Performance and prognostic utility of the 92-gene assay in the molecular subclassification of ampullary adenocarcinoma.

Background: Ampullary adenocarcinoma is a rare gastrointestinal cancer associated with diverse outcomes due to clinical and pathological heterogeneity. Standardized methods to better prognosticate and inform therapeutic selection for ampullary adenocarcinoma are needed. This study explored the novel use and potential prognostic utility of a 92-gene cancer classifier in ampullary adenocarcinomas.

Endogenous T-Cell Therapy: Clinical Experience.

Adoptive cellular therapy represents a robust means of augmenting the tumor-reactive effector population in patients with cancer by adoptive transfer of ex vivo expanded T cells. Three approaches have been developed to achieve this goal: the use of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytess extracted from patient biopsy material; the redirected engineering of lymphocytes using vectors expressing a chimeric antigen receptor and T-cell receptor; and third, the isolation and expansion of often low-frequency endogenous T cells (ETCs) reactive to tumor antigens from the peripheral blood of patients. This last form of adoptive transfer of T cells, known as ETC therapy, requires specialized methods to isolate and expand from peripheral blood the very low-frequency tumor-reactive T cells, methods that have been developed over the last 2 decades, to the point where such an approach may be broadly applicable not only for the treatment of melanoma but also for that of other solid tumor malignancies.

Validation of histomolecular classification utilizing histological subtype, MUC1, and CDX2 for prognostication of resected ampullary adenocarcinoma.

Background: Outcomes for ampullary adenocarcinomas are heterogeneous, and numerous methods of categorisation exist. A histomolecular phenotype based on histology, caudal-type homeodomain transcription factor 2 (CDX2) staining and Mucin 1 (MUC1) staining has recently been tested and validated in two cohorts. We attempt to validate this classification in a large patient population.

Low total lymphocyte count is associated with poor survival in patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma receiving a GM-CSF secreting pancreatic tumor vaccine.

Background: Low total lymphocyte count (TLC) and lymphocyte-to-neutrophil ratio have been found to be poor prognostic indicators in several different tumor types at various stages. Although immune-based therapies are under rapid development, it is not known whether baseline complete blood counts, particularly lymphocytes, are associated with the clinical outcomes of patients receiving immunotherapies.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of complete blood count for 59 patients enrolled onto a phase II trial evaluating the integration of an adjuvant immunotherapy-irradiated granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) secreting allogeneic pancreatic tumor vaccine (GVAX)-with standard chemoradiation.

Sonographic depiction of changes of tumor vascularity in response to various therapies.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of power Doppler sonography for the depiction of changes in tumor vascularity with various therapeutic regimens.

Materials And Methods: Tumor cells were implanted subcutaneously in thirty-two mice and assigned to four treatment groups: control, radiation therapy, antiangiogenesis therapy (VEGF [vascular endothelial growth factor] receptor antagonist, SU11248), or combined antiangiogenesis and radiation therapy. Twenty of these mice were scanned with power Doppler sonography at two time points over the course of treatment, and power-weighted pixel densities were assessed.