Targeting androgen biosynthesis in prostate cancer: implications on endocrine physiology.

Purpose Of Review: Targeting specific steroidogenic enzymes is effective in decreasing testosterone synthesis, resulting in significant antitumor effects in prostate cancer. Such treatments result in disruptions of complicated and intertwining pathways with systemic physiologic consequences via effects on the adrenal gland and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis. This review highlights some of these aspects that need to be taken into consideration when treating patients with androgen biosynthesis inhibitors.

Stereotactic ablative radiation therapy in metastatic prostate cancer.

Purpose Of Review: The evolving role of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) as metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) for oligometastatic prostate cancer (omPCa) will be discussed.

Recent Findings: Oligometastatic disease (OMD) is an intermediate state between localized and wide-spread malignant disease. OMD has recently been spotlighted given the increasing demonstration of clinical benefit from local therapies despite presence of metastatic disease and allure of the curative potential of MDT in select cases.

Vaccine-induced T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 and its Omicron variant in patients with B cell-depleted lymphoma after CART therapy.

Patients receiving CD19 CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory lymphoma experience prolonged and profound B-cell aplasia and hypogammaglobulinemia, placing them at a higher risk for severe COVID-19. Independently, Oh et al and Atanackovic et al demonstrate that despite attenuated humoral response to mRNA-based vaccines, patients demonstrate normal or heightened functional T-cell responses, including antiviral T-cell activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants including Omicron. Collectively, these data reinforce the importance of COVID-19 vaccination following CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, despite long-term B-cell aplasia.

Humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants including omicron in solid organ transplant recipients after three doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Objectives: Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) receiving post-transplant immunosuppression show increased COVID-19-related mortality. It is unclear whether an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccines can overcome the reduced immune responsiveness against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants.

Methods: We analysed humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in 53 SOTR receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Deep dissection of the antiviral immune profile of patients with COVID-19.

In light of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants potentially undermining humoral immunity, it is important to understand the fine specificity of the antiviral antibodies. We screened 20 COVID-19 patients for antibodies against 9 different SARS-CoV-2 proteins observing responses against the spike (S) proteins, the receptor-binding domain (RBD), and the nucleocapsid (N) protein which were of the IgG1 and IgG3 subtypes. Importantly, mutations which typically occur in the B.

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immune Responses in Patients Receiving an Allogeneic Stem Cell or Organ Transplant.

Patients after autologous (autoSCT) and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) are at an increased risk of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality, compounded by an immune system weakened by the underlying malignancy and prior treatments. Allogeneic transplantation, including stem cell and solid organ transplants, requires intensive immunosuppressive prophylaxis, which may further undermine the development of a protective vaccine-induced anti-viral immunity. Herein, we report on short- and long-term antiviral immune responses in two peri-stem cell transplant recipients and a third patient who received a COVID-19 vaccination after kidney transplantation.

Race as a predictor of pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy at time of cystectomy for bladder cancer.

Unlabelled: INTRODUCTION Complete pathologic response (pT0) at time of cystectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been associated with significantly improved clinical outcomes. The goal of this study is to examine whether race is a predictor of pT0 response to NAC at time of cystectomy.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the records of patients diagnosed with a non-metastatic (M0) muscle-invasive (cT2+) urothelial cell bladder cancer in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) who underwent a cystectomy from 2006 to 2014.

Successful transfer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity using convalescent plasma in an MM patient with hypogammaglobulinemia and COVID-19.

A severely immunocompromised patient with MM and COVID19 who received a convalescent plasma product showed SARS-CoV-2 clearance. The convalescent plasma showed humoral immunity against all structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins, which was successfully transferred to the patient.

Phase II, Multicenter, Randomized Trial of Docetaxel plus Prednisone with or Without Cediranib in Men with Chemotherapy-Naive Metastatic Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

Lessons Learned: The negative results are consistent with the negative results of large phase III trials in which docetaxel plus antiangiogenic agents were used in patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).The negative data underscore that, despite a sound biological rationale and supportive early-phase clinical results, adding antiangiogenic agents to docetaxel for mCRPC is a great challenge.

Background: Inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling abrogates tumor-induced angiogenesis to constrain tumor growth, and can be exploited therapeutically by using cediranib, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor of VEGF receptor signaling.

