaina Dabaja, Chelsea Pinnix, Sairah Ahmed, Raphael Steiner, Borje S Andersson, Yago Nieto

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) is an uncommon, aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Rituximab-containing chemoimmunotherapy with or without radiation therapy (RT) is standard first-line treatment. Relapsed or refractory (R/R) disease has long been treated with salvage chemotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy (HDC), with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in appropriate patients. We retrospectively analyzed all patients with R/R PMBCL treated with HDC/ASCT at our center between January 2000 and August 2022. The 60 study patients received either rituximab-BEAM (n = 37) or rituximab-gemcitabine/busulfan/melphalan (R-GemBuMel) with or without vorinostat (n = 23), followed by ASCT. Forty-six patients received mediastinal RT, …

Exosomes Modified With Anti-Mek1 Sirna Lead To An Effective Silencing Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Débora Ferreira, Cátia Santos-Pereira, Marta Costa, Julieta Afonso, Sujuan Yang, Janine Hensel, Kathleen M Mcandrews, Adhemar Longatto-Filho, Rui Fernandes, Joana B Melo, Fátima Baltazar, João N Moreira, Raghu Kalluri, Ligia R Rodrigues

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogenous disease not sensitive to endocrine or HER2 therapy and standardized treatment regimens are still missing. Therefore, development of novel TNBC treatment approaches is of utmost relevance. Herein, the potential of MAPK/ERK downregulation by RNAi-based therapeutics in a panel of mesenchymal stem-like TNBC cell lines was uncovered. Our data revealed that suppression of one of the central nodes of this signaling pathway, MEK1, affects proliferation, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells, that may be explained by the reversion of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotype, which is facilitated by the MMP-2/MMP-9 downregulation. Moreover, an …

Engineering A Tunable Micropattern-Array Assay To Sort Single Extracellular Vesicles And Particles To Detect Rna And Protein In Situ, Jingjing Zhang, Xilal Y Rima, Xinyu Wang, Luong T H Nguyen, Kristin Huntoon, Yifan Ma, Paola Loreto Palacio, Kim Truc Nguyen, Karunya Albert, Minh-Dao Duong-Thi, Nicole Walters, Kwang Joo Kwak, Min Jin Yoon, Hong Li, Jacob Doon-Ralls, Colin L Hisey, Daeyong Lee, Yifan Wang, Jonghoon Ha, Kelsey Scherler, Shannon Fallen, Inyoul Lee, Andre F Palmer, Wen Jiang, Setty M Magaña, Kai Wang, Betty Y S Kim, L James Lee, Eduardo Reátegui

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The molecular heterogeneity of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the co-isolation of physically similar particles, such as lipoproteins (LPs), confounds and limits the sensitivity of EV bulk biomarker characterization. Herein, we present a single-EV and particle (siEVP) protein and RNA assay (siEVPPRA) to simultaneously detect mRNAs, miRNAs, and proteins in subpopulations of EVs and LPs. The siEVPPRA immobilizes and sorts particles via positive immunoselection onto micropatterns and focuses biomolecular signals in situ. By detecting EVPs at a single-particle resolution, the siEVPPRA outperformed the sensitivities of bulk-analysis benchmark assays for RNA and protein. To assess the specificity of RNA detection in complex …

Adavosertib Enhances Antitumor Activity Of Trastuzumab Deruxtecan In Her2-Expressing Cancers, Timothy P Diperi, Kurt W Evans, Maria Gabriela Raso, Ming Zhao, Yasmeen Q Rizvi, Xiaofeng Zheng, Bailiang Wang, Bryce P Kirby, Kathleen Kong, Michael Kahle, Timothy A Yap, Ecaterina E Dumbrava, Jaffer A Ajani, Siqing Fu, Khandan Keyomarsi, Funda Meric-Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Cyclin E (CCNE1) has been proposed as a biomarker of sensitivity to adavosertib, a Wee1 kinase inhibitor, and a mechanism of resistance to HER2-targeted therapy.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Copy number and genomic sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and MD Anderson Cancer Center databases were analyzed to assess ERBB2 and CCNE1 expression. Molecular characteristics of tumors and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) were assessed by next-generation sequencing, whole-exome sequencing, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and IHC. In vitro, CCNE1 was overexpressed or knocked down in HER2+ cell lines to evaluate drug combination efficacy. In vivo, NSG mice bearing PDXs were subjected to …

Benefits Of The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (Eras) Pathway With Quadratus Lumborum Blocks For Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Paul S Lee, Laurie L Brunette, Intira Sriprasert, Mohamed Eloustaz, Rasika Deshpande, Crystal Adams, Laila Muderspach, Lynda Roman, Shane Dickerson, Michael P Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the effect of the implementation of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol among patients receiving minimally invasive gynecologic surgery.

