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1. EFFECT OF AGEING ON THE HEART RATE DEPENDENCE OF PULSE PRESSURE AMPLIFICATION

Author: Pucci, G., Battista, F., Sgariglia, R., Cerasari, A., Dominioni, I., Barsotti, F., and Vaudo, G.
Published: 2019
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2. Use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalised COVID-19 patients is associated with reduced mortality: Findings from the observational multicentre Italian CORIST study

Author: Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Spinoni, E, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Moghazi, S, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonaccio, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crosta, F, Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, Donati, K, Giacomo, P, Gennaro, F, Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gialluisi, A, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Lamonica, S, Landi, F, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Madaro, A, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Minutolo, F, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rinaldi, M, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Venezia, A, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Castelnuovo A. D., Costanzo S., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bruno R., Cauda R., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., My I., Parruti G., Patti G., Perlini S., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Spinoni E., Stefanini G. G., Vergori A., Ageno W., Agodi A., Aiello L., Agostoni P., Moghazi S. A., Astuto M., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Bartoloni A., Bonaccio M., Bonfanti P., Cacciatore F., Caiano L., Cannata F., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Ciccullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Crosta F., Pra C. D., Danzi G. B., D'Ardes D., Donati K. D. G., Giacomo P. D., Gennaro F. D., Tano G. D., D'Offizi G., Filippini T., Fusco F. M., Gentile I., Gialluisi A., Gini G., Grandone E., Grisafi L., Guarnieri G., Lamonica S., Landi F., Leone A., Maccagni G., Maccarella S., Madaro A., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marra L., Maresca G., Marotta C., Mastroianni F., Mazzitelli M., Mengozzi A., Menichetti F., Meschiari M., Minutolo F., Montineri A., Mussinelli R., Mussini C., Musso M., Odone A., Olivieri M., Pasi E., Petri F., Pinchera B., Pivato C. A., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Rinaldi M., Rognoni A., Rossato M., Rossi I., Rossi M., Sabena A., Salinaro F., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P. G., Spinicci M., Trecarichi E. M., Venezia A., Veronesi G., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Vocciante L., De Caterina R., Iacoviello L., Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Spinoni, E, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Moghazi, S, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonaccio, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crosta, F, Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, Donati, K, Giacomo, P, Gennaro, F, Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gialluisi, A, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Lamonica, S, Landi, F, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Madaro, A, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Minutolo, F, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rinaldi, M, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Venezia, A, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Castelnuovo A. D., Costanzo S., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bruno R., Cauda R., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., My I., Parruti G., Patti G., Perlini S., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Spinoni E., Stefanini G. G., Vergori A., Ageno W., Agodi A., Aiello L., Agostoni P., Moghazi S. A., Astuto M., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Bartoloni A., Bonaccio M., Bonfanti P., Cacciatore F., Caiano L., Cannata F., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Ciccullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Crosta F., Pra C. D., Danzi G. B., D'Ardes D., Donati K. D. G., Giacomo P. D., Gennaro F. D., Tano G. D., D'Offizi G., Filippini T., Fusco F. M., Gentile I., Gialluisi A., Gini G., Grandone E., Grisafi L., Guarnieri G., Lamonica S., Landi F., Leone A., Maccagni G., Maccarella S., Madaro A., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marra L., Maresca G., Marotta C., Mastroianni F., Mazzitelli M., Mengozzi A., Menichetti F., Meschiari M., Minutolo F., Montineri A., Mussinelli R., Mussini C., Musso M., Odone A., Olivieri M., Pasi E., Petri F., Pinchera B., Pivato C. A., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Rinaldi M., Rognoni A., Rossato M., Rossi I., Rossi M., Sabena A., Salinaro F., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P. G., Spinicci M., Trecarichi E. M., Venezia A., Veronesi G., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Vocciante L., De Caterina R., and Iacoviello L.
Abstract: Background: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was proposed as potential treatment for COVID-19. Objective: We set-up a multicenter Italian collaboration to investigate the relationship between HCQ therapy and COVID-19 in-hospital mortality. Methods: In a retrospective observational study, 3,451 unselected patients hospitalized in 33 clinical centers in Italy, from February 19, 2020 to May 23, 2020, with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, were analyzed. The primary end-point in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received HCQ with patients who did not. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models with inverse probability for treatment weighting by propensity scores, with the addition of subgroup analyses. Results: Out of 3,451 COVID-19 patients, 76.3% received HCQ. Death rates (per 1,000 person-days) for patients receiving or not HCQ were 8.9 and 15.7, respectively. After adjustment for propensity scores, we found 30% lower risk of death in patients receiving HCQ (HR=0.70; 95%CI: 0.59 to 0.84; E-value=1.67). Secondary analyses yielded similar results. The inverse association of HCQ with inpatient mortality was particularly evident in patients having elevated C-reactive protein at entry. Conclusions: HCQ use was associated with a 30% lower risk of death in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Within the limits of an observational study and awaiting results from randomized controlled trials, these data do not discourage the use of HCQ in inpatients with COVID-19.
Published: 2020

3. NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING ON FNA OF NUDE MOUSE LUNG CARCINOMA XENOGRAFTS: A CONTRIBUTION OF CYTOPATHOLOGY TO BASIC SCIENCE: FP8-1

Author: Vigliar, E., Malapelle, U., Sgariglia, R., Corte, Della C., Morgillo, F., Bellevicine, C., and Troncone, G.
Published: 2015

4. Disentangling the Association of Hydroxychloroquine Treatment with Mortality in Covid-19 Hospitalized Patients through Hierarchical Clustering

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Costanzo, S, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cicullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gianfagna1, F, Giuliano, G, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Langella, V, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Magni, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Schiano Moriello, N, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Tamburrini, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virdis, A, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Costanzo, Simona, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio, Vergori, Alessandra, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Cannata, Francesco, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Cicullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gaudiosi, Carlo, Gentile, Ivan, Gianfagna1, Francesco, Giuliano, Gabriele, Graziani, Emauele, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Langella, Valerio, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Magni, Federica, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Mussinelli, Roberta, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Righetti, Giulia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Ilaria, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Schiano Moriello, Nicola, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinicci, Michele, Tamburrini, Enrica, Torti, Carlo, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virdis, Agostino, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Costanzo, S, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cicullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gianfagna1, F, Giuliano, G, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Langella, V, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Magni, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Schiano Moriello, N, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Tamburrini, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virdis, A, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Costanzo, Simona, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio, Vergori, Alessandra, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Cannata, Francesco, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Cicullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gaudiosi, Carlo, Gentile, Ivan, Gianfagna1, Francesco, Giuliano, Gabriele, Graziani, Emauele, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Langella, Valerio, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Magni, Federica, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Mussinelli, Roberta, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Righetti, Giulia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Ilaria, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Schiano Moriello, Nicola, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinicci, Michele, Tamburrini, Enrica, Torti, Carlo, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virdis, Agostino, De Caterina, Raffaele, and Iacoviello, Licia
Abstract: The efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treating SARS-CoV-2 infection is harshly debated, with observational and experimental studies reporting contrasting results. To clarify the role of HCQ in Covid-19 patients, we carried out a retrospective observational study of 4,396 unselected patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in Italy (February–May 2020). Patients’ characteristics were collected at entry, including age, sex, obesity, smoking status, blood parameters, history of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and chronic pulmonary diseases, and medications in use. These were used to identify subtypes of patients with similar characteristics through hierarchical clustering based on Gower distance. Using multivariable Cox regressions, these clusters were then tested for association with mortality and modification of effect by treatment with HCQ. We identified two clusters, one of 3,913 younger patients with lower circulating inflammation levels and better renal function, and one of 483 generally older and more comorbid subjects, more prevalently men and smokers. The latter group was at increased death risk adjusted by HCQ (HR[CI95%] = 3.80[3.08-4.67]), while HCQ showed an independent inverse association (0.51[0.43-0.61]), as well as a significant influence of cluster∗HCQ interaction (). This was driven by a differential association of HCQ with mortality between the high (0.89[0.65-1.22]) and the low risk cluster (0.46[0.39-0.54]). These effects survived adjustments for additional medications in use and were concordant with associations with disease severity and outcome. These findings suggest a particularly beneficial effect of HCQ within low risk Covid-19 patients and may contribute to clarifying the current controversy on HCQ efficacy in Covid-19 treatment.
Published: 2021

5. Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Darunavir/Cobicistat in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Findings From the Multicenter Italian CORIST Study

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Chiarito, M, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Dalena, G, Dal Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Maria Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Guarnieri, G, Lamanna, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Losito, A, Maccagni, G, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Perroni, A, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Visconti, E, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Agostino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Ageno, Walter, Aiello, Luca, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Chiarito, Mauro, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesco, Dalena, Giovanni, Dal Pra, Chiara, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Filippini, Tommaso, Maria Fusco, Francesco, Gaudiosi, Carlo, Gentile, Ivan, Gini, Giancarlo, Grandone, Elvira, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Lamanna, Gennaro L F, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Losito, Angela Raffaella, Maccagni, Gloria, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marra, Lorenzo, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Perroni, Annalisa, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinicci, Michele, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Visconti, Elena, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Chiarito, M, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Dalena, G, Dal Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Maria Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Guarnieri, G, Lamanna, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Losito, A, Maccagni, G, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Perroni, A, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Visconti, E, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Agostino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Ageno, Walter, Aiello, Luca, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Chiarito, Mauro, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesco, Dalena, Giovanni, Dal Pra, Chiara, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Filippini, Tommaso, Maria Fusco, Francesco, Gaudiosi, Carlo, Gentile, Ivan, Gini, Giancarlo, Grandone, Elvira, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Lamanna, Gennaro L F, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Losito, Angela Raffaella, Maccagni, Gloria, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marra, Lorenzo, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Perroni, Annalisa, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinicci, Michele, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Visconti, Elena, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, and Iacoviello, Licia
Abstract: Background: Protease inhibitors have been considered as possible therapeutic agents for COVID-19 patients. Objectives: To describe the association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or darunavir/cobicistat (DRV/c) use and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients. Study Design: Multicenter observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted in 33 Italian hospitals. Medications, preexisting conditions, clinical measures, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients were retrospectively divided in three groups, according to use of LPV/r, DRV/c or none of them. Primary outcome in a time-to event analysis was death. We used Cox proportional-hazards models with inverse probability of treatment weighting by multinomial propensity scores. Results: Out of 3,451 patients, 33.3% LPV/r and 13.9% received DRV/c. Patients receiving LPV/r or DRV/c were more likely younger, men, had higher C-reactive protein levels while less likely had hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary or kidney disease. After adjustment for propensity scores, LPV/r use was not associated with mortality (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13), whereas treatment with DRV/c was associated with a higher death risk (HR = 1.89, 1.53 to 2.34, E-value = 2.43). This increased risk was more marked in women, in elderly, in patients with higher severity of COVID-19 and in patients receiving other COVID-19 drugs. Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a real-life setting, the use of LPV/r treatment did not change death rate, while DRV/c was associated with increased mortality. Within the limits of an observational study, these data do not support the use of LPV/r or DRV/c in COVID-19 patients.
Published: 2021

6. Heparin in COVID-19 Patients Is Associated with Reduced In-Hospital Mortality: the Multicenter Italian CORIST Study

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fantoni, M, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gianfagna, F, Grandone, E, Graziani, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Montineri, A, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Niola, D, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Parisi, R, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Taddei, E, Torti, C, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Pasquale, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Astuto, Marinella, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fantoni, Massimo, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Gianfagna, Francesco, Grandone, Elvira, Graziani, Emauele, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Montineri, Arturo, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Niola, Daniela, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Parisi, Roberta, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Taddei, Eleonora, Torti, Carlo, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fantoni, M, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gianfagna, F, Grandone, E, Graziani, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Montineri, A, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Niola, D, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Parisi, R, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Taddei, E, Torti, C, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Pasquale, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Astuto, Marinella, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fantoni, Massimo, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Gianfagna, Francesco, Grandone, Elvira, Graziani, Emauele, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Montineri, Arturo, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Niola, Daniela, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Parisi, Roberta, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Taddei, Eleonora, Torti, Carlo, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, and Iacoviello, Licia
Abstract: INTRODUCTION: A hypercoagulable condition was described in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and proposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism contributing to disease progression and lethality.AIM: We evaluated if in-hospital administration of heparin improved survival in a large cohort of Italian COVID-19 patients.METHODS: In a retrospective observational study, 2,574 unselected patients hospitalized in 30 clinical centers in Italy from February 19, 2020 to June 5, 2020 with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection were analyzed. The primary endpoint in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received heparin (low-molecular-weight heparin [LMWH] or unfractionated heparin [UFH]) with patients who did not. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models with inverse probability for treatment weighting by propensity scores.RESULTS: Out of 2,574 COVID-19 patients, 70.1% received heparin. LMWH was largely the most used formulation (99.5%). Death rates for patients receiving heparin or not were 7.4 and 14.0 per 1,000 person-days, respectively. After adjustment for propensity scores, we found a 40% lower risk of death in patients receiving heparin (hazard ratio=0.60; 95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.74; E-value=2.04). This association was particularly evident in patients with a higher severity of disease or strong coagulation activation.CONCLUSION: In-hospital heparin treatment was associated with a lower mortality, particularly in severely ill COVID-19 patients and in those with strong coagulation activation. The results from randomized clinical trials are eagerly awaited to provide clear-cut recommendations.
Published: 2021

7. RNA-Based Assay for Next-Generation Sequencing of Clinically Relevant Gene Fusions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Author: De Luca, C, Pepe, F, Iaccarino, A, Pisapia, P, Righi, L, Listì, A, Greco, L, Gragnano, G, Campione, S, De Dominicis, G, Pagni, F, Sgariglia, R, Nacchio, M, Tufano, R, Conticelli, F, Vigliar, E, Bellevicine, C, Cortinovis, D, Novello, S, Molina-Vila, M, Rosell, R, Troncone, G, Malapelle, U, De Luca, Caterina, Pepe, Francesco, Iaccarino, Antonino, Pisapia, Pasquale, Righi, Luisella, Listì, Angela, Greco, Lorenza, Gragnano, Gianluca, Campione, Severo, De Dominicis, Gianfranco, Pagni, Fabio, Sgariglia, Roberta, Nacchio, Mariantonia, Tufano, Rossella, Conticelli, Floriana, Vigliar, Elena, Bellevicine, Claudio, Cortinovis, Diego Luigi, Novello, Silvia, Molina-Vila, Miguel Angel, Rosell, Rafael, Troncone, Giancarlo, Malapelle, Umberto, De Luca, C, Pepe, F, Iaccarino, A, Pisapia, P, Righi, L, Listì, A, Greco, L, Gragnano, G, Campione, S, De Dominicis, G, Pagni, F, Sgariglia, R, Nacchio, M, Tufano, R, Conticelli, F, Vigliar, E, Bellevicine, C, Cortinovis, D, Novello, S, Molina-Vila, M, Rosell, R, Troncone, G, Malapelle, U, De Luca, Caterina, Pepe, Francesco, Iaccarino, Antonino, Pisapia, Pasquale, Righi, Luisella, Listì, Angela, Greco, Lorenza, Gragnano, Gianluca, Campione, Severo, De Dominicis, Gianfranco, Pagni, Fabio, Sgariglia, Roberta, Nacchio, Mariantonia, Tufano, Rossella, Conticelli, Floriana, Vigliar, Elena, Bellevicine, Claudio, Cortinovis, Diego Luigi, Novello, Silvia, Molina-Vila, Miguel Angel, Rosell, Rafael, Troncone, Giancarlo, and Malapelle, Umberto
Abstract: Gene fusions represent novel predictive biomarkers for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we validated a narrow NGS gene panel able to cover therapeutically-relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced-stage NSCLC patients. To this aim, we first assessed minimal complementary DNA (cDNA) input and the limit of detection (LoD) in different cell lines. Then, to evaluate the feasibility of applying our panel to routine clinical samples, we retrospectively selected archived lung adenocarcinoma histological and cytological (cell blocks) samples. Overall, our SiRe RNA fusion panel was able to detect all fusions and a splicing event harbored in a RNA pool diluted up to 2 ng/µL. It also successfully analyzed 46 (95.8%) out of 48 samples. Among these, 43 (93.5%) out of 46 samples reproduced the same results as those obtained with conventional techniques. Intriguingly, the three discordant results were confirmed by a CE-IVD automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis (Easy PGX platform, Diatech Pharmacogenetics, Jesi, Italy). Based on these findings, we conclude that our new SiRe RNA fusion panel is a valid and robust tool for the detection of clinically relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced NSCLC.
Published: 2021

8. Evaluation of BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARg alterations in different Bethesda diagnostic categories: A multicentric prospective study on the validity of the 7-gene panel test in 1172 thyroid FNAs deriving from different hospitals in South Italy

Author: Bellevicine C., Migliatico I., Sgariglia R., Nacchio M., Vigliar E., Pisapia P., Iaccarino A., Bruzzese D., Fonderico F., Salvatore D., Biondi B., Masone S., Novizio V., Scavuzzo F., Serino D., De Palma M., Chiofalo M. G., Botti G., Pezzullo L., Nuzzo V., Spiezia S., De Chiara G., Iorio S., Conzo G., Docimo G., Faggiano A., Bongiovanni M., Malapelle U., Colao A., Triassi M., Troncone G., Bellevicine, C., Migliatico, I., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., Vigliar, E., Pisapia, P., Iaccarino, A., Bruzzese, D., Fonderico, F., Salvatore, D., Biondi, B., Masone, S., Novizio, V., Scavuzzo, F., Serino, D., De Palma, M., Chiofalo, M. G., Botti, G., Pezzullo, L., Nuzzo, V., Spiezia, S., De Chiara, G., Iorio, S., Conzo, G., Docimo, G., Faggiano, A., Bongiovanni, M., Malapelle, U., Colao, A., Triassi, M., and Troncone, G.
Subjects: Adult, Male, Adolescent, Carcinogenesis, Biopsy, Fine-Needle, Clinical Decision-Making, Thyroid Gland, Risk Assessment, 7-gene test, cancer, cytopathology, fine-needle aspiration, molecular diagnostics, thyroid, Diagnosis, Differential, Young Adult, Preoperative Care, Biomarkers, Tumor, Humans, Genetic Testing, Prospective Studies, Thyroid Nodule, Child, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Patient Selection, molecular diagnostic, Middle Aged, Prognosis, Mutation, Thyroidectomy, Female
Abstract: Background: Thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a reliable and cost-effective diagnostic tool for establishing the nature of thyroid nodules, although up to 30% of FNAs are still classified as "indeterminate." Molecular testing of FNAs could improve preoperative diagnosis, thereby reducing unnecessary surgery. In this multicenter prospective study the authors investigated, using a 7-gene assay, the distribution and diagnostic impact of BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARg, the most frequent genomic alterations occurring during thyroid oncogenesis. Methods: In total, of 1172 routine FNAs from 7 centers in southern Italy were classified according to the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology. Each specimen was tested, and molecular data were compared with available histology or cytologic follow-up. Results: In particular, for atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance cases, the 7-gene test confirmed the high positive predictive value of BRAFV600E and BRAF-like mutations (80%) and the moderate positive predictive value of RAS-like alterations (32.4%), suggesting different surgical management, depending on the type of mutation. The rate of mutation-positive FNAs was strictly related to the risk of malignancy of each diagnostic class, supporting the identification of prognostically relevant diagnostic categories. Conclusions: The 7-gene panel test improves the preoperative risk stratification of indeterminate thyroid FNAs, especially when considering the biologic significance of the different types of mutations. Moreover, the rate of mutation-positive FNAs is related to the risk of malignancy of each diagnostic class. Keywords: 7-gene test; cancer; cytopathology; fine-needle aspiration; molecular diagnostics; thyroid.
Published: 2019

