Publications by authors named "H M Zarour"
Article Synopsis
- * Out of 31 patients, 55% showed a significant drop in tumor activity (major pathologic response), along with increased immune cell presence in the tumors.
- * Findings indicate that this combination therapy not only activates various immune responses but is also linked to specific genetic markers in immune cells and changes in gut microbiota, suggesting potential pathways for enhancing treatment outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the differences in treatment responses among melanoma patients based on tumor characteristics, utilizing radiomic analysis of medical images to identify non-invasive biomarkers.
- This research involved 291 patients treated with either immune checkpoint inhibitors or BRAF targeted therapy, and 667 tumor lesions were analyzed for treatment outcomes.
- The findings show significant organ-level differences in treatment response and variability, with specific machine-learning models accurately predicting disease control or progression based on radiomic features, highlighting the potential for personalized treatment strategies.
Background: CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) predicts response to anti-PD-(L)1 therapy. However, there remains no standardized method to assess CD8+ TIL in melanoma, and developing a specific, cost-effective, reproducible, and clinically actionable biomarker to anti-PD-(L)1 remains elusive. We report on the development of automatic CD8+ TIL density quantification via whole slide image (WSI) analysis in advanced melanoma patients treated with front-line anti-PD-1 blockade, and correlation immunotherapy response.
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- Research shows that gut microbiota composition can impact cancer treatment responses, specifically in patients receiving immunotherapy for melanoma.
- * Various mechanisms by which intestinal bacteria influence tumors are being explored to improve the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors.
- * The use of advanced "omics" technologies is helping to understand host-microbe interactions, which may lead to personalized treatments and strategies to modify the microbiota for better cancer outcomes.
Acral melanoma (AM) has distinct characteristics as compared with cutaneous melanoma and exhibits poor response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Tumor-intrinsic mechanisms of immune exclusion have been identified in many cancers but less studied in AM. We characterized clinically annotated tumors from patients diagnosed with AM at our institution in correlation with ICI response using whole transcriptome RNAseq, whole exome sequencing, CD8 immunohistochemistry, and multispectral immunofluorescence imaging.
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