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Introduction: Chronic viral hepatitis is a condition of hepatotropic viral infection associated with chronic inflammation, hepatocyte injury and progressive fibrosis. Non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B and C patients has been increasing and used instead of liver biopsy. Aim: To assess the diagnostic performance of ElastPQ Point Shear Wave Elastography (ElastPQ PSWE) with liver biopsy as the gold standard and comparing these results with other serum fibrosis markers namely Aspartate to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI), Fibrosis-4 Score (FIB4). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in which 73 patients underwent ElastPQ PSWE and Histopathological Examination (HPE) with METAVIR Scoring system staging. Serum fibrosis indices including APRI and FIB4 values were calculated. The diagnostic performance of ElastPQ PSWE, APRI and FIB4 was evaluated using Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUROCAUROC) curve analysis, correlations of ElastPQ PSWE, APRI and FIB4 ratio index with histopathological findings (as the reference standard) were determined using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: Study included 73 patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, of which 8 (10.96%) were no/early fibrosis (F0- F1); 20 (27.40%) were significant fibrosis (F2); 22 (30.13%) were severe fibrosis (F3), and 23 (31.51%) were cirrhosis (F4). There was a significant positive correlation between different stages of liver fibrosis by liver biopsy and liver stiffness detected by ElastPQ PSWE (r=0.912, p

Introduction: Hazardous alcohol use and diabetes are the major risk factors for development of liver cirrhosis. The presence and progression of hepatic fibrosis into cirrhosis is a prognostic variable having impact on survival in people with hazardous alcohol use and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Liver biopsy is an invasive method for diagnosis and staging of hepatic fibrosis. Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) is a non-invasive method for assessing and staging hepatic fibrosis. Aim: To evaluate SWE as a non-invasive technique along with biomarker parameters as an algorithm for early detection of liver fibrosis in Type 2 Diabetes and hazardous alcohol use patients and to compare the results of shear wave ultrasound elastography in liver fibrosis with AST/ALT ratios, AST Platelet Ratio Index (APRI scores), and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) scores. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital attached to Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India, from July 2018 to June 2019. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria 460 patients were recruited for the study. For each patient, AST, ALT, platelet count and SWE values were measured. Patients with normal serum biomarkers and elevated SWE results were subjected to liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. Student’s t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-square/fisher-exact test was used to find the significance of study parameters. ANOVA was used to compare the SWE findings with the biochemical parameters. Results: SWE identified 75 patients with normal values, 2.2 m/sec (Group C). SWE showed positive correlation with APRI (p

An overview of the conditions underlying the flourlshing Bangladeshi trafficking trade. Cross-border sales of women and girls are common, and prostitution is said to function on a scale comparable to other domestic industry. However, gaining an accurate understanding of the magnitude of traficking is made very difficult by a lack of proper documentation. Despite legal provisions prohibiting the flesh trade, the abuse of well-intentioned laws results in a successful evasion of penalization by the many who benefit from the trafficking of women and girls.

Cardiac tumors are rare and encompass a variety of presentations. Clinica symptoms are usually nonspecific, but they can present as obstructive, embolic, or constitutional symptoms. Treatment options and prognosis vary highly depending on the subtype, tumor size, and location. Surgical resection is usually the first-line therapy, except for cardiac lymphomas, and provides favorable long-term prognosis in most benign tumors. Cardiac sarcomas, however, are usually diagnosed in advanced stages, and the treatment relies on a multimodal approach with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Metastatic cardiac tumors are usually related to advanced disease and carry an overall poor prognosis.