9. RAAS inhibitors are not associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients: findings from an observational multicenter study in Italy and a meta-analysis of 19 studies

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Mussinelli, R, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cianfrone, S, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Cozzi, O, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Lucia, M, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scoppettuolo, G, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, Iacoviello, L, De Caterina, R, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Mussinelli, Roberta, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Paolo, Ageno, Walter, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Cianfrone, Stefania, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Cozzi, Ottavia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Graziani, Emauele, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Lucia, Mothanje Barbara, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scoppettuolo, Giancarlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, Iacoviello, Licia, De Caterina, Raffaele, Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Mussinelli, R, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cianfrone, S, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Cozzi, O, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Lucia, M, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scoppettuolo, G, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, Iacoviello, L, De Caterina, R, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Mussinelli, Roberta, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Paolo, Ageno, Walter, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Cianfrone, Stefania, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Cozzi, Ottavia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Graziani, Emauele, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Lucia, Mothanje Barbara, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scoppettuolo, Giancarlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, Iacoviello, Licia, and De Caterina, Raffaele
Abstract: Objective: The hypothesis that been set forward that use of Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) inhibitors is associated with COVID-19 severity. We set-up a multicenter Italian collaboration (CORIST Project, ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04318418) to retrospectively investigate the relationship between RAAS inhibitors and COVID-19 in-hospital mortality. We also carried out an updated meta-analysis on the relevant studies. Methods: We analyzed 4,069 unselected patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalized in 34 clinical centers in Italy from February 19, 2020 to May 23, 2020. The primary end-point in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) or angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARB) with patients who did not. Articles for the meta-analysis were retrieved until July 13th, 2020 by searching in web-based libraries, and data were combined using the general variance-based method. Results: Out of 4,069 COVID-19 patients, 13.5% and 13.3% received ACE-I or ARB, respectively. Use of neither ACE-I nor ARB was associated with mortality (multivariable hazard ratio (HR) adjusted also for COVID-19 treatments: 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.77-1.20 and HR=0.89, 0.67-1.19 for ACE-I and ARB, respectively). Findings were similar restricting the analysis to hypertensive (N=2,057) patients (HR=1.00, 0.78-1.26 and HR=0.88, 0.65-1.20) or when ACE-I or ARB were considered as a single group. Results from the meta-analysis (19 studies, 29,057 COVID-19 adult patients, 9,700 with hypertension) confirmed the absence of association. Conclusions: In this observational study and meta-analysis of the literature, ACE-I or ARB use was not associated with severity or in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients.
Published: 2020

10. Common cardiovascular risk factors and in-hospital mortality in 3,894 patients with COVID-19: survival analysis and machine learning-based findings from the multicentre Italian CORIST Study

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A, Bonaccio, M, Costanzo, S, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, My, I, Menicanti, L, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abdeddaim, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Brancati, S, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Palma, G, Di Tano, G, Fantoni, M, Filippini, T, Fioretto, P, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Landi, F, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Miurri, R, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Pizzi, R, Poletti, V, Raffaelli, F, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scarafino, A, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinoni, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vezzani, F, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Costanzo, Simona, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, My, Ilaria, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Parruti, Agostino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G., Vergori, Alessandra, Abdeddaim, Amina, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Brancati, Serena, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Cannata, Francesco, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesco, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Palma, Gisella, Di Tano, Giuseppe, Fantoni, Massimo, Filippini, Tommaso, Fioretto, Paola, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Landi, Francesco, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Maccarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Miurri, Rita, Montineri, Arturo, Mussinelli, Roberta, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A., Pizzi, Roberto, Poletti, Venerino, Raffaelli, Francesca, Ravaglia, Claudia, Righetti, Giulia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scarafino, Antonio, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinoni, Enrico, Torti, Carlo, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vezzani, Francesca, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Bonaccio, M, Costanzo, S, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, My, I, Menicanti, L, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abdeddaim, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Brancati, S, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Palma, G, Di Tano, G, Fantoni, M, Filippini, T, Fioretto, P, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Landi, F, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Miurri, R, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Pizzi, R, Poletti, V, Raffaelli, F, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scarafino, A, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinoni, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vezzani, F, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Costanzo, Simona, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, My, Ilaria, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Parruti, Agostino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G., Vergori, Alessandra, Abdeddaim, Amina, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Brancati, Serena, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Cannata, Francesco, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesco, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Palma, Gisella, Di Tano, Giuseppe, Fantoni, Massimo, Filippini, Tommaso, Fioretto, Paola, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Landi, Francesco, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Maccarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Miurri, Rita, Montineri, Arturo, Mussinelli, Roberta, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A., Pizzi, Roberto, Poletti, Venerino, Raffaelli, Francesca, Ravaglia, Claudia, Righetti, Giulia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scarafino, Antonio, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinoni, Enrico, Torti, Carlo, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vezzani, Francesca, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, De Caterina, Raffaele, and Iacoviello, Licia
Abstract: Background and aims: There is poor knowledge on characteristics, comorbidities and laboratory measures associated with risk for adverse outcomes and in-hospital mortality in European Countries. We aimed at identifying baseline characteristics predisposing COVID-19 patients to in-hospital death. Methods and results: Retrospective observational study on 3894 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection hospitalized from February 19th to May 23rd, 2020 and recruited in 30 clinical centres distributed throughout Italy. Machine learning (random forest)-based and Cox survival analysis. 61.7% of participants were men (median age 67 years), followed up for a median of 13 days. In-hospital mortality exhibited a geographical gradient, Northern Italian regions featuring more than twofold higher death rates as compared to Central/Southern areas (15.6% vs 6.4%, respectively). Machine learning analysis revealed that the most important features in death classification were impaired renal function, elevated C reactive protein and advanced age. These findings were confirmed by multivariable Cox survival analysis (hazard ratio (HR): 8.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.6–14.7 for age ≥85 vs 18–44 y); HR = 4.7; 2.9–7.7 for estimated glomerular filtration rate levels <15 vs ≥ 90 mL/min/1.73 m2; HR = 2.3; 1.5–3.6 for C-reactive protein levels ≥10 vs ≤ 3 mg/L). No relation was found with obesity, tobacco use, cardiovascular disease and related-comorbidities. The associations between these variables and mortality were substantially homogenous across all sub-groups analyses. Conclusions: Impaired renal function, elevated C-reactive protein and advanced age were major predictors of in-hospital death in a large cohort of unselected patients with COVID-19, admitted to 30 different clinical centres all over Italy.
Published: 2020

11. Common cardiovascular risk factors and in-hospital mortality in 3,894 patients with COVID-19: survival analysis and machine learning-based findings from the multicentre Italian CORIST Study

Author: Di Castelnuovo, A., Bonaccio, M., Costanzo, S., Gialluisi, A., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bruno, Rosa Anna, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, G., My, I., Menicanti, L., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Abdeddaim, A., Ageno, W., Agodi, A., Agostoni, P., Aiello, L., Al Moghazi, S., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Bartoloni, A., Bologna, C., Bonfanti, P., Brancati, S., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Cannata, F., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Crisetti, A., Crosta, F., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., De Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, F., Di Palma, G., Di Tano, G., Fantoni, Massimo, Filippini, T., Fioretto, P., Fusco, F. M., Gentile, I., Grisafi, L., Guarnieri, G., Landi, Francesco, Larizza, G., Leone, A., Maccagni, G., Maccarella, S., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marcucci, R., Maresca, G., Marotta, C., Marra, L., Mastroianni, F., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Milic, J., Murri, Rita, Montineri, A., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Pasi, E., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Pizzi, R., Poletti, V., Raffaelli, Francesca, Ravaglia, C., Righetti, G., Rognoni, A., Rossato, M., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scarafino, A., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinoni, E., Torti, C., Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vezzani, F., Veronesi, G., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., De Caterina, R., Iacoviello, L., Bruno R., Cauda R. (ORCID:0000-0002-1498-4229), Cingolani A. (ORCID:0000-0002-3793-2755), de Gaetano Donati K., Fantoni M. (ORCID:0000-0001-6913-8460), Landi F. (ORCID:0000-0002-3472-1389), Murri R. (ORCID:0000-0003-4263-7854), Raffaelli F., Trecarichi E. M., Di Castelnuovo, A., Bonaccio, M., Costanzo, S., Gialluisi, A., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bruno, Rosa Anna, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, G., My, I., Menicanti, L., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Abdeddaim, A., Ageno, W., Agodi, A., Agostoni, P., Aiello, L., Al Moghazi, S., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Bartoloni, A., Bologna, C., Bonfanti, P., Brancati, S., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Cannata, F., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Crisetti, A., Crosta, F., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., De Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, F., Di Palma, G., Di Tano, G., Fantoni, Massimo, Filippini, T., Fioretto, P., Fusco, F. M., Gentile, I., Grisafi, L., Guarnieri, G., Landi, Francesco, Larizza, G., Leone, A., Maccagni, G., Maccarella, S., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marcucci, R., Maresca, G., Marotta, C., Marra, L., Mastroianni, F., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Milic, J., Murri, Rita, Montineri, A., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Pasi, E., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Pizzi, R., Poletti, V., Raffaelli, Francesca, Ravaglia, C., Righetti, G., Rognoni, A., Rossato, M., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scarafino, A., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinoni, E., Torti, C., Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vezzani, F., Veronesi, G., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., De Caterina, R., Iacoviello, L., Bruno R., Cauda R. (ORCID:0000-0002-1498-4229), Cingolani A. (ORCID:0000-0002-3793-2755), de Gaetano Donati K., Fantoni M. (ORCID:0000-0001-6913-8460), Landi F. (ORCID:0000-0002-3472-1389), Murri R. (ORCID:0000-0003-4263-7854), Raffaelli F., and Trecarichi E. M.
Abstract: Background and aims: There is poor knowledge on characteristics, comorbidities and laboratory measures associated with risk for adverse outcomes and in-hospital mortality in European Countries. We aimed at identifying baseline characteristics predisposing COVID-19 patients to in-hospital death. Methods and results: Retrospective observational study on 3894 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection hospitalized from February 19th to May 23rd, 2020 and recruited in 30 clinical centres distributed throughout Italy. Machine learning (random forest)-based and Cox survival analysis. 61.7% of participants were men (median age 67 years), followed up for a median of 13 days. In-hospital mortality exhibited a geographical gradient, Northern Italian regions featuring more than twofold higher death rates as compared to Central/Southern areas (15.6% vs 6.4%, respectively). Machine learning analysis revealed that the most important features in death classification were impaired renal function, elevated C reactive protein and advanced age. These findings were confirmed by multivariable Cox survival analysis (hazard ratio (HR): 8.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.6–14.7 for age ≥85 vs 18–44 y); HR = 4.7; 2.9–7.7 for estimated glomerular filtration rate levels <15 vs ≥ 90 mL/min/1.73 m2; HR = 2.3; 1.5–3.6 for C-reactive protein levels ≥10 vs ≤ 3 mg/L). No relation was found with obesity, tobacco use, cardiovascular disease and related-comorbidities. The associations between these variables and mortality were substantially homogenous across all sub-groups analyses. Conclusions: Impaired renal function, elevated C-reactive protein and advanced age were major predictors of in-hospital death in a large cohort of unselected patients with COVID-19, admitted to 30 different clinical centres all over Italy.
Published: 2020

12. Different qualifiers of AUS/FLUS thyroid FNA have distinct BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARg alterations

Author: Bellevicine C, Sgariglia R, Migliatico I, Vigliar E, D'Anna M, Nacchio MA, Serra N, Malapelle U, Bongiovanni M, Troncone G., Bellevicine, C, Sgariglia, R, Migliatico, I, Vigliar, E, D'Anna, M, Nacchio, Ma, Serra, N, Malapelle, U, Bongiovanni, M, and Troncone, G.
Abstract: Background: The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology category of atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) includes fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimens that cannot straightforwardly be classified as benign or malignant. To determine whether morphological subcategorization based on atypia qualifiers and molecular testing could improve malignancy risk stratification of AUS/FLUS patients, this study assessed the correlation between these qualifiers and the molecular alterations commonly harbored by thyroid neoplasms. Methods: A total of 162 AUS/FLUS cases were subcategorized by atypia qualifiers (Hürthle cell changes, architectural atypia, and cytologic atypia [CyA]) and were tested for BRAF, N-H-KRAS, RET/PTC, and paired box 8 (PAX8)/peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARg) mutations. Results: CyA was observed more frequently in mutation-positive AUS/FLUS (14 of 37 [37.84%]) than mutation-negative AUS/FLUS (20 of 125 [16.00%]; P < .0084), and it specifically harbored the BRAFV600E point mutation. Malignancy was confirmed in the available follow-up. Conversely, although RAS was the most frequent mutation identified in AUS/FLUS FNA specimens (26 of 37 cases [70.27%]; P < .0001), it was distributed across various AUS/FLUS subcategories and was not significantly associated with a specific atypia qualifier or malignant outcome according to the available follow-up. Rearrangements of both RET/PTC (n = 1) and PAX8/PPARg (n = 3) were rarely retrieved in the FNA samples. Conclusions: BRAF and RAS mutations are associated with different AUS/FLUS qualifiers and hence have different risks of malignancy. Consequently, a hybrid molecular and morphological subcategorization system could improve the malignancy risk stratification of thyroid FNA samples diagnosed as AUS/FLUS. Cancer Cytopathol 2018;126:317-25. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
Published: 2018

13. Cell free DNA analysis by SiRe® next generation sequencing panel in non small cell lung cancer patients: focus on basal setting

Author: PISAPIA, PASQUALE, Pepe F, Smeraglio, Riccardo, Russo M, Rocco D, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, De Luca C, Vigliar E, Bellevicine C, Troncone G, Malapelle U., Pisapia, Pasquale, Pepe, F, Smeraglio, Riccardo, Russo, M, Rocco, D, Sgariglia, R, Nacchio, M, De Luca, C, Vigliar, E, Bellevicine, C, Troncone, G, and Malapelle, U.
Abstract: Background: Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is diagnosed in most cases on small tissue samples, such as cytological preparations and histological biopsies; these limited tissue specimens may be not always sufficient for testing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and other relevant predictive biomarkers. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) can be used as a surrogate for EGFR mutational testing, whenever tissue is unavailable. However, the detection of gene mutations on cfDNA is challenging; in fact, the extremely low concentration of circulating tumor DNA requires the implementation of highly sensitive and validated next generation techniques. Methods: Thus, we have recently validated a novel next generation sequencing (NGS) assay, employing the SiRe® gene panel to detect on cfDNA mutations of EGFR and KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, cKIT and PDGFR genes. In this current study, we report on a series of NSCLC patients, without available tissue for EGFR testing, who prospectively underwent SiRe® NGS analysis. Results: The results confirm the high clinical performance, in terms of success rate and mutation detection, of NGS based analysis of cfDNA. Conclusions: SiRe® NGS panel represent an effective diagnostic tool in cfDNA analysis setting.
Published: 2017

14. KRAS Mutant Allele Specific Imbalance (MASI) assessment in routine samples of metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Author: MALAPELLE, UMBERTO, Sgariglia R, DE STEFANO, ALFONSO, BELLEVICINE, CLAUDIO, Vigliar E, de Biase D, Sepe R, PALLANTE, PIERLORENZO, CARLOMAGNO, Chiara, Tallini G, TRONCONE, GIANCARLO, Malapelle, Umberto, Sgariglia, R, DE STEFANO, Alfonso, Bellevicine, Claudio, Vigliar, E, de Biase, D, Sepe, R, Pallante, Pierlorenzo, Carlomagno, Chiara, Tallini, G, and Troncone, Giancarlo
Subjects: KRAS mutation, colorectal cancer, Mutant Allele Specific Imbalance
Abstract: AIMS: Patients with colorectal cancer harbouring KRAS mutations do not respond to antiepidermal growth factor receptor (anti-EGFR) therapy. Community screening for KRAS mutation selects patients for treatment. When a KRAS mutation is identified by direct sequencing, mutant and wild type alleles are seen on the sequencing electropherograms. KRAS mutant allele-specific imbalance (MASI) occurs when the mutant allele peak is higher than the wild type one. The aims of this study were to verify the rate and tissue distribution of KRAS MASI as well as its clinical relevance. METHODS: A total of 437 sequencing electropherograms showing KRAS exon 2 mutation was reviewed and in 30 cases next generation sequencing (NGS) was also carried out. Five primary tumours were extensively laser capture microdissected to investigated KRAS MASI tissue spatial distribution. KRAS MASI influence on the overall survival was evaluated in 58 patients. In vitro response to anti-EGFR therapy in relation to different G13D KRAS MASI status was also evaluated. RESULTS: On the overall, KRAS MASI occurred in 58/436 cases (12.8%), being more frequently associated with G13D mutation (p=0.05) and having a heterogeneous tissue distribution. KRAS MASI detection by Sanger Sequencing and NGS showed 94% (28/30) concordance. The longer overall survival of KRAS MASI negative patients did not reach statistical significance (p=0.08). In cell line model G13D KRAS MASI conferred resistance to cetuximab treatment. CONCLUSIONS: KRAS MASI is a significant event in colorectal cancer, specifically associated with G13D mutation, and featuring a heterogeneous spatial distribution, that may have a role to predict the response to EGFR inhibitors. The foreseen implementation of NGS in community KRAS testing may help to define KRAS MASI prognostic and predictive significance.
Published: 2015

15. SIMULTANEOUS VULVAR AND PARENCHIMAL BRAIN LANGERHANS CELL HISTIOCYTOSIS: ASSOCIATION OR COINCIDENCE?

Author: Palmieri, G, Ottaviano, M, Damiano, V, Tucci, I, De Luca, C, Sgariglia, R, Troncone, G., INSABATO, LUIGI, MALAPELLE, UMBERTO, Palmieri, G, Ottaviano, M, Damiano, V, Tucci, I, Insabato, Luigi, Malapelle, Umberto, De Luca, C, Sgariglia, R, and Troncone, G.
Published: 2015

16. UbcH10 expression can predict prognosis and sensitivity to the antineoplastic treatment for colorectal cancer patients

Author: Cacciola NA1, Calabrese C, Malapelle U, Pellino G, De Stefano A, Sepe R, Sgariglia R, Quintavalle C, Federico A, Bianco A, Uchimura Bastos A, Milone M, Bellevicine C, Milone F, Carlomagno C, Selvaggi F, Troncone G, Fusco A, and Pallante P.
Subjects: KRAS, UbcH10, cetuximab, colorectal cancer, irinotecan, Cetuximab, Irinotecan, neoplasms, Colorectal cancer, digestive system diseases
Abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent and deadly malignancies worldwide. Despite the progresses made in diagnosis and treatment, the identification of tumor markers is still a strong clinical need, because current treatments are efficacious only in a subgroup of patients. UbcH10 represents a potential candidate biomarker, whose expression levels could be employed to predict response or resistance to chemotherapy or targeted agents. UbcH10 mRNA and protein expression levels have been evaluated in a large group of CRC patients and correlated with clinico-pathological characteristics, including KRAS mutations. Moreover, the endogenous levels of UbcH10 and its role on cell growth have been evaluated in CRC cells. Finally, to investigate the impact of UbcH10 protein expression on the response to irinotecan, its active metabolite SN-38 and cetuximab treatment, UbcH10 silencing experiments were carried-out on two colon carcinoma cell lines, Caco-2, and DLD1. Overexpression of UbcH10 mRNA and protein was observed in the vast majority of patients analyzed. UbcH10 suppression decreased CRC cell growth rate (at least in part through deregulation of Cyclin B and ERK1) and sensitized them to pharmacological treatments with irinotecan, SN-38 and cetuximab (at least in part through a down-regulation of AKT). Taken together, these findings indicate that UbcH10 expression regulates CRC growth and could play an important role in the personalization of the therapy of CRC patients. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published: 2016

