Immune checkpoint blockade effect on immunologic and virologic profile of five cancer patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have changed the prognostic outlook for several malignancies. Despite the unprecedented durable responses and improvement in survival outcomes with ICIs, exclusion of oncology patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from most ICI-related trials has limited utility of these agents. Clinical outcomes related to concomitant use of antiretroviral therapy and ICI remain unclear.

Atezolizumab-associated myositis in a patient with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Introduction: Combination treatment with atezolizumab and bevacizumab is the preferred first-line treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma with a Child-Pugh Class A liver function. Reactivation of the antitumor immune response with atezolizumab can result in the development of immune-related adverse events including colitis, skin rash, endocrinopathies, pneumonitis, and nephritis with renal dysfunction. However, the occurrence of myositis with immune checkpoint inhibitors is rare.

Retrospective study on the efficacy and tolerability of dose modification of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors in hospital-system community outpatient cancer clinics.

Background: Anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1 and anti-PD-L1 medications inhibit the PD-1 and PD-L1 interaction and have been shown to be effective in treating several forms of advanced cancers. Since the approval of these agents, standard dosing protocols have been utilized. However, a small population of patients in the community setting has received dose-modified PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors secondary to a lack of tolerability.

Capecitabine-induced leukoencephalopathy in a patient with triple-negative breast cancer: A case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Capecitabine is an orally administered prodrug that converts preferentially to 5-fluorouracil within tumors, resulting in enhanced concentrations of 5-fluorouracil in tumor tissue. The use of capecitabine has shown efficacy in the metastatic setting for breast cancer, and more recently, efficacy as adjuvant therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Capecitabine has been shown to be well tolerated with minimal side effects, but the incidence of leukoencephalopathy is rare with a risk of less than one percent.

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of apixaban and rivaroxaban in cancer patients receiving concomitant active anti-neoplastic therapy at an outpatient cancer setting.

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism is a common complication among cancer patients with an estimated risk of 20%. American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines recommend direct oral anticoagulants for long-term anticoagulation but caution the use of direct oral anticoagulants because of drug-drug interactions with antineoplastic therapies. The clinical impact of these drug-drug interactions is yet to be studied in clinical trials.

Use of ACE Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers and Primary Breast Cancer Outcomes.

Background: ACE inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may have anti-tumor properties. We investigated whether the use of ACEI/ARBs affects the clinical outcomes of primary breast cancer patients receiving taxane and anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: We included 1449 patients with diagnosis of invasive primary breast cancer diagnosed at the MD Anderson Cancer Center between 1995 and 2007 who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Beta-blocker use is associated with improved relapse-free survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

Purpose: To examine the association between beta-blocker (BB) intake, pathologic complete response (pCR) rates, and survival outcomes in patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1,413 patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 1995 and 2007. Patients taking BBs at the start of neoadjuvant therapy were compared with patients with no BB intake.

The prognostic role of loss of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 expression in head and neck carcinogenesis.

The activities of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis are modulated by a family of high-affinity specific IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs), IGFBP-3 being the most abundant in circulation. Down-regulation of IGFBP-3 has been shown to be associated with a shorter disease-specific survival probability in early non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We examined the prognostic role of IGFBP-3 protein expression loss in 34 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the tongue (stages II-IV) and 30 premalignant lesions of the oral cavity and the larynx.

Muscarinic receptors couple to modulation of nicotinic ACh receptor desensitization in myenteric neurons.

Signaling mechanisms coupled to activation of different neurotransmitter receptors interact in the enteric nervous system. ACh excites myenteric neurons by activating nicotinic ACh receptors (nAChRs) and muscarinic receptors expressed by the same neurons. These studies tested the hypothesis that muscarinic receptor activation alters the functional properties of nAChRs in guinea pig small intestinal myenteric neurons maintained in primary culture.