- Muscle invasion in oropharyngeal carcinoma undergoing transoral robotic surgeryby Robert M McKenzie on 2020-12-28
CONCLUSIONS: Muscle invasion was associated with higher pathologic tumor staging, poor pathologic factors, and higher rates of positive margin on main specimen.
- Molecular Biomarkers of Response to PD-1/ PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Advanced Bladder Cancerby Megan M Tu on 2020-12-28
CONCLUSIONS: Currently no molecular biomarker is sufficiently mature for routine clinical use, while some candidates, or a combination show great promise and need further study.
- A Rapid and Cost-Effective Gene Expression Assay for the Diagnosis of Well-Differentiated and Dedifferentiated Liposarcomasby Xiu Q Wang on 2020-12-21
Histologic examination does not reliably distinguish benign lipomas from atypical lipomatous tumor/well-differentiated liposarcoma, nor dedifferentiated liposarcoma from other pleomorphic sarcomas, entities with different prognoses and management. Molecular confirmation of pathognomonic 12q13-15 amplifications leading to MDM2 overexpression is a diagnostic gold standard. Currently the most commonly used assay for this purpose is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), but this is labor...
- Antibody profiling of patients with prostate cancer reveals differences in antibody signatures among disease stagesby Hemanth K Potluri on 2020-12-18
CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the largest survey of prostate cancer-associated antibodies to date. We have been able to characterize the classes of proteins recognized by patients and determine how they change with disease burden. Our findings further demonstrate the potential of this platform for measuring antigen spread and studying responses to immunomodulatory therapies.
- Prospective Observational Study Revealing Early Pulmonary Function Changes Associated With Brigatinib Initiationby Terry L Ng on 2020-12-11
CONCLUSIONS: DLCO reduction occurred in 90% during the first 8 days of brigatinib dosing without any related symptoms. DLCO improved in all six patients assessed at day 15 despite continued dosing and dose escalation. Pretreatment levels of neutrophil activation should be explored as a biomarker for developing EOPEs.
- Real-world practice patterns and attitudes towards de-escalation of bone-modifying agents in patients with bone metastases from breast and prostate cancer: A physician surveyby Mashari AlZahrani on 2020-12-09
CONCLUSION: Despite their extensive use and costs, questions around optimal use of BMAs still exist. Practice varies according to patient insurance coverage. However, most physicians are de-escalating BMAs. There is interest amongst clinicians in performing trials of de-escalation, especially after 2 years of treatment.
- P53 Immunohistochemical Analysis of Fusion-Positive Uterine Sarcomasby Nissreen Mohammad on 2020-10-29
CONCLUSION: P53 immunohistochemistry may be considered in the initial work-up of a uterine sarcoma as mutation-type staining would render the possibility of a fusion positive sarcoma very unlikely. Mutation-type p53 expression pattern however can be seen in a small subset of NTRK1/3 sarcoma exhibiting pleomorphic round/ovoid cell histology, which may represent a mechanism of progression in these tumors.
- Impact of ALK variants on brain metastasis and treatment response in advanced NSCLC patients with oncogenic ALK fusionby Meng Qiao on 2020-09-21
CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ALK variant 1 and baseline BM had inferior TTF on first-line crizotinib treatment and presented with more aggressive radiological features. Patients with ALK non-variant 1 had better clinical outcome on first-line chemotherapy.
- GLASS: Global Lorlatinib for ALK(+) and ROS1(+) retrospective Study: real world data of 123 NSCLC patientsby Nir Peled on 2020-08-18
CONCLUSION: Lorlatinib shows outstanding EC/IC efficacy in ALK/ROS1(+) NSCLC. The observed mOS of 89 ± 19 months in ALK(+) NSCLC supports previous reports, while mOS from of 90 ± 24 months is unprecedented for ROS1(+) NSCLC.
- Long-term impact of bone-modifying agents for the treatment of bone metastases: a systematic reviewby Terry L Ng on 2020-06-15
CONCLUSIONS: Evidence informing the use of BMA beyond 2 years is heterogeneous and based on retrospective analysis. Prospective randomized studies with greater emphasis on quality of life are needed.
- A Peroxodiiron(III/III) Intermediate Mediating Both N-Hydroxylation Steps in Biosynthesis of the N-Nitrosourea Pharmacophore of Streptozotocin by the Multi-domain Metalloenzyme SznFby Molly J McBride on 2020-06-09
The alkylating warhead of the pancreatic cancer drug streptozotocin (SZN) contains an N-nitrosourea moiety constructed from N^(ω)-methyl-l-arginine (l-NMA) by the multi-domain metalloenzyme SznF. The enzyme's central heme-oxygenase-like (HO-like) domain sequentially hydroxylates N^(δ) and N^(ω)' of l-NMA. Its C-terminal cupin domain then rearranges the triply modified arginine to N^(δ)-hydroxy-N^(ω)-methyl-N^(ω)-nitroso-l-citrulline, the proposed donor of the functional pharmacophore. Here we...
- Early-Onset Pulmonary Events Associated With Brigatinib Use in Advanced NSCLCby Terry L Ng on 2020-03-06
CONCLUSIONS: Clinically apparent EOPEs can occur within days of commencing brigatinib in a subset of patients with NSCLC. Identifying clinical parameters associated with a higher risk of developing such events may help mitigate these events.
- The l-Alanosine Gene Cluster Encodes a Pathway for Diazeniumdiolate Biosynthesisby Tai L Ng on 2019-10-24
N-Nitroso-containing natural products are bioactive metabolites with antibacterial and anticancer properties. In particular, compounds containing the diazeniumdiolate (N-nitrosohydroxylamine) group display a wide range of bioactivities ranging from cytotoxicity to metal chelation. Despite the importance of this structural motif, knowledge of its biosynthesis is limited. Herein we describe the discovery of a biosynthetic gene cluster in Streptomyces alanosinicus ATCC 15710 responsible for...
- Multiresolution Network Modelsby Bailey K Fosdick on 2019-08-27
Many existing statistical and machine learning tools for social network analysis focus on a single level of analysis. Methods designed for clustering optimize a global partition of the graph, whereas projection-based approaches (e.g., the latent space model in the statistics literature) represent in rich detail the roles of individuals. Many pertinent questions in sociology and economics, however, span multiple scales of analysis. Further, many questions involve comparisons across disconnected...
- Evaluation of potential environmental benefits from seawater toilet flushingby Xiaoming Liu on 2019-07-17
Water scarcity has become a global issue that has forced many communities to seek alternative water resources. The majority of water on the earth's surface comes from the sea. Seawater has the potential to mitigate water stress after proper treatment. In Hong Kong, seawater has been used directly for toilet flushing for more than 50 years and the seawater toilet flushing (SWTF) system serves 80% of the residents. However, its environmental feasibility remains unknown. This study is a pioneer...