Brief Report: Impact of Anti-Cancer Treatments on Outcomes of COVID-19 in Patients With Thoracic Cancers: A CCC19 Registry Analysis.

Introduction:: Patients with thoracic cancers have one of the highest mortality rates among patients with cancer and COVID-19. Data evaluating the impact of recent anti-cancer therapies on COVID-19 outcomes in patients with thoracic cancers are confined to heterogenous studies with limited follow-up data. We leveraged data from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) (NCT04354701) to analyze the impact of recent anti-cancer therapies on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with thoracic cancers.

Trajectories of Health Care Contact Days for Patients With Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: Patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experience substantial morbidity and mortality. Contact days (ie, the number of days with health care contact outside the home) measure how much of a person's life is consumed by health care, yet little is known about patterns of contact days for patients with NSCLC.

Objective: To describe the trajectories of contact days in patients with stage IV NSCLC and how trajectories vary by receipt of cancer-directed treatment in routine practice.

Association of antibiotic exposure with residual cancer burden in HER2-negative early stage breast cancer.

Antibiotic exposure during immunotherapy (IO) has been shown to negatively affect clinical outcomes in various cancer types. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether antibiotic exposure in patients with high-risk early-stage HER2-negative breast cancer (BC) undergoing treatment with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab impacted residual cancer burden (RCB) and pathologic complete response (pCR) in the pembrolizumab-4 arm of the ISPY-2 clinical trial. Patients received pembrolizumab for four cycles concurrently with weekly paclitaxel for 12 weeks, followed by four cycles of doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide every 2 or 3 weeks.

Allied health professional research engagement and impact on healthcare performance: A systematic review protocol.

Background: Existing evidence suggests that clinician and organization engagement in research can improve healthcare processes of care and outcomes. However, current evidence has considered the relationship across all healthcare professions collectively. With the increase in allied health clinical academic and research activity, it is imperative for healthcare organizations, leaders and managers to understand engagement in research within these specific clinical fields.

Demographics, Outcomes, and Risk Factors for Patients with Sarcoma and COVID-19: A CCC19-Registry Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Patients with sarcoma often require individualized treatment strategies and are likely to receive aggressive immunosuppressive therapies, which may place them at higher risk for severe COVID-19. We aimed to describe demographics, risk factors, and outcomes for patients with sarcoma and COVID-19.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with sarcoma and COVID-19 reported to the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) registry (NCT04354701) from 17 March 2020 to 30 September 2021.

Exceptional response to afatinib in a patient with persistent G719A -mutant NSCLC.

We present a patient with metastatic NSCLC harboring a compound mutation with co-occurring G719A and T790M mutation. T790M mutation was treatment emergent mutation when patient was on early generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Initial Guardant 360 showed that G719A was the dominant clone.

Editorial Perspective: Speaking up for developmental language disorder - the top 10 priorities for research.

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental conditions, yet is chronically underserved, with far fewer children receiving clinical services than expected from prevalence estimates, and very little research attention relative to other neurodevelopmental conditions of similar prevalence and severity. This editorial describes a research priority-setting exercise undertaken by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, which aims to redress this imbalance. From consultations with researchers, practitioners and individuals with lived experience, 10 research priorities emerge.

The CoVID-TE risk assessment model for venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients with cancer and COVID-19.

Background: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 have increased risks of venous (VTE) and arterial thromboembolism (ATE). Active cancer diagnosis and treatment are well-known risk factors; however, a risk assessment model (RAM) for VTE in patients with both cancer and COVID-19 is lacking.

Objectives: To assess the incidence of and risk factors for thrombosis in hospitalized patients with cancer and COVID-19.

Real-World Outcomes and Clinical Predictors of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Monotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have changed the treatment paradigm of advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerance of ICIs in a real-world patient population and to investigate the predictive factors associated with survival outcomes.

Methods: Medical records of patients with advanced lung cancer who started ICI monotherapy were reviewed for data collection.