Background: Undifferentiated small round-cell sarcomas (uSRCSs) are a subgroup of sarcomas that are difficult to diagnose. Some uSRCSs have specific gene re-arrangements, but others do not. Currently, there is no specific treatments for advanced uSRCSs, and its treatment is largely based on general experience with sarcomas, which includes chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. In this article, we report a patient with uSRCS who responded to treatment with anti-VEGF inhibitor surufatinib and anti-PD-1 inhibitor camrelizumab after progression on first-line chemotherapy, second-line anlotinib combined with immunotherapy, and third-line chemotherapy., Case Description: In July 2020, a 37-year-old female patient was diagnosed with advanced uSRCS. Results for the Ewing sarcoma RNA binding protein 1 and Wilms tumor suppressor (EWSR1/WT1) fusion gene were negative. The patient was also negative with BCOR (BCL6 co-repressor) and CIC (capicua transcriptional repressor) fusion gene. The next-generation sequencing results revealed point mutations on Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-Bisphosphate 3-Kinase Catalytic Subunit Beta (PIK3CB), Transcription Factor Binding To IGHM Enhancer 3 (TFE3), Mucin 16 (MUC16), and AXL (Axl, also called UFO, ARK, and Tyro7, is part of a family of receptor tyrosine kinases). The patient received 4 cycles of the Ifosfamide and epirubicin hydrochloride regimen, and her best objective response was stable disease. On November 3, 2020, a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed progressive disease (PD). Two cycles of camrelizumab (a programmed death-1 inhibitor) plus anlotinib (an anti- vascular endothelial growth factor drug) were administered, but PD was again observed. Thus, a regimen of gemcitabine plus docetaxel was adopted. Unfortunately, the disease progressed once again after two cycles of the treatment. On February 4, 2021, the patient began to receive targeted therapy with surufatinib combined with camrelizumab. A CT scan showed that the tumor achieved a partial response. As of April 2023, the patient had a progression-free survival time of 26 months., Conclusions: Surufatinib in combination with camrelizumab could be effective in the treatment of advanced uSRCSs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Huang, Chen, Ye, Du, Voutsadakis, Seetharam, Zhang and Lu.)

The treatment of sarcoma necessitates a collaborative approach, given its rarity and complex management. At a single institution, multidisciplinary teams of specialists determine and execute treatment plans involving surgical, radiation, and medical management. Treatment guidelines for systemic therapies in advanced or nonresectable soft tissue sarcoma have advanced in recent years as new immunotherapies and targeted therapies become available. Collaboration between institutions is necessary to facilitate accrual to clinical trials. Here, we describe the success of the Midwest Sarcoma Trials Partnership (MWSTP) in creating a network encompassing large academic centers and local community sites. We propose a new model utilizing online platforms to expand the reach of clinical expertise for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

Vesiculoviruses are attractive oncolytic virus platforms due to their rapid replication, appreciable transgene capacity, broad tropism, limited preexisting immunity, and tumor selectivity through type I interferon response defects in malignant cells. We developed a synthetic chimeric virus (VMG) expressing the glycoprotein (G) from Morreton virus (MorV) and utilizing the remaining structural genes from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). VMG exhibited in vitro efficacy by inducing oncolysis in a broad range of sarcoma subtypes across multiple species. Notably, all cell lines tested showed the ability of VMG to yield productive infection with rapid replication kinetics and induction of apoptosis. Furthermore, pilot safety evaluations of VMG in immunocompetent, non-tumor-bearing mice showed an absence of toxicity with intranasal doses as high as 1e10 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID 50 )/kg. Locoregional administration of VMG in vivo resulted in tumor reduction in an immunodeficient Ewing sarcoma xenograft at doses as low as 2e5 TCID 50 . In a murine syngeneic fibrosarcoma model, while no tumor inhibition was achieved with VMG, there was a robust induction of CD8+ T cells within the tumor. The studies described herein establish the promising potential for VMG to be used as a novel oncolytic virotherapy platform with anticancer effects in sarcoma., Competing Interests: M.J.B. has