Discovery of Methylated DNA Biomarkers for Potential Non-Endoscopic Detection of Barrett's Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma.

Background And Aims: We sought to develop a minimally-invasive, robust, accessible nonendoscopic strategy to diagnose Barrett's esophagus (BE), esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and its immediate precursor lesion, high-grade dysplasia (HGD) based on methylated DNA biomarkers applied to a retrievable sponge-capsule device in a cohort representative of the BE population (i.e., mostly short-segment, non-dysplastic BE, NDBE).

NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Survivorship, Version 2.2024.

The NCCN Guidelines for Survivorship include recommendations for screening, evaluation, and treatment of psychosocial and physical problems resulting from adult-onset cancer and its treatment. They also include recommendations to promote healthy behaviors and immunizations in survivors and provide a framework for care coordination. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's current recommendations regarding sexual health and fertility.

Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Elderly Patients in a Latin American Country: Analysis of 11 Year of Data from the Brazilian Registry SBTMO/CIBMTR.

This study analyzed recent changes in the utilization of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and myeloproliferative diseases (MPDs) and the survival of HCT recipients ≥60 years of age in Brazil. This retrospective registry study included patients who received a first allogeneic HCT from any donor between 2012 and 2023. Of the 6657 patients, 444 (7%) were 60 years of age or older who received grafts from human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched related (42%) or unrelated (20%) donors or HLA-haploidentical donors (32%).

Fecal Microbiome Composition Correlates with Pathologic Complete Response in Patients with Operable Esophageal Cancer Treated with Combined Chemoradiotherapy and Immunotherapy.

: Preclinical and clinical data indicate that chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in combination with checkpoint inhibitors may prime an anti-tumor immunological response in esophageal cancer. However, responses to neoadjuvant therapy can vary widely and the key biomarkers to determine response remain poorly understood. The fecal microbiome is a novel and potentially modifiable biomarker of immunotherapy response, and both fecal and tumor microbes have been found to associate with outcomes in esophageal cancer.

Actionable Structural Variant Detection via RNA-NGS and DNA-NGS in Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for non-small cell lung cancer suggest that RNA next-generation sequencing (NGS) may improve the detection of fusions and splicing variants compared with DNA-NGS alone. However, there is limited adoption of RNA-NGS in routine oncology clinical care today.

Objective: To analyze clinical evidence from a diverse cohort of patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma and compare the detection of NCCN-recommended actionable structural variants (aSVs; fusions and splicing variants) via concurrent DNA and RNA-NGS vs DNA-NGS alone.

Survival Outcomes in US Medicare Patients with Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis by Rate of Baseline Exacerbations.

Introduction: There are limited real-world data on outcomes in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFBE). This study assessed clinical characteristics and survival in patients with NCFBE by baseline exacerbation rate.

Methods: Patients with bronchiectasis (≥ 1 inpatient or ≥ 2 outpatient claims with a bronchiectasis diagnosis code, or one outpatient claim with bronchiectasis code and a chest computed tomography scan) were from the 100% Medicare Fee-for-Service database (Jan 2014-Dec 2020).

Comparative Transcriptomes of Canine and Human Prostate Cancers Identify Mediators of Castration Resistance.

Prostate cancer continues to be one of the most lethal cancers in men. While androgen deprivation therapy is initially effective in treating prostate cancer, most cases of advanced prostate cancer eventually progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), which is incurable. Similarly, the most aggressive form of prostatic carcinoma occurs in dogs that have been castrated.

Public Perceptions of the Food and Drug Administration's Regulatory Authority Over Synthetic Nicotine on Twitter: Observational Study.

Background: The Omnibus Budget Bill, known as H. R. 2471, passed through Congress on March 10, 2022, and was eventually signed by President Biden on March 15, 2022.

Telehealth vs In-Person Early Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer: A Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Numerous studies show that early palliative care improves quality of life and other key outcomes in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers, although most lack access to this evidence-based model of care.

Objective: To evaluate whether delivering early palliative care via secure video vs in-person visits has an equivalent effect on quality of life in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized, multisite, comparative effectiveness trial from June 14, 2018, to May 4, 2023, at 22 US cancer centers among 1250 patients within 12 weeks of diagnosis of advanced NSCLC and 548 caregivers.

Real-world treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and costs in a US Medicare population with bronchiectasis.

Background: Bronchiectasis carries a significant economic burden with high health care expenditures associated with frequent hospitalizations, physician visits, and treatments, including oral and intravenous antibiotics for repeated lung infections, airway-clearance therapy, and oxygen administration. Bronchiectasis exacerbations can contribute to this burden.

Objective: To estimate US health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs associated with bronchiectasis and with bronchiectasis exacerbations.

Comparative Transcriptomes of Canine and Human Prostate Cancers Identify Mediators of Castration Resistance.

Prostate cancer continues to be one of the most lethal cancers in men. While androgen-deprivation therapy is initially effective in treating prostate cancer, most cases of advanced prostate cancer eventually progress to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), which is incurable. Similarly, the most aggressive form of prostatic carcinoma occurs in dogs that have been castrated.

Dynamic Changes in Circulating Tumor Fraction as a Predictor of Real-World Clinical Outcomes in Solid Tumor Malignancy Patients Treated with Immunotherapy.

Introduction: A dynamic molecular biomarker that can identify early efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy remains an unmet clinical need. Here we evaluate if a novel circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay, xM, used for treatment response monitoring (TRM), that quantifies changes in ctDNA tumor fraction (TF), can predict outcome benefits in patients treated with ICI alone or in combination with chemotherapy in a real-world (RW) cohort.