17. The development of a narrow target gene panel makes next generation sequencing effective for circulating free DNA analysis

Author: Malapelle, U., primary, Mayo, C., additional, Rocco, D., additional, Garzon, M., additional, Pisapia, P., additional, Sgariglia, R., additional, De Luca, C., additional, Ariza, N.J., additional, Pepe, F., additional, Espinosa, D.M., additional, Bueno, A.M., additional, González-Cao, M., additional, Karachaliou, N., additional, Viteri, S., additional, Vila, M.A. Molina, additional, Rosell, R., additional, and Troncone, G., additional
Published: 2016
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18. Heparin in COVID-19 patients is associated with reduced in-hospital mortality: the multicentre Italian CORIST Study

Author: Walter Ageno, Raffaele Pesavento, Marinella Astuto, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Francesca Santilli, Filippo Aucella, Eleonora Taddei, Marianna Meschiari, Laura Scorzolini, Biagio Pinchera, Giustino Parruti, Licia Iacoviello, Andrea Vianello, Gabriella Guarnieri, Arturo Montineri, Crizia Colombo, Carlo Signorelli, Lorenzo Blandi, Raffaele De Caterina, Maria Musso, Francesco Petri, Stefano Maitan, Anna Odone, Lucia Caiano, Francesca Crosta, Lorenzo Marra, Giuseppe Patti, Emanuela Pasi, Jovana Milic, Marco Olivieri, Claudia Colomba, Francesco Maria Fusco, Claudia Ravaglia, Alexandra Virano, Carlo Torti, Samir Al Moghazi, Venerino Poletti, Riccardo Maragna, Carlo Sanrocco, Sandro Mancarella, Greta Barbieri, Arturo Ciccullo, Leonardo Grisafi, Paola Simeone, Lorenzo Menicanti, Antonella Palimodde, Gloria Maccagni, Alessandra Vergori, Daniela Niola, Marco G. Mennuni, Gianpiero D'Offizi, Claudia Marotta, Damiano D'Ardes, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Paolo Bonfanti, Giovanni Larizza, Francesco Di Gennaro, Alessandro Mengozzi, Massimo Mapelli, Giuseppe Di Tano, Laura Carrozzi, Antonella Agodi, Francesco Menichetti, Marialaura Bonaccio, Andrea Antinori, Marco Vinceti, Armando Leone, Franco Mastroianni, Silvia Marongiu, Filippo Minutolo, Giulio Maresca, Beatrice Molena, Nausicaa Berselli, Francesco Cipollone, Massimo Fantoni, Antonella Cingolani, Giovanni Guaraldi, Raffaella Sgariglia, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Antonio Cascio, Maria Mazzitelli, Roberta Parisi, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Gian Battista Danzi, Luca Aiello, Roberto Vettor, Elvira Grandone, Laura Vocciante, Emauele Graziani, Cristina Mussini, Marianna Rossi, Marco Rossato, Roberto Cauda, Rosa Arboretti, Alessandro Bartoloni, Simona Costanzo, Francesco Gianfagna, Andrea Rognoni, Ferruccio Madaro, Rossella Marcucci, Pasquale Abete, Francesco Cacciatore, Ivan Gentile, Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fantoni, M, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gianfagna, F, Grandone, E, Graziani, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Montineri, A, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Niola, D, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Parisi, R, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Taddei, E, Torti, C, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Danzi, G. B, De Gaetano Donati, K, Fusco, F. M, Simeone, P. G, Iacoviello, L., Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Pasquale, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Astuto, Marinella, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fantoni, Massimo, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Gianfagna, Francesco, Grandone, Elvira, Graziani, Emauele, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Montineri, Arturo, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Niola, Daniela, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Parisi, Roberta, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Taddei, Eleonora, Torti, Carlo, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo A., Costanzo S., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bonaccio M., Cauda R., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., Mennuni M., Parruti G., Patti G., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Vergori A., Abete P., Ageno W., Agodi A., Agostoni P., Aiello L., Al Moghazi S., Arboretti R., Astuto M., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Bartoloni A., Bonfanti P., Cacciatore F., Caiano L., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Ciccullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Colombo C., Crosta F., Danzi G.B., D'Ardes D., De Gaetano Donati K., Di Gennaro F., Di Tano G., D'Offizi G., Fantoni M., Fusco F.M., Gentile I., Gianfagna F., Grandone E., Graziani E., Grisafi L., Guarnieri G., Larizza G., Leone A., MacCagni G., Madaro F., Maitan S., Mancarella S., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marcucci R., Maresca G., Marongiu S., Marotta C., Marra L., Mastroianni F., Mazzitelli M., Mengozzi A., Menichetti F., Meschiari M., Milic J., Minutolo F., Molena B., Montineri A., Mussini C., Musso M., Niola D., Odone A., Olivieri M., Palimodde A., Parisi R., Pasi E., Pesavento R., Petri F., Pinchera B., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Rognoni A., Rossato M., Rossi M., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P.G., Taddei E., Torti C., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Virano A., Vocciante L., De Caterina R., and Iacoviello L.
Subjects: Male, medicine.medical_specialty, Settore MED/17 - Malattie Infettive, coronavirus, heparin, 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, Lower risk, law.invention, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Randomized controlled trial, law, Internal medicine, Clinical endpoint, medicine, Humans, Thrombophilia, 030212 general & internal medicine, Hospital Mortality, Blood Coagulation, Survival analysis, Aged, Retrospective Studies, treatment, business.industry, Heparin, Mortality rate, COVID-19,mortality, Low-Molecular-Weight, Anticoagulants, COVID-19, Retrospective cohort study, Hematology, Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight, Middle Aged, mortality, Survival Analysis, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, coagulation activation, coronaviru, Italy, treatments, Propensity score matching, Female, business, medicine.drug
Abstract: Introduction A hypercoagulable condition was described in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and proposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism contributing to disease progression and lethality. Aim We evaluated if in-hospital administration of heparin improved survival in a large cohort of Italian COVID-19 patients. Methods In a retrospective observational study, 2,574 unselected patients hospitalized in 30 clinical centers in Italy from February 19, 2020 to June 5, 2020 with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection were analyzed. The primary endpoint in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received heparin (low-molecular-weight heparin [LMWH] or unfractionated heparin [UFH]) with patients who did not. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models with inverse probability for treatment weighting by propensity scores. Results Out of 2,574 COVID-19 patients, 70.1% received heparin. LMWH was largely the most used formulation (99.5%). Death rates for patients receiving heparin or not were 7.4 and 14.0 per 1,000 person-days, respectively. After adjustment for propensity scores, we found a 40% lower risk of death in patients receiving heparin (hazard ratio = 0.60; 95% confidence interval: 0.49–0.74; E-value = 2.04). This association was particularly evident in patients with a higher severity of disease or strong coagulation activation. Conclusion In-hospital heparin treatment was associated with a lower mortality, particularly in severely ill COVID-19 patients and in those with strong coagulation activation. The results from randomized clinical trials are eagerly awaited to provide clear-cut recommendations.
Published: 2021

19. Disentangling the Association of Hydroxychloroquine Treatment with Mortality in Covid-19 Hospitalized Patients through Hierarchical Clustering

Author: Anna Sabena, Gabriele Giuliano, Raffaele Bruno, Francesco Cacciatore, Carlo Torti, Silvia Marongiu, Gloria Maccagni, Claudia Marotta, Giovanni Larizza, Francesco Petri, Massimo Mapelli, Giulio Maresca, Giulia Righetti, Alessandra Vergori, Ilaria Rossi, Damiano D'Ardes, Nicola Schiano Moriello, Ivan Gentile, Enrica Tamburrini, Luca Aiello, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Antonio Cascio, Jovana Milic, Carlo Andrea Pivato, Agostino Virdis, Stefano Maitan, Francesco Cannata, Simona Costanzo, Carlo Signorelli, Franco Mastroianni, Federica Magni, Crizia Colombo, Giulio G. Stefanini, Lucia Caiano, Francesca Crosta, Lorenzo Marra, Giuseppe Patti, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Valerio Langella, Annalisa Crisetti, Filippo Aucella, Antonella Cingolani, Francesco Salinaro, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Giacomo Castiglione, Alessandro Gialluisi, Anna Odone, Cristina Mussini, Samir Al Moghazi, Lorenzo Blandi, Maria Musso, Marialaura Bonaccio, Raffaele De Caterina, Marco Olivieri, Roberto Cauda, Emanuela Pasi, Arturo Ciccullo, Stefano Perlini, Claudia Colomba, Antonella Palimodde, Gianpiero D'Offizi, Marco G. Mennuni, Walter Ageno, Raffaele Pesavento, Rosa Manuele, Roberta Mussinelli, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Paolo Bonfanti, Andrea Antinori, Francesco Gianfagna, Andrea Rognoni, Laura Scorzolini, Riccardo Maragna, Rossella Marcucci, Filippo Minutolo, Armando Leone, Giustino Parruti, Licia Iacoviello, Lorenzo Menicanti, Sandro Mancarella, Rosa Arboretti, Greta Barbieri, Carlo Gaudiosi, Marco Rossato, Claudia Ravaglia, Andrea Vianello, Marianna Rossi, Emauele Graziani, Martina Barchitta, Giovanni Guaraldi, Enrico Maria Trecarichi, Gian Battista Danzi, Francesco Cipollone, Carlo Sanrocco, Marco Vinceti, Francesca Santilli, Marianna Meschiari, Gabriella Guarnieri, Antonella Agodi, Roberto Vettor, Raffaella Sgariglia, Ilaria My, Francesco Di Gennaro, Alessandro Mengozzi, Giuseppe Di Tano, Laura Carrozzi, Michele Spinicci, Venerino Poletti, Paola Simeone, Nausicaa Berselli, Francesco Maria Fusco, Di Castelnuovo A., Gialluisi A., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bonaccio M., Bruno R., Cauda R., Costanzo S., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., Mennuni M., My I., Parruti G., Patti G., Perlini S., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Stefanini G., Vergori A., Ageno W., Agodi A., Agostoni P., Aiello L., Moghazi S.A., Arboretti R., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Barchitta M., Bonfanti P., Cacciatore F., Caiano L., Cannata F., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Castiglione G., Cicullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Colombo C., Crisetti A., Crosta F., Danzi G.B., D'Ardes D., de Gaetano Donati K., Di Gennaro F., Di Tano G., D'Offizi G., Fusco F.M., Gaudiosi C., Gentile I., Gianfagna F., Giuliano G., Graziani E., Guarnieri G., Langella V., Larizza G., Leone A., Maccagni G., Magni F., Maitan S., Mancarella S., Manuele R., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marcucci R., Maresca G., Marongiu S., Marotta C., Marra L., Mastroianni F., Mengozzi A., Meschiari M., Milic J., Minutolo F., Mussinelli R., Mussini C., Musso M., Odone A., Olivieri M., Palimodde A., Pasi E., Pesavento R., Petri F., Pivato C.A., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Righetti G., Rognoni A., Rossato M., Rossi I., Rossi M., Sabena A., Salinaro F., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Moriello N.S., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P.G., Spinicci M., Tamburrini E., Torti C., Trecarichi E.M., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Virdis A., de Caterina R., Iacoviello L., Di Castelnuovo, A, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Costanzo, S, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cicullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gianfagna1, F, Giuliano, G, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Langella, V, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Magni, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Schiano Moriello, N, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Tamburrini, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virdis, A, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, A., Gialluisi, A., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bonaccio, M., Bruno, R., Cauda, R., Costanzo, S., Guaraldi, G., Menicanti, L., Mennuni, M., My, I., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G., Vergori, A., Ageno, W., Agodi, A., Agostoni, P., Aiello, L., Moghazi, S. A., Arboretti, R., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Barchitta, M., Bonfanti, P., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Cannata, F., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Castiglione, G., Cicullo, A., Cingolani, A., Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Colombo, C., Crisetti, A., Crosta, F., Danzi, G. B., D’Ardes, D., de Gaetano Donati, K., Di Gennaro, F., Di Tano, G., D’Offizi, G., Fusco, F. M., Gaudiosi, C., Gentile, I., Gianfagna, F., Giuliano, G., Graziani, E., Guarnieri, G., Langella, V., Larizza, G., Leone, A., Maccagni, G., Magni, F., Maitan, S., Mancarella, S., Manuele, R., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marcucci, R., Maresca, G., Marongiu, S., Marotta, C., Marra, L., Mastroianni, F., Mengozzi, A., Meschiari, M., Milic, J., Minutolo, F., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Palimodde, A., Pasi, E., Pesavento, R., Petri, F., Pivato, C. A., Poletti, V., Ravaglia, C., Righetti, G., Rognoni, A., Rossato, M., Rossi, I., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Moriello, N. S., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinicci, M., Tamburrini, E., Torti, C., Trecarichi, E. M., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., Virdis, A., de Caterina, R., and Iacoviello, L.
Subjects: Male, Medicine (General), Antimalarial, 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, Severity of Illness Index, Hospital Mortality, 0302 clinical medicine, Retrospective Studie, 80 and over, Cluster Analysis, 030212 general & internal medicine, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antimalarials, COVID-19, Female, Humans, Hydroxychloroquine, Italy, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment Outcome, Biotechnology, medicine.drug, Research Article, medicine.medical_specialty, Article Subject, Biomedical Engineering, Renal function, Health Informatics, 03 medical and health sciences, R5-920, Internal medicine, Diabetes mellitus, Severity of illness, medicine, Medical technology, R855-855.5, Cluster Analysi, business.industry, Cancer, Retrospective cohort study, medicine.disease, Obesity, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, Surgery, Observational study, business
Abstract: The efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treating SARS-CoV-2 infection is harshly debated, with observational and experimental studies reporting contrasting results. To clarify the role of HCQ in Covid-19 patients, we carried out a retrospective observational study of 4,396 unselected patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in Italy (February–May 2020). Patients’ characteristics were collected at entry, including age, sex, obesity, smoking status, blood parameters, history of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and chronic pulmonary diseases, and medications in use. These were used to identify subtypes of patients with similar characteristics through hierarchical clustering based on Gower distance. Using multivariable Cox regressions, these clusters were then tested for association with mortality and modification of effect by treatment with HCQ. We identified two clusters, one of 3,913 younger patients with lower circulating inflammation levels and better renal function, and one of 483 generally older and more comorbid subjects, more prevalently men and smokers. The latter group was at increased death risk adjusted by HCQ (HR[CI95%] = 3.80[3.08-4.67]), while HCQ showed an independent inverse association (0.51[0.43-0.61]), as well as a significant influence of cluster∗HCQ interaction ( p < 0.001 ). This was driven by a differential association of HCQ with mortality between the high (0.89[0.65-1.22]) and the low risk cluster (0.46[0.39-0.54]). These effects survived adjustments for additional medications in use and were concordant with associations with disease severity and outcome. These findings suggest a particularly beneficial effect of HCQ within low risk Covid-19 patients and may contribute to clarifying the current controversy on HCQ efficacy in Covid-19 treatment.
Published: 2021
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20. Lopinavir/ritonavir and darunavir/cobicistat in hospitalized covid-19 patients: Findings from the multicenter italian corist study

Author: Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Simona Costanzo, Andrea Antinori, Nausicaa Berselli, Lorenzo Blandi, Marialaura Bonaccio, Raffaele Bruno, Roberto Cauda, Alessandro Gialluisi, Giovanni Guaraldi, Lorenzo Menicanti, Marco Mennuni, Ilaria My, Agostino Parruti, Giuseppe Patti, Stefano Perlini, Francesca Santilli, Carlo Signorelli, Giulio G. Stefanini, Alessandra Vergori, Walter Ageno, Luca Aiello, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Samir Al Moghazi, Rosa Arboretti, Filippo Aucella, Greta Barbieri, Martina Barchitta, Alessandro Bartoloni, Carolina Bologna, Paolo Bonfanti, Lucia Caiano, Laura Carrozzi, Antonio Cascio, Giacomo Castiglione, Mauro Chiarito, Arturo Ciccullo, Antonella Cingolani, Francesco Cipollone, Claudia Colomba, Crizia Colombo, Francesco Crosta, Giovanni Dalena, Chiara Dal Pra, Gian Battista Danzi, Damiano D'Ardes, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Francesco Di Gennaro, Giuseppe Di Tano, Gianpiero D'Offizi, Tommaso Filippini, Francesco Maria Fusco, Carlo Gaudiosi, Ivan Gentile, Giancarlo Gini, Elvira Grandone, Gabriella Guarnieri, Gennaro L. F. Lamanna, Giovanni Larizza, Armando Leone, Veronica Lio, Angela Raffaella Losito, Gloria Maccagni, Stefano Maitan, Sandro Mancarella, Rosa Manuele, Massimo Mapelli, Riccardo Maragna, Lorenzo Marra, Giulio Maresca, Claudia Marotta, Franco Mastroianni, Maria Mazzitelli, Alessandro Mengozzi, Francesco Menichetti, Jovana Milic, Filippo Minutolo, Beatrice Molena, R. Mussinelli, Cristina Mussini, Maria Musso, Anna Odone, Marco Olivieri, Emanuela Pasi, Annalisa Perroni, Francesco Petri, Biagio Pinchera, Carlo A. Pivato, Venerino Poletti, Claudia Ravaglia, Marco Rossato, Marianna Rossi, Anna Sabena, Francesco Salinaro, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Carlo Sanrocco, Laura Scorzolini, Raffaella Sgariglia, Paola Giustina Simeone, Michele Spinicci, Enrico Maria Trecarichi, Giovanni Veronesi, Roberto Vettor, Andrea Vianello, Marco Vinceti, Elena Visconti, Laura Vocciante, Raffaele De Caterina, Licia Iacoviello, The COVID-19 RISK and Treatments (CORIST) Collaboration, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Agostino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Ageno, Walter, Aiello, Luca, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Chiarito, Mauro, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Crosta, Francesco, Dalena, Giovanni, Dal Pra, Chiara, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Filippini, Tommaso, Maria Fusco, Francesco, Gaudiosi, Carlo, Gentile, Ivan, Gini, Giancarlo, Grandone, Elvira, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Lamanna, Gennaro L F, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Losito, Angela Raffaella, Maccagni, Gloria, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marra, Lorenzo, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Perroni, Annalisa, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Spinicci, Michele, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Visconti, Elena, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, My, I, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Chiarito, M, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Crosta, F, Dalena, G, Dal Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Maria Fusco, F, Gaudiosi, C, Gentile, I, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Guarnieri, G, Lamanna, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Losito, A, Maccagni, G, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Perroni, A, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Visconti, E, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, Iacoviello, L, Di Castelnuovo, A., Costanzo, S., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bonaccio, M., Bruno, R., Cauda, R., Gialluisi, A., Guaraldi, G., Menicanti, L., Mennuni, M., My, I., Parruti, A., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Ageno, W., Aiello, L., Agostoni, P., Moghazi, S. A., Arboretti, R., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Barchitta, M., Bartoloni, A., Bologna, C., Bonfanti, P., Caiano, L., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Castiglione, G., Chiarito, M., Ciccullo, A., Cingolani, A., Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Colombo, C., Crosta, F., Dalena, G., Dal Pra, C., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., Donati, K. G., Di Gennaro, F., Di Tano, G., D'Offizi, G., Filippini, T., Fusco, F. M., Gaudiosi, C., Gentile, I., Gini, G., Grandone, E., Guarnieri, G., Lamanna, G. L. F., Larizza, G., Leone, A., Lio, V., Losito, A. R., Maccagni, G., Maitan, S., Mancarella, S., Manuele, R., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marra, L., Maresca, G., Marotta, C., Mastroianni, F., Mazzitelli, M., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Milic, J., Minutolo, F., Molena, B., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Pasi, E., Perroni, A., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Poletti, V., Ravaglia, C., Rossato, M., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinicci, M., Trecarichi, E. M., Veronesi, G., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., Visconti, E., Vocciante, L., Caterina, R. D., Iacoviello, L., Di Castelnuovo A., Costanzo S., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bonaccio M., Bruno R., Cauda R., Gialluisi A., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., Mennuni M., My I., Parruti A., Patti G., Perlini S., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Stefanini G.G., Vergori A., Ageno W., Aiello L., Agostoni P., Moghazi S.A., Arboretti R., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Barchitta M., Bartoloni A., Bologna C., Bonfanti P., Caiano L., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Castiglione G., Chiarito M., Ciccullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Colombo C., Crosta F., Dalena G., Dal Pra C., Danzi G.B., D'ardes D., Donati K.G., Di Gennaro F., Di Tano G., D'offizi G., Filippini T., Fusco F.M., Gaudiosi C., Gentile I., Gini G., Grandone E., Guarnieri G., Lamanna G.L.F., Larizza G., Leone A., Lio V., Losito A.R., Maccagni G., Maitan S., Mancarella S., Manuele R., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marra L., Maresca G., Marotta C., Mastroianni F., Mazzitelli M., Mengozzi A., Menichetti F., Milic J., Minutolo F., Molena B., Mussinelli R., Mussini C., Musso M., Odone A., Olivieri M., Pasi E., Perroni A., Petri F., Pinchera B., Pivato C.A., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Rossato M., Rossi M., Sabena A., Salinaro F., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P.G., Spinicci M., Trecarichi E.M., Veronesi G., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Visconti E., Vocciante L., Caterina R.D., and Iacoviello L.
Subjects: Medicine (General), medicine.medical_specialty, Lopinavir/ritonavir, Lopinavir, R5-920, Internal medicine, medicine, Darunavir, Original Research, COVID-19, In-hospital mortality, SARS-CoV-2, darunavir, in-hospital mortality, lopinavir, business.industry, Cobicistat, Mortality rate, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Propensity score matching, Medicine, Ritonavir, business, medicine.drug, Kidney disease
Abstract: Background: Protease inhibitors have been considered as possible therapeutic agents for COVID-19 patients.Objectives: To describe the association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or darunavir/cobicistat (DRV/c) use and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients.Study Design: Multicenter observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted in 33 Italian hospitals. Medications, preexisting conditions, clinical measures, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients were retrospectively divided in three groups, according to use of LPV/r, DRV/c or none of them. Primary outcome in a time-to event analysis was death. We used Cox proportional-hazards models with inverse probability of treatment weighting by multinomial propensity scores.Results: Out of 3,451 patients, 33.3% LPV/r and 13.9% received DRV/c. Patients receiving LPV/r or DRV/c were more likely younger, men, had higher C-reactive protein levels while less likely had hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary or kidney disease. After adjustment for propensity scores, LPV/r use was not associated with mortality (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13), whereas treatment with DRV/c was associated with a higher death risk (HR = 1.89, 1.53 to 2.34, E-value = 2.43). This increased risk was more marked in women, in elderly, in patients with higher severity of COVID-19 and in patients receiving other COVID-19 drugs.Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a real-life setting, the use of LPV/r treatment did not change death rate, while DRV/c was associated with increased mortality. Within the limits of an observational study, these data do not support the use of LPV/r or DRV/c in COVID-19 patients.
Published: 2021

