Efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab for the treatment of advanced biliary cancer: Results from the KEYNOTE-158 and KEYNOTE-028 studies

We present data from patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC) receiving pembrolizumab in the KEYNOTE-158 (NCT02628067; phase 2) and KEYNOTE-028 (NCT02054806; phase 1b) studies. Eligible patients aged ≥18 years from both studies had histologically/cytologically confirmed incurable BTC that progressed after standard treatment regimen(s), measurable disease per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0/1, and no prior immunotherapy. Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1)-positive tumors were required for eligibility in KEYNOTE-028 only. Patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg every three weeks (KEYNOTE-158) or 10 mg/kg every two weeks (KEYNOTE-028) for ≤2 years. Primary efficacy endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) by RECIST v1.1. Response assessed by independent central review is reported. KEYNOTE-158 enrolled 104 patients and KEYNOTE-028 enrolled 24 patients. Median (range) follow-up was 7.5 months (0.6-34.3) in KEYNOTE-158 and 5.7 months (0.6-55.4) in KEYNOTE-028. In KEYNOTE-158, ORR was 5.8% (6/104; 95% CI, 2.1%-12.1%); median duration of response (DOR) was not reached (NR) (range, 6.2-26.6+ months). Median (95% CI) OS and PFS were 7.4 (5.5-9.6) and 2.0 (1.9-2.1) months. Among PD-L1-expressers (n = 61) and PD-L1-nonexpressers (n = 34), respectively, ORR was 6.6% (4/61) and 2.9% (1/34). In KEYNOTE-028, ORR was 13.0% (3/23; 95% CI, 2.8%-33.6%); median DOR was NR (range, 21.5-53.2+ months). Median (95% CI) OS and PFS were 5.7 (3.1-9.8) and 1.8 (1.4-3.1) months. Grade 3 to 5 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 13.5% of patients in KEYNOTE-158 (no grade 4; grade 5 renal failure, n = 1) and 16.7% in KEYNOTE-028 (no grade 4/5). In summary, pembrolizumab provides durable antitumor activity in 6% to 13% of patients with advanced BTC, regardless of PD-L1 expression, and has manageable toxicity.     

胃癌患者根治术后腹腔灌洗液中CEA mRNA表达的临床意义

目的：探讨胃癌患者根治术后腹腔冲洗液中CEA mRNA表达情况及其临床意义。方法: 回顾性分析了2013 年1 月至2017 年12 月在南京大学医学院附属鼓楼医院接受胃癌根治切除术后进行腹腔灌洗液CEA mRNA检测的139 名患者的病历资料，并进行术后常规随访。用RT-PCR检测139 胃癌患者根治术后腹腔灌洗液中CEA mRNA表达情况。卡方检验分析腹腔灌洗液中CEA mRNA表达与临床基本特征、组织病理学资料、血液学指标及复发方式之间的关系。采用Logistic 单因素及多因素回归分析筛查影响CEA mRNA表达水平的因素。结果：139 名患者中44 名（31.7%）患者腹腔灌洗液CEA mRNA阳性。分析显示，胃癌患者腹腔灌洗液CEA mRNA阳性表达与性别、年龄、病理分级、Lauren 分型和HER2、EGFR、VEGFR等标记物间均没有明显的关联（均P>0.05），与病理类型、脉管是否侵犯、局部浸润深度、淋巴结转移程度和临床AJCC 分期有明显的关联（均P<0.05）。CEA mRNA阳性患者腹膜复发率明显高于阴性患者（P=0.012）。Logistic 单因素回归分析显示，印戒细胞癌（P=0.04，HR=2.810，95% CI: 1.050~7.520）、T 分期（P=0.016，HR=6.329，95% CI: 1.417~28.264）、N 分期（P=0.022，HR=3.068，95% CI: 1.172~8.027）、AJCC分期（P=0.016 ，HR=3.971 ，95% CI: 1.295~12.173 ）、神经侵犯（P=0.002 ，HR=6.738，95% CI: 1.995~22.757）、脉管侵犯（P<0.001，HR=16.36，95% CI: 3.85~69.512）为胃癌患者腹腔灌洗液CEA mRNA阳性表达的危险因素。Logistic 多因素回归分析显示，经过对其他因素的校正，脉管侵犯（P<0.001，HR=21.314，95% CI: 4.21~107.907）为胃癌患者腹腔灌洗液CEA mRNA阳性表达的独立危险因素。结论：胃癌腹腔灌洗CEA mRNA阳性的患者腹膜复发转移风险高且预后不良，应考虑包括腹腔局部治疗在内的更加积极的抗肿瘤治疗。     

Neorickettsia helminthoeca associated lymphoid,enteric, and pulmonary lesions in dogs from Southern Brazil: An immunohistochemical study

Neorickettsia helminthoeca (NH), the agent of salmon poisoning disease or canine neorickettiosis (CN), is a bacterial endosymbiont of the nematode Nanophyetus salmincola, and infections are spreading among specific fish‐eating mammalians. This article describes the pathologic and immunohistochemical findings associated with spontaneous NH‐induced infections in dogs from Southern Brazil. The principal pathologic findings were hypertrophy of Peyer patches and lymphadenopathy with lymphocytic proliferation, chronic interstitial pneumonia, and chronic enteritis associated with positive intralesional immunoreactivity to antigens of NH within macrophages and histiocytes. Positive immunoreactivity against canine parvovirus‐2 (CPV‐2) or/and canine distemper virus was not detected in the evaluated intestinal segments or in the samples from the cerebellum and lungs, respectively, from the dogs evaluated. These findings demonstrated that NH was involved in the enteric, pulmonary, and lymphoid lesions herein described, and provide additional information to confirm the occurrence of this bacterial endosymbiont within this geographical location. It is proposed that chronic pneumonia should be considered as a pathologic manifestation of NH‐induced infections. Additionally, our results show that the occurrences of CN seem to be underdiagnosed in Southern Brazil due to the confusion with the incidence of CPV‐2.