received grants to their institution from Senhwa Pharmaceuticals, Adaptimmune, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Halozyme Pharmaceuticals, Five Prime Pharmaceuticals, Celgene Pharmaceuticals, EMD Merck Serono, Toray, Dicerna, Taiho Pharmaceuticals, Sun Biopharma, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Redhill Pharmaceuticals, Boston Biomed, Basilea, Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Mirna Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, Bioline, Sillajen, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, PUMA Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, QED Pharmaceuticals, and Pieris Pharmaceuticals; consultancy fees from ADC Therapeutics, Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, Inspyr Therapeutics, G1 Therapeutics, Immunovative Therapies, OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals, Western Oncolytics, and Lynx Group; and travel support from Astra Zeneca. These funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. M.J.B. and B.M.N. declare that they filed a patent application for the vectors and their derivatives included in this manuscript., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Oncogenic RET fusions occur in diverse cancers. Pralsetinib is a potent, selective inhibitor of RET receptor tyrosine kinase. ARROW ( NCT03037385 , ongoing) was designed to evaluate pralsetinib efficacy and safety in patients with advanced RET-altered solid tumors. Twenty-nine patients with 12 different RET fusion-positive solid tumor types, excluding non-small-cell lung cancer and thyroid cancer, who had previously received or were not candidates for standard therapies, were enrolled. The most common RET fusion partners in 23 efficacy-evaluable patients were CCDC6 (26%), KIF5B (26%) and NCOA4 (13%). Overall response rate, the primary endpoint, was 57% (95% confidence interval, 35-77) among these patients. Responses were observed regardless of tumor type or RET fusion partner. Median duration of response, progression-free survival and overall survival were 12 months, 7 months and 14 months, respectively. The most common grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events were neutropenia (31%) and anemia (14%). These data validate RET as a tissue-agnostic target with sensitivity to RET inhibition, indicating pralsetinib's potential as a well-tolerated treatment option with rapid, robust and durable anti-tumor activity in patients with diverse RET fusion-positive solid tumors., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Proton beam therapy (PBT) may provide an advantage when planning well-selected patients with extremity soft tissue sarcoma (eSTS), specifically for large, anatomically challenging cases. We analyzed our early experience with PBT on toxicity and outcomes., Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed for eSTS treated between June 2016 and October 2020 with pencil beam scanning PBT at 2 institutions. Diagnostic, treatment, and toxicity characteristics were gathered from baseline to last follow-up or death. Wound complications were defined as secondary operations for wound repair (debridement, drainage, skin graft, and muscle flap) or nonoperative management requiring hospitalization. Statistical analysis was performed with R software., Results: Twenty consecutive patients with a median age 51.5 years (range, 19-78 years) were included. Median follow-up was 13.7 months (range, 1.7-48.1 months). Tumor presentation was primary (n = 17) or recurrent after prior combined modality therapy (n = 3). Tumor location was either lower extremity (n = 16) or upper extremity (n = 4). Radiation was delivered preoperatively in most patients (n = 18). Median pretreatment tumor size was 7.9 cm (range, 1.3 -30.0 cm). The 1-year locoregional control was 100%. Four patients (20%) had developed metastatic disease by end of follow-up. Maximum toxicity for acute dermatitis was grade 2 in 8 patients (40%) and grade 3 in 3 patients (15%). After preoperative radiation and surgical resection, acute wound complications occurred in 6 patients (35%). Tumor size was larger in patients with acute wound complications compared with those without (medians 16 cm, range [12-30.0 cm] vs 6.3 cm, [1.3-14.4 cm], P = .003)., Conclusion: PBT for well selected eSTS cases demonstrated excellent local control and similar acute wound complication rate comparable to historic controls. Long-term follow-up and further dosimetric analyses will provide further insight into potential advantages of PBT in this patient population., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose., (©Copyright 2022 The Author(s).)

