Anti-Cancer Mechanisms Of Action Of Therapeutic Alternating Electric Fields (Tumor Treating Fields [Ttfields]), Shadi Shams, Chirag B Patel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite improved survival outcomes across many cancer types, the prognosis remains grim for certain solid organ cancers including glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer. Invariably in these cancers, the control achieved by time-limited interventions such as traditional surgical resection, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy is short-lived. A new form of anti-cancer therapy called therapeutic alternating electric fields (AEFs) or tumor treating fields (TTFields) has been shown, either by itself or in combination with chemotherapy, to have anti-cancer effects that translate to improved survival outcomes in patients. Although the pre-clinical and clinical data are promising, the mechanisms of TTFields are not fully elucidated. Many …

Mechanical Ventilation In Patients With Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema: A Sub-Analysis Of The Lung Safe Study, Laura Amado-Rodríguez, Raquel Rodríguez-Garcia, Giacomo Bellani, Tài Pham, Eddy Fan, Fabiana Madotto, John G Laffey, Guillermo M Albaiceta, Lung Safe Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Patients with acute respiratory failure caused by cardiogenic pulmonary edema (CPE) may require mechanical ventilation that can cause further lung damage. Our aim was to determine the impact of ventilatory settings on CPE mortality.

METHODS: Patients from the LUNG SAFE cohort, a multicenter prospective cohort study of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation, were studied. Relationships between ventilatory parameters and outcomes (ICU discharge/hospital mortality) were assessed using latent mixture analysis and a marginal structural model.

RESULTS: From 4499 patients, 391 meeting CPE criteria (median age 70 [interquartile range 59-78], 40% female) were included. ICU and hospital mortality were 34% and 40%, …

Concurrent Mutations In Sf3b1 And Phf6 In Myeloid Neoplasms, Zhuang Zuo, L Jeffrey Medeiros, Sofia Garces, Mark J Routbort, Chi Young Ok, Sanam Loghavi, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Fatima Zahra Jelloul, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Kelly S Chien, Keyur P Patel, Rajyalakshmi Luthra, C Cameron Yin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

It has been reported that gene mutations in SF3B1 and PHF6 are mutually exclusive. However, this observation has never been rigorously assessed. We report the clinicopathologic and molecular genetic features of 21 cases of myeloid neoplasms with double mutations in SF3B1 and PHF6, including 9 (43%) with myelodysplastic syndrome, 5 (24%) with acute myeloid leukemia, 4 (19%) with myeloproliferative neoplasms, and 3 (14%) with myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms. Multilineage dysplasia with ring sideroblasts, increased blasts, and myelofibrosis are common morphologic findings. All cases but one had diploid or non-complex karyotypes. SF3B1 mutations were detected in the first analysis of all the …

3d Imaging Analysis On An Organoid-Based Platform Guides Personalized Treatment In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Ya'an Kang, Jenying Deng, Jianhua Ling, Xinqun Li, Yi-Ju Chiang, Eugene J Koay, Huamin Wang, Jared K Burks, Paul J Chiao, Mark W Hurd, Manoop S Bhutani, Jeffrey H Lee, Brian R Weston, Anirban Maitra, Naruhiko Ikoma, Ching-Wei D Tzeng, Jeffrey E Lee, Ronald A Depinho, Robert A Wolff, Shubham Pant, Florencia Mcallister, Matthew Hg Katz, Jason B Fleming, Michael P Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUNDPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies, with unpredictable responses to chemotherapy. Approaches to assay patient tumors before treatment and identify effective treatment regimens based on tumor sensitivities are lacking. We developed an organoid-based platform (OBP) to visually quantify patient-derived organoid (PDO) responses to drug treatments and associated tumor-stroma modulation for personalized PDAC therapy.METHODSWe retrospectively quantified apoptotic responses and tumor-stroma cell proportions in PDOs via 3D immunofluorescence imaging through annexin A5, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and cytokeratin 19 (CK-19) levels. Simultaneously, an ex vivo organoid drug sensitivity assay (ODSA) was used to measure responses to standard-of-care …

