Olaratumab and doxorubicin versus doxorubicin alone for treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma: an open-label phase 1b and randomised phase 2 trial.

Background: Treatment with doxorubicin is a present standard of care for patients with metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma and median overall survival for those treated is 12-16 months, but few, if any, novel treatments or chemotherapy combinations have been able to improve these poor outcomes. Olaratumab is a human antiplatelet-derived growth factor receptor α monoclonal antibody that has antitumour activity in human sarcoma xenografts. We aimed to assess the efficacy of olaratumab plus doxorubicin in patients with advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma.

Rationale for the development of IMC-3G3, a fully human immunoglobulin G subclass 1 monoclonal antibody targeting the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha.

A large body of evidence suggests that the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family and associated receptors are potential targets in oncology therapeutic development because of their critical roles in the proliferation and survival of various cancers and in the regulation and growth of the tumor stroma and blood vessels. Several small molecules that nonspecifically target the PDGF signaling axis are in current use or development as anticancer therapies. However, for the majority of these agents, PDGF and its receptors are neither the primary targets nor the principal mediators of anticancer activity.

Combined immunochemotherapy with reduced whole-brain radiotherapy for newly diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma.

Purpose: Our goals were to evaluate the safety of adding rituximab to methotrexate (MTX)-based chemotherapy for primary CNS lymphoma, determine whether additional cycles of induction chemotherapy improve the complete response (CR) rate, and examine effectiveness and toxicity of reduced-dose whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) after CR.

Patients And Methods: Thirty patients (17 women; median age, 57 years; median Karnofsky performance score, 70) were treated with five to seven cycles of induction chemotherapy (rituximab, MTX, procarbazine, and vincristine [R-MPV]) as follows: day 1, rituximab 500 mg/m2; day 2, MTX 3.5 gm/m2 and vincristine 1.

Adjuvant therapy of melanoma.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to review the current state of knowledge regarding the efficacy of adjuvant therapy for melanoma.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed the published literature, focusing on randomized clinical trials.

Results: There have been no meaningful trials addressing adjuvant chemotherapy in melanoma because all trials have been underpowered.

Myelosuppression in patients benefiting from imatinib with hydroxyurea for recurrent malignant gliomas.

Reports suggest reasonable efficacy and minimal myelosuppression from combination imatinib and hydroxyurea for recurrent malignant glioma. We retrospectively reviewed 16 patients treated with this regimen who were evaluable for toxicity; 14 were also evaluable for response. The incidence of grade 3-4 hematologic toxicity was 25%.

Comparison of linear and volumetric criteria in assessing tumor response in adult high-grade gliomas.

The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, or RECIST criteria (one-dimensional [1D] measurement), are widely used to measure response in tumors, but there are few studies evaluating these criteria in brain tumors. We compared linear and volumetric measurements in adult high-grade supratentorial enhancing gliomas to determine the agreement between measurements, in defining responses and in their subsequent relation to survival. We hypothesized that the 1D RECIST criteria maybe suitable for response assessment in adult high-grade gliomas.

Systemic high-dose intravenous methotrexate for central nervous system metastases.

Background: Treatment options for patients with recurrent central nervous system (CNS) metastases are limited. Rapid infusion of high-dose intravenous methotrexate (HD IV MTX) penetrates the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and has reported activity in leptomeningeal metastases.

Methods: Medical records were reviewed for all patients treated with HD IV MTX (3.

Treatment of primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) describes a malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) whose sole site of involvement is the central nervous system (CNS). The diagnosis of PCNSL must be differentiated from systemic NHL with metastasis to the CNS, which usually occurs late in the course of systemic disease. PCNSL accounts for approximately 4% to 7% of primary brain tumors, and its incidence has been increasing since the mid-1970s.

Functional role of auditory cortex in frequency processing and pitch perception.

Microelectrode studies in nonhuman primates and other mammals have demonstrated that many neurons in auditory cortex are excited by pure tone stimulation only when the tone's frequency lies within a narrow range of the audible spectrum. However, the effects of auditory cortex lesions in animals and humans have been interpreted as evidence against the notion that neuronal frequency selectivity is functionally relevant to frequency discrimination. Here we report psychophysical and anatomical evidence in favor of the hypothesis that fine-grained frequency resolution at the perceptual level relies on neuronal frequency selectivity in auditory cortex.