Publications by authors named "Elizabeth J Summers"
Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized cancer treatment; however, only a subset of patients with brain metastasis (BM) respond to ICI. Activating mutations in the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway are frequent in BM. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether therapeutic inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) can improve the efficacy of ICI for BM.
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- * Through advanced imaging techniques, researchers assessed the relationship between the vascular structure of the tumors and the treatment response, revealing that tumors responding to the drug had a more balanced blood vessel composition compared to resistant ones.
- * The findings suggest that understanding the vascular architecture could enhance our knowledge of how immune therapies work in the brain, potentially guiding future treatment strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Tumor angiogenesis often leads to abnormal blood vessel development, which is linked to treatment resistance and immune suppression in cancers, specifically brain metastases.
- A study using perfusion MRI on 44 patients treated with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab revealed that responsive tumors had balanced vascular structures, promoting better blood flow and a supportive immune environment.
- In contrast, resistant tumors exhibited chaotic blood vessels and low immune cell presence, with early functional changes detectable through MRI that indicated resistance before conventional imaging could.
Article Synopsis
- Brain metastases (BMs) are increasingly common in cancer patients, and the study evaluates the effectiveness of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug, in treating 57 patients with untreated and recurrent BMs.
- The trial found that 42.1% of patients experienced an intracranial benefit, with a median overall survival of 8 months, and a portion of patients (12.3%) survived over 2 years.
- However, over half of the subjects reported serious side effects, indicating a need for more research to understand which patients might respond best to this treatment and why some experience resistance.