Checkpoint-blocker-induced autoimmunity is associated with favourable outcome in metastatic melanoma and distinct T-cell expression profiles

Background Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) activate CD8⁺ T cells, eliciting both anti-cancer activity and immune-related adverse events (irAEs). The relationship of irAEs with baseline parameters and clinical outcome is unclear.Methods Retrospective evaluation of irAEs on survival was performed across primary (N = 144) and secondary (N = 211) independent cohorts of patients with metastatic melanoma receiving single agent (pembrolizumab/nivolumab—sICB) or combination (nivolumab and ipilimumab—cICB) checkpoint blockade. RNA from pre-treatment and post-treatment CD8⁺ T cells was sequenced and differential gene expression according to irAE development assessed.Results 58.3% of patients developed early irAEs and this was associated with longer progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) across both cohorts (log-rank test, OS: P < 0.0001). Median survival for patients without irAEs was 16.6 months (95% CI: 10.9–33.4) versus not-reached (P = 2.8 × 10⁻⁶). Pre-treatment monocyte and neutrophil counts, but not BMI, were additional predictors of clinical outcome. Differential expression of numerous gene pathway members was observed in CD8⁺ T cells according to irAE development, and patients not developing irAEs demonstrating upregulated CXCR1 pre- and post-treatment.Conclusions Early irAE development post-ICB is associated with favourable survival in MM. Development of irAEs is coupled to expression of numerous gene pathways, suggesting irAE development in-part reflects baseline immune activation.Subject terms: Immunotherapy, Melanoma     

煅石膏的研究进展及含钙止血材料应用概况

矿物药是传统中医药的重要组成部分，具有悠久的应用历史。其中矿物止血药对多种出血病证的临床应用广泛、用药经验丰富且疗效显著。石膏作为临床常用的矿物药，生石膏的功效为清热泻火、除烦止渴，而煅石膏为生石膏经高温煅烧的炮制品，主要由无水硫酸钙（CaSO₄）组成，具有收湿、生肌、敛疮、止血的功效，常外用于治疗溃疡不敛、湿疹瘙痒、水火烫伤、外伤出血等。止血机制研究表明，Ca²⁺作为凝血因子Ⅳ参与凝血过程的内外凝血级联多个关键环节，并且参与调节血小板活化、聚集，促进生成不溶性纤维蛋白，最终形成血凝块防止出血。Ca²⁺是重要的止血物质基础，但是石膏、煅石膏均含有Ca²⁺，煅石膏具有显著的止血作用，而石膏没有止血作用，石膏经过炮制后性味、功效发生了明显改变，体现了炮制特色，但目前尚未完全阐明煅石膏的炮制机制。因此，该文对石膏煅制前后比较研究情况进行总结与分析，围绕煅制工艺、晶型比较、元素含量、药效比较等进行综述，并总结Ca²⁺参与止血的各个环节。此外，对其他含钙矿物药及新型含钙止血材料如海藻酸钙、介孔硅酸钙和纳米凝胶止血材料的止血性能进行探讨，以期为阐明煅石膏的炮制机制提供借鉴，为临床辨证使用煅石膏提供依据，并为后续新型含钙止血材料的开发提供借鉴。     

Aging changes agonist induced contractile responses in permeabilized rat bladder

Aging alters bladder functions where a decrease in filling, storage and emptying is observed. These changes cause urinary incontinence, especially in women. The aim of this study is to examine how aging affects the intracellular calcium movements due to agonist-induced contractions in permeabilized female rat bladder. Urinary bladder isolated from young and old female Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Small detrusor strips were permeabilized with β-escin. The contractile responses induced with agonists were compared between young and old groups. Carbachol-induced contractions were decreased in permeabilized detrusor from old rats compared to young group. Heparin and ryanodine decreased carbachol-induced contractions in young rats where only heparin inhibited these contractions in olds. Caffeine-induced contractions but not inositol triphosphate (IP₃)-induced contractions were decreased in old group compared to youngs. The cumulative calcium response curves (pCa 8–4) were also decreased in old rats. Carbachol-induced calcium sensitization responses did not alter by age where GTP-β-S and GF-109203X but not Y-27632 inhibited these responses. Carbachol-induced contractions decrease with aging in rat bladder detrusor. It can be postulated as IP₃-induced calcium release (IICR) is primarily responsible for the contractions in older rats where the decrease in carbachol contractions in aging may be as a result of a decrease in calcium-induced calcium release (CICR), rather than carbachol-induced calcium sensitization.     

Binding mode of conformations and structure-based pharmacophore development for farnesyltransferase inhibitors

Farnesyltransferase (FTase) is one of the prenyltransferase family enzymes that catalyse the transfer of 15-membered isoprenoid (farnesyl) moiety to the cysteine of CAAX motif-containing proteins including Rho and Ras family of G proteins. Inhibitors of FTase act as drugs for cancer, malaria, progeria and other diseases. In the present investigation, we have developed two structure-based pharmacophore models from protein–ligand complex (3E33 and 3E37) obtained from the protein data bank. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed on the complexes, and different conformers of the same complex were generated. These conformers were undergone protein–ligand interaction fingerprint (PLIF) analysis, and the fingerprint bits have been used for structure-based pharmacophore model development. The PLIF results showed that Lys164, Tyr166, TrpB106 and TyrB361 are the major interacting residues in both the complexes. The RMSD and RMSF analyses on the MD-simulated systems showed that the absence of FPP in the complex 3E37 has significant effect in the conformational changes of the ligands. During this conformational change, some interactions between the protein and the ligands are lost, but regained after some simulations (after 2 ns). The structure-based pharmacophore models showed that the hydrophobic and acceptor contours are predominantly present in the models. The pharmacophore models were validated using reference compounds, which significantly identified as HITs with smaller RMSD values. The developed structure-based pharmacophore models are significant, and the methodology used in this study is novel from the existing methods (the original X-ray crystallographic coordination of the ligands is used for the model building). In our study, along with the original coordination of the ligand, different conformers of the same complex (protein–ligand) are used. It concluded that the developed methodology is significant for the virtual screening of novel molecules on different targets.     

Erratum to: Specific stressors in endonasal skull base surgery with and without navigation

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology -