Monoclonal antibody biosimilars for cancer treatment.

Monoclonal antibodies are important cancer medicines. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved 48 and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 56 anticancer monoclonal antibody-based therapies. Their high prices burden healthcare systems and hamper global drug access.

Lethal Capecitabine Toxicity in Patients With Complete Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase Deficiency Due to Ultra-Rare Variants.

A DPD deficiency should be considered in case of severe toxicity even in the absence of common risk variants in DPYD.

Independent transcriptional patterns reveal biological processes associated with disease-free survival in early colorectal cancer.

Background: Bulk transcriptional profiles of early colorectal cancer (CRC) can fail to detect biological processes associated with disease-free survival (DFS) if the transcriptional patterns are subtle and/or obscured by other processes' patterns. Consensus-independent component analysis (c-ICA) can dissect such transcriptomes into statistically independent transcriptional components (TCs), capturing both pronounced and subtle biological processes.

Methods: In this study we (1) integrated transcriptomes (n = 4228) from multiple early CRC studies, (2) performed c-ICA to define the TC landscape within this integrated data set, 3) determined the biological processes captured by these TCs, (4) performed Cox regression to identify DFS-associated TCs, (5) performed random survival forest (RSF) analyses with activity of DFS-associated TCs as classifiers to identify subgroups of patients, and 6) performed a sensitivity analysis to determine the robustness of our results RESULTS: We identify 191 TCs, 43 of which are associated with DFS, revealing transcriptional diversity among DFS-associated biological processes.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor-mediated polymyalgia rheumatica versus primary polymyalgia rheumatica: comparison of disease characteristics and treatment requirement.

Objectives: To compare clinical characteristics, imaging findings and treatment requirements of patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-mediated polymyalgia rheumatica (ICI-PMR) and primary PMR.

Methods: This single centre, retrospective cohort study compared ICI-PMR in patients with cancer (n = 15) to patients with primary PMR (n = 37). A comparison was made between clinical symptoms, laboratory markers, ultrasonography,18F-FDG-PET/CT findings and treatment requirements related to PMR.

Potential, Limitations and Risks of Cannabis-Derived Products in Cancer Treatment.

The application of cannabis products in oncology receives interest, especially from patients. Despite the plethora of research data available, the added value in curative or palliative cancer care and the possible risks involved are insufficiently proven and therefore a matter of debate. We aim to give a recommendation on the position of cannabis products in clinical oncology by assessing recent literature.

Opportunities on the horizon for the management of early colon cancer.

There is a clear unmet need to improve early colon cancer management. This review encompasses the current systemic treatment landscape and summarises novel and pivotal trials. The Immunoscore and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) are studied to evaluate which patients should receive no, 3, or 6 months of adjuvant treatment.

Molecular imaging to support cancer immunotherapy.

The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has reinvigorated the field of immuno-oncology. These monoclonal antibody-based therapies allow the immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells. This has resulted in improved survival of patients across several tumor types.

Zr-3,2-HOPO-Mesothelin Antibody PET Imaging Reflects Tumor Uptake of Mesothelin-Targeted Th-Conjugate Therapy in Mice.

The mesothelin (MSLN)-targeted Th conjugate is a novel α-therapy developed to treat MSLN-overexpressing cancers. We radiolabeled the same antibody-chelator conjugate with Zr to evaluate whether PET imaging with Zr-MSLN matches Th-MSLN tumor uptake, biodistribution, and antitumor activity. Serial PET imaging with protein doses of 4, 20, or 40 μg of Zr-MSLN and Zr-control was performed up to 168 h after tracer injection in human tumor-bearing nude mice with high (HT29-MSLN) and low (BxPc3) MSLN expression.

Lessons learnt from scoring adjuvant colon cancer trials and meta-analyses using the ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale V.1.1.

Unlabelled: Click here to listen to the Podcast BACKGROUND: Form 1 of the European Society for Medical Oncology-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) serves to grade therapies with curative intent. Hitherto only few trials with curative intent have been field tested using form 1. We aimed to evaluate the applicability of the scale and to assess the reasonableness of the generated scores in early colon cancer, in order to identify shortcomings that may be rectified in future amendments.

Reconsider radiation exposure from imaging during immune checkpoint inhibitor trials to reduce risk of secondary cancers in long-term survivors?

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have improved outcomes for patients with advanced cancers, and results in increasing numbers of long-term survivors. For registration studies, progression-free survival and disease-free survival often serve as primary endpoints. This requires repeated computed tomography (CT) scans for tumour imaging which might lead to major radiation exposure.

Which patients are prone to undergo disproportionate recurrent CT imaging and should we worry?

Purpose: To identify the spectrum of patients who undergo disproportionate recurrent computed tomography (CT) imaging, and to explore the cumulative effects of radiation exposure and intravenously injected contrast agents in these patients.

Methods: This retrospective study investigated all patients who had undergone 40 or more CT scans at a tertiary care center between 2007-2017.

Results: Fifty-six patients who had undergone a median of 47 (range: 40-92) CT scans were included.

Increasing evidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus transmission, the Netherlands, June 2016.

We present a case of endemic tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) occurring in June 2016 in the eastern part of the Netherlands in an area where a strain of TBE virus, genetically different from the common TBE virus strains in Europe, was reported in ticks in 2016. With the start of the tick season in spring, this second autochthonous Dutch TBE case should remind physicians to consider the possibility of endemic TBE in patients with respective symptoms.