Detection Of Stroke With Retinal Microvascular Density And Self-Supervised Learning Using Oct-A And Fundus Imaging, Samiksha Pachade, Ivan Coronado, Rania Abdelkhaleq, Juntao Yan, Sergio Salazar-Marioni, Amanda Jagolino, Charles Green, Mozhdeh Bahrainian, Roomasa Channa, Sunil A Sheth, Luca Giancardo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Acute cerebral stroke is a leading cause of disability and death, which could be reduced with a prompt diagnosis during patient transportation to the hospital. A portable retina imaging system could enable this by measuring vascular information and blood perfusion in the retina and, due to the homology between retinal and cerebral vessels, infer if a cerebral stroke is underway. However, the feasibility of this strategy, the imaging features, and retina imaging modalities to do this are not clear. In this work, we show initial evidence of the feasibility of this approach by training machine learning models using feature engineering …

Issues In Melanoma Detection: Semisupervised Deep Learning Algorithm Development Via A Combination Of Human And Artificial Intelligence, Xinyuan Zhang, Ziqian Xie, Yang Xiang, Imran Baig, Mena Kozman, Carly Stender, Luca Giancardo, Cui Tao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Automatic skin lesion recognition has shown to be effective in increasing access to reliable dermatology evaluation; however, most existing algorithms rely solely on images. Many diagnostic rules, including the 3-point checklist, are not considered by artificial intelligence algorithms, which comprise human knowledge and reflect the diagnosis process of human experts.

OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we aimed to develop a semisupervised model that can not only integrate the dermoscopic features and scoring rule from the 3-point checklist but also automate the feature-annotation process.

METHODS: We first trained the semisupervised model on a small, annotated data set with disease and dermoscopic …

Expression Of P-Stat3 And C-Myc Correlates With P2-Hnf4Α Expression In Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Nafld), Mamoun Younes, Lin Zhang, Baharan Fekry, Kristin Eckel-Mahan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We studied the expression of two hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) isoforms, p-STAT3. and c-Myc in 49 consecutive liver biopsies with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using immunohistochemistry. All 49 biopsies (100%) were positive for nuclear expression of P1-HNF4α. Twenty-eight (57%) cases were positive for P2-HNF4α, 6 (12%) were positive for p-STAT3 and 5 (10%) were positive for c-Myc. All 6 (100%) p-STAT3-positive cases were also positive for P2-HNF4α (p = 0.03). p-STAT3-positive cases were more likely to be positive for c-Myc (67% vs. 2%, p = 0.0003). Four cases were positive for P2-HNF4α, p-STAT3 and c-Myc. p-STAT3 …

A Unified Model Of Age-Related Cardiovascular Disease, Michael Fossel, Joe Bean, Nina Khera, Mikhail G Kolonin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite progress in biomedical technologies, cardiovascular disease remains the main cause of mortality. This is at least in part because current clinical interventions do not adequately take into account aging as a driver and are hence aimed at suboptimal targets. To achieve progress, consideration needs to be given to the role of cell aging in disease pathogenesis. We propose a model unifying the fundamental processes underlying most age-associated cardiovascular pathologies. According to this model, cell aging, leading to cell senescence, is responsible for tissue changes leading to age-related cardiovascular disease. This process, occurring due to telomerase inactivation and telomere attrition, …

Coronary Artery Calcium Score On Standard Of Care Oncologic Ct Scans For The Prediction Of Adverse Cardiovascular Events In Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy, Efstratios Koutroumpakis, Ting Xu, Juan Lopez-Mattei, Tinsu Pan, Yang Lu, Jorge A Irizarry-Caro, Radhe Mohan, Xiaodong Zhang, Qing H Meng, Ruitao Lin, Tianlin Xu, Anita Deswal, Zhongxing Liao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular (CV) adverse events (CVAE). Coronary artery calcium scoring (CAC) has shown to predict coronary events beyond the traditional CV risk factors. This study examines whether CAC, measured on standard of care, non-contrast chest CT (NCCT) imaging, predicts the development of CVAE in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with CRT.

METHODS: Patients with NSCLC treated with CRT at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 7/2009 until 4/2014 and who had at least one NCCT scan within 6 months from their first CRT were identified. CAC scoring was performed …

Quantification Of Manipulation Forces Needed For Robot-Assisted Reduction Of The Ankle Syndesmosis: An Initial Cadaveric Study, Mikias Gebremeskel, Babar Shafiq, Ali Uneri, Niral Sheth, Corey Simmerer, Wojciech Zbijewski, Jeffrey H Siewerdsen, Kevin Cleary, Gang Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Manual surgical manipulation of the tibia and fibula is necessary to properly align and reduce the space in ankle fractures involving sprain of the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis. However, manual reduction is highly variable and can result in malreduction in about half of the cases. Therefore, we are developing an image-guided robotic assistant to improve reduction accuracy. The purpose of this study is to quantify the forces associated with reduction of the ankle syndesmosis to define the requirements for our robot design.