21. Common cardiovascular risk factors and in-hospital mortality in 3,894 patients with COVID-19: survival analysis and machine learning-based findings from the multicentre Italian CORIST Study

Author: Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Marialaura Bonaccio, Simona Costanzo, Alessandro Gialluisi, Andrea Antinori, Nausicaa Berselli, Lorenzo Blandi, Raffaele Bruno, Roberto Cauda, Giovanni Guaraldi, Ilaria My, Lorenzo Menicanti, Giustino Parruti, Giuseppe Patti, Stefano Perlini, Francesca Santilli, Carlo Signorelli, Giulio G. Stefanini, Alessandra Vergori, Amina Abdeddaim, Walter Ageno, Antonella Agodi, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Luca Aiello, Samir Al Moghazi, Filippo Aucella, Greta Barbieri, Alessandro Bartoloni, Carolina Bologna, Paolo Bonfanti, Serena Brancati, Francesco Cacciatore, Lucia Caiano, Francesco Cannata, Laura Carrozzi, Antonio Cascio, Antonella Cingolani, Francesco Cipollone, Claudia Colomba, Annalisa Crisetti, Francesca Crosta, Gian B. Danzi, Damiano D'Ardes, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Francesco Di Gennaro, Gisella Di Palma, Giuseppe Di Tano, Massimo Fantoni, Tommaso Filippini, Paola Fioretto, Francesco M. Fusco, Ivan Gentile, Leonardo Grisafi, Gabriella Guarnieri, Francesco Landi, Giovanni Larizza, Armando Leone, Gloria Maccagni, Sandro Maccarella, Massimo Mapelli, Riccardo Maragna, Rossella Marcucci, Giulio Maresca, Claudia Marotta, Lorenzo Marra, Franco Mastroianni, Alessandro Mengozzi, Francesco Menichetti, Jovana Milic, Rita Murri, Arturo Montineri, Roberta Mussinelli, Cristina Mussini, Maria Musso, Anna Odone, Marco Olivieri, Emanuela Pasi, Francesco Petri, Biagio Pinchera, Carlo A. Pivato, Roberto Pizzi, Venerino Poletti, Francesca Raffaelli, Claudia Ravaglia, Giulia Righetti, Andrea Rognoni, Marco Rossato, Marianna Rossi, Anna Sabena, Francesco Salinaro, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Carlo Sanrocco, Antonio Scarafino, Laura Scorzolini, Raffaella Sgariglia, Paola G. Simeone, Enrico Spinoni, Carlo Torti, Enrico M. Trecarichi, Francesca Vezzani, Giovanni Veronesi, Roberto Vettor, Andrea Vianello, Marco Vinceti, Raffaele De Caterina, Licia Iacoviello, Di Castelnuovo, A., Bonaccio, M., Costanzo, S., Gialluisi, A., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bruno, R., Cauda, R., Guaraldi, G., My, I., Menicanti, L., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Abdeddaim, A., Ageno, W., Agodi, A., Agostoni, P., Aiello, L., Al Moghazi, S., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Bartoloni, A., Bologna, C., Bonfanti, P., Brancati, S., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Cannata, F., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Cingolani, A., Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Crisetti, A., Crosta, F., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., de Gaetano Donati, K., Di Gennaro, F., Di Palma, G., Di Tano, G., Fantoni, M., Filippini, T., Fioretto, P., Fusco, F. M., Gentile, I., Grisafi, L., Guarnieri, G., Landi, F., Larizza, G., Leone, A., Maccagni, G., Maccarella, S., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marcucci, R., Maresca, G., Marotta, C., Marra, L., Mastroianni, F., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Milic, J., Murri, R., Montineri, A., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Pasi, E., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Pizzi, R., Poletti, V., Raffaelli, F., Ravaglia, C., Righetti, G., Rognoni, A., Rossato, M., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scarafino, A., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinoni, E., Torti, C., Trecarichi, E. M., Vezzani, F., Veronesi, G., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., De Caterina, R., Iacoviello, L., Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Costanzo, Simona, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bruno, Raffaele, Cauda, Roberto, Guaraldi, Giovanni, My, Ilaria, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G, Vergori, Alessandra, Abdeddaim, Amina, Ageno, Walter, Agodi, Antonella, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bologna, Carolina, Bonfanti, Paolo, Brancati, Serena, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Cannata, Francesco, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian B, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Palma, Gisella, Di Tano, Giuseppe, Fantoni, Massimo, Filippini, Tommaso, Fioretto, Paola, Fusco, Francesco M, Gentile, Ivan, Grisafi, Leonardo, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Landi, Francesco, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Maccagni, Gloria, Maccarella, Sandro, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Milic, Jovana, Murri, Rita, Montineri, Arturo, Mussinelli, Roberta, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Pasi, Emanuela, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A, Pizzi, Roberto, Poletti, Venerino, Raffaelli, Francesca, Ravaglia, Claudia, Righetti, Giulia, Rognoni, Andrea, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scarafino, Antonio, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola G, Spinoni, Enrico, Torti, Carlo, Trecarichi, Enrico M, Vezzani, Francesca, Veronesi, Giovanni, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A, Bonaccio, M, Costanzo, S, Gialluisi, A, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, My, I, Menicanti, L, Parruti, A, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abdeddaim, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bologna, C, Bonfanti, P, Brancati, S, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Palma, G, Di Tano, G, Fantoni, M, Filippini, T, Fioretto, P, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Landi, F, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Milic, J, Miurri, R, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Pizzi, R, Poletti, V, Raffaelli, F, Ravaglia, C, Righetti, G, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scarafino, A, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinoni, E, Torti, C, Trecarichi, E, Vezzani, F, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, De Caterina, R, and Iacoviello, L
Subjects: Male, Epidemiology, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Medicine (miscellaneous), 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, computer.software_genre, Machine Learning, 0302 clinical medicine, Retrospective Studie, Risk Factors, Cardiovascular Disease, 80 and over, Medicine, Age Factor, Viral, Hospital Mortality, Betacoronavirus Hospital Mortality, Young adult, Aged, 80 and over, Nutrition and Dietetics, COVID-19, In-hospital mortality, Risk factors, Mortality rate, Hazard ratio, Age Factors, Middle Aged, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, Female, Survival Analysi, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Coronavirus Infections, Human, Glomerular Filtration Rate, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, Adolescent, Pneumonia, Viral, 030209 endocrinology & metabolism, Settore MED/17 - MALATTIE INFETTIVE, Machine learning, Aged, Humans, Pandemics, Retrospective Studies, SARS-CoV-2, Survival Analysis, Young Adult, Betacoronavirus, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Risk factor, Survival analysis, Pandemic, Betacoronaviru, business.industry, Coronavirus Infection, Risk Factor, Retrospective cohort study, Pneumonia, Confidence interval, Artificial intelligence, business, computer
Abstract: Background and aims There is poor knowledge on characteristics, comorbidities and laboratory measures associated with risk for adverse outcomes and in-hospital mortality in European Countries. We aimed at identifying baseline characteristics predisposing COVID-19 patients to in-hospital death. Methods and results Retrospective observational study on 3894 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection hospitalized from February 19th to May 23rd, 2020 and recruited in 30 clinical centres distributed throughout Italy. Machine learning (random forest)-based and Cox survival analysis. 61.7% of participants were men (median age 67 years), followed up for a median of 13 days. In-hospital mortality exhibited a geographical gradient, Northern Italian regions featuring more than twofold higher death rates as compared to Central/Southern areas (15.6% vs 6.4%, respectively). Machine learning analysis revealed that the most important features in death classification were impaired renal function, elevated C reactive protein and advanced age. These findings were confirmed by multivariable Cox survival analysis (hazard ratio (HR): 8.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.6–14.7 for age ≥85 vs 18–44 y); HR = 4.7; 2.9–7.7 for estimated glomerular filtration rate levels, Highlights • Impaired renal function, elevated C-reactive protein and advanced age were major indicators of death in COVID-19 patients. • These associations were substantially homogenous across all sub-groups analysed. • No relation was found with obesity, tobacco use, cardiovascular disease and related-comorbidities. • Death rates were higher in the Northern as opposed to Central-Southern Italian regions.
Published: 2020

22. KRAS mutations testing in non-small cell lung cancer: the role of Liquid biopsy in the basal setting

Author: Lorenza Greco, Antonio Russo, Caterina De Luca, Roberta Sgariglia, Giancarlo Troncone, Ilaria Migliatico, Valerio Gristina, Pasquale Pisapia, Eduardo Clery, Umberto Malapelle, Claudio Bellevicine, Mariantonia Nacchio, Elena Vigliar, Francesco Pepe, Nacchio, M., Sgariglia, R., Gristina, V., Pisapia, P., Pepe, F., de Luca, C., Migliatico, I., Clery, E., Greco, L., Vigliar, E., Bellevicine, C., Russo, A., Troncone, G., Malapelle, U., Nacchio M., Sgariglia R., Gristina V., Pisapia P., Pepe F., de Luca C., Migliatico I., Clery E., Greco L., Vigliar E., Bellevicine C., Russo A., Troncone G., and Malapelle U.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine, AMG510, Settore MED/06 - Oncologia Medica, Viral Oncogene, medicine.disease_cause, 03 medical and health sciences, Basal (phylogenetics), 0302 clinical medicine, G12C, Medicine, Epidermal growth factor receptor, Liquid biopsy, Lung cancer, neoplasms, Mutation, biology, business.industry, Kirsten Rat Sarcoma Viral Oncogene Homolog (KRAS), Review Article on Improving Outcomes in Lung Cancer Through Early Diagnosis and Smoking Cessation, medicine.disease, Basal setting, 030104 developmental biology, Next generation sequencing (NGS), 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Cancer research, biology.protein, Biomarker (medicine), KRAS, business
Abstract: In advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, Kirsten Rat Sarcoma Viral Oncogene Homolog (KRAS) testing may soon acquire a predictive significance to select patients for AMG510 treatment. Since tissue samples are not always available, liquid biopsy may represent a viable option for KRAS testing. Here, we review the last three years clinical practice performed on 194 plasma based liquid biopsies by next generation sequencing (NGS) SiRe(®) panel. In particular, 36 (18.6%) KRAS mutated cases were identified, with an overall median allelic frequency of 5.0% (ranging between 0.2% and 46.8%). No concomitant mutations were observed in the other NSCLC clinical relevant genes included in the SiRe(®) panel, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF). Exon 2 p.G12C was the most common detected mutation (13/36, 36.1%). In conclusion, our data update and confirm that SiRe(®) NGS panel represents a robust analytical tool to assess KRAS mutational status on circulating tumor DNA. Further investigation is required to design more cost-effective diagnostic algorithms to harmonize clinical relevant biomarker testing on tissue and blood in advanced stage NSCLC clinical practice.
Published: 2020

23. Use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalised COVID-19 patients is associated with reduced mortality: Findings from the observational multicentre Italian CORIST study

Author: Venerino Poletti, Damiano D'Ardes, Paola Simeone, Cristina Mussini, Giustino Parruti, Sandro Maccarella, Licia Iacoviello, Giulio G. Stefanini, Roberta Mussinelli, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Paolo Bonfanti, Roberto Vettor, Andrea Vianello, Arturo Montineri, Roberto Cauda, Elvira Grandone, Maria Mazzitelli, Claudia Ravaglia, Marialaura Bonaccio, Giulio Maresca, Francesco Di Gennaro, Alessandro Mengozzi, Anna Sabena, Gian Battista Danzi, Giuseppe Di Tano, Emanuela Pasi, Ilaria Rossi, Lucia Caiano, Laura Carrozzi, Francesco Landi, Francesca Crosta, Tommaso Filippini, Francesco Menichetti, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Andrea Madaro, Antonio Cascio, Carlo Signorelli, Michele Spinicci, Carlo Sanrocco, Enrico Guido Spinoni, Maria Musso, Alessandra Vergori, Lorenzo Marra, Giuseppe Patti, Laura Vocciante, Marco Olivieri, Francesca Santilli, Stefano Perlini, Claudia Colomba, Francesco Salinaro, Marianna Meschiari, Gabriella Guarnieri, Giampiero D'Offizi, Riccardo Maragna, Paola Del Giacomo, Giancarlo Gini, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Andrea Antinori, Filippo Aucella, Raffaele De Caterina, Lorenzo Menicanti, Gloria Maccagni, Amedeo Venezia, Chiara Dal Pra, Carlo Andrea Pivato, Walter Ageno, Antonella Agodi, Francesco Cannata, Francesco Petri, Luca Aiello, Biagio Pinchera, Marinella Astuto, Raffaella Sgariglia, Giovanni Guaraldi, Marco Vinceti, Laura Scorzolini, Samir Al Moghazi, Armando Leone, Giovanni Veronesi, Arturo Ciccullo, Leonardo Grisafi, Francesco Cipollone, Massimo Mapelli, Greta Barbieri, Silvia Lamonica, Raffaele Bruno, Filippo Minutolo, Antonella Cingolani, Alessandro Gialluisi, Marco Rossato, Andrea Rognoni, Marianna Rossi, Claudia Marotta, Franco Mastroianni, Ilaria My, Enrico Maria Trecarichi, Anna Odone, Alessandro Bartoloni, Simona Costanzo, Francesco Cacciatore, Ivan Gentile, Massimo Rinaldi, Nausicaa Berselli, Francesco Maria Fusco, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Lorenzo Blandi, Castelnuovo A.D., Costanzo S., Antinori A., Berselli N., Blandi L., Bruno R., Cauda R., Guaraldi G., Menicanti L., My I., Parruti G., Patti G., Perlini S., Santilli F., Signorelli C., Spinoni E., Stefanini G.G., Vergori A., Ageno W., Agodi A., Aiello L., Agostoni P., Moghazi S.A., Astuto M., Aucella F., Barbieri G., Bartoloni A., Bonaccio M., Bonfanti P., Cacciatore F., Caiano L., Cannata F., Carrozzi L., Cascio A., Ciccullo A., Cingolani A., Cipollone F., Colomba C., Crosta F., Pra C.D., Danzi G.B., D'Ardes D., Donati K.D.G., Giacomo P.D., Gennaro F.D., Di Tano G., D'Offizi G., Filippini T., Fusco F.M., Gentile I., Gialluisi A., Gini G., Grandone E., Grisafi L., Guarnieri G., Lamonica S., Landi F., Leone A., Maccagni G., Maccarella S., Madaro A., Mapelli M., Maragna R., Marra L., Maresca G., Marotta C., Mastroianni F., Mazzitelli M., Mengozzi A., Menichetti F., Meschiari M., Minutolo F., Montineri A., Mussinelli R., Mussini C., Musso M., Odone A., Olivieri M., Pasi E., Petri F., Pinchera B., Pivato C.A., Poletti V., Ravaglia C., Rinaldi M., Rognoni A., Rossato M., Rossi I., Rossi M., Sabena A., Salinaro F., Sangiovanni V., Sanrocco C., Scorzolini L., Sgariglia R., Simeone P.G., Spinicci M., Trecarichi E.M., Venezia A., Veronesi G., Vettor R., Vianello A., Vinceti M., Vocciante L., De Caterina R., Iacoviello L., Castelnuovo, A. D., Costanzo, S., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Blandi, L., Bruno, R., Cauda, R., Guaraldi, G., Menicanti, L., My, I., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Spinoni, E., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Ageno, W., Agodi, A., Aiello, L., Agostoni, P., Moghazi, S. A., Astuto, M., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Bartoloni, A., Bonaccio, M., Bonfanti, P., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Cannata, F., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Ciccullo, A., Cingolani, A., Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Crosta, F., Pra, C. D., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., Donati, K. D. G., Giacomo, P. D., Gennaro, F. D., Di Tano, G., D'Offizi, G., Filippini, T., Fusco, F. M., Gentile, I., Gialluisi, A., Gini, G., Grandone, E., Grisafi, L., Guarnieri, G., Lamonica, S., Landi, F., Leone, A., Maccagni, G., Maccarella, S., Madaro, A., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marra, L., Maresca, G., Marotta, C., Mastroianni, F., Mazzitelli, M., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Meschiari, M., Minutolo, F., Montineri, A., Mussinelli, R., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Pasi, E., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Poletti, V., Ravaglia, C., Rinaldi, M., Rognoni, A., Rossato, M., Rossi, I., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Spinicci, M., Trecarichi, E. M., Venezia, A., Veronesi, G., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., Vocciante, L., De Caterina, R., Iacoviello, L., Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bruno, R, Cauda, R, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Spinoni, E, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Ageno, W, Agodi, A, Aiello, L, Agostoni, P, Moghazi, S, Astuto, M, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Bartoloni, A, Bonaccio, M, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Cannata, F, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Crosta, F, Pra, C, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, Donati, K, Giacomo, P, Gennaro, F, Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Filippini, T, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Gialluisi, A, Gini, G, Grandone, E, Grisafi, L, Guarnieri, G, Lamonica, S, Landi, F, Leone, A, Maccagni, G, Maccarella, S, Madaro, A, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marra, L, Maresca, G, Marotta, C, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Minutolo, F, Montineri, A, Mussinelli, R, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Pasi, E, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rinaldi, M, Rognoni, A, Rossato, M, Rossi, I, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Spinicci, M, Trecarichi, E, Venezia, A, Veronesi, G, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Vocciante, L, De Caterina, R, and Iacoviello, L
Subjects: Male, medicine.medical_specialty, 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, Lower risk, law.invention, COVID-19, Disease severity, Hydroxychloroquine, Inflammation, Mortality, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Hospital Mortality, Humans, Italy, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Randomized controlled trial, Retrospective Studie, law, Internal medicine, 80 and over, Internal Medicine, medicine, 030212 general & internal medicine, Risk factor, business.industry, Mortality rate, Retrospective cohort study, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, Propensity score matching, Commentary, Observational study, business, Human, medicine.drug
Abstract: Background Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was proposed as potential treatment for COVID-19. Objective We set-up a multicenter Italian collaboration to investigate the relationship between HCQ therapy and COVID-19 in-hospital mortality. Methods In a retrospective observational study, 3,451 unselected patients hospitalized in 33 clinical centers in Italy, from February 19, 2020 to May 23, 2020, with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, were analyzed. The primary end-point in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received HCQ with patients who did not. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models with inverse probability for treatment weighting by propensity scores, with the addition of subgroup analyses. Results Out of 3,451 COVID-19 patients, 76.3% received HCQ. Death rates (per 1,000 person-days) for patients receiving or not HCQ were 8.9 and 15.7, respectively. After adjustment for propensity scores, we found 30% lower risk of death in patients receiving HCQ (HR=0.70; 95%CI: 0.59 to 0.84; E-value=1.67). Secondary analyses yielded similar results. The inverse association of HCQ with inpatient mortality was particularly evident in patients having elevated C-reactive protein at entry. Conclusions HCQ use was associated with a 30% lower risk of death in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Within the limits of an observational study and awaiting results from randomized controlled trials, these data do not discourage the use of HCQ in inpatients with COVID-19.
Published: 2020

