Biologic Agents and Secondary Immune Deficiency.

Biologics are protein-based pharmaceuticals derived from living organisms or their proteins. We discuss the mechanism of action for currently approved biologics and a give summary of the studies on immune suppression from biologics. Most of these studies have been conducted with rheumatology patients, and many in adults.

Biologic Agents and Secondary Immune Deficiency.

Biologics are protein-based pharmaceuticals derived from living organisms or their proteins. We discuss the mechanism of action for currently approved biologics and a give summary of the studies on immune suppression from biologics. Most of these studies have been conducted with rheumatology patients, and many in adults.

Prostate-specific markers to identify rare prostate cancer cells in liquid biopsies.

Despite improvements in early detection and advances in treatment, patients with prostate cancer continue to die from their disease. Minimal residual disease after primary definitive treatment can lead to relapse and distant metastases, and increasing evidence suggests that circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and bone marrow-derived disseminated tumour cells (BM-DTCs) can offer clinically relevant biological insights into prostate cancer dissemination and metastasis. Using epithelial markers to accurately detect CTCs and BM-DTCs is associated with difficulties, and prostate-specific markers are needed for the detection of these cells using rare cell assays.

Optimization of prostate cancer cell detection using multiplex tyramide signal amplification.

Approximately 29 000 men die of prostate cancer (PCa) each year in the United States, and 90% to 100% of them are due to incurable bone metastasis. It is difficult to determine (1) when PCa disseminates in the natural history of the disease; (2) where cancer cell disseminates before becoming overt metastatic lesions; and (3) which tumors are aggressive and which are indolent. Tumor tissue and liquid (blood and bone marrow) biopsies provide important information to answer these questions, but significant limitations exist for immunostaining strategies that assess protein expression in these tissues.

AXL Is a Putative Tumor Suppressor and Dormancy Regulator in Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer bone metastasis remains lethal and incurable, and often arises years after elimination of the primary tumor. It is unclear what underlies the decades-long clinical latency before recurrence, but evidence points to the existence of dormant residual tumor cells that disseminated before the primary tumor was eliminated. To design therapies to prevent progression of disseminated tumor cells (DTC) into lethal metastases, it is crucial to understand the mechanism(s) underlying this dormancy.