Background: Availability of checkpoint inhibitors has created a paradigm shift in the management of patients with solid tumors. Despite this, most patients do not respond to immunotherapy, and there is considerable interest in developing combination therapies to improve response rates and outcomes. B7-H3 (CD276) is a member of the B7 family of cell surface molecules and provides an alternative immune checkpoint molecule to therapeutically target alone or in combination with programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)-targeted therapies. Enoblituzumab, an investigational anti-B7-H3 humanized monoclonal antibody, incorporates an immunoglobulin G1 fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain that enhances Fcγ receptor-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Coordinated engagement of innate and adaptive immunity by targeting distinct members of the B7 family (B7-H3 and PD-1) is hypothesized to provide greater antitumor activity than either agent alone., Methods: In this phase I/II study, patients received intravenous enoblituzumab (3-15 mg/kg) weekly plus intravenous pembrolizumab (2 mg/kg) every 3 weeks during dose-escalation and cohort expansion. Expansion cohorts included non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; checkpoint inhibitor [CPI]-naïve and post-CPI, programmed death-ligand 1 [PD-L1] <1%), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC; CPI-naïve), urothelial cancer (post-CPI), and melanoma (post-CPI). Disease was assessed using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 after 6 weeks and every 9 weeks thereafter. Safety and pharmacokinetic data were provided for all enrolled patients; efficacy data focused on HNSCC and NSCLC cohorts., Results: Overall, 133 patients were enrolled and received ≥1 dose of study treatment. The maximum tolerated dose of enoblituzumab with pembrolizumab at 2 mg/kg was not reached. Intravenous enoblituzumab (15 mg/kg) every 3 weeks plus pembrolizumab (2 mg/kg) every 3 weeks was recommended for phase II evaluation. Treatment-related adverse events occurred in 116 patients (87.2%) and were grade ≥3 in 28.6%. One treatment-related death occurred (pneumonitis). Objective responses occurred in 6 of 18 (33.3% [95% CI 13.3 to 59.0]) patients with CPI-naïve HNSCC and in 5 of 14 (35.7% [95% CI 12.8 to 64.9]) patients with CPI-naïve NSCLC., Conclusions: Checkpoint targeting with enoblituzumab and pembrolizumab demonstrated acceptable safety and antitumor activity in patients with CPI-naïve HNSCC and NSCLC., Trial Registration Number: NCT02475213., Competing Interests: Competing interests: CA reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, BluPrint Oncology, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo for advisory boards, and research funding to the institution from Merck, MacroGenics, Novartis, and AstraZeneca; SA reports consulting fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, CBMG, AstraZeneca, Memgen, RAPT, Venn, Achilles Therapeutics, Celsius, Samyang Biopharma, GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen, travel expenses from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Rapt, Achilles Therapeutics, Celsius, GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen, and grants from Novartis; VA reports personal fees and non-financial support from Bristol-Myers Squibb, and personal fees from Merck, MSD, Novartis, QBiotics, Nektar, Roche, Pierre Fabre; RC reports grants paid to the institution from MacroGenics, Merck, personal fees from AstraZeneca, grants to the institution and personal fees from Innate Pharma, Genocea Biosciences, Heat Biologics, advisory boards for Innate Pharma, Genocea Biosciences, AstraZeneca, Heat Biologics, Cantargia, research funding from Celldex, Kyn Therapeutics, Merck, Genocea Biosciences, Xencor, Innate Pharma, Heat Biologics, and travel expenses from Heat Biologics, Innate Pharma, Genocea Biosciences; RLF reports consulting fees from Aduro Biotech, Novasenta, Sanofi, Zymeworks, honoraria from Bristol-Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, MacroGenics, Merck, Numab Therapeutics, Pfizer for advisory boards, research funds to institution from AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novasenta, Tesaro, clinical trial support from AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and