Morphological,Functional, and Tissue Characterization of Silent Myocardial Involvement in Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis

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Impact of Patients’ Gender on Efficacy of Immunotherapy in Patients With Metastatic Kidney Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Recent meta-analyses on checkpoint inhibitors in cancer report conflicting data regarding the association of patient gender with inhibitor efficacy. In advanced kidney cancer, checkpoint inhibitors have shown improved outcomes in first- and second-line settings compared with standard of care, but the role of patient gender on treatment outcome is unclear. We aimed to assess the efficacy of immunotherapy according to patient gender in advanced kidney cancer.We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies published through February 16, 2019. Studies were included if they reported on the differential outcomes of male and female patients with metastatic kidney cancer receiving immunotherapy. Our outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS).Four randomized controlled trials comprising a total of 3664 patients (2715 males and 949 females) met our inclusion criteria. Both men and women with metastatic kidney cancer had an OS and PFS advantage with immunotherapy compared with standard-of-care, but no statistically significant difference between the genders was observed (OS hazard ratio [HR] for men, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59-0.8; P = .40; HR for women, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.48-0.81; P = .13; PFS HR for men, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.59-0.82; P = .24; HR for women, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.52-0.90; P = .105).In patients with advanced kidney cancer receiving checkpoint inhibitors, there seems to be no association of patient gender with treatment outcome.     

Role of NK T cells in transplantation with particular emphasis on corneal transplantation

Natural killer T cells (NKT cells) are a unique subset of the immune system that possess characteristics of both an innate and adaptive immune response. This study reviews the reported roles of NKT cells in different solid transplantations such as cardiac, skin, liver, and corneal grafts as well as investigates a novel role of NKT cells in steroid-resistant corneal rejections. It is unknown why there is late corneal graft rejection despite being treated with immunosuppression. Our experimental data suggests NKT cells are playing a crucial part in steroid-resistant late graft rejections. While the pathophysiology of acute rejection is better understood, the process of chronic graft rejection is much less clear. Our data suggests NKT cells as a potential therapeutic target to prevent chronic transplant rejection which needs further investigation.     

A Clinical and Economic Evaluation of Endoscopic Ultrasound for Patients at Risk for Familial Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Background and Aims: Approximately 10% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is familial. Approximately 50% of Ist-degree relatives (FDRs) have endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) findings of chronic pancreatitis. We modeled the natural history of these patients to compare 4 management strategies. Methods: We performed a systematic review, and created a Markov model for 45-year-old male FDRs, with findings of chronic pancreatitis on screening EUS. We compared 4 strategies: doing nothing, prophylactic total pancreatectomy (PTP), annual surveillance by EUS, and annual surveillance with EUS and fine needle aspiration (EUS/FNA). Outcomes incorporated mortality, quality of life, procedural complications, and costs. Results: In the Do Nothing strategy, the lifetime risk of cancer was 20%. Doing nothing provided the greatest remaining years of life, the lowest cost, and the greatest remaining quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). PTP provided the fewest remaining years of life, and the fewest remaining QALYs. Screening with EUS provided nearly identical results to PTP, and screening with EUS/FNA provided intermediate results between PTP and doing nothing. PTP provided the longest life expectancy if the lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer was at least 46%, and provided the most QALYs if the risk was at least 68%. Conclusions: FDRs from familial pancreatic cancer kindreds, who have EUS findings of chronic pancreatitis, have increased risk for cancer, but their precise risk is unknown. Without the ability to further quantify that risk, the most effective strategy is to do nothing.     

The impact of different doses of antithymocyte globulin conditioning on immune reconstitution upon hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

IntroductionAnti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is used prior to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. Two different ATG doses (7.5 or 10 mg/kg) were evaluated in comparison with a group without ATG therapy.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 132 patients who were transplanted with HSCT without ATG (non-ATG), or who received 7.5 mg/kg ATG (ATG-7.5) or 10 mg/kg ATG (ATG-10) prior to transplantation. The immune cells (CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells, CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells, CD19⁺ B cells and CD16⁺CD56⁺ NK cells) were examined in peripheral blood every three months post-HSCT for 12 months.ResultsCompared with non-ATG group, combined ATG-7.5/ATG-10 groups had significantly lower CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells and higher CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells at 3, 6, 9, 12 months post-HSCT; thus, displaying a lower CD4/CD8 ratio in the ATG groups compared to non-ATG group. The ratio of CD19⁺ B cells was statistically lower (at 3rd month, p = .014; at 6th month, p = .025) in combined ATG-7.5/ATG-10 groups at 3 and 6 months post-HSCT, but not at 9 and 12 months after HSCT. The ratios of CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells, CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells, CD19⁺ B cells and CD16⁺CD56⁺ NK cells were similar between the ATG-7.5 and ATG-10 groups at all examined time points. The overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), relapse and acute GVHD (aGVHD) were comparable among recipients without ATG therapy and with ATG-7.5 or/and ATG-10 therapies. Multivariate analysis revealed that immune cells ratios were not independent factors affecting prognosis.ConclusionThe ATG therapy at higher and lower doses led to a delayed reconstitution of T cells and the inversion of CD4/CD8 ratio for at least one year after HSCT.     

中国胆囊癌外科治疗现状与病理学特征多中心回顾性研究（附4345例报告）

目的 探讨中国胆囊癌病人的外科治疗模式、病理学特征和预后。方法 收集中国13个省市的26家医院自2010年1月至2017年12月收治的4345例胆囊癌病人临床资料,分析中国胆囊癌病人的地区、性别、年龄分布;基于病人的诊疗记录与检查结果对手术病人肿瘤的可切除性进行评估,分析可切除性肿瘤病人的外科治疗模式,参照术前检查、手术记录和术后病理学检查结果评估可切除性肿瘤手术治疗是否达到根治标准,分析行根治性手术胆囊癌病人的病理学特征。结果 4345例胆囊癌病人中,男性1664例（38.23%）,女性2681例（61.77%）。行外科手术治疗的病人3129例（71.01%）,其中可切除性肿瘤2074例（66.28%）。在可切除性肿瘤2074例病人中,仅1133例（54.63%）在术前即诊断为胆囊恶性肿瘤,1002例（48.31%）行根治性切除,1072例（51.69%）未达根治标准。胆囊癌根治性切除病人的病理学检查结果中,736例（73.45%）为腺癌,348例（34.73%）为低分化癌,376例（37.52%）伴肝侵犯,152例（15.17%）伴神经浸润,96例（9.58%）伴血管内癌栓,78例（7.78%）伴周围脂肪组织浸润,89例（8.88%）伴周围器官受累,328例（32.73%）活体组织病理学检查淋巴结阳性。获得生存随访资料的2357例手术治疗病人术后中位生存期为16.17个月,多因素Cox回归生存分析结果显示肿瘤TNM分期（P<0.001）、肿瘤分化程度（P<0.001）、肝脏侵犯（P<0.001）、R0切除（P=0.003）均为术后生存期的独立预后因素。结论 中国胆囊癌术前诊断率有待提高;胆囊癌外科治疗模式亟待规范;病理学检查报告中反映的多个因素与胆囊癌病人预后密切相关,其描述的规范化对指导胆囊癌病人的精准治疗有重要意义。