24. RAAS inhibitors are not associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients: Findings from an observational multicenter study in Italy and a meta-analysis of 19 studies

Author: Francesca Santilli, Marianna Meschiari, Gabriella Guarnieri, Francesco Petri, Anna Sabena, Gloria Maccagni, Giovanni Larizza, Massimo Mapelli, Maria Mazzitelli, Gian Battista Danzi, Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Annalisa Crisetti, Jovana Milic, Raffaele Pesavento, Biagio Pinchera, Riccardo Maragna, Carlo Andrea Pivato, Lorenzo Menicanti, Francesco Maria Fusco, Luca Aiello, Sandro Mancarella, Carlo Sanrocco, Alessandra Vergori, Greta Barbieri, Filippo Aucella, Silvia Marongiu, Giulio Maresca, Marianna Rossi, Andrea Antinori, Venerino Poletti, Francesco Cacciatore, Giacomo Castiglione, Enrico Maria Trecarichi, Lucia Caiano, Francesca Crosta, Roberto Vettor, Francesco Menichetti, Maria Musso, Francesco Salinaro, Marco Olivieri, Stefano Perlini, Claudia Colomba, Crizia Colombo, Ottavia Cozzi, Stefano Maitan, Marialaura Bonaccio, Ilaria My, Alexandra Virano, Paola Simeone, Marco Vinceti, Antonella Cingolani, Gianpiero D'Offizi, Damiano D'Ardes, Claudia Marotta, M. B. Lucia, Carlo Signorelli, Lorenzo Marra, Giuseppe Patti, Raffaele De Caterina, Armando Leone, Veronica Lio, Beatrice Molena, Giustino Parruti, Giulio G. Stefanini, Licia Iacoviello, Laura Vocciante, Franco Mastroianni, Raffaella Sgariglia, Cristina Mussini, Francesco Cipollone, Marco Rossato, Lorenzo Blandi, Emanuela Pasi, Samir Al Moghazi, Andrea Vianello, Filippo Minutolo, Ivan Gentile, Giovanni Guaraldi, Rosa Manuele, Pasquale Abete, Arturo Ciccullo, Antonella Palimodde, Giancarlo Scoppettuolo, Walter Ageno, Marco G. Mennuni, Roberta Mussinelli, Vincenzo Sangiovanni, Roberto Cauda, Laura Scorzolini, Paolo Bonfanti, Alessandro Gialluisi, Stefania Cianfrone, Piergiuseppe Agostoni, Antonio Cascio, Simona Costanzo, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Nausicaa Berselli, Rosa Arboretti, Emauele Graziani, Martina Barchitta, Anna Odone, Francesco Di Gennaro, Alessandro Mengozzi, Alessandro Bartoloni, Giuseppe Di Tano, Laura Carrozzi, Ferruccio Madaro, Rossella Marcucci, Claudia Ravaglia, Di Castelnuovo, Augusto, Costanzo, Simona, Antinori, Andrea, Berselli, Nausicaa, Blandi, Lorenzo, Bonaccio, Marialaura, Cauda, Roberto, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Guaraldi, Giovanni, Menicanti, Lorenzo, Mennuni, Marco, Mussinelli, Roberta, My, Ilaria, Parruti, Giustino, Patti, Giuseppe, Perlini, Stefano, Santilli, Francesca, Signorelli, Carlo, Stefanini, Giulio G., Vergori, Alessandra, Abete, Pasquale, Ageno, Walter, Agostoni, Piergiuseppe, Aiello, Luca, Al Moghazi, Samir, Arboretti, Rosa, Aucella, Filippo, Barbieri, Greta, Barchitta, Martina, Bartoloni, Alessandro, Bonfanti, Paolo, Cacciatore, Francesco, Caiano, Lucia, Carrozzi, Laura, Cascio, Antonio, Castiglione, Giacomo, Cianfrone, Stefania, Ciccullo, Arturo, Cingolani, Antonella, Cipollone, Francesco, Colomba, Claudia, Colombo, Crizia, Cozzi, Ottavia, Crisetti, Annalisa, Crosta, Francesca, Danzi, Gian Battista, D'Ardes, Damiano, de Gaetano Donati, Katleen, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Di Tano, Giuseppe, D'Offizi, Gianpiero, Fusco, Francesco Maria, Gentile, Ivan, Graziani, Emauele, Guarnieri, Gabriella, Larizza, Giovanni, Leone, Armando, Lio, Veronica, Lucia, Mothanje Barbara, Maccagni, Gloria, Madaro, Ferruccio, Maitan, Stefano, Mancarella, Sandro, Manuele, Rosa, Mapelli, Massimo, Maragna, Riccardo, Marcucci, Rossella, Maresca, Giulio, Marongiu, Silvia, Marotta, Claudia, Marra, Lorenzo, Mastroianni, Franco, Mazzitelli, Maria, Mengozzi, Alessandro, Menichetti, Francesco, Meschiari, Marianna, Milic, Jovana, Minutolo, Filippo, Molena, Beatrice, Mussini, Cristina, Musso, Maria, Odone, Anna, Olivieri, Marco, Palimodde, Antonella, Pasi, Emanuela, Pesavento, Raffaele, Petri, Francesco, Pinchera, Biagio, Pivato, Carlo A., Poletti, Venerino, Ravaglia, Claudia, Rossato, Marco, Rossi, Marianna, Sabena, Anna, Salinaro, Francesco, Sangiovanni, Vincenzo, Sanrocco, Carlo, Scoppettuolo, Giancarlo, Scorzolini, Laura, Sgariglia, Raffaella, Simeone, Paola Giustina, Trecarichi, Enrico Maria, Vettor, Roberto, Vianello, Andrea, Vinceti, Marco, Virano, Alexandra, Vocciante, Laura, De Caterina, Raffaele, Iacoviello, Licia, Di Castelnuovo, A., Costanzo, S., Antinori, A., Berselli, N., Bl, I, L., Bonaccio, M., Cauda, R., Gialluisi, A., Guaraldi, G., Menicanti, L., Mennuni, M., Mussinelli, R., My, I., Parruti, G., Patti, G., Perlini, S., Santilli, F., Signorelli, C., Stefanini, G. G., Vergori, A., Abete, P., Ageno, W., Agostoni, P., Aiello, L., Al Moghazi, S., Arboretti, R., Aucella, F., Barbieri, G., Barchitta, M., Bartoloni, A., Bonfanti, P., Cacciatore, F., Caiano, L., Carrozzi, L., Cascio, A., Castiglione, G., Cianfrone, S., Ciccullo, A., Cingolani, A., Cipollone, F., Colomba, C., Colombo, C., Cozzi, O., Crisetti, A., Crosta, F., Danzi, G. B., D'Ardes, D., de Gaetano Donati, K., Di Gennaro, F., Di Tano, G., D'Offizi, G., Fusco, F. M., Gentile, I., Graziani, E., Guarnieri, G., Larizza, G., Leone, A., Lio, V., Lucia, M. B., Maccagni, G., Madaro, F., Maitan, S., Mancarella, S., Manuele, R., Mapelli, M., Maragna, R., Marcucci, R., Maresca, G., Marongiu, S., Marotta, C., Marra, L., Mastroianni, F., Mazzitelli, M., Mengozzi, A., Menichetti, F., Meschiari, M., Milic, J., Minutolo, F., Molena, B., Mussini, C., Musso, M., Odone, A., Olivieri, M., Palimodde, A., Pasi, E., Pesavento, R., Petri, F., Pinchera, B., Pivato, C. A., Poletti, V., Ravaglia, C., Rossato, M., Rossi, M., Sabena, A., Salinaro, F., Sangiovanni, V., Sanrocco, C., Scoppettuolo, G., Scorzolini, L., Sgariglia, R., Simeone, P. G., Trecarichi, E. M., Vettor, R., Vianello, A., Vinceti, M., Virano, A., Vocciante, L., De Caterina, R., Iacoviello, L., Blandi, L., Di Castelnuovo, A, Costanzo, S, Antinori, A, Berselli, N, Blandi, L, Bonaccio, M, Cauda, R, Gialluisi, A, Guaraldi, G, Menicanti, L, Mennuni, M, Mussinelli, R, My, I, Parruti, G, Patti, G, Perlini, S, Santilli, F, Signorelli, C, Stefanini, G, Vergori, A, Abete, P, Ageno, W, Agostoni, P, Aiello, L, Al Moghazi, S, Arboretti, R, Aucella, F, Barbieri, G, Barchitta, M, Bartoloni, A, Bonfanti, P, Cacciatore, F, Caiano, L, Carrozzi, L, Cascio, A, Castiglione, G, Cianfrone, S, Ciccullo, A, Cingolani, A, Cipollone, F, Colomba, C, Colombo, C, Cozzi, O, Crisetti, A, Crosta, F, Danzi, G, D'Ardes, D, de Gaetano Donati, K, Di Gennaro, F, Di Tano, G, D'Offizi, G, Fusco, F, Gentile, I, Graziani, E, Guarnieri, G, Larizza, G, Leone, A, Lio, V, Lucia, M, Maccagni, G, Madaro, F, Maitan, S, Mancarella, S, Manuele, R, Mapelli, M, Maragna, R, Marcucci, R, Maresca, G, Marongiu, S, Marotta, C, Marra, L, Mastroianni, F, Mazzitelli, M, Mengozzi, A, Menichetti, F, Meschiari, M, Milic, J, Minutolo, F, Molena, B, Mussini, C, Musso, M, Odone, A, Olivieri, M, Palimodde, A, Pasi, E, Pesavento, R, Petri, F, Pinchera, B, Pivato, C, Poletti, V, Ravaglia, C, Rossato, M, Rossi, M, Sabena, A, Salinaro, F, Sangiovanni, V, Sanrocco, C, Scoppettuolo, G, Scorzolini, L, Sgariglia, R, Simeone, P, Trecarichi, E, Vettor, R, Vianello, A, Vinceti, M, Virano, A, Vocciante, L, Iacoviello, L, and De Caterina, R
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Male, Physiology, Middle Aged, Renin-Angiotensin System, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors, 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology, ACE-I, ARB, COVID-19, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, mortality, sartans, Severity of Illness Index, Renin-Angiotensin System, 0302 clinical medicine, Risk Factors, 80 and over, Medicine, Hospital Mortality, Sartan, Aged, 80 and over, Incidence (epidemiology), Incidence, Hazard ratio, Angiotensin Receptor Antagonist, Middle Aged, Hospitalization, Antihypertensive Agent, Italy, Meta-analysis, Hypertension, Sartans, Molecular Medicine, Female, Risk assessment, Human, medicine.medical_specialty, Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, Angiotensin receptor blockers, Mortality, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Risk Assessment, Article, COVID−19, 03 medical and health sciences, Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Internal medicine, Severity of illness, Humans, Angiotensin receptor blocker, Antihypertensive Agents, Aged, Pharmacology, business.industry, Risk Factor, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor, Confidence interval, 030104 developmental biology, COVID-19, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, mortality, sartans, Observational study, Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, business
Abstract: Objective The hypothesis that been set forward that use of Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) inhibitors is associated with COVID−19 severity. We set-up a multicenter Italian collaboration (CORIST Project, ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04318418 ) to retrospectively investigate the relationship between RAAS inhibitors and COVID−19 in-hospital mortality. We also carried out an updated meta-analysis on the relevant studies. Methods We analyzed 4069 unselected patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalized in 34 clinical centers in Italy from February 19, 2020 to May 23, 2020. The primary end-point in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors (ACE I) or angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARB) with patients who did not. Articles for the meta-analysis were retrieved until July 13th, 2020 by searching in web-based libraries, and data were combined using the general variance-based method. Results Out of 4069 COVID−19 patients, 13.5% and 13.3% received ACE-I or ARB, respectively. Use of neither ACE-I nor ARB was associated with mortality (multivariable hazard ratio (HR) adjusted also for COVID−19 treatments: 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.77–1.20 and HR = 0.89, 0.67–1.19 for ACE-I and ARB, respectively). Findings were similar restricting the analysis to hypertensive (N = 2057) patients (HR = 1.00, 0.78–1.26 and HR = 0.88, 0.65–1.20) or when ACE-I or ARB were considered as a single group. Results from the meta-analysis (19 studies, 29,057 COVID−19 adult patients, 9700 with hypertension) confirmed the absence of association. Conclusions In this observational study and meta-analysis of the literature, ACE-I or ARB use was not associated with severity or in-hospital mortality in COVID−19 patients.
Published: 2020

25. Performance evaluation of a fully closed real-time PCR platform for the detection of KRAS p.G12C mutations in liquid biopsy of patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Author: Giancarlo Troncone, Caterina De Luca, Mariantonia Nacchio, Roberta Sgariglia, Umberto Malapelle, Gianluca Gragnano, Antonino Iaccarino, Floriana Conticelli, Gragnano, G., Nacchio, M., Sgariglia, R., Conticelli, F., Iaccarino, A., De Luca, C., Troncone, G., and Malapelle, U.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Lung Neoplasms, DNA Mutational Analysis, Viral Oncogene, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, medicine.disease_cause, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras), 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, medicine, Humans, molecular biology, molecular, Liquid biopsy, Lung cancer, neoplasms, Mutation, business.industry, Liquid Biopsy, General Medicine, medicine.disease, lung neoplasm, respiratory tract diseases, 030104 developmental biology, Real-time polymerase chain reaction, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Cancer research, Biomarker (medicine), pathology, KRAS, Non small cell, business, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
Abstract: Whenever tissue sample is not available, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) biomarker testing is performed with liquid biopsy. The Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) p.G12C mutation is a novel target in patients with NSCLC. In this study, 33 NSCLC frozen plasma samples, previously characterised for KRAS mutational status by next generation sequencing (NGS), were processed by the fully automated Idylla KRAS assay. In 30/33 cases, archival matched cell-free DNA (cfDNA) was also directly pipetted in the cartridge. Overall, 30/33 plasma and 28/30 cfDNA samples yielded valid results. In 29/30 of KRAS p.G12C mutant plasma samples and 26/28 of cfDNA, Idylla confirmed the NGS results. In conclusion, the Idylla NSCLC KRAS liquid biopsy assay may represent a reliable tool to assess KRAS p.G12C mutation.
Published: 2021

26. Thyroid fine-needle aspiration trends before, during, and after the lockdown: what we have learned so far from the COVID-19 pandemic

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Giancarlo Troncone, Mariantonia Nacchio, Domenico Salvatore, Elena Vigliar, Raffaele Palladino, Umberto Malapelle, Antonino Iaccarino, Claudio Bellevicine, Ilaria Migliatico, Palladino, R., Migliatico, I., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., Iaccarino, A., Malapelle, U., Vigliar, E., Salvatore, D., Troncone, G., and Bellevicine, C.
Subjects: Male, Time Factors, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, BETHESDA SYSTEM, Thyroid Gland, Health Services Accessibility, 0302 clinical medicine, Endocrinology, Pandemic, ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES, Patient prioritisation, Thyroid Nodule, Medical diagnosis, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Referral and Consultation, Thyroid, medicine.diagnostic_test, Middle Aged, medicine.anatomical_structure, Fine-needle aspiration, Italy, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Quarantine, Original Article, Female, Guideline Adherence, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Attitude to Health, Thyroid nodules, Adult, medicine.medical_specialty, 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Biopsy, Fine-Needle, 030209 endocrinology & metabolism, History, 21st Century, 03 medical and health sciences, Endocrinology & Metabolism, NODULES, medicine, MANAGEMENT, Humans, Pandemics, Ultrasonography, Interventional, Aged, Science & Technology, business.industry, Health Priorities, General surgery, COVID-19, 1103 Clinical Sciences, medicine.disease, Communicable Disease Control, 1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine, AUDIT, business
Abstract: Purpose Nowadays, the clinical management of thyroid nodules needs to be multi-disciplinary. In particular, the crosstalk between endocrinologists and cytopathologists is key. When FNAs are properly requested by endocrinologists for nodules characterised by relevant clinical and ultrasound features, cytopathologists play a pivotal role in the diagnostic work-up. Conversely, improper FNA requests can lead to questionable diagnostic efficiency. Recently, recommendations to delay all non-urgent diagnostic procedures, such as thyroid FNAs, to contain the spread of COVID-19 infection, have made the interplay between endocrinologists and cytopathologists even more essential. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our practice by evaluating the total number of FNAs performed and the distribution of the Bethesda Categories before, during, and after the lockdown. Methods We analysed the FNA trends before (1st January 2019 to March 13th 2020), during (March 14th to May 15th), and after (May 16th to July 7th) the lockdown. Results Although the total number of weekly FNAs dropped from 62.1 to 23.1, our referring endocrinologists managed to prioritise patients with high-risk nodules. In fact, in the post-lockdown, the weekly proportion of benign diagnoses dropped on average by 12% and that of high-risk diagnoses increased by 6%. Conclusions The lesson we have learned so far from this pandemic is that by applying safety protocols to avoid contagion and by increasing the threshold for FNA requests for thyroid nodules, we can continue to guarantee our services to high-risk patients even in times of a health crisis.
Published: 2020

