PET imaging of zirconium-89 labelled cetuximab: A phase I trial in patients with head and neck and lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: PET imaging of cetuximab uptake may help selecting cancer patients with the highest chance of benefit. The aim of this phase I trial was to determine the safety of the tracer Zr-cetuximab and to assess tumour uptake.

Methods: Two dose schedules were used; two consecutive doses of 60MBq Zr-cetuximab or a single dose of 120MBq, both preceded by 400mg/m of unlabelled cetuximab.

Transbronchial Lung Cryobiopsy for Interstitial Lung Disease Diagnosis: A Perspective From Members of the Pulmonary Pathology Society.

Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy involves using a cryoprobe rather than forceps to obtain a bronchoscopic biopsy. Recent studies have shown that transbronchial cryobiopsy provides a larger specimen than conventional transbronchial forceps biopsy, and that the interobserver agreement in the interpretation of cryobiopsy specimens is comparable to that of a surgical lung biopsy. This is encouraging, and transbronchial lung cryobiopsy clearly has a role in the workup and diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases.

Liquid Biopsy in Lung Cancer: A Perspective From Members of the Pulmonary Pathology Society.

Liquid biopsy has received extensive media coverage and has been called the holy grail of cancer detection. Attempts at circulating tumor cell and genetic material capture have been progressing for several years, and recent financially and technically feasible improvements of cell capture devices, plasma isolation techniques, and highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction- and sequencing-based methods have advanced the possibility of liquid biopsy of solid tumors. Although practical use of circulating RNA-based testing has been hindered by the need to fractionate blood to enrich for RNAs, the detection of circulating tumor cells has profited from advances in cell capture technology.

Biomarker Testing in Lung Carcinoma Cytology Specimens: A Perspective From Members of the Pulmonary Pathology Society.

The advent of targeted therapy in lung cancer has heralded a paradigm shift in the practice of cytopathology with the need for accurately subtyping lung carcinoma, as well as providing adequate material for molecular studies, to help guide clinical and therapeutic decisions. The variety and versatility of cytologic-specimen preparations offer significant advantages to molecular testing; however, they frequently remain underused. Therefore, evaluating the utility and adequacy of cytologic specimens is critical, not only from a lung cancer diagnosis standpoint but also for the myriad ancillary studies that are necessary to provide appropriate clinical management.

Programmed Death Ligand-1 Immunohistochemistry--A New Challenge for Pathologists: A Perspective From Members of the Pulmonary Pathology Society.

The binding of programmed death ligand-1 and ligand-2 (PD-L1 and PD-L2) to PD-1 blocks T-cell-mediated immune response to tumor. Antibodies that target programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) will block the ligand-receptor interface, thereby allowing T cells to attack the tumor and increase antitumor immune response. In clinical trials, PD-1 inhibitors have been associated with an approximately 20% overall response rate in unselected patients with non-small cell lung cancer, with sustained tumor response in a subset of patients treated by these immune checkpoint inhibitors.