METHODS: Using a cadaveric specimen, we designed a fixture jig to fix the tibia securely on the operating …

Tilsotolimod Exploits The Tlr9 Pathway To Promote Antigen Presentation And Type 1 Ifn Signaling In Solid Tumors: A Multicenter International Phase I/Ii Trial (Illuminate-101), Hani Babiker, Erkut Borazanci, Vivek Subbiah, Sanjiv Agarwala, Alain Algazi, Jacob Schachter, Michael Lotem, Corinne Maurice-Dror, Daniel Hendler, Shah Rahimian, Hans Minderman, Cara Haymaker, Daruka Mahadevan, Chantale Bernatchez, Ravi Murthy, Rolf Hultsch, Nadia Kaplan, Gregory Woodhead, Charles Hennemeyer, Srinivas Chunduru, Peter M Anderson, Adi Diab, Igor Puzanov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Tilsotolimod is an investigational synthetic Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist that has demonstrated antitumor activity in preclinical models. The ILLUMINATE-101 phase I study explored the safety, dose, efficacy, and immune effects of intratumoral (it) tilsotolimod monotherapy in multiple solid tumors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of refractory cancer not amenable to curative therapies received tilsotolimod in doses escalating from 8 to 32 mg into a single lesion at weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 11. Additional patients with advanced malignant melanoma were enrolled into an expansion cohort at the 8 mg dose. Objectives included characterizing the …

An Outbreak Of A Novel Recombinant Coxsackievirus A4 In A Kindergarten, Shandong Province, China, 2021, Juan Li, Nan Ni, Yanan Cui, Shuai Zong, Xue Yao, Tao Hu, Mengyuan Cao, Yong Zhang, Peiqiang Hou, Michael J Carr, Weijia Xing, Hong Zhou, Weifeng Shi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In 2021, twenty children exhibiting influenza-like illnesses were reported from a kindergarten in Shandong Province, China. Eleven genomes of Coxsackievirus A4 (CV-A4) were obtained from the pediatric cases, sharing <93% genome sequence identities with known CV-A4 strains. Further analyses suggested potential genetic recombination in the P3 region of the novel strains.

Data-Driven Biomarker Panel Discovery In Ovarian Cancer Using Heterogenous Data Fusion On Exosomal And Non-Exosomal Microrna Expression Data, Paritra Mandal

All Dissertations

Ovarian cancer (OC) is an aggressive gynecological cancer and is currently the 5th leading cause of deaths due to cancer in women. High mortality rates are attributable to the vague pathogenesis and asymptomatic nature of the early stages. The development of a liquid biopsy for routine OC screening could help identify the disease at an earlier stage, making treatments more likely to be effective thereby increasing survival rates. Exosomes, small (~100nm) extracellular vesicles present in body fluids, have been shown to contain cancer-progression, onset, and related factors, making them good candidates for use in liquid biopsies. However, to date, only …

Radiomics In Abdominopelvic Solid-Organ Oncologic Imaging: Current Status, Xiaoyang Liu, Mohamed G Elbanan, Antonio Luna, Masoom A Haider, Andrew D Smith, Carl F Sabottke, Bradley M Spieler, Baris Turkbey, David Fuentes, Ahmed Moawad, Serageldin Kamel, Natally Horvat, Khaled M Elsayes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiomics is the process of extraction of high-throughput quantitative imaging features from medical images. These features represent noninvasive quantitative biomarkers that go beyond the traditional imaging features visible to the human eye. This article first reviews the steps of the radiomics pipeline, including image acquisition, ROI selection and image segmentation, image preprocessing, feature extraction, feature selection, and model development and application. Current evidence for the application of radiomics in abdominopelvic solid-organ cancers is then reviewed. Applications including diagnosis, subtype determination, treatment response assessment, and outcome prediction are explored within the context of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate …

Clinical And Molecular Profiling Of Aml Patients With Chromosome 7 Or 7q Deletions In The Context Of Tp53 Alterations And Venetoclax Treatment, Hussein A Abbas, Edward Ayoub, Hanxiao Sun, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Nicholas J Short, Ghayas Issa, Musa Yilmaz, Sherry Pierce, Daniel Rivera, Brent Cham, Shane Wing, Ziyi Li, Danielle Hammond, Elias Jabbour, Gautam Borthakur, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Michael Andreeff, Naval Daver, Tapan Kadia, Marina Konopleva, Courtney Dinardo, Farhad Ravandi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Deletions in chromosome 7 (del(7)) or its long arm (del(7q)) constitute the most common adverse cytogenetic events in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We retrospectively analyzed 243 treatment-naive patients with AML and del(7) (168/243; 69%) or del(7q) (75/243; 31%) who did not receive any myeloid-directed therapy prior to AML diagnosis. This is the largest comprehensive clinical and molecular analysis of AML patients with del(7) and del(7q). Our results show that relapse-free survival was significantly longer for AML patients with del(7q) compared to del(7), but the overall survival and remission duration were similar. TP53 mutations and del5/5q were the most frequent co-occurring …

Small Molecule Targeting Nav17 Via Inhibition Of The Crmp2-Ubc9 Interaction Reduces Pain In Chronic Constriction Injury (Cci) Rats, Jiahe Li, Harrison J Stratton, Sabina A Lorca, Peter M Grace, Rajesh Khanna

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The voltage-gated sodium channel isoform NaV1.7 is a critical player in the transmission of nociceptive information. This channel has been heavily implicated in human genetic pain disorders and is a validated pain target. However, targeting this channel directly has failed, and an indirect approach - disruption of interactions with accessory protein partners - has emerged as a viable alternative strategy. We recently reported that a small-molecule inhibitor of CRMP2 SUMOylation, compound

Effects Of Gabapentin And Pregabalin On Calcium Homeostasis: Implications For Physical Rehabilitation Of Musculoskeletal Tissues, Perla C Reyes Fernandez, Christian S Wright, Stuart J Warden, Julia Hum, Mary C Farach-Carson, William R Thompson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of review: In this review, we discuss the mechanism of action of gabapentinoids and the potential consequences of long-term treatment with these drugs on the musculoskeletal system.

Recent findings: Gabapentinoids, such as gabapentin (GBP) and pregabalin (PGB) were designed as antiepileptic reagents and are now commonly used as first-line treatment for neuropathic pain and increasingly prescribed off-label for other pain disorders such as migraines and back pain. GBP and PGB exert their analgesic actions by selectively binding the α2δ1 auxiliary subunit of voltage-sensitive calcium channels, thereby inhibiting channel function. Numerous tissues express the α2δ1 subunit where GBP and PGB …

A Phase Ii Randomized Double Blinded Trial Evaluating The Efficacy Of Curcumin With Pre-Operative Chemoradiation For Rectal Cancer, Jillian R Gunther, Awalpreet S Chadha, Sushovan Guha, Gottumukkala S Raju, Dipen M Maru, Mark F Munsell, Yan Jiang, Peiying Yang, Edd Felix, Marilyn Clemons, Geena George Mathew, Pankaj K Singh, John M Skibber, Miguel A Rodriguez-Bigas, George J Chang, Cathy Eng, Marc E Delclos, Christopher H Crane, Prajnan Das, Sunil Krishnan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: In vivo studies demonstrate that curcumin increases radioresponse of colorectal cancers. To demonstrate efficacy in humans, we performed a randomized double-blind study of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients receiving pre-operative chemoradiation therapy (CRT) ± curcumin. We used pathologic complete response (pCR) rate as a surrogate for clinical outcome.

Methods: From 2008-2010, LARC patients were randomized to placebo/curcumin in a 1:2 ratio. Patients received CRT [50.4 gray in 28 fractions; capecitabine (825 mg/m2 twice daily)] followed by surgery. Curcumin (4 grams orally, twice daily) or placebo was given throughout CRT and 6 weeks afterward. Toxicity was monitored weekly. Blood …

Accuracy And Safety Of Scout Dose Resin Yttrium-90 Microspheres For Radioembolization Therapy Treatment Planning: A Prospective Single-Arm Clinical Trial, Nima Kokabi, Linzi A Webster, Mohammad Elsayed, Jeffrey M Switchenko, Bernard Chen, David Brandon, James Galt, Ila Sethi, Mircea Cristescu, S Cheenu Kappadath, David M Schuster

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To compare the accuracy and safety of 0.56 GBq resin yttrium-90 (