stocks in Novasenta; VG reports honoraria from AstraZeneca, Roche/Genentech; ARK reports holding stocks in ECOM Medical, receiving consulting fees from Exelixis, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech, Bristol-Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, serving on Speakers’ Bureau at Janssen, Astellas Medivation, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, Genentech/Roche, Eisai, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen, Exelixis, EMD Serono, Merck, Seattle Genetics/Astellas, receiving research funding to the institution from Genentech, Exelixis, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eisai, MacroGenics, Astellas Pharma, beyond spring, BioClin Therapeutics, Clovis Oncology, Bavarian Nordic, Seattle Genetics, Immunomedics, Epizyme, and receiving travel expenses from Genentech, Prometheus Laboratories, Astellas Medivation, Janssen, Eisai, Bayer, Pfizer, Novartis, Exelixis, AstraZeneca; SK reports consulting fees from MacroGenics and is a stock holder of Abbott, Aqua, Bank of America, Baxter, Betterment, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Etrade, ExxonMobil, Invesco, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin Corp, Marathon Oil, Marathon Petroleum, Pfizer, Takeda Pharm Co, Verizon, Welltower, Vanguard; NL reports research funding from ALX Therapeutics, Ascentage, Asana, BeiGene, Constellation Pharma, Alexion, Cerulean, Forty Seven, Alpine, Merck, Pfizer, Regeneron, TaiRx, Apexian, Formation Biologics (Forbius), Symphogen, CytomX, InhibRx, Incyte, Jounce, Livzon, Northern Biologics, Innovent Biologics, Ikena, Odonate, Loxo, Alpine Biosciences, Ikena, Mersana, and serves on advisory boards for Innovent Biologics; YL reports research funding from Merck, MacroGenics, Tolero Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Vaccinex, Blueprint Medicines, Harpoon Therapeutics, Sun Pharma Advanced Research, Kyowa Pharmaceuticals, Tesaro, Bayer HealthCare, honorarium from Clarion Healthcare, served on the advisory board for AstraZeneca, Novocure, and consultant for AstraZeneca; OR reports research support from Merck, Speakers’ Bureau activities supported by educational grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck, and honoraria for consulting activities for Merck, Celgene, Five Prime, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Roche/Genentech, Puretech, Imvax, Sobi. In addition, OR has a patent pending for 'Methods of using pembrolizumab and trebananib'; MS received honoraria from Deciphera Pharmaceuticals and Daiichi Sankyo for serving on advisory boards; AT reports consulting fees from AbbVie, Adagene, Agenus, Aro Biotherapeutics, Ascentage, Aximmune, Bayer, BioInvent, Birdie, Cello Health, Ellipses, EMD Serono, Five Prime, Forbius, Gilde Healthcare Partners, HBM Partners, Immunomet, Karma Oncology, Mekanistic, Menarini, Mersana, Nanobiotix, Nuvalent, OSI, Partner Therapeutics, Pfizer, Pieris, Pierre Fabre, Ridgeway, RYVU Therapeutics, Scitemex, Seattle Genetics, Symphogen, Syneos, TFS Trial Form Support, and Trillium Therapeutics, and honoraria from Abgenomics, Adagene, ADC Therapeutics, Aro Biotherapeutics, BioInvent, Elucida, Immunome, Jazz, NBE Therapeutics, Pelican, Innate Pharma, TFS Trial Form Support International, and Zymeworks for serving on advisory boards. In addition, AT serves on the Independent Data Monitoring Committees for Mirati and Genentech; NV reports non-financial support for conducting trials with Amgen, Aravive, Arrowhead, Arvinas, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Calithera, Clovis, Corvus, Dendreon, eFFECTOR, Eisai, Endocyte, Epizyme, ESSA, Exelixis, Genentech, Immunomedics, Kangpu, Kinter Suzhou, MacroGenics, Merck, Mirati, Nektar, Novartis, Seattle Genetics, Tolero, advisory boards for Amgen, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Aveo, Caris, Clovis, Corvus, Eisai, Exelixis, GeneCentric, Genentech, Janssen, Merck, Myovant, OnQuality Pharma, Pfizer, Sanofi-Genzyme, Tolero, serves on the Speakers’ Bureau at Bayer, Caris, Clovis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Seattle Genetics, consulting services to Cancer Expert Now, vice-chair responsibilities at SWOG, section editor at Up-To-Date, and legal defense advisor to Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme; AW reports