27. Rapid On‐site Molecular Evaluation in thyroid cytopathology: A same‐day cytological and molecular diagnosis

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Elena Vigliar, Umberto Malapelle, Mariantonia Nacchio, Claudio Bellevicine, Giancarlo Troncone, Gianfranco De Dominicis, Caterina De Luca, Eduardo Clery, Severo Campione, Gianluca Gragnano, Ilaria Migliatico, Pasquale Pisapia, De Luca, C., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., Pisapia, P., Migliatico, I., Clery, E., Gragnano, G., Campione, S., Vigliar, E., Malapelle, U., De Dominicis, G., Bellevicine, C., and Troncone, G.
Subjects: Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf, Neuroblastoma RAS viral oncogene homolog, medicine.medical_specialty, Histology, Formalin fixed paraffin embedded, Biopsy, Fine-Needle, DNA Mutational Analysis, Thyroid Gland, NRAS, 030209 endocrinology & metabolism, GTP Phosphohydrolases, BRAF, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, Humans, Thyroid Neoplasms, Genotyping, Cell block, business.industry, Thyroid, Membrane Proteins, General Medicine, DNA extraction, Idylla, Cost savings, medicine.anatomical_structure, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, molecular cytopathology, FNA, Cytopathology, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Mutation, thyroid nodule, Radiology, business
Abstract: Background Thyroid fine-needle aspirates (FNAs) with undetermined morphology can be outsourced to centralized laboratories for comprehensive molecular profiling. When a local, rapid screening rules out easily detectable BRAF and NRAS mutations outsourcing is minimized, leading to cost savings. The fully automated Idylla technology, that does not require trained staff, is an emerging option. However, Idylla platform has only been validated to process formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) sections. Here we investigate whether also the FNA needle rinse could be genotyped by the same cytopathologist who performs the FNA, a procedure that can be termed rapid on site molecular evaluation (ROME). Methods To validate this approach, the Idylla BRAF and NRAS Test was performed on the rinses from 25 simulated (bench-top) FNAs, in a first part of the study. Genotyping data were compared with those obtained on matched histological FFPE blocks. The second part of the study was carried out on 25 prospectively collected routine FNAs to assess the performance of the Idylla BRAF and NRAS assay against a gold standard real time polymerase chain reaction method. Results Idylla NRAS-BRAF Mutation Test was performed on needle rinse as well as histological FFPE blocks. A sensitivity of 88.9%, a specificity of 100.0% were obtained comparing the Idylla NRAS-BRAF Mutation Test on needle rinse to the reference method. Conclusions The FNA needle rinse can be directly genotyped. This obviates the need of cell block preparation, making possible a rapid combined morphological and molecular evaluation. Since DNA extraction is no longer necessary, the cytopathologist can perform ROME him/herself.
Published: 2020

28. Liquid biopsy for BRAF mutations testing in non-small cell lung cancer: a retrospective study

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Mariantonia Nacchio, Umberto Malapelle, Antonino Iaccarino, Pasquale Pisapia, Francesco Pepe, Giancarlo Troncone, Gianluca Gragnano, Gianluca Russo, Caterina De Luca, Iaccarino, A., Pisapia, P., Pepe, F., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., Russo, G., Gragnano, G., De Luca, C., Troncone, G., and Malapelle, U.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Viral Oncogene, Gene mutation, medicine.disease_cause, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, 03 medical and health sciences, Exon, 0302 clinical medicine, medicine, molecular, Liquid biopsy, Lung cancer, Allele frequency, Mutation, tumour, business.industry, General Medicine, medicine.disease, lung neoplasm, 030104 developmental biology, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Cancer research, biomarker, pathology, business, Tyrosine kinase
Abstract: V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF) gene mutations have recently been approved to select advanced stages non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for tyrosine kinase inhibitors treatments. In this setting, liquid biopsy may represent a valuable option for BRAF mutational testing in patients without tissue availability. Here, we reviewed 196 plasma based liquid biopsies analysed by an in-house developed next generation sequencing panel, termed SiRe. On the overall, 6 (3.1%) out of 196 BRAF mutated cases were identified, with an overall median allelic frequency of 3.4%. Exon 15 p.V600E was the most common detected mutation (2/6, 33.3%). Our data highlighted that the SiRe panel is a robust tool for BRAF mutation assessment on circulating tumour DNA. Further investigation is required to develop a diagnostic algorithm to harmonise BRAF testing on tissue and blood in advanced stages NSCLC patients.
Published: 2020

29. TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit for SiRe NGS panel: An international performance evaluation study

Author: Giancarlo Troncone, Carlos E. de Andrea, Francesco Pepe, Giovanni Tallini, Maria D. Lozano, Paul Hofman, Verena Tischler, Natalie Pelusi, Roberta Sgariglia, Sabine Merkelbach-Bruse, Pasquale Pisapia, Sara Vander Borght, Janna Siemanowski, Daniela Cabibi, Marta Castiglia, Javier Freire, Dario de Biase, Spasenija Savic, Gabriella Fontanini, Antonio Russo, Reinhard Büttner, Lukas Bubendorf, Birgit Weynand, Catherine I. Dumur, Marius Ilie, Umberto Malapelle, Tom Xu, Roberto Pappesch, Michel Bilh, Valerio Gristina, Gianluca Roma, Massimo Barberis, Mariantonia Nacchio, Malapelle U., Pepe F., Pisapia P., Sgariglia R., Nacchio M., Barberis M., Bilh M., Bubendorf L., Buttner R., Cabibi D., Castiglia M., De Andrea C.E., De Biase D., Dumur C.I., Fontanini G., Freire J., Gristina V., Hofman P., Ilie M., Lozano M.D., Merkelbach-Bruse S., Pappesch R., Pelusi N., Roma G., Russo A., Savic S., Siemanowski J., Tallini G., Tischler V., Vander Borght S., Weynand B., Xu T., Troncone G., Malapelle, Umberto, Pepe, Francesco, Pisapia, Pasquale, Sgariglia, Roberta, Nacchio, Mariantonia, Barberis, Massimo, Bilh, Michel, Bubendorf, Luka, Büttner, Reinhard, Cabibi, Daniela, Castiglia, Marta, De Andrea, Carlos E, de Biase, Dario, Dumur, Catherine I, Fontanini, Gabriella, Freire, Javier, Gristina, Valerio, Hofman, Paul, Ilie, Mariu, Lozano, Maria Dolore, Merkelbach-Bruse, Sabine, Pappesch, Roberto, Pelusi, Natalie, Roma, Gianluca, Russo, Antonio, Savic, Spasenija, Siemanowski, Janna, Tallini, Giovanni, Tischler, Verena, Vander Borght, Sara, Weynand, Birgit, Xu, Tom, and Troncone, Giancarlo
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Library, Computer science, Genomics, Computational biology, lung neoplasms, DNA sequencing, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Humans, molecular biology, molecular, biomarkers, pathology, tumour, Gene Library, Paraffin Embedding, Sire, Clinical performance, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, General Medicine, DNA extraction, Paraffin embedded, lung neoplasm, 030104 developmental biology, Workflow, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Mutation, biomarker
Abstract: AimNext generation sequencing (NGS) represents a key diagnostic tool to identify clinically relevant gene alterations for treatment-decision making in cancer care. However, the complex manual workflow required for NGS has limited its implementation in routine clinical practice. In this worldwide study, we validated the clinical performance of the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit for NGS analysis. Impressively, this new assay obviates the need for separate, labour intensive and time-consuming pre-analytical steps of DNA extraction, purification and isolation from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) specimens in the NGS workflow.MethodsThe TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit, which enables NGS analysis directly from FFPE, was specifically developed for this study by TargetPlex Genomics Pleasanton, California. Eleven institutions agreed to take part in the study coordinated by the Molecular Cytopathology Meeting Group (University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy). All participating institutions received a specific Library Preparation Kit to test eight FFPE samples previously assessed with standard protocols. The analytical parameters and mutations detected in each sample were then compared with those previously obtained with standard protocols.ResultsOverall, 92.8% of the samples were successfully analysed with the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit on Thermo Fisher Scientific and Illumina platforms. Altogether, in comparison with the standard workflow, the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit was able to detect 90.5% of the variants.ConclusionThe TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit combined with the SiRe panel constitutes a convenient, practical and robust cost-saving solution for FFPE NGS analysis in routine practice.
Published: 2021

30. Liquid biopsy is a promising tool for genetic testing in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Mario Galgani, Ludovica Capitelli, Pierlorenzo Pallante, Alessandro Sanduzzi Zamparelli, Umberto Malapelle, Marialuisa Bocchino, Gaetano Rea, Erica Piemonte, Domenico Galati, Mariantonia Nacchio, Serena Zanotta, Pallante, P., Malapelle, U., Nacchio, M., Sgariglia, R., Galati, D., Capitelli, L., Zanotta, S., Galgani, M., Piemonte, E., Sanduzzi Zamparelli, A., Rea, G., and Bocchino, M.
Subjects: Medicine (General), medicine.medical_specialty, Clinical Biochemistry, Single-nucleotide polymorphism, Gastroenterology, MUC5B, Article, 03 medical and health sciences, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Cell-free DNA, R5-920, 0302 clinical medicine, Genetic, Polymorphism (computer science), Internal medicine, medicine, genetics, Liquid biopsy, Genetic testing, Lung, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosi, medicine.diagnostic_test, business.industry, respiratory system, medicine.disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory tract diseases, genomic DNA, medicine.anatomical_structure, 030228 respiratory system, Cell-free fetal DNA, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, business
Abstract: Liquid biopsy, which allows the isolation of circulating cell-free (ccf) DNA from blood, is an emerging noninvasive tool widely used in oncology for diagnostic and prognosis purposes. Previous data have shown that serum cfDNA discriminates idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from other interstitial lung diseases. Our study aimed to measure plasma levels of ccfDNA in 59 consecutive therapy-naive and clinically stable IPF patients. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the MUC5B gene promoter (rs35705950), associated with increased susceptibility of developing IPF, has been sought in plasma cfDNA and genomic DNA for comparison. Thirty-five age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were recruited as the control group. Our results show that concentrations of small-size ccfDNA fragments were significantly higher in IPF patients than in controls and inversely correlated with lung function deterioration. Moreover, the median level of 104 ng/mL allowed discriminating patients with mild disease from those more advanced. The rs35705950 polymorphism was found in 11.8% of IPF patients and 8% of controls, with no differences. Complete concordance between ccfDNA and genomic DNA was detected in all control samples, while four out of seven IPF cases (57%) carrying the rs35705950 polymorphism were discordant from genomic DNA (7% of total IPF). Liquid biopsy is a suitable tool with optimistic expectations of application in the field of IPF. In analogy with cancer biology, finding some discrepancies between ccfDNA and genomic DNA in IPF patients suggests that the former may convey specific genetic information present in the primary site of the disease.
Published: 2021

31. RNA-Based Assay for Next-Generation Sequencing of Clinically Relevant Gene Fusions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Author: Fabio Pagni, Caterina De Luca, Diego Cortinovis, Silvia Novello, Luisella Righi, Roberta Sgariglia, Miguel Angel Molina-Vila, Lorenza Greco, Floriana Conticelli, Gianfranco De Dominicis, Pasquale Pisapia, Antonino Iaccarino, Claudio Bellevicine, Angela Listì, Rossella Tufano, Francesco Pepe, Elena Vigliar, Giancarlo Troncone, Umberto Malapelle, Rafael Rosell, Gianluca Gragnano, Severo Campione, Mariantonia Nacchio, De Luca, C, Pepe, F, Iaccarino, A, Pisapia, P, Righi, L, Listì, A, Greco, L, Gragnano, G, Campione, S, De Dominicis, G, Pagni, F, Sgariglia, R, Nacchio, M, Tufano, R, Conticelli, F, Vigliar, E, Bellevicine, C, Cortinovis, D, Novello, S, Molina-Vila, M, Rosell, R, Troncone, G, Malapelle, U, De Luca, Caterina, Pepe, Francesco, Iaccarino, Antonino, Pisapia, Pasquale, Righi, Luisella, Listì, Angela, Greco, Lorenza, Gragnano, Gianluca, Campione, Severo, De Dominicis, Gianfranco, Pagni, Fabio, Sgariglia, Roberta, Nacchio, Mariantonia, Tufano, Rossella, Conticelli, Floriana, Vigliar, Elena, Bellevicine, Claudio, Cortinovis, Diego Luigi, Novello, Silvia, Molina-Vila, Miguel Angel, Rosell, Rafael, Troncone, Giancarlo, and Malapelle, Umberto
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Cancer Research, Computational biology, NSCLC, gene fusions, next generation sequencing, predictive molecular pathology, targeted therapy, Biology, lcsh:RC254-282, Article, DNA sequencing, law.invention, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, law, Complementary DNA, medicine, Lung cancer, Gene, Polymerase chain reaction, gene fusion, RNA, medicine.disease, lcsh:Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens, 030104 developmental biology, Oncology, NGS, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, RNA splicing, Adenocarcinoma
Abstract: Gene fusions represent novel predictive biomarkers for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we validated a narrow NGS gene panel able to cover therapeutically-relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced-stage NSCLC patients. To this aim, we first assessed minimal complementary DNA (cDNA) input and the limit of detection (LoD) in different cell lines. Then, to evaluate the feasibility of applying our panel to routine clinical samples, we retrospectively selected archived lung adenocarcinoma histological and cytological (cell blocks) samples. Overall, our SiRe RNA fusion panel was able to detect all fusions and a splicing event harbored in a RNA pool diluted up to 2 ng/&micro, L. It also successfully analyzed 46 (95.8%) out of 48 samples. Among these, 43 (93.5%) out of 46 samples reproduced the same results as those obtained with conventional techniques. Intriguingly, the three discordant results were confirmed by a CE-IVD automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis (Easy PGX platform, Diatech Pharmacogenetics, Jesi, Italy). Based on these findings, we conclude that our new SiRe RNA fusion panel is a valid and robust tool for the detection of clinically relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced NSCLC.
Published: 2021

32. Tumor mutational burden on cytological samples: A pilot study

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Giancarlo Troncone, Francesco Pepe, Antonino Iaccarino, Albino Eccher, Mariantonia Nacchio, Rossella Tufano, Mariacarolina Micheli, Pasquale Pisapia, Danilo Rocco, Ilaria Girolami, Umberto Malapelle, Gianluca Russo, Gianluca Gragnano, Pietro Micheli, Antonio Russo, Caterina De Luca, Valerio Gristina, Pepe F., Pisapia P., Gristina V., Rocco D., Micheli M., Micheli P., Iaccarino A., Tufano R., Gragnano G., Russo G., De Luca C., Sgariglia R., Nacchio M., Girolami I., Eccher A., Russo A., Troncone G., Malapelle U., Pepe, Francesco, Pisapia, Pasquale, Gristina, Valerio, Rocco, Danilo, Micheli, Mariacarolina, Micheli, Pietro, Iaccarino, Antonino, Tufano, Rossella, Gragnano, Gianluca, Russo, Gianluca, De Luca, Caterina, Sgariglia, Roberta, Nacchio, Mariantonia, Girolami, Ilaria, Eccher, Albino, Russo, Antonio, Troncone, Giancarlo, and Malapelle, Umberto
Subjects: Oncology, Male, Cancer Research, medicine.medical_specialty, Lung Neoplasms, Cytological Techniques, DNA Mutational Analysis, 030209 endocrinology & metabolism, Pilot Projects, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, Internal medicine, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, medicine, Biomarkers, Tumor, Humans, Lung cancer, Predictive biomarker, Aged, Retrospective Studies, next generation sequencing, TMB, business.industry, Advanced stage, Treatment options, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Ion semiconductor sequencing, Amplicon, medicine.disease, Prognosis, lung cancer, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Mutation, cytology, Tissue material, Female, immunotherapy, Non small cell, business, Follow-Up Studies
Abstract: Background Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represent an important treatment option for patients who have advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Currently, evaluation of the expression level of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has proven highly successful as a positive predictive biomarker for ICIs. In addition to PD-L1, other promising predictive biomarkers are emerging, including high tumor mutational burden (TMB-H). However, measuring TMB-H remains challenging for several reasons, among which is the difficulty in obtaining adequate tissue material from NSCLC patients. There are no data in the current literature regarding the possibility of adopting cell blocks (CBs) for TMB evaluation; therefore, our goal was to evaluate the feasibility of analyzing TMB on CBs. Methods For evaluation of differences in run metric parameters, 8 pairs of histological and CB samples from patients with NSCLC were analyzed using the Oncomine Tumor Mutational Load Assay on Ion Torrent S5 GS next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform. Results Most CBs (6/8, 75.0%) were successfully analyzed by adopting the broad NGS panel approach. CBs provided results similar to those obtained on histological matched specimens in terms of median total reads (7207048.80 vs 7558817.80), median mapped reads (7075753.83 vs 7513822.00), median read lengths (115.50 vs. 113.00), median percentage of reads on-target (97.49% vs. 98.45%), median average reads per amplicon (454.67 vs 476.14), and median uniformity of amplicon coverage (83.52% vs 84.13%). Conclusion In this pilot study, we demonstrated the technical feasibility of assessing TMB on CBs.
Published: 2020

33. BRAF: A Two-Faced Janus

Author: Roberta Sgariglia, Mariantonia Nacchio, Pasquale Pisapia, Francesco Pepe, Gianluca Russo, Giancarlo Troncone, Umberto Malapelle, Gianluca Gragnano, Antonino Iaccarino, Pisapia, P., Pepe, F., Iaccarino, A., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., Russo, G., Gragnano, G., Malapelle, U., and Troncone, G.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, MAPK/ERK pathway, Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf, Viral Oncogene, Review, medicine.disease_cause, Molecular oncology, BRAF, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, molecular oncology, Neoplasms, medicine, Biomarkers, Tumor, Humans, predictive molecular pathology, prognostic biomarker, lcsh:QH301-705.5, neoplasms, Mutation, Kinase, business.industry, Melanoma, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Biomarker (cell), 030104 developmental biology, lcsh:Biology (General), 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, Cancer research, Signal transduction, business, Signal Transduction
Abstract: Gain-of-function of V-Raf Murine Sarcoma Viral Oncogene Homolog B (BRAF) is one of the most frequent oncogenic mutations in numerous cancers, including thyroid papillary carcinoma, melanoma, colon, and lung carcinomas, and to a lesser extent, ovarian and glioblastoma multiforme. This mutation aberrantly activates the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway, thereby eliciting metastatic processes. The relevance of BRAF mutations stems from its prognostic value and, equally important, from its relevant therapeutic utility as an actionable target for personalized treatment. Here, we discuss the double facets of BRAF. In particular, we argue the need to implement diagnostic molecular algorithms that are able to detect this biomarker in order to streamline and refine diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.
Published: 2020

34. Harmonization of Next-Generation Sequencing Procedure in Italian Laboratories: A Multi-Institutional Evaluation of the SiRe® Panel

