Medical Specialties Commons^™

Letter To The Editor: Quality Criteria For Computational Models Predicting Individual Outcomes In Car-T Cell Therapy, Anna M Mc Laughlin, Cassian Yee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Outcomes Of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation In Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma, Aimaz Afrough, Leonard C Alsfeld, Denái R Milton, Ruby Delgado, Uday R Popat, Yago Nieto, Partow Kebriaei, Betul Oran, Neeraj Saini, Samer Srour, Chitra Hosing, Faisal H Cheema, Sairah Ahmed, Elisabet E Manasanch, Hans C Lee, Gregory P Kaufman, Krina K Patel, Donna M Weber, Robert Z Orlowski, Chelsea C Pinnix, Bouthaina S Dabaja, Sheeba K Thomas, Richard E Champlin, Elizabeth J Shpall, Muzaffar H Qazilbash, Qaiser Bashir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite remarkable progress in survival with the availability of novel agents, an overwhelming majority of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) have disease that relapses. Allogeneic (allo-) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a potentially curative option for a subgroup of patients with high-risk MM. This study assessed the long-term outcome of MM patients who underwent allo-HCT while in first remission as consolidation treatment. Thirty-three patients with newly diagnosed MM who underwent allo-HCT as part of consolidation therapy between 1994 and 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. Of these patients, 70% underwent autologous HCT before allo-HCT. All patients were chemosensitive and achieved at least …

Quality Assurance Assessment Of Intra-Acquisition Diffusion-Weighted And T2-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging Registration And Contour Propagation For Head And Neck Cancer Radiotherapy, Mohamed A Naser, Kareem A Wahid, Sara Ahmed, Vivian Salama, Cem Dede, Benjamin W Edwards, Ruitao Lin, Brigid Mcdonald, Travis C Salzillo, Renjie He, Yao Ding, Moamen Abobakr Abdelaal, Daniel Thill, Nicolette O'Connell, Virgil Willcut, John P Christodouleas, Stephen Y Lai, Clifton D Fuller, Abdallah S R Mohamed

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Adequate image registration of anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans is necessary for MR-guided head and neck cancer (HNC) adaptive radiotherapy planning. Despite the quantitative capabilities of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) MRI for treatment plan adaptation, geometric distortion remains a considerable limitation. Therefore, we systematically investigated various deformable image registration (DIR) methods to co-register DWI and T2-weighted (T2W) images.

MATERIALS/METHODS: We compared three commercial (ADMIRE, Velocity, Raystation) and three open-source (Elastix with default settings [Elastix Default], Elastix with parameter set 23 [Elastix 23], Demons) post-acquisition DIR methods applied to T2W and DWI MRI images acquired during the same …

Effect Of The Physical Fibrillated Sweet Potato (Ipomoea Batatas) Stem On The Plant-Based Patty Analogues, Suyoon Lee, You Young Lee, Yang Kim, Seung Hwan Ham, Min Gyu Lee, Jungwoo Hahn, Young Jin Choi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In this study, a dietary fiber extracted from sweet potato stems (Ipomoea batatas, PS) was evaluated for its ability to improve the quality of vegetable patty analogues. A patty analogues containing 0–50 wt% dietary fiber were prepared to analyze the utilized dietary fiber's performance. To evaluate the manufactured patty analogues, texture profile analysis, color analysis, emulsion stability, and microstructural analysis were conducted. As the PS increased, the hardness decreased, while the total expressible fluids tended to increase. The color analysis revealed that the a* value, which represents red, declined as the PS content increased, and heterogeneous colors showed …

Covid-19 And Employee Job Performance Trajectories: The Moderating Effect Of Different Sources Of Status, Xin Liu, Xiaoming Zheng, Byron Y Lee, Yu Yu, Mengyi Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee job performance trajectories, and further examines the moderating effects of different sources of status. Drawing from event system theory (EST), we propose that employee job performance decreases upon COVID-19 onset, but gradually increases during the postonset period. Furthermore, we argue that status from society, occupation, and workplace functions to moderate such performance trajectories. We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset of 708 employees that combines survey responses and job performance archival data over 21 consecutive months (10,808 observations) spanning the preonset, onset, and postonset periods of the initial …

Prediction Of Survival With Lower Intensity Therapy Among Older Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Koji Sasaki, Farhad Ravandi, Tapan M Kadia, Gautam Borthakur, Nicholas J Short, Nitin Jain, Naval G Daver, Elias J Jabbour, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Sanam Loghavi, Keyur P Patel, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Lucia Masarova, Courtney D Dinardo, Hagop M Kantarjian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to develop a prognostic model for survival in older/unfit patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who were treated with lower-intensity chemotherapy regimens.