DESIGN AND SETTING: This retrospective cohort study was performed in a tertiary care hospital.

PATIENTS: A total of 328 females who underwent minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries requiring at least one overnight stay at Keck Hospital of University of Southern California (USC), California, USA, from 2016 to 2020 were included in this study.

INTERVENTIONS: The institutional ERAS protocol was implemented in late 2018. A total of 186 patients from 2016 to 2018 prior to …

Oritavancin Vs Standard Of Care For Treatment Of Nonendovascular Gram-Positive Bloodstream Infections, Ryan P Moenster, Ashleigh Wallace-Lacey, Hannah Western, Seth Tiefenaur, Anosha Abdulbasir, Justin Alberts, Jonathan Doty, Hartley Abner, Danielle Skouby, Michael Lorenz, Rebecca Fong, Jyoti Arora, Travis W Linneman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Data is limited comparing oritavancin (ORT) to the standard-of-care (SOC) for the treatment gram-positive blood stream infections (BSI).

METHODS: This was a retrospective study of all patients in the Veteran's Affairs Health Care System treated with at least 1 dose of oritavancin or at least 5 days of vancomycin, daptomycin, ceftaroline, ampicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam, nafcillin, oxacillin, or cefazolin for a documented gram-positive BSI from 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2021. Patients with polymicrobial blood cultures or positive cultures from other sites were included if the organisms were sensitive to the incident antimicrobial; no concomitant antimicrobials could be used once …

Inflammatory Activity Of Epithelial Stem Cell Variants From Cystic Fibrosis Lungs Is Not Resolved By Cftr Modulators, Shan Wang, Suchan Niroula, Ashley Hoffman, Melika Khorrami, Melina Khorrami, Feng Yuan, Grace N Gasser, Soon Choi, Bovey Liu, Justin Li, Mark L Metersky, Matthew Vincent, Christopher P Crum, Richard C Boucher, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Howard J Huang, Ajay Sheshadri, Burton F Dickey, Kalpaj R Parekh, John F Engelhardt, Frank D Mckeon, Wa Xian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rationale

CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) modulator drugs restore function to mutant channels in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and lead to improvements in body mass index and lung function. Although it is anticipated that early childhood treatment with CFTR modulators will significantly delay or even prevent the onset of advanced lung disease, lung neutrophils and inflammatory cytokines remain high in patients with CF with established lung disease despite modulator therapy, underscoring the need to identify and ultimately target the sources of this inflammation in CF lungs.

Objectives

To determine whether CF lungs, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) …

Technical/Algorithm, Stakeholder, And Society (Tass) Barriers To The Application Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine: A Systematic Review, Linda T Li, Lauren C Haley, Alexandra K Boyd, Elmer V Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly machine learning and predictive analytics, has shown great promise in health care. Despite its strong potential, there has been limited use in health care settings. In this systematic review, we aim to determine the main barriers to successful implementation of AI in healthcare and discuss potential ways to overcome these challenges.

Methods: We conducted a literature search in PubMed (1/1/2001-1/1/2023). The search was restricted to publications in the English language, and human study subjects. We excluded articles that did not discuss AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, and barriers to the use of …

Care After Premenopausal Risk-Reducing Salpingo-Oophorectomy In High-Risk Women: Scoping Review And International Consensus Recommendations, Denise R Nebgen, Susan M Domchek, Joanne Kotsopoulos, Joanne A De Hullu, Emma J Crosbie, Vincent Singh Paramanandam, Monique M A Brood-Van Zanten, Barbara M Norquist, Theresa Guise, Serge Rozenberg, Allison W Kurian, Holly J Pederson, Nese Yuksel, Rachel Michaelson-Cohen, Sharon L Bober, Agnaldo Lopes Da Silva Filho, Nora Johansen, F Guidozzi, D Gareth Evans, Usha Menon, Sheryl A Kingsberg, C Bethan Powell, Giovanni Grandi, Claudia Marchetti, Michelle Jacobson, Donal J Brennan, Martha Hickey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Women at high inherited risk of ovarian cancer are offered risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) from age 35 to 45 years. Although potentially life-saving, RRSO may induce symptoms that negatively affect quality of life and impair long-term health. Clinical care following RRSO is often suboptimal. This scoping review describes how RRSO affects short- and long-term health and provides evidence-based international consensus recommendations for care from preoperative counselling to long-term disease prevention. This includes the efficacy and safety of hormonal and non-hormonal treatments for vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbance and sexual dysfunction and effective approaches to prevent bone and cardiovascular disease.