Author: Paola Grammatico, Giuseppe Palmieri, Stefania Tommasi, Irene Bottillo, Mariantonia Nacchio, Massimo Barberis, Riccardo Smeraglio, Giancarlo Troncone, Lucia Rosalba Grillo, Rosamaria Pinto, Rosanna Lacalamita, Caterina De Luca, Umberto Malapelle, Dario Bruzzese, Roberta Sgariglia, Francesco Pepe, Pasquale Pisapia, Grazia Palomba, Valerio Costa, Davide Vacirca, Malapelle, U., Pepe, F., Pisapia, P., Sgariglia, R., Nacchio, M., De Luca, C., Lacalamita, R., Tommasi, S., Pinto, R., Palomba, G., Palmieri, G., Vacirca, D., Barberis, M., Bottillo, I., Grammatico, P., Grillo, L. R., Costa, V., Smeraglio, R., Bruzzese, D., and Troncone, G.
Subjects: 0301 basic medicine, Oncology, Neuroblastoma RAS viral oncogene homolog, medicine.medical_specialty, Cancer Research, Concordance, Library preparation, medicine.disease_cause, lcsh:RC254-282, DNA sequencing, 03 medical and health sciences, 0302 clinical medicine, biomarkers, colon cancer, lung cancer, next-generation sequencing, predictive molecular pathology, Internal medicine, medicine, neoplasms, Original Research, Protocol (science), business.industry, Sire, lcsh:Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens, 3. Good health, 030104 developmental biology, 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis, biomarker, Metric (unit), KRAS, business
Abstract: Background: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) needs to be validated and standardized to ensure that cancer patients are reliably selected for target treatments. In Italy, NGS is performed in several institutions and harmonization of wet and dry procedures is needed. To this end, a consortium of five different laboratories, covering the most part of the Italian peninsula, was constituted. A narrow gene panel (SiRe®) covering 568 clinically relevant mutations in six different genes (EGFR, KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, cKIT, and PDGFRα) with a predictive role for therapy selection in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastrointestinal stromal tumor, colorectal carcinoma (CRC), and melanoma was evaluated in each participating laboratory. Methods: To assess the NGS inter-laboratory concordance, the SiRe® panel, with a related kit and protocol for library preparation, was used in each center to analyze a common set of 20 NSCLC and CRC routine samples. Concordance rate, in terms of mutation detected and relative allelic frequencies, was assessed. Then, each institution prospectively analyzed an additional set of 40 routine samples (for a total of 160 specimens) to assess the reproducibility of the NGS run parameters in each institution. Results: An inter-laboratory agreement of 100% was reached in analyzing the data obtained from the 20 common sample sets; the concordance rate of allelic frequencies distribution was 0.989. The prospective analysis of the run metric parameters obtained by each center locally showed that the analytical performance of the SiRe® panel in the different institutions was highly reproducible. Conclusions: The SiRe® panel represents a robust diagnostic tool to harmonize the NGS procedure in different Italian laboratories.
Published: 2020
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35. The development of a narrow target gene panel makes next generation sequencing effective for circulating free DNA analysis

Author: Francesco Pepe, Danilo Rocco, Roberta Sgariglia, D.M. Espinosa, Nuria Jordana Ariza, Umberto Malapelle, G. Troncone, Mónica Garzón, M.A. Molina Vila, Clara Mayo, Pasquale Pisapia, Santiago Viteri, Maria Gonzalez-Cao, Alejandro Martínez Bueno, Niki Karachaliou, C. De Luca, Rafael Rosell, Malapelle, U., Mayo, C., Rocco, D., Garzon, M., Pisapia, P., Sgariglia, R., De Luca, C., Ariza, N. J., Pepe, F., Espinosa, D. M., Bueno, A. M., Gonz('a)lez-Cao, M., Karachaliou, N., Viteri, S., Vila, M. A. M., Rosell, R., and Troncone, G.
Subjects: Genetics, Oncology, Circulating free DNA, Hematology, Biology, Target gene, DNA sequencing
Published: 2016

36. Moving towards a local testing solution for undetermined thyroid fine-needle aspirates: validation of a novel custom DNA-based NGS panel.

Author: Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Migliatico I, Vigliar E, Malapelle U, Pisapia P, De Luca C, Iaccarino A, Salvatore D, Masone S, Troncone G, and Bellevicine C
Subjects: Biopsy, Fine-Needle, DEAD-box RNA Helicases genetics, DNA, DNA Mutational Analysis, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing methods, Humans, Mutation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf genetics, Ribonuclease III genetics, Thyroid Neoplasms diagnosis, Thyroid Neoplasms genetics, Thyroid Neoplasms pathology, Thyroid Nodule diagnosis, Thyroid Nodule genetics, Thyroid Nodule pathology
Abstract: Aims: In thyroid cytopathology, the undetermined diagnostic categories still pose diagnostic challenges. Although next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a promising technique for the molecular testing of thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimens, access to such technology can be difficult because of its prohibitive cost and lack of reimbursement in countries with universal health coverage. To overcome these issues, we developed and validated a novel custom NGS panel, Nexthyro, specifically designed to target 264 clinically relevant mutations involved in thyroid tumourigenesis. Moreover, in this study, we compared its analytical performance with that of our previous molecular testing strategy., Methods: The panel, which includes 15 genes ( BRAF, EIF1AX, GNAS, HRAS, IDH1, KRAS, NF2, NRAS, PIK3CA, PPM1D, PTEN, RET, DICER1, CHEK2, TERT promoter), was validated with a cell-line derived reference standard and 72 FNA archival samples previously tested with the 7-gene test., Results: Nexthyro yielded 100% specificity and detected mutant alleles at levels as low as 2%. Moreover, in 5/72 (7%) FNAs, it detected more clinically relevant mutations in BRAF and RAS genes compared with the 7-gene test. Nexthyro also revealed better postsequencing metrics than the previously adopted commercial 'generic' NGS panel., Conclusion: Our comparative analysis indicates that Nexthyro is a reliable NGS panel. The study also implies that a custom-based solution for routine thyroid FNA is sustainable at the local level, allowing patients with undetermined thyroid nodules affordable access to NGS., Competing Interests: Competing interests: EV has received personal fees (as consultant and/or speaker bureau) from Diaceutics, unrelated to the current work. UM has received personal fees (as consultant and/or speaker bureau) from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, MSD, Amgen, Thermo Fisher Scientifics, Diaceutics, GSK, Merck and AstraZeneca, unrelated to the current work. GT reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD, Pfizer and Bayer, unrelated to the current work., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
Published: 2022
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37. TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit for SiRe NGS panel: an international performance evaluation study.

Author: Malapelle U, Pepe F, Pisapia P, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Barberis M, Bilh M, Bubendorf L, Büttner R, Cabibi D, Castiglia M, De Andrea CE, de Biase D, Dumur CI, Fontanini G, Freire J, Gristina V, Hofman P, Ilie M, Lozano MD, Merkelbach-Bruse S, Pappesch R, Pelusi N, Roma G, Russo A, Savic S, Siemanowski J, Tallini G, Tischler V, Vander Borght S, Weynand B, Xu T, and Troncone G
Subjects: Gene Library, Humans, Mutation, Paraffin Embedding, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing methods
Abstract: Aim: Next generation sequencing (NGS) represents a key diagnostic tool to identify clinically relevant gene alterations for treatment-decision making in cancer care. However, the complex manual workflow required for NGS has limited its implementation in routine clinical practice. In this worldwide study, we validated the clinical performance of the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit for NGS analysis. Impressively, this new assay obviates the need for separate, labour intensive and time-consuming pre-analytical steps of DNA extraction, purification and isolation from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) specimens in the NGS workflow., Methods: The TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit, which enables NGS analysis directly from FFPE, was specifically developed for this study by TargetPlex Genomics Pleasanton, California. Eleven institutions agreed to take part in the study coordinated by the Molecular Cytopathology Meeting Group (University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy). All participating institutions received a specific Library Preparation Kit to test eight FFPE samples previously assessed with standard protocols. The analytical parameters and mutations detected in each sample were then compared with those previously obtained with standard protocols., Results: Overall, 92.8% of the samples were successfully analysed with the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit on Thermo Fisher Scientific and Illumina platforms. Altogether, in comparison with the standard workflow, the TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit was able to detect 90.5% of the variants., Conclusion: The TargetPlex FFPE-Direct DNA Library Preparation Kit combined with the SiRe panel constitutes a convenient, practical and robust cost-saving solution for FFPE NGS analysis in routine practice., Competing Interests: Competing interests: UM has received personal fees (as consultant and/or speaker bureau) from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, MSD, Amgen, Thermo Fisher Scientifics, Diaceutics, GSK, Merck and AstraZeneca, unrelated to the current work. LB is has a consulting or advisory role with AstraZeneca, AbbVie, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, MSD, Pfizer, Takeda and F. Hoffmann-La Roche, and has received research funding (institution) from F. Hoffmann-La Roche, MSD and Sanofi. PH reports personal fees (as advisor) from Roche, Astrazeneca, BMS, MSD, Pfizer, Bayer, Amgen, Illumina, Qiagen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Biocartis, Ed Lilly, unrelated to the current work. MI reports personal fees (as speaker bureau) from Roche, Merck & Co, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Boehringer-Ingelheim, unrelated to the current work. GR is the coinventor of the intellectual property used in the background noise suppression aspects of the TargePlex FFPE-Direct NGS Library Preparation Kit developed in collaboration with SenseCare Medicals. AR reports personal fees from Bristol, Pfizer, Bayer, Kyowa Kirin, Ambrosetti for advisory board activity and speaker honorarium from Roche Diagnostic speaker honorarium, unrelated to the submitted work. SS received personal fees from MSD, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Thermo Fisher Scientific, unrelated to the submitted work. TX is an employee and affiliate with SenseCare Medicals. GTroncone reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD, Pfizer and Bayer, unrelated to the current work.The other authors have nothing to disclose., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
Published: 2022
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38. Performance evaluation of a fully closed real-time PCR platform for the detection of KRAS p.G12C mutations in liquid biopsy of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Author: Gragnano G, Nacchio M, Sgariglia R, Conticelli F, Iaccarino A, De Luca C, Troncone G, and Malapelle U
Subjects: DNA Mutational Analysis methods, Humans, Liquid Biopsy, Mutation, Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) genetics, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung diagnosis, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung genetics, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung pathology, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids genetics, Lung Neoplasms diagnosis, Lung Neoplasms genetics, Lung Neoplasms pathology
Abstract: Whenever tissue sample is not available, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) biomarker testing is performed with liquid biopsy. The Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog ( KRAS ) p.G12C mutation is a novel target in patients with NSCLC. In this study, 33 NSCLC frozen plasma samples, previously characterised for KRAS mutational status by next generation sequencing (NGS), were processed by the fully automated Idylla KRAS assay. In 30/33 cases, archival matched cell-free DNA (cfDNA) was also directly pipetted in the cartridge. Overall, 30/33 plasma and 28/30 cfDNA samples yielded valid results. In 29/30 of KRAS p.G12C mutant plasma samples and 26/28 of cfDNA, Idylla confirmed the NGS results. In conclusion, the Idylla NSCLC KRAS liquid biopsy assay may represent a reliable tool to assess KRAS p.G12C mutation., Competing Interests: Competing interests: GT reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD, Pfizer and Bayer, unrelated to the current work. UM received personal fees (as consultant and/or speaker bureau) from Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, MSD, Amgen, Thermo Fisher Scientifics, Diaceutics, GSK, Merck and AstraZeneca, unrelated to the current work. The other authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
Published: 2022
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39. Liquid biopsy for BRAF mutations testing in non-small cell lung cancer: a retrospective study.

Author: Iaccarino A, Pisapia P, Pepe F, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Russo G, Gragnano G, De Luca C, Troncone G, and Malapelle U
Subjects: Aged, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung pathology, Circulating Tumor DNA genetics, Exons genetics, Female, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Liquid Biopsy, Lung Neoplasms pathology, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Retrospective Studies, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung genetics, Lung Neoplasms genetics, Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf genetics
Abstract: V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B ( BRAF ) gene mutations have recently been approved to select advanced stages non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for tyrosine kinase inhibitors treatments. In this setting, liquid biopsy may represent a valuable option for BRAF mutational testing in patients without tissue availability. Here, we reviewed 196 plasma based liquid biopsies analysed by an in-house developed next generation sequencing panel, termed SiRe. On the overall, 6 (3.1%) out of 196 BRAF mutated cases were identified, with an overall median allelic frequency of 3.4%. Exon 15 p.V600E was the most common detected mutation (2/6, 33.3%). Our data highlighted that the SiRe panel is a robust tool for BRAF mutation assessment on circulating tumour DNA. Further investigation is required to develop a diagnostic algorithm to harmonise BRAF testing on tissue and blood in advanced stages NSCLC patients., Competing Interests: Competing interests: GT reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD, Pfizer and Bayer, unrelated to the current work. UM reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Roche, MSD, Amgen and Merck, unrelated to the current work., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
Published: 2022
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40. Next generation sequencing in cytology.

Author: Pisapia P, Pepe F, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Russo G, Conticelli F, Girolami I, Eccher A, Bellevicine C, Vigliar E, Malapelle U, and Troncone G
Subjects: Humans, Neoplasms diagnosis, Neoplasms genetics, Neoplasms pathology, Cytodiagnosis methods, Cytological Techniques methods, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing methods
Abstract: The application of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology to cytological samples has significantly modified molecular cytopathology practice. Cytological samples represent a valid source of high-quality DNA for NGS analysis, especially for predicting patients' response to targeted treatments and for refining the risk of malignancy in indeterminate cytological diagnoses. However, several pre-analytical factors may influence the reliability of NGS clinical analysis. Here, we briefly review the challenges of NGS in cytology practice, focusing on those pre-analytical factors that may negatively affect NGS success rates and routine diagnostic applications. Finally, we address the future directions of the field., (© 2021 The Authors. Cytopathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Published: 2021
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41. Methods for actionable gene fusion detection in lung cancer: now and in the future.

Author: Pisapia P, Pepe F, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Russo G, Gragnano G, Conticelli F, Salatiello M, De Luca C, Girolami I, Eccher A, Iaccarino A, Bellevicine C, Vigliar E, Malapelle U, and Troncone G
Subjects: High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung genetics, Gene Fusion genetics, Lung Neoplasms genetics, Medical Oncology methods, Medical Oncology trends
Abstract: Although gene fusions occur rarely in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, they represent a relevant target in treatment decision algorithms. To date, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization are the two principal methods used in clinical trials. However, using these methods in routine clinical practice is often impractical and time consuming because they can only analyze single genes and the quantity of tissue material is often insufficient. Thus, novel technologies, able to test multiple genes in a single run with minimal sample input, are being under investigation. Here, we discuss the utility of next-generation sequencing and nCounter technologies in detecting simultaneous gene fusions in NSCLC patients.
Published: 2021
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42. Heparin in COVID-19 Patients Is Associated with Reduced In-Hospital Mortality: The Multicenter Italian CORIST Study.

Author: Di Castelnuovo A, Costanzo S, Antinori A, Berselli N, Blandi L, Bonaccio M, Cauda R, Guaraldi G, Menicanti L, Mennuni M, Parruti G, Patti G, Santilli F, Signorelli C, Vergori A, Abete P, Ageno W, Agodi A, Agostoni P, Aiello L, Al Moghazi S, Arboretti R, Astuto M, Aucella F, Barbieri G, Bartoloni A, Bonfanti P, Cacciatore F, Caiano L, Carrozzi L, Cascio A, Ciccullo A, Cingolani A, Cipollone F, Colomba C, Colombo C, Crosta F, Danzi GB, D'Ardes D, de Gaetano Donati K, Di Gennaro F, Di Tano G, D'Offizi G, Fantoni M, Fusco FM, Gentile I, Gianfagna F, Grandone E, Graziani E, Grisafi L, Guarnieri G, Larizza G, Leone A, Maccagni G, Madaro F, Maitan S, Mancarella S, Mapelli M, Maragna R, Marcucci R, Maresca G, Marongiu S, Marotta C, Marra L, Mastroianni F, Mazzitelli M, Mengozzi A, Menichetti F, Meschiari M, Milic J, Minutolo F, Molena B, Montineri A, Mussini C, Musso M, Niola D, Odone A, Olivieri M, Palimodde A, Parisi R, Pasi E, Pesavento R, Petri F, Pinchera B, Poletti V, Ravaglia C, Rognoni A, Rossato M, Rossi M, Sangiovanni V, Sanrocco C, Scorzolini L, Sgariglia R, Simeone PG, Taddei E, Torti C, Vettor R, Vianello A, Vinceti M, Virano A, Vocciante L, De Caterina R, and Iacoviello L
Subjects: Aged, Blood Coagulation drug effects, COVID-19 blood, Female, Hospital Mortality, Humans, Italy epidemiology, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Survival Analysis, Thrombophilia blood, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, Anticoagulants therapeutic use, COVID-19 complications, Heparin therapeutic use, Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight therapeutic use, Thrombophilia etiology, Thrombophilia prevention & control
Abstract: Introduction: A hypercoagulable condition was described in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and proposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism contributing to disease progression and lethality., Aim: We evaluated if in-hospital administration of heparin improved survival in a large cohort of Italian COVID-19 patients., Methods: In a retrospective observational study, 2,574 unselected patients hospitalized in 30 clinical centers in Italy from February 19, 2020 to June 5, 2020 with laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection were analyzed. The primary endpoint in a time-to event analysis was in-hospital death, comparing patients who received heparin (low-molecular-weight heparin [LMWH] or unfractionated heparin [UFH]) with patients who did not. We used multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models with inverse probability for treatment weighting by propensity scores., Results: Out of 2,574 COVID-19 patients, 70.1% received heparin. LMWH was largely the most used formulation (99.5%). Death rates for patients receiving heparin or not were 7.4 and 14.0 per 1,000 person-days, respectively. After adjustment for propensity scores, we found a 40% lower risk of death in patients receiving heparin (hazard ratio = 0.60; 95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.74; E-value = 2.04). This association was particularly evident in patients with a higher severity of disease or strong coagulation activation., Conclusion: In-hospital heparin treatment was associated with a lower mortality, particularly in severely ill COVID-19 patients and in those with strong coagulation activation. The results from randomized clinical trials are eagerly awaited to provide clear-cut recommendations., Competing Interests: None declared., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)
Published: 2021
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43. Evaluation of Micro Satellite Instability and Mismatch Repair Status in Different Solid Tumors: A Multicenter Analysis in a Real World Setting.