METHODS: The authors reviewed all older/unfit patients with newly diagnosed AML who received lower-intensity chemotherapy from 2000 until 2020 at their institution. A total of 1462 patients were included. They were divided (3:1 basis) into a training (n = 1088) and a validation group (n = 374).

RESULTS: In the training cohort of 1088 patients (median age, 72 years), the multivariate analysis identified 11 consistent independent adverse factors associated …

The Outcomes Of Patients With Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Treated With Third-Line Bcr::Abl1 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, Elias J Jabbour, Koji Sasaki, Fadi G Haddad, Ghayas C Issa, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Tapan M Kadia, Nitin Jain, Musa Yilmaz, Courtney D Dinardo, Keyur P Patel, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Richard Champlin, Issa F Khouri, Sara Dellasala, Sherry A Pierce, Hagop Kantarjian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The BCR::ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have improved the outcomes of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). After failing second-generation TKI (2G-TKI), the optimal third-line therapy in chronic phase CML (CML-CP) is not well established. We analyzed 354 patients with CML-CP treated with a third-line BCR::ABL1 TKI at our institution, and in the PACE and OPTIC trials, and evaluated the outcome after alternate 2G-TKIs or ponatinib. We performed a propensity score matching analysis to compare outcomes and multivariate analysis to identify variables associated with survival. One hundred seventy-three (49%) patients received 2G-TKIs and 181 (51%) ponatinib. Patients in the ponatinib …

Tissue Specificity And Spatio-Temporal Dynamics Of The P53 Transcriptional Program, Vinod Pant, Chang Sun, Guillermina Lozano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Transcription factors regulate hundreds of genes and p53 is no exception. As a stress responsive protein, p53 transactivates an array of downstream targets which define its role in maintaining physiological functions of cells/tissues. Despite decades of studies, our understanding of the p53 in vivo transcriptional program is still incomplete. Here we discuss some of the physiological stressors that activate p53, the pathological and physiological implications of p53 activation and the molecular profiling of the p53 transcriptional program in maintaining tissue homeostasis. We argue that the p53 transcriptional program is spatiotemporally regulated in a tissue-specific manner and define a p53 target …

A Non-Antibiotic-Disrupted Gut Microbiome Is Associated With Clinical Responses To Cd19-Car-T Cell Cancer Immunotherapy, Christoph K Stein-Thoeringer, Neeraj Y Saini, Eli Zamir, Viktoria Blumenberg, Maria-Luisa Schubert, Uria Mor, Matthias A Fante, Sabine Schmidt, Eiko Hayase, Tomo Hayase, Roman Rohrbach, Chia-Chi Chang, Lauren Mcdaniel, Ivonne Flores, Rogier Gaiser, Matthias Edinger, Daniel Wolff, Martin Heidenreich, Paolo Strati, Ranjit Nair, Dai Chihara, Luis E Fayad, Sairah Ahmed, Swaminathan P Iyer, Raphael E Steiner, Preetesh Jain, Loretta J Nastoupil, Jason Westin, Reetakshi Arora, Michael L Wang, Joel Turner, Meghan Menges, Melanie Hidalgo-Vargas, Kayla Reid, Peter Dreger, Anita Schmitt, Carsten Müller-Tidow, Frederick L Locke, Marco L Davila, Richard E Champlin, Christopher R Flowers, Elizabeth J Shpall, Hendrik Poeck, Sattva S Neelapu, Michael Schmitt, Marion Subklewe, Michael D Jain, Robert R Jenq, Eran Elinav