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective single-arm clinical trial (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04172714) recruited patients with HCC. Patients underwent same-day mapping with MAA and scout

RESULTS: Thirty patients were treated using 19 segmental and 14 nonsegmental (ie, 2 contiguous segments or nonsegmental) therapies. MAA had weak LSF, moderate TNR, and moderate TD linear correlation with Rx

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with MAA, scout

Airway Mucus Dysfunction In Covid-19, Burton F Dickey, Jichao Chen, R Stokes Peebles

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Association Of Hematologic Response And Assay Sensitivity On The Prognostic Impact Of Measurable Residual Disease In Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Nicholas J Short, Chenqi Fu, Donald A Berry, Roland B Walter, Sylvie D Freeman, Christopher S Hourigan, Xuelin Huang, Graciela Nogueras Gonzalez, Hyunsoo Hwang, Xinyue Qi, Hagop Kantarjian, Shouhao Zhou, Farhad Ravandi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Measurable residual disease (MRD) is associated with relapse and survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We aimed to quantify the impact of MRD on outcomes across clinical contexts, including its association with hematologic response and MRD assay sensitivity. We performed systematic literature review and meta-analysis of 48 studies that reported the association between MRD and overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) in AML and provided information on the MRD threshold used and the hematologic response of the study population. Among studies limited to patients in complete remission (CR), the estimated 5-year OS for the MRD-negative and MRD-positive groups was …

Assessment Of Disease Severity And Quality Of Life In Patients With Atopic Dermatitis From South Korea, Sang Wook Son, Ji Hyun Lee, Jiyoung Ahn, Sung Eun Chang, Eung Ho Choi, Tae Young Han, Yong Hyun Jang, Hye One Kim, Moon-Bum Kim, You Chan Kim, Hyun Chang Ko, Joo Yeon Ko, Sang Eun Lee, Yang Won Lee, Bark-Lynn Lew, Chan Ho Na, Chang Ook Park, Chun Wook Park, Kui Young Park, Kun Park, Young Lip Park, Joo Young Roh, Young-Joon Seo, Min Kyung Shin, Sujin Lee, Sang Hyun Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Data illustrating the impact of atopic dermatitis (AD) on lives of adults with AD in South Korea are limited.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the AD disease severity and its impact on quality of life (QoL) in patients with AD from South Korea.

METHODS: Patients with AD utilizing the specialist dermatology services of major hospitals in South Korea were assessed for disease severity using Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) score, for QoL using Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) (for QoL), and for comorbidities and treatment experience via retrospective review of 12-month medical records. Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics were also measured. …

Massive Macroglossia, A Rare Side Effect Of Covid-19: Clinical, Histologic, And Genomic Findings In Covid-19-Positive Versus Covid-19-Negative Patients, Victoria A Mañón, David Chubb, Laura S Farach, Rachid Karam, Mary C Farach-Carson, Nadarajah Vigneswaran, Karan Saluja, Simon Young, Mark Wong, James C Melville

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study is to identify if there is an underlying genetic predisposition for COVID-related macroglossia and if this susceptibility is higher among individuals of African heritage. Secondary objectives include determining if genetic testing of COVID-infected patients who are intubated and prone could identify patients with higher susceptibility to the development of macroglossia.

METHODS: A retrospective chart review was completed for each patient, and prospectively, genetic and histopathologic analyses were completed. Whole-exome sequencing was completed on two patients; immunohistochemistry was completed on the COVID-positive tissue samples.

RESULTS: Histopathology of the COVID-positive patient revealed significant peri-lymphocytic infiltrate, …

Allergic Sensitization Pattern In The Korean Dermatologic Patients, Yujin Han, Yu Ri Woo, Hei Sung Kim, Jeong Deuk Lee, Sookhee Choi, Jeesuk Yu, Sang Hyun Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Avoiding causative allergens is important for controlling the clinical course of allergic diseases. Allergen sensitization is influenced by many factors including the environment and lifestyle. The socioeconomic development, climate, and lifestyle changes have increased the prevalence of allergic diseases worldwide. However, there is little information about changes in the trend of the common allergens over time.

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed at identifying the trends of the common allergens in Korea over a 10-year period based on the results of the multiple allergosorbent test chemiluminescent assay (MAST-CLA).

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 5,760 patients aged ≥18 …

Mdm2 Antagonist Improves Therapeutic Activity Of Azacitidine In Myelodysplastic Syndromes And Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia, Yue Wei, Hong Zheng, Pamela Pennington Lockyer, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Ziyi Li, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Kelly A Soltysiak, Hui Yang, Irene Ganan-Gomez, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Kelly S Chien, Kim-Anh Do, Naval Daver, Guillermo Garcia-Manero

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Failure of hypomethylation agent (HMA) treatments is an important issue in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). Recent studies indicated that function of wildtype TP53 positively impacts outcome of HMA treatments. We investigated the combination of the HMA azacitidine (AZA) with DS-3032b and DS-5272, novel antagonists of the TP53 negative regulator MDM2, in cellular and animal models of MDS and CMML. In TP53 wildtype myeloid cell line, combinational effects of DS-3032b or DS-5272 with AZA were observed. In Tet2-knockout mouse model of MDS and CMML, DS-5272 and AZA combination ameliorated disease-like phenotype. RNA-Seq analysis in mouse bone …

Study Protocol Cover-All: Clinical Impact Of A Volumetric Image Method For Confirming Tumour Coverage With Ablation On Patients With Malignant Liver Lesions, Yuan-Mao Lin, Iwan Paolucci, Brian M Anderson, Caleb S O'Connor, Bastien Rigaud, Maria Briones-Dimayuga, Kyle A Jones, Kristy K Brock, Bryan M Fellman, Bruno C Odisio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the intra-procedural use of a novel ablation confirmation (AC) method, consisting of biomechanical deformable image registration incorporating AI-based auto-segmentation, and its impact on tumor coverage by quantitative three-dimensional minimal ablative margin (MAM) CT-generated assessment.

Materials and methods: This single-center, randomized, phase II, intent-to-treat trial is enrolling 100 subjects with primary and secondary liver tumors (≤ 3 tumors, 1-5 cm in diameter) undergoing microwave or radiofrequency ablation with a goal of achieving ≥ 5 mm MAM. For the experimental arm, the proposed novel AC method is utilized for ablation applicator(s) placement verification and MAM assessment. …

Development Of A Distributed International Patient Data Registry For Hairy Cell Leukemia, Leslie A Andritsos, Mirela Anghelina, Jasmine Neal, James S Blachly, Puneet Mathur, Omkar Lele, Claire Dearden, Sunil Iyengar, Matthew Cross, Clive S Zent, Kerry A Rogers, Narendranath Epperla, Gerard Lozanski, Christopher C Oakes, Eric Kraut, Amy S Ruppert, Qiuhong Zhao, Seema A Bhat, Francesco Forconi, Versha Banerji, Sasanka Handunnetti, Constantine S Tam, John F Seymour, Monica Else, Robert J Kreitman, Alan Saven, Timothy Call, Sameer A Parikh, Farhad Ravandi, James B Johnston, Enrico Tiacci, Xavier Troussard, Martin S Tallman, Sascha Dietrich, Tamar Tadmor, Alessandro Gozzetti, Pier Luigi Zinzani, Tadeusz Robak, Graeme Quest, Judit Demeter, Kanti Rai, Soledad A Fernandez, Michael Grever

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder, comprising only 2% of all leukemias. The Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation (HCLF) has developed a patient data registry to enable investigators to better study the clinical features, treatment outcomes, and complications of patients with HCL. This system utilizes a centralized registry architecture. Patients are enrolled at HCL Centers of Excellence (COE) or via a web-based portal. All data are de-identified, which reduces regulatory burden and increases opportunities for data access and re-use. To date, 579 patients have been enrolled in the registry. Efforts are underway to engage additional COE's to expand …

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Is Associated With Altered Immune Cell Infiltration And An Anti-Tumorigenic Microenvironment In Resected Pancreatic Cancer, Andressa Dias Costa, Sara A Väyrynen, Akhil Chawla, Jinming Zhang, Juha P Väyrynen, Mai Chan Lau, Hannah L Williams, Chen Yuan, Vicente Morales-Oyarvide, Dalia Elganainy, Harshabad Singh, James M Cleary, Kimberly Perez, Kimmie Ng, William Freed-Pastor, Joseph D Mancias, Stephanie K Dougan, Jiping Wang, Douglas A Rubinson, Richard F Dunne, Margaret M Kozak, Lauren Brais, Emma Reilly, Thomas Clancy, David C Linehan, Daniel T Chang, Aram F Hezel, Albert C Koong, Andrew J Aguirre, Brian M Wolpin, Jonathan A Nowak

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly administered to patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), yet its impact on the tumor immune microenvironment is incompletely understood.