A Phase II Study Evaluating Bone Marrow-Sparing, Image-guided Pelvic Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) With Cesium-131 Brachytherapy Boost, Adjuvant Chemotherapy, and Long-Term Hormonal Ablation in Patients With High Risk, Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer.

Purpose/objective(s): Management of localized high-risk prostate cancer remains challenging. At our institution we performed a prospective phase II study of 2 years of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), pelvic radiation, Cesium (Cs)-131 brachytherapy boost, and adjuvant docetaxel in high risk, localized prostate cancer with a primary endpoint of 3-year disease-free survival.

Materials/methods: Acute/chronic hematologic, gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) toxicities were scored based on the CTCAE v3.

Update on testicular germ cell tumors.

Purpose Of Review: This overview discusses several important developments in testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) over the past year.

Recent Findings: Genomic studies continue to investigate gene expression as possible markers for disease relapse and metastatic potential. Optimal treatment strategies for early-stage seminomas continue to evolve toward surveillance versus chemotherapy, although developing radiation delivery modalities may ultimately provide a safe alternative.

Testicular germ cell tumors: biology and clinical update.

Purpose Of Review: To discuss several important developments in the diagnosis, management, and risk stratification of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) in the past year.

Recent Findings: Germ cell function and tumorigenesis may be influenced by exposure to a variety of agents, including metals and cannabinoids. Genome-wide association studies have identified variants in several genes that may produce susceptibility to the development of testicular malignancies, and expression of certain proteins predicts a poorer prognosis and may, thus, play a role in neoplastic progression.

Testicular germ cell tumors: biology and clinical update.

Purpose Of Review: This overview discusses several important developments in testicular germ cell tumors in the past year.

Recent Findings: Genomic studies continue to investigate gene expression as possible markers for disease relapse and chemotherapy resistance. Optimal treatment strategies for early-stage seminomas are evolving toward surveillance versus chemotherapy and away from radiation, and the role of retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in disseminated nonseminomatous cancers in complete remission is becoming less certain.

Update on testicular germ cell tumors.

Purpose Of Review: This overview discusses several important developments in testicular germ cell tumors in the last year.

Recent Findings: Genomic studies are examining gene expression as possible markers for disease relapse and chemotherapy resistance. Optimal treatment strategies for early-stage nonseminomatous tumors continue to evolve, and advanced disease states continue to be challenging entities in terms of optimizing therapy and outcome.

Long-term follow-up of a prospective trial of trimodality therapy of weekly paclitaxel, radiation, and androgen deprivation in high-risk prostate cancer with or without prior prostatectomy.

Purpose: Weekly paclitaxel, concurrent radiation, and androgen deprivation (ADT) were evaluated in patients with high-risk prostate cancer (PC) with or without prior prostatectomy (RP).

Methods And Materials: Eligible post-RP patients included: pathological T3 disease, or rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≥ 0.5 ng/mL post-RP.

Update on testicular germ cell tumors.

Purpose Of Review: To discuss several important developments in testicular germ cell tumors in the past year.

Recent Findings: Genomic studies are examining gene expression as possible markers for disease relapse and chemotherapy resistance. Optimal treatment strategies for early-stage nonseminomatous tumors continue to evolve and patient compliance with posttreatment surveillance schedules remains problematic.

Update on testicular germ cell tumors.

Purpose Of Review: This overview discusses several important developments in testicular germ cell tumors in the past year.

Recent Findings: Genomic studies are examining gene expression as possible markers for disease relapse and chemotherapy resistance. Optimal posttreatment surveillance strategies continue to evolve.

Evolving role of surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy in high-risk locally advanced prostate cancer.

Locally advanced prostate cancer encompasses several disease states that vary in the risk for progression and recurrence after initial treatment. Further, the optimal treatment strategies for locally advanced prostate cancer are continuing to evolve, reflecting the complex nature of this disease state. For many patients, clinical experience demonstrates that a combined approach of locally directed therapy and systemic therapy is likely to provide better long-term outcome than single-modality therapy.

What constitutes high-risk locally advanced prostate cancer?

Excluding basal and squamous cell cancers of the skin, prostate cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in the United States. With increasing awareness and routine prostate-specific antigen testing, a remarkable migration in the clinical presentation of the disease has occurred in the past 20 years. An increasingly greater proportion of men are diagnosed with clinically organ-confined disease.