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome may modulate the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. In a B cell lymphoma patient cohort from five centers in Germany and the United States (Germany, n = 66; United States, n = 106; total, n = 172), we demonstrate that wide-spectrum antibiotics treatment ('high-risk antibiotics') prior to CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is associated with adverse outcomes, but this effect is likely to be confounded by an increased pretreatment tumor burden and systemic inflammation in patients pretreated with high-risk antibiotics. To resolve this confounding effect and gain insights into antibiotics-masked microbiome signals …

Comparative Analysis Of Opioid Use Between Robotic And Open Pancreatoduodenectomy, Russell G Witt, Yuki Hirata, Laura R Prakash, Timothy E Newhook, Jessica E Maxwell, Michael P Kim, Hop S Tran Cao, Jeffrey E Lee, Jean-Nicolas Vauthey, Matthew H G Katz, Ching-Wei D Tzeng, Naruhiko Ikoma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Risk-stratified pancreatectomy clinical pathways using regional anesthesia and multimodality analgesia have decreased overall opioid use, but the additional benefits of robotic surgery in opioid reduction for pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) are unknown. We compared the inpatient opioid use between robotic PD and open PD.

METHODS: Patients undergoing open PD within a protocol evaluating preincisional regional anesthetic block bundles were compared to consecutively-treated patients undergoing robotic PD identified from a prospectively maintained single-institutional database. Clinical characteristics, operative outcomes, pain scores and inpatient oral morphine equivalent (OME) use were compared between patients treated with robotic or open PD. Patients with a history of …

Five-Year Survivors From Brain Metastases Treated With Stereotactic Radiosurgery: Biology, Improving Treatments, Or Just Plain Luck?, Jane B Pearce, Fang-Chi Hsu, Claire M Lanier, Christina K Cramer, Jimmy Ruiz, Hui-Wen Lo, Fei Xing, Margaret Smith, Wencheng Li, Christopher Whitlow, Jaclyn J White, Stephen B Tatter, Adrian W Laxton, Michael D Chan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Improvements in therapies have led to an increasing number of long-term survivors of brain metastases. The present series compares a population of 5-year survivors of brain metastases to a generalized brain metastases population to assess for factors attributable to long-term survival.

METHODS: A single institution retrospective review was performed to identify 5-year survivors of brain metastases who received stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). A historical control population of 737 patients with brain metastases was used to assess similarities and differences between the long-term survivor population and the general population treated with SRS.

RESULTS: A total of 98 patients with brain metastases …

Advancing Car T Cell Therapy Through The Use Of Multidimensional Omics Data, Jingwen Yang, Yamei Chen, Ying Jing, Michael R Green, Leng Han

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite the notable success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies in the treatment of certain haematological malignancies, challenges remain in optimizing CAR designs and cell products, improving response rates, extending the durability of remissions, reducing toxicity and broadening the utility of this therapeutic modality to other cancer types. Data from multidimensional omics analyses, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, T cell receptor-repertoire profiling, proteomics, metabolomics and/or microbiomics, provide unique opportunities to dissect the complex and dynamic multifactorial phenotypes, processes and responses of CAR T cells as well as to discover novel tumour targets and pathways of resistance. In this Review, …

Integrated Analysis Of Racial Disparities In Genomic Architecture Identifies A Trans-Ancestry Prognostic Subtype In Bladder Cancer, Baifeng Zhang, Peilin Jia, Jiayin Wang, Guangsheng Pei, Changxi Wang, Shimei Pei, Xiangchun Li, Zhongming Zhao, Xin Yi, Xin-Yuan Guan, Yi Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The incidence of bladder cancer and patient survival vary greatly among different populations, but the influence of the associated molecular features and evolutionary processes on its clinical treatment and prognostication remains unknown. Here, we analyze the genomic architectures of 505 bladder cancer patients from Asian/Black/White populations. We identify a previously unknown association between AHNAK mutations and activity of the APOBEC-a mutational signature, the activity of which varied substantially across populations. All significantly mutated genes but only half of arm-level somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) are enriched with clonal events, indicating large-scale SCNAs as rich sources of bladder cancer clonal diversities. …

Clinical Outcomes Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Diabetes Mellitus At A Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rebecca Jeun, Priyanka C Iyer, Conor Best, Victor Lavis, Jeena M Varghese, Sireesha Yedururi, Veronica Brady, Isabella C Glitza Oliva, Ramona Dadu, Denai R Milton, Kristy Brock, Sonali Thosani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated diabetes mellitus (ICI-DM) is a rare adverse event. In this study, we characterize clinical outcomes of patients with ICI-DM and evaluate survival impact of this complication on melanoma patients.

