PD-L1 expression by tumor cell lines: A predictive marker in melanoma.

Prognostic biomarkers for patients with melanoma after lymph node resection are of clinical relevance and could thus enable the identification of patients who therefore would most benefit from adjuvant treatment. The aim of this work was to determine, using an in vitro model, whether immune-related biomarkers, such as MHC-class I and II, melanoma-associated antigens, IDO1 and PD-L1, could also be relevant to predict the risk of relapse of patients with stage III melanoma after lymph node resection. We established tumor cell lines from metastatic lymph nodes of 50 patients with melanoma.

Clinical significance of BRAF mutation status in circulating tumor DNA of metastatic melanoma patients at baseline.

Circulating tumor DNA is a promising non-invasive tool for cancer monitoring. The main objective of our work was to investigate the relationship between mutant BRAF DNA in plasma and clinical response. Thirty-eight stage IV patients with a V600 mutated BRAF melanoma were included prior to any treatment.

Tight junction proteins in the canine epidermis: a pilot study on their distribution in normal and in high IgE-producing canines.

Epidermal tight junctions (TJ) have been well-described in human medicine and are involved in many skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (AD). In dogs, there are no data regarding the implication of TJ in skin diseases including canine AD. The aim of this study was to compare the expression and the distribution of ZO-1, occludin and claudin-1 in the epidermis of healthy and atopic dogs.

[Melanoma: Cellular and vaccinal immunotherapy].

Melanoma is a malignancy in which the immune system plays a central role, thus explaining the effectiveness of therapeutic vaccination and cellular immunotherapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. The identification of specific melanoma antigens was an important step in the development of these new approaches. These treatments are capable of yielding tumor responses that last several years, but the response rate is currently inadequate.

Different strains of Propionibacterium acnes modulate differently the cutaneous innate immunity.

Acne is a chronic inflammatory illness of the pilosebaceous follicle where innate immunity plays a central role. In acne, the density of Propionibacterium acnes is increased in the pilosebaceous unit. We hypothesized that the severity of acne is not only dependent on the proliferation of P.

Ex vivo demonstration of a synergistic effect of Adapalene and benzoyl peroxide on inflammatory acne lesions.

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous follicle. Thanks to its ability to reduce both comedones and inflammatory lesions, the association of a retinoid and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) is now recommended for the treatment of acne. However, the mechanisms of action of this combined therapy on inflammatory acne lesions are not well understood.

Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating Foxp3+ T-cell subpopulations in metastatic melanoma.

Regulatory T cells have already been associated with poor prognosis in various types of cancer. It was previously reported, in ovarian carcinoma, that quantification of Foxp3 identified a subgroup of patients characterized by a significantly worse prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), suggesting that high expression levels of Foxp3 might represent a surrogate marker for an immunosuppressive microenvironment contributing to tumor immune escape. The main objective of the present study was to precise the prognostic value of Foxp3 regarding PFS and OS in stage III (AJCC) melanoma patients.

Propionibacterium acnes activates the IGF-1/IGF-1R system in the epidermis and induces keratinocyte proliferation.

Propionibacterium acnes has a major role in the development of acne lesions. IGF-1 stimulates the proliferation of keratinocytes via an activation of the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R). Zinc has been proven to work efficiently against inflammatory acne and to modulate the IGF-1 system.

Absence of modulation of CD4+CD25 regulatory T cells in CTCL patients treated with bexarotene.

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) are a heterogeneous group of lymphoproliferative disorders, characterized by the infiltration of the epidermis by mature and activated malignant CD4+ T-lymphocytes. Retinoids such as retinoic acid and synthetic analogues have long been used alone or in combination with other therapies for CTCL. Bexarotene, the first synthetic highly selective RXR retinoid, was approved for the treatment of all stages of CTCL in patients refractory to at least one systemic therapy.

About the cutaneous targets of bexarotene in CTCL patients.

There are several approved therapies for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The retinoids are one of the major biologic response modifiers used in CTCL, producing good response rates but few complete responses. Bexarotene has been demonstrated to act on malignant T-cells by inducing their apoptosis, but nothing is known about its role on keratinocytes and Langerhans cells.

Treatment of metastatic melanoma with autologous Melan-A/MART-1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte clones.

Immunotherapy by adoptive T-cell transfer aims at maximizing tumor antigen-specific T-cell responses. We treated 14 patients at the metastatic stage in a phase II study with Melan-A-specific T-cell clones generated from patient blood. During the period required for T-cell clone generation, the patients were treated by dacarbazine.

Absence of amplification of CD4+CD25(high) regulatory T cells during in vitro expansion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in melanoma patients.

The exact role of CD4+CD25(high) regulatory T cells (Treg) in adoptive immunotherapy of melanoma is still to be determined, and an association between an expansion of Treg cells and the expansion of therapeutic tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) remains unelucidated. In this context, the aim of our study was to determine whether functional Treg cells were detectable and amplified among in vitro-expanded TIL from 10 metastatic melanoma lymph nodes (LNs). In this study, we investigated the expression of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor 3 (Foxp3) in melanoma-invaded LNs and determined proportion and functionality of Treg cells among TIL extracted from these 10 metastatic melanoma LNs at different steps of their in vitro expansion.