Antibodies as biomarker candidates for response and survival to checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma patients.

Background: Long-term survival of stage IV melanoma patients has improved significantly with the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (CIs). Reliable biomarkers to predict response and clinical outcome are needed.

Methods: We investigated the role of melanoma-associated antibodies as predictive markers for CI therapy in two independent cohorts.

Subversion of innate and adaptive immune activation induced by structurally modified lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella typhimurium.

Salmonella are successful pathogens that infect millions of people every year. During infection, Salmonella typhimurium changes the structure of its lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in response to the host environment, rendering bacteria resistant to cationic peptide lysis in vitro. However, the role of these structural changes in LPS as in vivo virulence factors and their effects on immune responses and the generation of immunity are largely unknown.