Research design & methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 76 patients diagnosed with ICI-DM from April 2014 to December 2020.

Results: 68% of patients presented in diabetic ketoacidosis, 16% had readmissions for hyperglycemia, and hypoglycemia occurred in 70% of patients after diagnosis. Development of ICI-DM did not impact overall survival or progression-free survival in melanoma patients.

Conclusion: Development of ICI-DM is associated with long-term insulin dependence …

Axicabtagene Ciloleucel In Relapsed Or Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients In Complete Metabolic Response, Andrew P Jallouk, Sushanth Gouni, Jason Westin, Lei Feng, Haleigh Mistry, Raphael E Steiner, Jinsu James, Mansoor Noorani, Sandra Horowitz, Nahum Puebla-Osorio, Luis E Fayad, Swaminathan P Iyer, Misha Hawkins, Christopher R Flowers, Sairah Ahmed, Loretta J Nastoupil, Partow Kebriaei, Elizabeth J Shpall, Sattva S Neelapu, Yago Nieto, Paolo Strati

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Inconsistent Partitioning And Unproductive Feature Associations Yield Idealized Radiomic Models, Mishka Gidwani, Ken Chang, Jay Biren Patel, Katharina Viktoria Hoebel, Syed Rakin Ahmed, Praveer Singh, Clifton David Fuller, Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background Radiomics is the extraction of predefined mathematic features from medical images for the prediction of variables of clinical interest. While some studies report superlative accuracy of radiomic machine learning (ML) models, the published methodology is often incomplete, and the results are rarely validated in external testing data sets. Purpose To characterize the type, prevalence, and statistical impact of methodologic errors present in radiomic ML studies. Materials and Methods Radiomic ML publications were reviewed for the presence of performance-inflating methodologic flaws. Common flaws were subsequently reproduced with randomly generated features interpolated from publicly available radiomic data sets to demonstrate the …

Ablative Margins Of Colorectal Liver Metastases Using Deformable Ct Image Registration And Autosegmentation, Yuan-Mao Lin, Iwan Paolucci, Caleb S O'Connor, Brian M Anderson, Bastien Rigaud, Bryan M Fellman, Kyle A Jones, Kristy K Brock, Bruno C Odisio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background

Confirming ablation completeness with sufficient ablative margin is critical for local tumor control following colorectal liver metastasis (CLM) ablation. An image-based confirmation method considering patient- and ablation-related biomechanical deformation is an unmet need.

Purpose

To evaluate a biomechanical deformable image registration (DIR) method for three-dimensional (3D) minimal ablative margin (MAM) quantification and the association with local disease progression following CT-guided CLM ablation.

Materials and Methods

This single-institution retrospective study included patients with CLM treated with CT-guided microwave or radiofrequency ablation from October 2015 to March 2020. A biomechanical DIR method with AI-based autosegmentation of liver, tumors, and ablation zones …

Dnmt3a-Coordinated Splicing Governs The Stem State Switch Towards Differentiation In Embryonic And Haematopoietic Stem Cells, Raghav Ramabadran, Jarey H Wang, Jaime M Reyes, Anna G Guzman, Sinjini Gupta, Carina Rosas, Lorenzo Brunetti, Michael C Gundry, Ayala Tovy, Hali Long, Tianpeng Gu, Sean M Cullen, Siddhartha Tyagi, Danielle Rux, Jean J Kim, Steven M Kornblau, Michael Kyba, Fabio Stossi, Rachel E Rau, Koichi Takahashi, Thomas F Westbrook, Margaret A Goodell

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Upon stimulation by extrinsic stimuli, stem cells initiate a programme that enables differentiation or self-renewal. Disruption of the stem state exit has catastrophic consequences for embryogenesis and can lead to cancer. While some elements of this stem state switch are known, major regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that this switch involves a global increase in splicing efficiency coordinated by DNA methyltransferase 3α (DNMT3A), an enzyme typically involved in DNA methylation. Proper activation of murine and human embryonic and haematopoietic stem cells depends on messenger RNA processing, influenced by DNMT3A in response to stimuli. DNMT3A coordinates splicing through recruitment …

