Single Cell Analyses Reveal a Functionally Heterogeneous Exhausted CD8+ T Cell Subpopulation that is Correlated with Response to Checkpoint Therapy in Melanoma.

PD-1 pathway inhibitors have revolutionized cancer therapy. However, most patients do not durably benefit, highlighting the need for biomarkers to stratify patients as responders or non-responders. While CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been associated with immune checkpoint therapy response, there is not a consensus on which CD8+ TIL subpopulations have the most prognostic value.

Phase II trial of pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, and aspirin in melanoma: clinical outcomes and translational predictors of response.

Objective: Many patients with melanoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) do not derive response. Preclinical and retrospective studies identified that inhibition of the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway may improve response to ICI treatment.

Methods: This prospective single site phase II trial accrued patients with advanced/metastatic melanoma.

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells: Therapeutic Target for Gastrointestinal Cancers.

Gastrointestinal cancers represent one of the more challenging cancers to treat. Current strategies to cure and control gastrointestinal (GI) cancers like surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy have met with limited success, and research has turned towards further characterizing the tumor microenvironment to develop novel therapeutics. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have emerged as crucial drivers of pathogenesis and progression within the tumor microenvironment in GI malignancies.

Refractory Pure Red Blood Cell Aplasia Secondary to Major ABO-Incompatible Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Successfully Treated With Daratumumab.

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare hematologic phenomenon that is usually associated with inherited genetic mutations such as in Diamond-Blackfan anemia. However, due to the emergence of allogenic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of various malignant and non-malignant disorders, the incidence of PRCA has increased. PRCA following hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is more commonly seen in the setting of a major ABO-incompatible transplant.

Tumor Immune Profiling-Based Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Locally Advanced Melanoma.

Background: The frequency of "exhausted" or checkpoint-positive (PD-1CTLA-4) cytotoxic lymphocytes (Tex) in the tumor microenvironment is associated with response to anti-PD-1 therapy in metastatic melanoma. The current study determined whether pretreatment Tex cells in locally advanced melanoma predicted response to neoadjuvant anti-PD-1 blockade.

Methods: Pretreatment tumor samples from 17 patients with locally advanced melanoma underwent flow cytometric analysis of pretreatment Tex and regulatory T cell frequency.

Low Income and Nonwhite Race are Strongly Associated with Worse Quality of Life in Patients with Nephrolithiasis.

Purpose: Kidney stones are a source of significant morbidity which have been shown to negatively impact health related quality of life. We sought to understand the association between health related quality of life, socioeconomic status and race among patients with kidney stones.

Materials And Methods: Patients with stones at a total of 11 stone centers across the United States completed the WISQOL (Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life questionnaire).