Author: Malapelle U, Parente P, Pepe F, De Luca C, Pisapia P, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Gragnano G, Russo G, Conticelli F, Bellevicine C, Vigliar E, Iaccarino A, Covelli C, Balistreri M, Clemente C, Perrone G, Danza A, Scaramuzzi F, Fassan M, Troncone G, and Graziano P
Subjects: Biomarkers, Tumor analysis, DNA Repair Enzymes analysis, Digestive System Neoplasms enzymology, Digestive System Neoplasms pathology, Endometrial Neoplasms enzymology, Endometrial Neoplasms genetics, Endometrial Neoplasms pathology, Female, Genital Neoplasms, Female enzymology, Genital Neoplasms, Female pathology, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Italy, Male, Microfluidic Analytical Techniques, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, Ovarian Neoplasms enzymology, Ovarian Neoplasms genetics, Ovarian Neoplasms pathology, Pancreatic Neoplasms enzymology, Pancreatic Neoplasms genetics, Pancreatic Neoplasms pathology, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Predictive Value of Tests, Prostatic Neoplasms enzymology, Prostatic Neoplasms pathology, Reproducibility of Results, Retrospective Studies, Stomach Neoplasms enzymology, Stomach Neoplasms genetics, Stomach Neoplasms pathology, DNA Mismatch Repair, Digestive System Neoplasms genetics, Genital Neoplasms, Female genetics, Microsatellite Instability, Prostatic Neoplasms genetics
Abstract: Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) play a key role in the treatment of advanced stage colorectal cancer (CRC) patients featuring a deficient DNA mismatch repair (dMMR) system or a high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) profile. However, beyond the established role in CRC patients, ICIs have highly proven efficacy in other solid tumors featuring MSI-H/dMMR status represented by endometrial, gastric, ovarian, prostatic, and pancreatic carcinomas (EC, GC, OC, PrC, and PaC). Our aim was to compare the concordance rates among the Idylla™ MSI test, TapeStation 4200, and immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis in assessing MSI-H/dMMR status in EC, GC, OC, PrC, and PaC patients. The Sanger sequencing-based Titano MSI test was used in discordant cases. One hundred and eighty-five cases ( n = 40 PrC, n = 39 GC, n = 38 OC, n = 35 PaC, and n = 33 EC) were retrospectively selected. MMR protein expression was evaluated by IHC. After DNA quality and quantity evaluations, the Idylla TM and TapeStation 4200 platforms were adopted for the evaluation of MSI status. Remarkably, compared to IHC, the Idylla™ platform achieved a global concordance rate of 94.5% (154/163) for the microsatellite stable (MSS)/proficient MMR (pMMR) cases and 77.3% (17/22) for the MSI-H/dMMR cases. Similarly, a global concordance rate of 91.4% (149/163) and 68.2% (15/22) for MSS/pMMR and MSI-H/dMMR cases was also identified between IHC and the TapeStation 4200 microfluidic system. In addition, a global concordance of 93.1% (148/159) and 69.2% (18/26) for MSS/pMMR and MSI-H/dMMR cases was observed between the Idylla™ and TapeStation 4200 platforms. Discordant cases were analyzed using the Titano MSI kit. Overall, our data pinpointed a central role for molecular techniques in the diagnostic evaluation of dMMR/MSI-H status not only in CRC patients but also in other types of solid tumors.
Published: 2021
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44. Liquid Biopsy Is a Promising Tool for Genetic Testing in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Author: Pallante P, Malapelle U, Nacchio M, Sgariglia R, Galati D, Capitelli L, Zanotta S, Galgani M, Piemonte E, Sanduzzi Zamparelli A, Rea G, and Bocchino M
Abstract: Liquid biopsy, which allows the isolation of circulating cell-free (ccf) DNA from blood, is an emerging noninvasive tool widely used in oncology for diagnostic and prognosis purposes. Previous data have shown that serum cfDNA discriminates idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from other interstitial lung diseases. Our study aimed to measure plasma levels of ccfDNA in 59 consecutive therapy-naive and clinically stable IPF patients. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the MUC5B gene promoter (rs35705950), associated with increased susceptibility of developing IPF, has been sought in plasma cfDNA and genomic DNA for comparison. Thirty-five age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were recruited as the control group. Our results show that concentrations of small-size ccfDNA fragments were significantly higher in IPF patients than in controls and inversely correlated with lung function deterioration. Moreover, the median level of 104 ng/mL allowed discriminating patients with mild disease from those more advanced. The rs35705950 polymorphism was found in 11.8% of IPF patients and 8% of controls, with no differences. Complete concordance between ccfDNA and genomic DNA was detected in all control samples, while four out of seven IPF cases (57%) carrying the rs35705950 polymorphism were discordant from genomic DNA (7% of total IPF). Liquid biopsy is a suitable tool with optimistic expectations of application in the field of IPF. In analogy with cancer biology, finding some discrepancies between ccfDNA and genomic DNA in IPF patients suggests that the former may convey specific genetic information present in the primary site of the disease.
Published: 2021
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45. Disentangling the Association of Hydroxychloroquine Treatment with Mortality in Covid-19 Hospitalized Patients through Hierarchical Clustering.

Author: Di Castelnuovo A, Gialluisi A, Antinori A, Berselli N, Blandi L, Bonaccio M, Bruno R, Cauda R, Costanzo S, Guaraldi G, Menicanti L, Mennuni M, My I, Parruti G, Patti G, Perlini S, Santilli F, Signorelli C, Stefanini G, Vergori A, Ageno W, Agodi A, Agostoni P, Aiello L, Al Moghazi S, Arboretti R, Aucella F, Barbieri G, Barchitta M, Bonfanti P, Cacciatore F, Caiano L, Cannata F, Carrozzi L, Cascio A, Castiglione G, Ciccullo A, Cingolani A, Cipollone F, Colomba C, Colombo C, Crisetti A, Crosta F, Danzi GB, D'Ardes D, de Gaetano Donati K, Di Gennaro F, Di Tano G, D'Offizi G, Fusco FM, Gaudiosi C, Gentile I, Gianfagna F, Giuliano G, Graziani E, Guarnieri G, Langella V, Larizza G, Leone A, Maccagni G, Magni F, Maitan S, Mancarella S, Manuele R, Mapelli M, Maragna R, Marcucci R, Maresca G, Marongiu S, Marotta C, Marra L, Mastroianni F, Mengozzi A, Meschiari M, Milic J, Minutolo F, Mussinelli R, Mussini C, Musso M, Odone A, Olivieri M, Palimodde A, Pasi E, Pesavento R, Petri F, Pivato CA, Poletti V, Ravaglia C, Righetti G, Rognoni A, Rossato M, Rossi I, Rossi M, Sabena A, Salinaro F, Sangiovanni V, Sanrocco C, Schiano Moriello N, Scorzolini L, Sgariglia R, Simeone PG, Spinicci M, Tamburrini E, Torti C, Trecarichi EM, Vettor R, Vianello A, Vinceti M, Virdis A, De Caterina R, and Iacoviello L
Subjects: Aged, Aged, 80 and over, COVID-19 physiopathology, Cluster Analysis, Female, Humans, Italy, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, SARS-CoV-2 drug effects, Severity of Illness Index, Treatment Outcome, Antimalarials adverse effects, Antimalarials therapeutic use, COVID-19 mortality, Hospital Mortality, Hydroxychloroquine adverse effects, Hydroxychloroquine therapeutic use, COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Abstract: The efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in treating SARS-CoV-2 infection is harshly debated, with observational and experimental studies reporting contrasting results. To clarify the role of HCQ in Covid-19 patients, we carried out a retrospective observational study of 4,396 unselected patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in Italy (February-May 2020). Patients' characteristics were collected at entry, including age, sex, obesity, smoking status, blood parameters, history of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and chronic pulmonary diseases, and medications in use. These were used to identify subtypes of patients with similar characteristics through hierarchical clustering based on Gower distance. Using multivariable Cox regressions, these clusters were then tested for association with mortality and modification of effect by treatment with HCQ. We identified two clusters, one of 3,913 younger patients with lower circulating inflammation levels and better renal function, and one of 483 generally older and more comorbid subjects, more prevalently men and smokers. The latter group was at increased death risk adjusted by HCQ (HR[CI95%] = 3.80[3.08-4.67]), while HCQ showed an independent inverse association (0.51[0.43-0.61]), as well as a significant influence of cluster∗HCQ interaction ( p < 0.001). This was driven by a differential association of HCQ with mortality between the high (0.89[0.65-1.22]) and the low risk cluster (0.46[0.39-0.54]). These effects survived adjustments for additional medications in use and were concordant with associations with disease severity and outcome. These findings suggest a particularly beneficial effect of HCQ within low risk Covid-19 patients and may contribute to clarifying the current controversy on HCQ efficacy in Covid-19 treatment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Augusto Di Castelnuovo et al.)
Published: 2021
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46. Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Darunavir/Cobicistat in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Findings From the Multicenter Italian CORIST Study.

Author: Di Castelnuovo A, Costanzo S, Antinori A, Berselli N, Blandi L, Bonaccio M, Bruno R, Cauda R, Gialluisi A, Guaraldi G, Menicanti L, Mennuni M, My I, Parruti A, Patti G, Perlini S, Santilli F, Signorelli C, Stefanini GG, Vergori A, Ageno W, Aiello L, Agostoni P, Al Moghazi S, Arboretti R, Aucella F, Barbieri G, Barchitta M, Bartoloni A, Bologna C, Bonfanti P, Caiano L, Carrozzi L, Cascio A, Castiglione G, Chiarito M, Ciccullo A, Cingolani A, Cipollone F, Colomba C, Colombo C, Crosta F, Dalena G, Dal Pra C, Danzi GB, D'Ardes D, de Gaetano Donati K, Di Gennaro F, Di Tano G, D'Offizi G, Filippini T, Maria Fusco F, Gaudiosi C, Gentile I, Gini G, Grandone E, Guarnieri G, Lamanna GLF, Larizza G, Leone A, Lio V, Losito AR, Maccagni G, Maitan S, Mancarella S, Manuele R, Mapelli M, Maragna R, Marra L, Maresca G, Marotta C, Mastroianni F, Mazzitelli M, Mengozzi A, Menichetti F, Milic J, Minutolo F, Molena B, Mussinelli R, Mussini C, Musso M, Odone A, Olivieri M, Pasi E, Perroni A, Petri F, Pinchera B, Pivato CA, Poletti V, Ravaglia C, Rossato M, Rossi M, Sabena A, Salinaro F, Sangiovanni V, Sanrocco C, Scorzolini L, Sgariglia R, Simeone PG, Spinicci M, Trecarichi EM, Veronesi G, Vettor R, Vianello A, Vinceti M, Visconti E, Vocciante L, De Caterina R, and Iacoviello L
Abstract: Background: Protease inhibitors have been considered as possible therapeutic agents for COVID-19 patients. Objectives: To describe the association between lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or darunavir/cobicistat (DRV/c) use and in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients. Study Design: Multicenter observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted in 33 Italian hospitals. Medications, preexisting conditions, clinical measures, and outcomes were extracted from medical records. Patients were retrospectively divided in three groups, according to use of LPV/r, DRV/c or none of them. Primary outcome in a time-to event analysis was death. We used Cox proportional-hazards models with inverse probability of treatment weighting by multinomial propensity scores. Results: Out of 3,451 patients, 33.3% LPV/r and 13.9% received DRV/c. Patients receiving LPV/r or DRV/c were more likely younger, men, had higher C-reactive protein levels while less likely had hypertension, cardiovascular, pulmonary or kidney disease. After adjustment for propensity scores, LPV/r use was not associated with mortality (HR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13), whereas treatment with DRV/c was associated with a higher death risk (HR = 1.89, 1.53 to 2.34, E-value = 2.43). This increased risk was more marked in women, in elderly, in patients with higher severity of COVID-19 and in patients receiving other COVID-19 drugs. Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a real-life setting, the use of LPV/r treatment did not change death rate, while DRV/c was associated with increased mortality. Within the limits of an observational study, these data do not support the use of LPV/r or DRV/c in COVID-19 patients., 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 © 2021 Di Castelnuovo, Costanzo, Antinori, Berselli, Blandi, Bonaccio, Bruno, Cauda, Gialluisi, Guaraldi, Menicanti, Mennuni, My, Parruti, Patti, Perlini, Santilli, Signorelli, Stefanini, Vergori, Ageno, Aiello, Agostoni, Al Moghazi, Arboretti, Aucella, Barbieri, Barchitta, Bartoloni, Bologna, Bonfanti, Caiano, Carrozzi, Cascio, Castiglione, Chiarito, Ciccullo, Cingolani, Cipollone, Colomba, Colombo, Crosta, Dalena, Dal Pra, Danzi, D'Ardes, de Gaetano Donati, Di Gennaro, Di Tano, D'Offizi, Filippini, Maria Fusco, Gaudiosi, Gentile, Gini, Grandone, Guarnieri, Lamanna, Larizza, Leone, Lio, Losito, Maccagni, Maitan, Mancarella, Manuele, Mapelli, Maragna, Marra, Maresca, Marotta, Mastroianni, Mazzitelli, Mengozzi, Menichetti, Milic, Minutolo, Molena, Mussinelli, Mussini, Musso, Odone, Olivieri, Pasi, Perroni, Petri, Pinchera, Pivato, Poletti, Ravaglia, Rossato, Rossi, Sabena, Salinaro, Sangiovanni, Sanrocco, Scorzolini, Sgariglia, Simeone, Spinicci, Trecarichi, Veronesi, Vettor, Vianello, Vinceti, Visconti, Vocciante, De Caterina, Iacoviello and The COVID-19 RISK and Treatments (CORIST) Collaboration.)
Published: 2021
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47. Tumor mutational burden on cytological samples: A pilot study.

Author: Pepe F, Pisapia P, Gristina V, Rocco D, Micheli M, Micheli P, Iaccarino A, Tufano R, Gragnano G, Russo G, De Luca C, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Girolami I, Eccher A, Russo A, Troncone G, and Malapelle U
Subjects: Aged, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung pathology, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Lung Neoplasms pathology, Male, Pilot Projects, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Biomarkers, Tumor genetics, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung genetics, Cytological Techniques methods, DNA Mutational Analysis methods, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing methods, Lung Neoplasms genetics, Mutation
Abstract: Background: Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represent an important treatment option for patients who have advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Currently, evaluation of the expression level of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has proven highly successful as a positive predictive biomarker for ICIs. In addition to PD-L1, other promising predictive biomarkers are emerging, including high tumor mutational burden (TMB-H). However, measuring TMB-H remains challenging for several reasons, among which is the difficulty in obtaining adequate tissue material from NSCLC patients. There are no data in the current literature regarding the possibility of adopting cell blocks (CBs) for TMB evaluation; therefore, our goal was to evaluate the feasibility of analyzing TMB on CBs., Methods: For evaluation of differences in run metric parameters, 8 pairs of histological and CB samples from patients with NSCLC were analyzed using the Oncomine Tumor Mutational Load Assay on Ion Torrent S5 GS next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform., Results: Most CBs (6/8, 75.0%) were successfully analyzed by adopting the broad NGS panel approach. CBs provided results similar to those obtained on histological matched specimens in terms of median total reads (7207048.80 vs 7558817.80), median mapped reads (7075753.83 vs 7513822.00), median read lengths (115.50 vs. 113.00), median percentage of reads on-target (97.49% vs. 98.45%), median average reads per amplicon (454.67 vs 476.14), and median uniformity of amplicon coverage (83.52% vs 84.13%)., Conclusion: In this pilot study, we demonstrated the technical feasibility of assessing TMB on CBs., (© 2020 American Cancer Society.)
Published: 2021
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48. Predictive molecular pathology in the time of COVID-19.

Author: Malapelle U, De Luca C, Iaccarino A, Pepe F, Pisapia P, Russo M, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Vigliar E, Bellevicine C, Schmitt FC, and Troncone G
Subjects: Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Automation, Laboratory, COVID-19 epidemiology, COVID-19 virology, Female, Humans, Italy epidemiology, Laboratories, Male, Middle Aged, Molecular Diagnostic Techniques, Predictive Value of Tests, Time Factors, Workflow, Young Adult, Biomarkers analysis, COVID-19 diagnosis, Disease Outbreaks, Medical Oncology, Pathology, Molecular, SARS-CoV-2 isolation & purification
Abstract: Aims: In the time of COVID-19, predictive molecular pathology laboratories must still timely select oncological patients for targeted treatments. However, the need to respect social distancing measures may delay results generated by laboratory-developed tests based on sequential steps a long hands-on time. Laboratory workflows should now be simplified., Methods: The organisation of the University of Naples Federico II predictive pathology laboratory was assessed before (March-April 2019) and during (March-April 2020) the Italian lockdown., Results: The number of patients undergoing single or multiple biomarker testing was similar in 2019 (n=43) and in 2020 (n=45). Considering adequate samples for molecular testing, before the outbreak, next-generation sequencing was mostly used (35/42, 83.3%). Testing six genes had a reagent cost of €98/patient. Conversely, in 2020, almost all cases (38/41, 92.7%) were analysed by automated testing. This latter had for any single assay/gene a significant reagent cost (€95-€136) and a faster mean turnaround time (5.3 vs 7.9 working days)., Conclusion: In the times of coronavirus, laboratory fully automated platforms simplify predictive molecular testing. Laboratory staff may be more safely and cost-effectively managed., Competing Interests: Competing interests: UM reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Roche, MSD, Amgen, Merck and BMS. GT reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD and Pfizer., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
Published: 2021
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49. Next Generation Sequencing in Cytopathology: Focus on Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Author: Pisapia P, Pepe F, Iaccarino A, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Conticelli F, Salatiello M, Tufano R, Russo G, Gragnano G, Girolami I, Eccher A, Malapelle U, and Troncone G
Abstract: Molecular cytopathology is a rapidly evolving field embracing both conventional microscopy and molecular pathology. Its growing popularity stems from the fact that in many types of advanced cancers, including non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), cytological samples often constitute the only available specimens for morphomolecular analysis. Indeed, non formalin fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE) cytological samples feature a higher quality of extracted nucleic acids than histological specimens. However, because of the growing complexity of molecular testing, several efforts should be made to validate the analytical performance of the wide array of currently available molecular technologies, including next generation sequencing (NGS). This technology has the terrific advantage of allowing simultaneous detection of scores of predictive biomarkers even in low-input DNA/RNA specimens. Here, we briefly review the role of the modern cytopathologist in the morphomolecular diagnosing of advanced stage NSCLC and the adoption of NGS in conventional cytopreparations (cell blocks, direct smears, and liquid-based cytology) and supernatants., Competing Interests: UM reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Roche, MSD, Amgen, and Merck, unrelated to the current work. GT reports personal fees (as speaker bureau or advisor) from Roche, MSD, Pfizer, and Bayer, unrelated to the current work. The remaining 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 © 2021 Pisapia, Pepe, Iaccarino, Sgariglia, Nacchio, Conticelli, Salatiello, Tufano, Russo, Gragnano, Girolami, Eccher, Malapelle and Troncone.)
Published: 2021
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50. RNA-Based Assay for Next-Generation Sequencing of Clinically Relevant Gene Fusions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Author: De Luca C, Pepe F, Iaccarino A, Pisapia P, Righi L, Listì A, Greco L, Gragnano G, Campione S, De Dominicis G, Pagni F, Sgariglia R, Nacchio M, Tufano R, Conticelli F, Vigliar E, Bellevicine C, Cortinovis DL, Novello S, Molina-Vila MA, Rosell R, Troncone G, and Malapelle U
Abstract: Gene fusions represent novel predictive biomarkers for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we validated a narrow NGS gene panel able to cover therapeutically-relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced-stage NSCLC patients. To this aim, we first assessed minimal complementary DNA (cDNA) input and the limit of detection (LoD) in different cell lines. Then, to evaluate the feasibility of applying our panel to routine clinical samples, we retrospectively selected archived lung adenocarcinoma histological and cytological (cell blocks) samples. Overall, our SiRe RNA fusion panel was able to detect all fusions and a splicing event harbored in a RNA pool diluted up to 2 ng/µL. It also successfully analyzed 46 (95.8%) out of 48 samples. Among these, 43 (93.5%) out of 46 samples reproduced the same results as those obtained with conventional techniques. Intriguingly, the three discordant results were confirmed by a CE-IVD automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis (Easy PGX platform, Diatech Pharmacogenetics, Jesi, Italy). Based on these findings, we conclude that our new SiRe RNA fusion panel is a valid and robust tool for the detection of clinically relevant gene fusions and splicing events in advanced NSCLC.
Published: 2021
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