Comparative analysis of antibiotic exposure association with clinical outcomes of chemotherapy versus immunotherapy across three tumour types.

Background: In solid tumours, antibiotic use during immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment is associated with shorter survival. Following allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), antibiotic-induced gut microbiome alterations are associated with risk of relapse and mortality. These findings suggest that the gut microbiota can modulate antitumour immune response across tumour types, though it is not clear if the impact on outcomes is specific to immune therapy.

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting.

A protocol for involving individuals presenting with developmental language disorder (DLD) (iDLD) and their parents/carers (iDLDPC) in a research priority setting exercise is presented. iDLD have difficulties with communication skills, such as understanding language, word-finding and discourse. Such difficulties mean existing research priority setting protocols are difficult for iDLD to access, since they require sophisticated communication skills.

Bortezomib-based consolidation or maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma: a meta-analysis.

Bortezomib-based regimens are widely used as induction therapy for multiple myeloma (MM). Unlike lenalidomide, the role of bortezomib in consolidation and maintenance therapy for MM is less clear. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of bortezomib-based consolidation and maintenance therapy on survival outcomes and adverse events.

Role of transcranial Doppler in cerebrovascular disease.

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is the only noninvasive modality for the assessment of real-time cerebral blood flow. It complements various anatomic imaging modalities by providing physiological-flow related information. It is relatively cheap, easily available, and can be performed at the bedside.

Testing of candidate single nucleotide variants associated with paclitaxel neuropathy in the trial NCCTG N08C1 (Alliance).

Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) cannot be predicted from clinical parameters and might have a pharmacogenomic basis. Previous studies identified single nucleotide variants (SNV) associated with PIPN. However, only a subset of findings has been confirmed to date in more than one study, suggesting a need for further re-testing and validation in additional clinical cohorts.

Association of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease gene ARHGEF10 with paclitaxel induced peripheral neuropathy in NCCTG N08CA (Alliance).

The predisposition of patients to develop polyneuropathy in response to toxic exposure may have a genetic basis. The previous study Alliance N08C1 found an association of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) gene ARHGEF10 with paclitaxel chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) related to the three non-synonymous, recurrent single nucleotide variants (SNV), whereby rs9657362 had the strongest effect, and rs2294039 and rs17683288 contributed only weakly. In the present report, Alliance N08CA was chosen to attempt to replicate the above finding.

Exome-level comparison of primary well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors and their cell lines.

Neuroendocrine cancer cell lines are used to investigate therapeutic targets in neuroendocrine tumors (NET) and have been instrumental in the design of clinical trials targeting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways, VEGF inhibitors, and somatostatin analogues. It remains unknown, however, whether the genomic makeup of NET cell lines reflect that of primary NET since comprehensive unbiased genome sequencing has not been performed on the cell lines. Four bronchopulmonary NET (BP-NET)-NCI-H720, NCI-H727, NCI-H835, and UMC11-and two pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (panNET)-BON-1 and QGP1-were cultured.

Sequencing of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease genes in a toxic polyneuropathy.

Objective: Mutations in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) genes are the cause of rare familial forms of polyneuropathy. Whether allelic variability in CMT genes is also associated with common forms of polyneuropathy-considered "acquired" in medical parlance-is unknown. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) occurs commonly in cancer patients and is individually unpredictable.

Somatic mutation of CDKN1B in small intestine neuroendocrine tumors.

The diagnosed incidence of small intestine neuroendocrine tumors (SI-NETs) is increasing, and the underlying genomic mechanisms have not yet been defined. Using exome- and genome-sequence analysis of SI-NETs, we identified recurrent somatic mutations and deletions in CDKN1B, the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor gene, which encodes p27. We observed frameshift mutations of CDKN1B in 14 of 180 SI-NETs, and we detected hemizygous deletions encompassing CDKN1B in 7 out of 50 SI-NETs, nominating p27 as a tumor suppressor and implicating cell cycle dysregulation in the etiology of SI-NETs.