Total Daily Energy Expenditure Has Declined Over The Past Three Decades Due To Declining Basal Expenditure, Not Reduced Activity Expenditure, John R Speakman, Jasper M A De Jong, Srishti Sinha, Klaas R Westerterp, Yosuke Yamada, Hiroyuki Sagayama, Philip N Ainslie, Liam J Anderson, Lenore Arab, Kweku Bedu-Addo, Stephane Blanc, Alberto G Bonomi, Pascal Bovet, Soren Brage, Maciej S Buchowski, Nancy F Butte, Stefan G J A Camps, Jamie A Cooper, Richard Cooper, Sai Krupa Das, Peter S W Davies, Lara R Dugas, Ulf Ekelund, Sonja Entringer, Terrence Forrester, Barry W Fudge, Melanie Gillingham, Santu Ghosh, Annelies H Goris, Michael Gurven, Lewis G Halsey, Catherine Hambly, Hinke H Haisma, Daniel Hoffman, Sumei Hu, Annemiek M Joosen, Jennifer L Kaplan, Peter Katzmarzyk, William E Kraus, Robert F Kushner, William R Leonard, Marie Löf, Corby K Martin, Eric Matsiko, Anine C Medin, Erwin P Meijer, Marian L Neuhouser, Theresa A Nicklas, Robert M Ojiambo, Kirsi H Pietiläinen, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Guy Plasqui, Ross L Prentice, Susan B Racette, David A Raichlen, Eric Ravussin, Leanne M Redman, Susan B Roberts, Michael C Rudolph, Luis B Sardinha, Albertine J Schuit, Analiza M Silva, Eric Stice, Samuel S Urlacher, Giulio Valenti, Ludo M Van Etten, Edgar A Van Mil, Brian M Wood, Jack A Yanovski, Tsukasa Yoshida, Xueying Zhang, Alexia J Murphy-Alford, Cornelia U Loechl, Anura Kurpad, Amy H Luke, Herman Pontzer, Matthew S Rodeheffer, Jennifer Rood, Dale A Schoeller, William W Wong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Obesity is caused by prolonged positive energy balance1,2. Whether reduced energy expenditure stemming from reduced activity levels contributes, is debated3,4. Here we used the IAEA DLW database on energy expenditure of adults in the USA and Europe (n = 4799) to explore patterns in total (TEE: n=4799), basal (BEE: n = 1432) and physical activity energy expenditure (AEE: n = 1432) over time. In both sexes total energy expenditure (TEE) adjusted for body composition and age declined with time, while adjusted AEE increased over time. In males adjusted BEE decreased significantly, but …

Klrf1, A Novel Marker Of Cd56bright Nk Cells, Predicts Improved Survival For Patients With Locally Advanced Bladder Cancer, Neelam Mukherjee, Niannian Ji, Xi Tan, Chun-Liang Chen, Onika D. V. Noel, Maria Rodriguez-Padron, Chun-Lin Lin, David G. Alonzo, Tim H. Huang, Robert S. Svatek

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Bladder tumor-infiltrating CD56bright NK cells are more tumor cytotoxic than their CD56dim counterparts. Identification of NK cell subsets is labor-intensive and has limited utility in the clinical setting. Here, we sought to identify a surrogate marker of bladder CD56bright NK cells and to test its prognostic significance.

Methods

CD56bright and CD56dim NK cells were characterized with the multiparametric flow (n = 20) and mass cytometry (n = 21) in human bladder tumors. Transcriptome data from bladder tumors (n = 351) profiled by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were analyzed. The expression levels of individual markers in intratumoral …

Admixture Mapping In African Americans Identifies New Risk Loci For Hcv-Related Cirrhosis, Hyun-Seok Kim, Priya B Shetty, Spiridon Tsavachidis, Jing Dong, Christopher I Amos, Hashem B El-Serag, Aaron P Thrift

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cirrhosis is the main predisposing condition for hepatocellular carcinoma. Host genetic risk factors have been reported for cirrhosis; however, whether there is a genetic contribution to racial disparities in cirrhosis requires further investigation.

