Selectins in Biology and Human Disease: Opportunity in E-selectin Antagonism.

Selectins are cell adhesion proteins discovered in the 1980s. As C-type lectins, selectins contain an essential calcium ion in the ligand-binding pocket and recognize the isomeric tetrasaccharides sialyl Lewis (sLe) and sialyl Lewis (sLe). Three selectins, E-selectin, P-selectin, and L-selectin, play distinct, complementary roles in inflammation, hematopoiesis, and tumor biology.

Real-world outcomes of 18,186 metastatic solid tumor outpatients: Baseline blood cell counts correlate with survival after immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Background: Patient survival in advanced/metastatic melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has improved with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Biomarkers' role in prognosis and treatment has been limited by conflicting trial results.

Methods: This retrospective, observational study analyzed baseline demographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data versus outcomes of The US Oncology Network adult outpatients.

Utility of monocyte HLA-DR and rationale for therapeutic GM-CSF in sepsis immunoparalysis.

Sepsis, a heterogeneous clinical syndrome, features a systemic inflammatory response to tissue injury or infection, followed by a state of reduced immune responsiveness. Measurable alterations occur in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Immunoparalysis, an immunosuppressed state, associates with worsened outcomes, including multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, secondary infections, and increased mortality.

Recombinant GM-CSF for diseases of GM-CSF insufficiency: Correcting dysfunctional mononuclear phagocyte disorders.

Introduction: Endogenous granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), identified by its ability to support differentiation of hematopoietic cells into several types of myeloid cells, is now known to support maturation and maintain the metabolic capacity of mononuclear phagocytes including monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. These cells sense and attack potential pathogens, present antigens to adaptive immune cells, and recruit other immune cells. Recombinant human (rhu) GM-CSF (e.

Role of Fcγ receptors in HER2-targeted breast cancer therapy.

Several therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), including those targeting epidermal growth factor receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and CD20, mediate fragment crystallizable gamma receptor (FcγR)-dependent activities as part of their mechanism of action. These activities include induction of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), which are innate immune mechanisms of cancer cell elimination. FcγRs are distinguished by their affinity for the Fc fragment, cell distribution, and type of immune response they induce.

Efficacy of Margetuximab vs Trastuzumab in Patients With Pretreated ERBB2-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer: A Phase 3 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: ERRB2 (formerly HER2)-positive advanced breast cancer (ABC) remains typically incurable with optimal treatment undefined in later lines of therapy. The chimeric antibody margetuximab shares ERBB2 specificity with trastuzumab but incorporates an engineered Fc region to increase immune activation.

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of margetuximab vs trastuzumab, each with chemotherapy, in patients with pretreated ERBB2-positive ABC.

Phase 1, open-label, dose-escalation, and pharmacokinetic study of STAT3 inhibitor OPB-31121 in subjects with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose: To determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and biologic activity of OPB-31121, an oral inhibitor of STAT3, administered twice daily (BID) to subjects with advanced solid tumors.

Methods: Subjects received escalating doses of OPB-31121 BID for the first 21 days of each 28-day cycle in a standard 3 + 3 design. Dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs), safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity were assessed.

Refining endpoints in brain tumor clinical trials.

As targeted therapies advance treatment for brain tumors, standard clinical trial endpoints of survival, progression free survival and radiographic response have become insufficient to capture clinical benefit. Brain cancer is a malignancy with neurodegenerative features. In this setting prolongation of life and/or radiographic stability are less clinically meaningful if neurocognitive function substantially declines.

GCP data quality for early clinical development.

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) provides an internationally accepted standard to ensure subject safety and data quality in clinical trials. Much of GCP parallels ethical considerations that have accumulated in successive versions of the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki. This document advocates for preservation of rights, safety, and well-being of human study participants.

Assessing proarrhythmic potential of drugs when optimal studies are infeasible.

Assessing the potential for a new drug to cause life-threatening arrhythmias is now an integral component of premarketing safety assessment. International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use Guideline (ICH) E14 recommends the "Thorough QT Study" (TQT) to assess clinical QT risk. Such a study calls for careful evaluation of drug effects on the electrocardiographic QT interval at multiples of therapeutic exposure and with a positive control to confirm assay sensitivity.

Patient-reported outcomes to support medical product labeling claims: FDA perspective.

This article concerns development and use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials to evaluate medical products. A PRO is any report coming directly from patients, without interpretation by physicians or others, about how they function or feel in relation to a health condition and its therapy. PRO instruments are used to measure these patient reports.

Patient-reported outcomes assessment in cancer trials: taking stock, moving forward.

To evaluate and improve the use of cancer trial end points that reflect the patient's own perspective, the National Cancer Institute organized an international conference, Patient-Reported Outcomes Assessment in Cancer Trials (PROACT), in 2006. The 13 preceding articles in this special issue of the Journal were commissioned in preparation for or in response to the PROACT conference, which was cosponsored by the American Cancer Society. Drawing from these articles and also commentary from the conference itself, this concluding report takes stock of what has been learned to date about the successes and challenges in patient-reported outcome (PRO) assessment in phase III, phase II, and symptom management trials in cancer and identifies ways to improve the scientific soundness, feasibility, and policy relevance of PROs in trials.

Patient-reported outcomes supporting anticancer product approvals.

In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published draft guidance to provide recommendations for development, validation, implementation, and interpretation of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures that can support treatment benefit claims in product labeling. Here, we summarize and discuss FDA approvals of anticancer products in the context of the draft guidance. We identified anticancer product approvals having efficacy claim(s) based at least in part on a PRO.

Challenges to use of health-related quality of life for Food and Drug Administration approval of anticancer products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves labeling claims of drug efficacy based on substantial evidence of clinical benefit demonstrated in adequate and well-controlled investigations.

Approval summary: sunitinib for the treatment of imatinib refractory or intolerant gastrointestinal stromal tumors and advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose: To describe the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval of sunitinib malate (Sutent). Sunitinib received regular approval for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) after disease progression or intolerance to imatinib mesylate (Gleevec). Additionally, sunitinib received accelerated approval for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Food and Drug Administration drug approval summary: Sunitinib malate for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor and advanced renal cell carcinoma.

On January 26, 2006, sunitinib (Sutent) received regular approval as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor after disease progression on or intolerance to imatinib mesylate (Gleevec). Time-to-tumor progression (TTP) of sunitinib-treated patients was superior to that of placebo-treated patients. Median TTP of sunitinib-treated patients was 27.