DESIGN: We employed quantitative, spatially resolved multiplex immunofluorescence and digital image analysis to identify T-cell subpopulations, macrophage polarization states, and myeloid cell subpopulations in a multi-institution cohort of up-front resected primary tumors (n = 299) and in a comparative set of resected tumors after FOLFIRINOX-based neoadjuvant therapy (n = 36) or up-front surgery (n = 30). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations between the immune microenvironment and patient …

Discovery And Systematic Characterization Of Risk Variants And Genes For Coronary Artery Disease In Over A Million Participants, Krishna G Aragam, Tao Jiang, Anuj Goel, Stavroula Kanoni, Brooke N Wolford, Deepak S Atri, Elle M Weeks, Minxian Wang, George Hindy, Wei Zhou, Christopher Grace, Carolina Roselli, Nicholas A Marston, Frederick K Kamanu, Ida Surakka, Loreto Muñoz Venegas, Paul Sherliker, Satoshi Koyama, Kazuyoshi Ishigaki, Bjørn O Åsvold, Michael R Brown, Ben Brumpton, Paul S De Vries, Olga Giannakopoulou, Panagiota Giardoglou, Daniel F Gudbjartsson, Ulrich Güldener, Syed M Ijlal Haider, Anna Helgadottir, Maysson Ibrahim, Adnan Kastrati, Thorsten Kessler, Theodosios Kyriakou, Tomasz Konopka, Ling Li, Lijiang Ma, Thomas Meitinger, Sören Mucha, Matthias Munz, Federico Murgia, Jonas B Nielsen, Markus M Nöthen, Shichao Pang, Tobias Reinberger, Gavin Schnitzler, Damian Smedley, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Moritz Von Scheidt, Jacob C Ulirsch, Biobank Japan, Epic-Cvd, David O Arnar, Noël P Burtt, Maria C Costanzo, Jason Flannick, Kaoru Ito, Dong-Keun Jang, Yoichiro Kamatani, Amit V Khera, Issei Komuro, Iftikhar J Kullo, Luca A Lotta, Christopher P Nelson, Robert Roberts, Gudmundur Thorgeirsson, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Thomas R Webb, Aris Baras, Johan L M Björkegren, Eric Boerwinkle, George Dedoussis, Hilma Holm, Kristian Hveem, Olle Melander, Alanna C Morrison, Marju Orho-Melander, Loukianos S Rallidis, Arno Ruusalepp, Marc S Sabatine, Kari Stefansson, Pierre Zalloua, Patrick T Ellinor, Martin Farrall, John Danesh, Christian T Ruff, Hilary K Finucane, Jemma C Hopewell, Robert Clarke, Rajat M Gupta, Jeanette Erdmann, Nilesh J Samani, Heribert Schunkert, Hugh Watkins, Cristen J Willer, Panos Deloukas, Sekar Kathiresan, Adam S Butterworth, Cardiogramplusc4d Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The discovery of genetic loci associated with complex diseases has outpaced the elucidation of mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for coronary artery disease (CAD) comprising 181,522 cases among 1,165,690 participants of predominantly European ancestry. We detected 241 associations, including 30 new loci. Cross-ancestry meta-analysis with a Japanese GWAS yielded 38 additional new loci. We prioritized likely causal variants using functionally informed fine-mapping, yielding 42 associations with less than five variants in the 95% credible set. Similarity-based clustering suggested roles for early developmental processes, cell cycle signaling and vascular cell migration and proliferation in …

Genetic And Small-Molecule Modulation Of Stat3 In A Mouse Model Of Crohn's Disease, Prema Robinson, Emily Magness, Kelsey Montoya, Nikita Engineer, Thomas K Eckols, Emma Rodriguez, David J Tweardy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Crohn's disease (CD), is an inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any part of the gastro-intestinal tract (GI) and is associated with an increased risk of gastro-intestinal cancer. In the current study, we determined the role of genetic and small-molecule modulation of STAT3 in a mouse model of CD. STAT3 has 2 isoforms (α, β) which are expressed in most cells in a 4:1 ratio (α: β). STAT3α has pro-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic functions, while STAT3β has contrasting roles. We used an animal model of CD consisting of intrarectal administration of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid and examined the severity of CD in …