METHODS: We used an affected-only mapping by admixture linkage disequilibrium analysis to characterize the genetic risk of cirrhosis in 227 African American patients with cirrhosis genotyped at 19,804 ancestry-informative marker single nucleotide polymorphisms. We additionally performed analyses stratified by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection status. To replicate our findings, we conducted a case-control analysis in an external study population (452 cases and 196 controls). …

Cigarette Smoke Condensate Induces Centrosome Clustering In Normal Lung Epithelial Cells, Jose Thaiparambil, Chandra S Amara, Subrata Sen, Nagireddy Putluri, Randa El-Zein

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Unlike normal cells, cancer cells frequently have multiple centrosomes that can cluster to form bipolar mitotic spindles and allow for successful cell division. Inhibiting centrosome clustering, therefore, holds therapeutic promise to promote cancer cell-specific cell death.

METHODS: We used confocal microscopy, real-time PCR, siRNA knockdown, and western blot to analyze centrosome clustering and declustering using normal lung bronchial epithelial and nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. Also, we used Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software to identify novel pathways associated with centrosome clustering.

RESULTS: In this study, we found that exposure to cigarette smoke condensate induces centrosome amplification and clustering in …

Pembrolizumab And Cabozantinib In Recurrent Metastatic Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Phase 2 Trial, Nabil F Saba, Conor E Steuer, Asari Ekpenyong, Ashley Mccook-Veal, Kelly Magliocca, Mihir Patel, Nicole C Schmitt, William Stokes, James E Bates, Soumon Rudra, Jill Remick, Mark Mcdonald, Marin Abousaud, Aik Choon Tan, Muhammad Zaki Hidayatullah Fadlullah, Ritu Chaudhary, Jameel Muzaffar, Kedar Kirtane, Yuan Liu, Georgia Z Chen, Dong M Shin, Yong Teng, Christine H Chung

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy is a standard of care in recurrent metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (RMHNSCC). Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors, have immunomodulatory properties and have offered promising results when combined with anti-PD-1 agents. We conducted a phase 2, multicenter, single-arm trial of pembrolizumab and cabozantinib in patients with RMHNSCC who had Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v.1.1 measurable disease and no contraindications to either agent. We assessed the primary end points of tolerability and overall response rate to the combination with secondary end points of progression-free survival and …

An Antibody-Drug Conjugate Targeting Gpr56 Demonstrates Efficacy In Preclinical Models Of Colorectal Cancer, Joan Jacob, Liezl E Francisco, Treena Chatterjee, Zhengdong Liang, Shraddha Subramanian, Qingyun J Liu, Julie H Rowe, Kendra S Carmon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Long-term prognosis remains poor for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with advanced disease due to treatment resistance. The identification of novel targets is essential for the development of new therapeutic approaches. GPR56, an adhesion GPCR, is highly expressed in CRC tumours and correlates with poor survival. Here, we describe the generation and preclinical evaluation of a novel ADC consisting of an anti-GPR56 antibody (10C7) conjugated with the DNA-damaging payload duocarmycin.

METHODS: RNA-seq dataset analysis was performed to determine GPR56 expression in CRC subtypes. The specificity of binding, epitope mapping, and internalisation of 10C7 was examined. 10C7 was conjugated to payload …

Phage Peptide Technology To Characterize Extracellular Vesicles In The Brain Tumors, Jadelynn Rudolf

Undergraduate Research Conference

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are lipid-bound containers derived from the endosomal membrane network or from the extracellular membrane of cells. They can carry proteins, lipids, miRNAs, and other molecules, and may be involved in intercellular communication via membrane-associated proteins. Glioblastomas (GBM) are aggressive cancers of the brain and spinal cord derived from astrocytes. Extracellular vesicles derived from glioblastomas can make their way through the blood brain barrier and find their way to different bodily fluids, and so could serve as biomarkers for this cancer. We have isolated phage-display peptides from a commercial library of random phage-displayed peptides that will bind glioblastoma …

Rna Sequencing In Hypoxia-Adapted T98g Glioblastoma Cells Provides Supportive Evidence For Ire1 As A Potential Therapeutic Target., Brian E White, Yichuan Liu, Hakon Hakonarson, Russell Buono

