Immune-checkpoint inhibitor-associated grade 3 hepatotoxicity managed with enteric-coated budesonide monotherapy: A case report.

Rationale: The introduction of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI) in recent years has changed the natural course of many neoplasms. However, patients receiving these medications may present immune-mediated adverse events; management includes temporary or permanent cessation of treatment and corticosteroids, occasionally combined with other immunomodulators. Such immunosuppression, however, also has numerous adverse events and even if it is effective in controlling toxicity, it delays immunotherapy reinitiation, as current evidence requires dose tapering to ≤10 mg prednisolone equivalent before rechallenge.

Concurrence of cat-scratch disease and paradoxical tuberculosis-IRIS lymphadenopathy: a case report.

Background: Mycobacterial infections can cause significant morbidity when cellular immunity is compromised. Patients with AIDS can be affected directly from infection or through mycobacterial IRIS, especially if they are previously untreated for HIV. Herein a case of tuberculous lymphadenitis is reported, which primarily responded to antimicrobials but complicated by IRIS and cat-scratch disease at a later course.

PGP 9.5 neuronal marker may differentiate immunohistochemically HIV-related from Mediterranean and immunosuppression-associated Kaposi's sarcoma.

Mediterranean Kaposi's sarcoma (MKS), HIV-related KS (HIV-KS) and immunosuppression-associated KS (IS-KS), caused by human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), share similar histological features. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in epidermal nerve fibers (ENFs) between the three KS types and controls. Skin biopsies from 23 HIV-KS, 16 MKS, 28 IS-KS patients and 18 controls, age-gender matched, were immunostained with PGP 9.

Chemotherapy ± cetuximab modulates peripheral immune responses in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Objective: To identify changes in peripheral immune responses in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with irinotecan/5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (IFL) alone or in combination with cetuximab (C-IFL).

Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from healthy donors (n = 20) and patients with mCRC receiving treatment with either IFL (n = 30) or C-IFL (n = 30) were tested for cytokine production upon polyclonal stimulation with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, T cell proliferation in the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (auto-MLR) and T regulatory cell (Treg) frequency. The respective results were evaluated over two treatment cycles and further assessed in relation to response to treatment.

Arterial stiffness predicts risk for long-term recurrence in patients with type 2 diabetes admitted for acute coronary event.

Objectives: to investigate the predictive value of arterial stiffness (AS) estimation for long-term recurrences in patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2) following acute coronary event.

Patients And Methods: prospective observational study involving 119 DM2 patients without history of coronary heart disease admitted with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Medical history, anthropometrics, smoking, HbA1c, lipid profile, troponine-I levels, and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were recorded.

Polyneuropathy induced by HIV disease and antiretroviral therapy.

Objective: To investigate the underlying mechanisms of polyneuropathy induced by HIV infection or antiretroviral drugs.

Methods: We tested 100 HIV patients (59 with AIDS). Ninety-three patients received antiretroviral drugs.

Prognostic factors in patients with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Most patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma are diagnosed with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic disease. The aim of this study was to investigate possible prognostic factors of survival in such patients.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and fifteen patients were studied retrospectively.

Aspects of the association between leishmaniasis and malignant disorders.

Given the prevalence of leishmaniasis and cancer, the co-existence of these two diseases may be merely coincidental. However, a number of epidemiological, experimental and laboratory studies suggest that an association between these two entities does exist. The aim of this review is to summarise the occurrence of leishmaniasis as an opportunistic infection associated with malignant disorders and to present the available literature potentially linking this infection with the development of cancerous lesions.

Comparison of two oral regimens for the outpatient treatment of low-risk cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and fever: ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime axetil versus ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate.

The objective of this investigation was to assess retrospectively the safety and the efficacy of oral ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime axetil compared to the combination of oral ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate, as initial outpatient treatment, in low-risk cancer patients with fever and neutropenia. We analysed retrospectively 120 episodes of febrile neutropenia, treated on an outpatient basis at 2 different oncology units; 63 episodes were treated with the oral regimen of ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate and 57 were treated with the combination of oral ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime. 20 treatment failures were recorded-2 of them among patients receiving ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin/clavulanate and 18 in the ciprofloxacin plus cefuroxime group.

Differential sensitivity of thick and thin fibers to HIV and therapy-induced neuropathy.

The study assessed HIV-related and anti-retroviral therapy-induced neuropathy in myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers. One hundred consecutive HIV patients were examined clinically and standard nerve conduction velocities were measured. In addition, electrically induced sympathetic skin response (SSR) was assessed in the palms and soles.

A phase II study of the docetaxel-carboplatin chemotherapy regimen in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

The efficacy of the docetaxel-carboplatin combination chemotherapy was studied in various phase II studies. Based on these data we aimed to test the regimen in previously untreated patients with advanced advanced non-smoking lung cancer (NSCLC) with docetaxel 80 mg/m2 a standard dose of carboplatin at AUC = 5, in an attempt to define the efficacy and tolerability of the combination in an open-label phase II study. Patients with histologically confirmed advanced NSCLC stage IIIB and IV were candidates for the present study.