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Macrophages can be co-opted to contribute to neoplastic, neurologic, and inflammatory diseases. Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R)-dependent macrophages and other inflammatory cells can suppress the adaptive immune system in cancer and contribute to angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis. CSF1R-expressing osteoclasts mediate bone degradation in osteolytic cancers and cancers that metastasize to bone. In the rare disease tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT), aberrant CSF1 expression and production driven by a gene translocation leads to the recruitment and growth of tumors formed by CSF1R-dependent inflammatory cells. Small molecules and antibodies targeting the CSF1/CSF1R axis have shown promise in the treatment of TGCT and cancer, with pexidartinib recently receiving FDA approval for treatment of TGCT. Many small-molecule kinase inhibitors of CSF1R also inhibit the closely related kinases KIT, PDGFRA, PDGFRB, and FLT3, thus CSF1R suppression may be limited by off-target activity and associated adverse events. Vimseltinib (DCC-3014) is an oral, switch control tyrosine kinase inhibitor specifically designed to selectively and potently inhibit CSF1R by exploiting unique features of the switch control region that regulates kinase conformational activation. In preclinical studies, vimseltinib durably suppressed CSF1R activity in vitro and in vivo, depleted macrophages and other CSF1R-dependent cells, and resulted in inhibition of tumor growth and bone degradation in mouse cancer models. Translationally, in a phase I clinical study, vimseltinib treatment led to modulation of biomarkers of CSF1R inhibition and reduction in tumor burden in TGCT patients.

Sketch owing to its ability to convey ideas and ease of creation has found application in almost all spheres. From client presentations to documentations, sketching is ideal for conveying thoughts. Sketching of initial ideas or drafts for brainstorming sessions is a common practice. However, these rough sketches require remodelling to a formal format, which adds an overhead to the process. Thus, arises a need to efficiently create, store and update hand-drawn sketches. Computer interfaces for sketching, that can augment the process by maintaining fair drafts, recognizing objects in the sketch, analyzing and summarizing the sketch and more, have been developed. A system that does similar processing for logic circuits is aimed. The complete application is designed optimally to give an accuracy of 89.41% using R-CNN and 82.44% using YOLO. DLC Re-builder(Digital Logic Circuit Re-builder) is a system that would accept sketched logic circuits as input, recognize various components of the circuit and convert the sketch-based circuit into formal graphical format. It would also generate a boolean expression for the final reconstructed 2-D output along with the truth table.

Avelumab is a human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody that has shown antitumor activity in early phase studies in advanced/metastatic gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer, including as first-line maintenance therapy. Here, we describe the design of JAVELIN Gastric 100 (NCT02625610), an open-label, Phase III trial. A total of 499 patients with locally advanced/metastatic HER2- gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer adenocarcinoma, who had achieved at least stable disease following 12 weeks of first-line oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy, have been randomized 1:1 to receive avelumab maintenance therapy or continue chemotherapy. The primary objective is to demonstrate superior overall survival in all randomized patients or in the PD-L1+ population. Secondary objectives are to demonstrate superiority for progression-free survival and objective response rate, compare quality of life measures, and determine safety.

TPS195 Background: Outcomes with first-line (1L) chemotherapy for GC/GEJC are limited and new strategies to increase efficacy without added toxicity are needed. Avelumab, a human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, is approved for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (US and EU) and advanced urothelial carcinoma after progression on platinum therapy (US). In phase 1 studies in advanced GC/GEJC, avelumab showed antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile, including in a subgroup of patients (pts) without progression on 1L chemotherapy who received avelumab as maintenance therapy. JAVELIN Gastric 100 (NCT02625610) is a global, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial comparing maintenance therapy with avelumab vs continuation of 1L chemotherapy in pts with advanced GC/GEJC who have not progressed after 12 weeks of 1L oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy. Methods: Eligible pts have histologically confirmed, unresectable, measurable, locally advanced or metastatic GC/GEJC adenocarcinoma, no prior chemotherapy for advanced disease, no prior therapy targeting T-cell coregulatory proteins, and ECOG PS of 0–1. Pts are not preselected based on PD-L1 expression and pts with HER2+ tumors are excluded. Approximately 466 pts who achieve at least stable disease following 12 weeks of 1L oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy will be randomized 1:1 to receive maintenance therapy with either avelumab 10 mg/kg by IV infusion Q2W or continuation of 1L chemotherapy. Maintenance therapy is given until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or withdrawal. Primary endpoints are overall survival and progression-free survival. Secondary endpoints include best overall response, quality of life measures, safety (NCI-CTCAE v4.03), and tumor biomarkers. Responses are evaluated per RECIST 1.1 and adjudicated by independent review committee. Enrollment is ongoing at sites in North/South America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. Clinical trial information: NCT02625610.

The effects on anatomy and behavior of a ribosomal inactivating protein (saporin) coupled to a monoclonal antibody against the low-affinity NGF receptor (NGFr) were examined. In adult rats, NGFr is expressed predominantly in cholinergic neurons of the medial septal area (MSA), diagonal band nuclei, and nucleus basalis magnocellularis (nBM), but also in noncholinergic cerebellar Purkinje cells. Rats with immunotoxin injections to the MSA, nBM, and lateral ventricle were compared to controls on a spatial and cued reference memory task in the Morris maze. Toxin injections to the MSA slightly impaired the initial, but not asymptotic, phase of spatial navigation. Injections to the nBM impaired all phases of spatial navigation. Cued navigation, however, was not affected in either the MSA or nBM group. The ventricular injections severely affected spatial and cued navigation. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) histochemistry and NGFr and choline acetyltransferase immunohistochemistry revealed a loss of (1) almost all NGFr-positive cholinergic neurons in the MSA and AChE fibers in hippocampus (MSA group); (2) almost all NGFr neurons in the nBM, some in the MSA, most AChE fibers in neocortex and some in the hippocampus (nBM group), and (3) almost all NGFr neurons in the MSA and nBM and their corresponding hippocampal and cortical AChE fibers (ventricular group). Cholinergic nBM projections to the amygdala were largely preserved in all groups. The amount of cholinergic fiber loss in the cortex correlated modestly, but significantly, with the severity of impairment of the asymptotic phase of performance of the spatial task. An unambiguous interpretation of the anatomical locus of behavioral deficits was not possible because of damage to cholinergic striatal interneurons (nBM group) and to noncholinergic cerebellar Purkinje cells (ventricular group). These data suggest that the cholinergic cortical system is critical to the performance of this spatial memory task. Cholinergic denervation of the hippocampus alone, however, is not sufficient to impair markedly performance of this task.