grants from Merck, grants and personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, personal fees from Ipsen, Pfizer; DPZ received institutional research support from Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Aduro Biotech, Lilly, Astellas, MacroGenics for his role as a PI of clinical trials sponsored by these companies and received honoraria from Blueprint Medicines for serving on an advisory board; SMG is a former employee of MacroGenics serving as medical monitor; XZ, RC, and LP are employees of MacroGenics; JB was an employee of MacroGenics; PAM is an employee of MacroGenics, holds stock in MacroGenics, and holds a patent with all rights assigned to MacroGenics for 'Antibodies reactive with B7-H3, immunologically active fragments thereof' US Patent 9,150,656; EB is an employee of MacroGenics, holds stock in MacroGenics, and has a patent US20190389952 pending to MacroGenics; FA was an employee of MacroGenics and is now an employee of AstraZeneca; AP, AAA, AB, RH, and AMJ have nothing to disclose., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Ocular melanoma (OM) is a rare noncutaneous malignancy and consists of 2 different subtypes based on the anatomic location in the eye: uveal melanoma and conjunctival melanoma. Like cutaneous melanoma, OM benefits from nuclear medicine and molecular imaging in nodal staging and clinical management. Through the illustration of 2 distinctive cases, we aim to demonstrate the complementary roles of standard lymphoscintigraphy, advanced SPECT/CT, 18 F-FDG PET/CT, and 18 F-FDG PET/MRI in accurate nodal staging and surveillance of OM. We also review the epidemiology, existing staging guidelines, and management of uveal melanoma and conjunctival melanoma., (© 2021 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

Targeted therapy has shown to be a very effective treatment in tumors with specific genomic drivers. Trk has proven to be one such target. Efforts to target the Trk fusion with specific inhibitors have shown remarkable responses in a tumor agnostic fashion, with responses seen even in patients with intracranial metastasis. Entrectinib is a first-generation Trk inhibitor with impressive activity in early phase trials performed in patients with NTRK fusion positive solid tumors and ROS1 positive non-small-cell lung cancers with subsequent approval for those indications. Entrectinib was also found to be effective in treatment of brain metastasis and generally well tolerated.

Although checkpoint inhibitors have been approved in multiple cancers, they are still under investigation in soft tissue sarcoma (STS). We conducted a retrospective review to report the safety, efficacy, and prognostic factors related to checkpoint inhibitors in STS. A sequential cohort of metastatic STS patients from four institutions treated with checkpoint inhibitors was assembled. Logistic and Cox regression models were applied to determine the effect of patient characteristics, prior treatment, and baseline factors on achieving the best overall response of complete response (CR), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD) as determined by the treating physician. Eighty-eight patients with two median prior therapies received checkpoint inhibitors. Treatments included pembrolizumab in 47, nivolumab in 6, ipilimumab in 1, combination ipilimumab/nivolumab in 27, and other combination immunotherapies in 7 patients. Immunotherapy was discontinued in 54 patients-72.2% for progression, 16.7% for toxicity, and 11.1% for other reasons. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.1 months and median overall survival was 19.1 months. One patient with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) achieved a CR, while 20 patients had a PR, including 7 UPS, 9 leiomyosarcoma (LMS), and 1 each with alveolar soft part sarcoma, fibroblastic sarcoma, sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma, and myxofibrosarcoma. Forty-five percent (9 of 20) of LMS patients achieved a PR. Twenty-eight patients had SD. Our results confirm the activity and safety of anti-PD-1 therapy in metastatic STS. A notable response rate was observed in UPS and LMS subtypes. This study expands the knowledge base beyond what is currently available from clinical trials involving checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic STS.

