Nivolumab Exposure-Response Analyses of Efficacy and Safety in Previously Treated Squamous or Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Nivolumab is a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antiprogrammed death-1 antibody with demonstrated efficacy, including durable responses and prolonged survival, in patients with previously treated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Exposure-response (E-R) analyses for efficacy and safety were conducted to inform the benefit-risk assessment of nivolumab in this patient population. The analyses used clinical trial data from patients with squamous ( = 293) or nonsquamous ( = 354) NSCLC from four clinical trials who received nivolumab doses of 1 to 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks.

IRS2 copy number gain, KRAS and BRAF mutation status as predictive biomarkers for response to the IGF-1R/IR inhibitor BMS-754807 in colorectal cancer cell lines.

Insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 (IGF-1R)-targeting therapies are currently at an important crossroad given the low clinical response rates seen in unselected patients. Predictive biomarkers for patient selection are critical for improving clinical benefit. Coupling in vitro sensitivity testing of BMS-754807, a dual IGF-1R/IR inhibitor, with genomic interrogations in 60 human colorectal cancer cell lines, we identified biomarkers correlated with response to BMS-754807.

Dual IGF-1R/InsR inhibitor BMS-754807 synergizes with hormonal agents in treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancer.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling has been implicated in the resistance to hormonal therapy in breast cancer. Using a model of postmenopausal, estrogen-dependent breast cancer, we investigated the antitumor effects of the dual IGF-1R/InsR tyrosine kinase inhibitor BMS-754807 alone and in combination with letrozole or tamoxifen. BMS-754807 exhibited antiproliferative effects in vitro that synergized strongly in combination with letrozole or 4-hydroxytamoxifen and fulvestrant.

Dual inhibition of the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway with cetuximab and erlotinib: a phase I study in patients with advanced solid malignancies.

Purpose: To determine the optimal dose of the antiepidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody cetuximab that can be safely administered in combination with a standard daily dose of erlotinib in patients with advanced solid malignancies.

Patients And Methods: Patients with advanced solid malignancies who had failed standard chemotherapies received escalating doses of cetuximab without a loading dose (100, 200, 250 mg/m(2) i.v.

Molecular classification of rhabdomyosarcoma--genotypic and phenotypic determinants of diagnosis: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in children occurs as two major histological subtypes, embryonal (ERMS) and alveolar (ARMS). ERMS is associated with an 11p15.5 loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and may be confused with nonmyogenic, non-RMS soft tissue sarcomas.

Mouse mesenchymal stem cells expressing PAX-FKHR form alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas by cooperating with secondary mutations.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas (ARMS) are highly malignant soft-tissue sarcomas that arise in children, adolescents, and young adults. Although formation and expression of the PAX-FKHR fusion genes is thought to be the initiating event in this cancer, the role of PAX-FKHR in the neoplastic process remains largely unknown in a progenitor cell that is undefined. We hypothesize that PAX-FKHR determine the ARMS progenitor to the skeletal muscle lineage, which when coupled to the inactivation and/or activation of critical cell signaling pathways leads to the formation of ARMS.

Transgenic mice expressing PAX3-FKHR have multiple defects in muscle development, including ectopic skeletal myogenesis in the developing neural tube.

The t(2;13) chromosomal translocation is found in the majority of human alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS). The resulting PAX3-FKHR fusion protein contains PAX3 DNA-binding domains fused to the potent transactivation domain of FKHR, suggesting that PAX3-FKHR functions to deregulate PAX3-specific target genes and signaling pathways. We previously developed transgenic mice expressing PAX3-FKHR under the control of mouse Pax3 regulatory sequences to test this hypothesis.

Identification of a PAX-FKHR gene expression signature that defines molecular classes and determines the prognosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas (ARMS) are aggressive soft-tissue sarcomas affecting children and young adults. Most ARMS tumors express the PAX3-FKHR or PAX7-FKHR (PAX-FKHR) fusion genes resulting from the t(2;13) or t(1;13) chromosomal translocations, respectively. However, up to 25% of ARMS tumors are fusion negative, making it unclear whether ARMS represent a single disease or multiple clinical and biological entities with a common phenotype.

High-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue in children with nephroblastoma.

Children with Wilms tumor who have a particular risk of failure at relapse or at primary diagnosis were treated with high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) and autologous peripheral blood stem cell rescue in order to improve their probability of survival. From April 1992 to December 1998, 23 evaluable patients received HDC within the German Cooperative Wilms Tumor Studies. Nineteen were given melphalan, etoposide and carboplatin (MEC); the others received different regimens.

Real-time quantitative Y chromosome-specific PCR (QYCS-PCR) for monitoring hematopoietic chimerism after sex-mismatched allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Y chromosome-specific sequences can be used to detect remaining male cells after sex-mismatched allogeneic blood stem cell transplantation (HSCT) involving a male patient and female donor, which represents approximately 25% of all cases. We developed a quantitative Y chromosome-specific PCR assay (QYCS-PCR) based on the DFFRY gene for the determination of hematopoietic donor chimerism. We analyzed blood and marrow samples from more than 40 patients at various time points after both standard and nonmyeloablative allogeneic HSCT.

Bone marrow transplantation in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Two important syndromes of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) have to be considered in infants and young children with recurrent fever, organomegaly and cytopenias. Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHLH) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive disease with histiocytic and lymphocytic infiltrations in multiple organs and is currently curable only by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Secondary HLH most commonly results from viral infections and some patients may be cured by treating the causative organism, others will need chemotherapy and immunosuppression.

Detection of the t(2;13) chromosomal translocation in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

Rhabdomyosarcoma, a small-, round-cell tumor of skeletal muscle, is the most common soft tissue sarcoma found in children. A specific and unique chromosomal translocation, t(2;13)(q35;q14), has been described cytogenetically in a subset of these tumors and is most often associated with the alveolar histologic subtype. The cloning and sequencing of complementary DNA from fusion transcripts expressed by both cell lines and tumors have shown that this chromosomal translocation results in the fusion of the PAX3 gene on chromosome 2 with a member of the forkhead gene family, FKHR, on chromosome 13.

[N-myc status of neuroblastoma from bone marrow cells].

The analysis of the N-myc gene in bone marrow specimens at the time of initial diagnosis and as well at the time of relapse from patients with Neuroblastoma stage IV and bone marrow infiltration could give some informations about the N-myc status of these patients. In stage IV neuroblastoma patients with bone marrow infiltration an estimation of the N-myc gene amplification should be attempted, if otherwise no information about the tumor content of the N-myc gene could be gathered. In our investigation we could demonstrate a Southern-blot-analysis of 27 bone marrow specimens with respect to the N-myc gene status which correlated qualitatively well to the N-myc amplification detected later on in the corresponding tumor tissue.