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Departmental Research

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with a median survival time of 14.6 months after diagnosis. GBM cells have altered metabolism and exhibit the Warburg effect, preferentially producing lactate under aerobic conditions. After standard-of-care treatment for GBM, there is an almost 100% recurrence rate. Hypoxia-adapted, treatment-resistant GBM stem-like cells are thought to drive this high recurrence rate. We used human T98G GBM cells as a model to identify differential gene expression induced by hypoxia and to search for potential therapeutic targets of hypoxia adapted GBM cells. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and bioinformatics were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) …

Cancer Patient And Provider Responses To Companion Scales Assessing Experiences With Lgbtqi-Affirming Healthcare, Mandi L. Pratt-Chapman, Yan Wang, Gwendolyn P. Quinn, Sylvia Shirima, Sarah Adler, Ruta Brazinskaite, Asa Radix, Barbara Warren, Kristen Eckstrand, Ana Maria Lopez

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Background: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) persons are at a higher risk for some cancers and may have poorer health outcomes as a result of ongoing minority stress, social stigma, and cisnormative, heteronormative healthcare environments. This study compared patient and provider experiences of affirming environmental and behavioral cues and also examined provider-reported knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and clinical preparedness in caring for SGM patients among a convenience sample.

Methods: National convenience samples of oncology providers (n = 107) and patients (n = 88) were recruited separately via snowball sampling. No incentives were provided. After reverse coding of appropriate items for unidirectional …

Neurochemical Effects Of Sepsis On The Brain, Tatiana Barichello, Vijayasree V Giridharan, Carlos Henrique R Catalão, Cristiane Ritter, Felipe Dal-Pizzol

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction triggered by a dysregulated host immune response to eliminate an infection. After the host immune response is activated, a complex, dynamic, and time-dependent process is triggered. This process promotes the production of inflammatory mediators, including acute-phase proteins, complement system proteins, cytokines, chemokines, and antimicrobial peptides, which are required to initiate an inflammatory environment for eliminating the invading pathogen. The physiological response of this sepsis-induced systemic inflammation can affect blood-brain barrier (BBB) function; subsequently, endothelial cells produce inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that degrade tight junction (TJ) proteins and decrease BBB …

Genome-Wide Crispr Screens Reveal Zatt As A Synthetic Lethal Target Of Top2-Poison Etoposide That Can Act In A Tdp2-Independent Pathway, Jeong-Min Park, Huimin Zhang, Litong Nie, Chao Wang, Min Huang, Xu Feng, Mengfan Tang, Zhen Chen, Yun Xiong, Namsoo Lee, Siting Li, Ling Yin, Traver Hart, Junjie Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Etoposide (ETO) is an anticancer drug that targets topoisomerase II (TOP2). It stabilizes a normally transient TOP2-DNA covalent complex (TOP2cc), thus leading to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterases two (TDP2) is directly involved in the repair of TOP2cc by removing phosphotyrosyl peptides from 5'-termini of DSBs. Recent studies suggest that additional factors are required for TOP2cc repair, which include the proteasome and the zinc finger protein associated with TDP2 and TOP2, named ZATT. ZATT may alter the conformation of TOP2cc in a way that renders the accessibility of TDP2 for TOP2cc removal. In this study, our genome-wide clustered regularly …

Intratumoral Bacteria In Uveal Melanoma: A Case Report, Katherine Vega Escobar, Paola Ordonez Armijos, Tatyana Milman, Carol L. Shields, Ralph C. Eagle Jr.

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Purpose Intratumoral bacteria and their potential application to cancer immunotherapy have been a topic of interest in recent studies. To our knowledge, bacteria in uveal melanoma have not been previously reported.

Observations We describe a patient with a large choroidal melanoma, measuring 18 × 16 mm in basal dimension and 15 mm in ultrasonographic thickness, managed by plaque brachytherapy. At the time of plaque removal, a prophylactic scleral patch graft was placed to protect from anticipated scleral necrosis. Progressive ocular ischemia led to a blind and painful eye. The enucleated eye demonstrated an extensively necrotic and heavily pigmented mushroom-shaped regressed …