Background: Outcomes data regarding advanced synovial sarcoma (SS) and myxoid/round cell liposarcoma (MRCL) are limited, consisting primarily of retrospective series and post hoc analyses of clinical trials., Methods: In this multi-center retrospective study, data were abstracted from the medical records of 350 patients from nine sarcoma centers throughout the United States and combined into a registry. Patients with advanced/unresectable or metastatic SS (n = 249) or MRCL (n = 101) who received first-line systemic anticancer therapy and had records of tumor imaging were included. Overall survival (OS), time to next treatment, time to distant metastasis, and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression., Results: At start of first-line systemic anticancer therapy, 92.4% of patients with SS and 91.1% of patients with MRCL had metastatic lesions. However, 74.7% of patients with SS and 72.3% of patients with MRCL had ≥2 lines of systemic therapy. Median OS and median PFS from first-line therapy for SS was 24.7 months (95% CI, 20.9-29.4) and 7.5 months, respectively (95% CI, 6.4-8.4). Median OS and median PFS from start of first-line therapy for MRCL was 29.9 months (95% CI, 27-44.6) and 8.9 months (95% CI 4.5-12.0)., Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest retrospective study of patients with SS and MRCL. It provides an analysis of real-world clinical outcomes among patients treated at major sarcoma cancer centers and could inform treatment decisions and design of clinical trials. In general, the survival outcomes for this selected population appear more favorable than in published literature., (© 2020 The Authors and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: CDKN2A and TP53 mutations are recurrent events in melanoma, occurring in 13.3% and 15.1% of cases respectively and are associated with poorer outcomes. It is unclear what effect CDKN2A and TP53 mutations have on the clinical outcomes of patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors., Methods: All patients with cutaneous melanoma or melanoma of unknown primary who received checkpoint inhibitor therapy and underwent genomic profiling with the 50-gene Mayo Clinic solid tumor targeted cancer gene panel were included. Patients were stratified according to the presence or absence of mutations in BRAF, NRAS, CDKN2A, and TP53. Patients without mutations in any of these genes were termed quadruple wild type (QuadWT). Clinical outcomes including median time to progression (TTP), median overall survival (OS), 6-month and 12-month OS, 6-month and 12-month without progression, ORR and disease control rate (DCR) were analyzed according to the mutational status of CDKN2A, TP53 and QuadWT., Results: A total of 102 patients were included in this study of which 14 had mutations of CDKN2A (CDKN2Amut), 21 had TP53 mutations (TP53mut), and 12 were QuadWT. TP53mut, CDKN2Amut and QuadWT mutational status did not impact clinical outcomes including median TTP, median OS, 6-month and 12-month OS, 6-month and 12-month without progression, ORR and DCR. There was a trend towards improved median TTP and DCR in CDKN2Amut cohort and a trend towards worsened median TTP in the QuadWT cohort., Conclusion: Cell cycle regulators such as TP53 and CDKN2A do not appear to significantly alter clinical outcomes when immune checkpoint inhibitors are used., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Soft tissue sarcomas are a group of rare tumors of mesenchymal origin, and account for less than 1% of all cancers. The most commonly used drug for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma is anthracycline chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin. The major limitation for doxorubicin is cardiotoxicity. Hence, to overcome this limitation and to increase efficacy, aldoxorubicin was developed, which has demonstrated activity in soft tissue sarcomas without much cardiotoxicity. In this review article, we discuss mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, preclinical studies, clinical trial data and safety profile of aldoxorubicin and its potential applicability in the future of sarcoma treatment.

Eribulin is a structurally simplified, synthetic macrocyclic ketone analog of halichondrin B, which is a natural, polyether macrolide derived from marine sponges. Eribulin exerts its cytotoxicity by its unique microtubule dynamics inhibitory action. Eribulin was approved in 2010 by the US FDA as a third-line therapy for metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with an anthracycline and a taxane. In 2016, it was approved for treatment of metastatic liposarcoma for patients who have progressed with anthracycline treatment. In this article, we review the pharmacokinetics, mechanism of action of eribulin with focus on preclinical and clinical data in sarcoma and also the role of miRNAs in soft tissue sarcomas.

Although some studies have validated the 2001 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including the importance of multilineage dysplasia, others have suggested that multilineage dysplasia correlates with unfavorable cytogenetics but has no independent impact on prognosis. In 2008, the revised WHO classification has expanded this category into "AML with myelodysplasia-related changes" (AML-MRC). We evaluated the clinical, pathologic, cytogenetic, and molecular features of 100 AML patients using the 2008 WHO criteria. Patients underwent genetic screening for NPM1, FLT3-ITD, FLT3-D835, and CEBPA mutations. Compared with patients with AML, not otherwise specified, patients with AML-MRC were significantly older (P= .014), presented with a lower hemoglobin (P= .044), more frequently expressed CD14 (P= .048), and exhibited a decreased frequency of CEBPA mutations (P= .001). Multivariate analysis indicated that patients with AML-MRC had a significantly worse overall survival, progression-free survival, and complete response compared with AML-not otherwise specified (all P< .001). These data support the clinical, morphologic, and cytogenetic criteria for this 2008 WHO AML category.