Methods: This retrospective study consisted of patients with advanced cancer from the Tempus de-identified clinical genomic database who received longitudinal liquid-based next-generation sequencing.

First-line Osimertinib for Lung Cancer With Uncommon EGFR Exon 19 Mutations and EGFR Compound Mutations.

Introduction: Up to 20% of EGFR-mutated NSCLC cases harbor uncommon mutations, including atypical exon 19 and compound mutations. Relatively little is known about the efficacy of osimertinib in these cases.

Methods: Patients treated with first-line osimertinib for NSCLC with rare EGFR exon 19 (non E746_A750del) or compound mutations were included.

Association between bronchiectasis exacerbations and longitudinal changes in FEV in patients from the US bronchiectasis and NTM research registry.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the association between the number of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (bronchiectasis) exacerbations during baseline and follow-up (objective 1) and to identify longitudinal changes in FEV associated with exacerbation frequency (objective 2).

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of adult patients enrolled in the US Bronchiectasis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Research Registry September 2008 to March 2020. Objective 1 outcome was association between exacerbations during baseline (24 months) and 0-to-24 month and 24-to-48 month follow-up windows.

Surface-Exposed Protein Moieties of J2315 in Microaerophilic and Aerobic Conditions.

complex infections remain life-threatening to cystic fibrosis patients, and due to the limited eradication efficiency of current treatments, novel antimicrobial therapies are urgently needed. Surface proteins are among the best targets to develop new therapeutic strategies since they are exposed to the host's immune system. A surface-shaving approach was performed using J2315 to quantitatively compare the relative abundance of surface-exposed proteins (SEPs) expressed by the bacterium when grown under aerobic and microaerophilic conditions.

Acute myocardial infarction with e-cigarette or vaping-use associated lung injury in a young Filipino vape user.

Electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) and vape products have multisystemic adverse effects despite being advertised as a safer smoking alternative and cessation device. We present a 22-year-old Filipino male with sudden chest pain. He had no known comorbidities but had a two-year history of daily vape use.

Unmet Needs, Quality of Life, and Financial Toxicity Among Survivors of Lung Cancer.

Importance: Despite a growing population of survivors of lung cancer, there is limited understanding of the survivorship journey. Survivors of lung cancer experience unmet physical, social, emotional, and medical needs regardless of stage at diagnosis or treatment modalities.

Objective: To investigate the association of unmet needs with quality of life (QOL) and financial toxicity (FT) among survivors of lung cancer.

Non-coding regulatory sRNAs from bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex.

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are key regulators of post-transcriptional gene expression in bacteria. Hundreds of sRNAs have been found using in silico genome analysis and experimentally based approaches in bacteria of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc). However, and despite the hundreds of sRNAs identified so far, the number of functionally characterized sRNAs from these bacteria remains very limited.

Outpatient Embedded Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Thoracic Malignancy: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Although cancer care is often contextualized in terms of survival, there are other important cancer care outcomes, such as quality of life and cost of care. The ASCO Value Framework assesses the value of cancer therapies not only in terms of survival but also with consideration of quality of life and financial cost. Early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer is associated with improved quality of life, mood, symptoms, and overall survival for patients, as well as cost savings.

Neoadjuvant nivolumab or nivolumab plus LAG-3 inhibitor relatlimab in resectable esophageal/gastroesophageal junction cancer: a phase Ib trial and ctDNA analyses.

Gastroesophageal cancer dynamics and drivers of clinical responses with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) remain poorly understood. Potential synergistic activity of dual programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) inhibition may help improve immunotherapy responses for these tumors. We report a phase Ib trial that evaluated neoadjuvant nivolumab (Arm A, n = 16) or nivolumab-relatlimab (Arm B, n = 16) in combination with chemoradiotherapy in 32 patients with resectable stage II/stage III gastroesophageal cancer together with an in-depth evaluation of pathological, molecular and functional immune responses.

Impact of Tumor-intrinsic Molecular Features on Survival and Acquired Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Resistance in ALK-positive NSCLC.

Unlabelled: While tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have shown remarkable efficacy in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), clinical outcomes vary and acquired resistance remains a significant challenge. We conducted a retrospective study of patients with ALK-positive NSCLC who had clinico-genomic data independently collected from two academic institutions (n = 309). This was paired with a large-scale genomic cohort of patients with ALK-positive NSCLC who underwent liquid biopsies (n = 1,118).

Neonatal Birth Weight With Daily Compared With Every-Other-Day Glucose Monitoring in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To assess whether universal use of every-other-day glucose monitoring in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) resulted in similar birth weights and medication use and was preferred by the patient compared with traditional daily glucose monitoring.

Methods: This was a noninferiority randomized controlled trial conducted at a single New York City hospital between April 2021 and May 2022. Patients with singleton pregnancies who were diagnosed with GDM after 20 weeks of gestation and had a minimum of 7 days of previous daily blood glucose testing were randomly assigned to test blood glucose values daily or every other day.

Association of area-level mortgage denial and guideline-concordant non-small-cell lung cancer care and outcomes in the United States.

Background: Racial and socioeconomic disparities in receipt of care for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are well described. However, no previous studies have evaluated the association between mortgage denial rates and receipt of timely and guideline-concordant care for NSCLC and patient outcomes.

Methods: We identified individuals ≥18 years diagnosed with NSCLC between 2014 and 2019 from the National Cancer Database.

Lung Cancer Survivorship: Physical, Social, Emotional, and Medical Needs of NSCLC Survivors.

Background: Newer therapies prolong survival for patients with lung cancer. Beyond extending survival, the needs of lung cancer (LC) survivors are poorly described.

Methods: We conducted a single-institution needs assessment survey of LC survivors alive ≥1 year from diagnosis.