Safety and efficacy of graded dosing of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine after an immediate hypersensitivity reaction to first dose.

Current guidelines do not recommend subsequent mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in patients who experience immediate allergic reactions to the first dose. Our findings indicate that graded dosing of this vaccine is safe, efficacious, and useful for treating these individuals with allergy.

Response to Omalizumab in Black and White Patients with Allergic Asthma.

Background: Higher asthma burden is more likely to be experienced by Black than White patients. In clinical research, underrepresentation of minority populations is observed.

Objective: To estimate response to omalizumab in Black and White patients in North America with moderate to severe asthma.

COVID-19-Induced Anosmia and Ageusia Are Associated With Younger Age and Lower Blood Eosinophil Counts.

Background: Anosmia and ageusia are symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19, but the relationship with disease severity, onset and recovery are unclear.

Objective: To examine factors associated with anosmia and ageusia and the recovery from these symptoms in an ethnically diverse cohort.

Methods: Individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2 between March and April 2020 were eligible for the study.

Rapid Implementation of a Multidisciplinary COVID-19 Cytokine Storm Syndrome Task Force.

Objective: Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can progress to a state of unregulated inflammation called cytokine storm syndrome (CSS). We describe formation and operation of a COVID-19 multidisciplinary consultation service that was allowed to individualize treatment for critically ill patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Methods: Institutional experts from different subspecialties formed a COVID-19 CSS task force at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY.

Eosinophilia in Asthma Patients Is Protective Against Severe COVID-19 Illness.

Background: There is a paucity of information on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes in asthmatics.

Objective: To identify risk factors associated with admission and subsequent mortality among COVID-19-infected asthmatics.

Methods: Adults at our institution with a positive polymerase chain reaction for COVID-19 between March 14 and April 27, 2020, were retrospectively identified.

No difference in omalizumab efficacy in patients with asthma by number of asthma-related and allergic comorbidities.

Background: Comorbidities are common in asthma and may complicate treatment response.

Objective: To examine response to omalizumab in patients with moderate-to-severe allergic asthma by asthma-related and allergic comorbidities.

Methods: Patients aged 12 years or more from placebo-controlled 008/009 (n = 1071), EXTRA (n = 848), and INNOVATE (n = 419), and single-armed PROSPERO (n = 801) omalizumab studies were included.

Phase II Trial of Eribulin in Patients With Metastatic Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer: A Trial of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (E5805).

Background: Eribulin mesylate, a synthetic analog of halichondrin B, is a novel tubulin-binding agent that inhibits cancer cell proliferation at low-nanomolar levels.

Methods: In a multicenter ECOG trial, patients with progressive metastatic CRPC, ECOG 0-2 were treated with eribulin 1.4 mg/m as an IV bolus over 5 minutes on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle.

Phase 2 Study of Weekly Paclitaxel Plus Estramustine in Metastatic Hormone-Refractory Prostate Carcinoma: ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (E1898) Trial.

Introduction: This multicenter phase 2 study assessed the combination of estramustine and weekly paclitaxel with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Patients And Methods: We enrolled 77 patients who had received no prior chemotherapy for CRPC between 1998 and 2000; a total of 74 subjects were eligible for the study. Each 8-week cycle included paclitaxel 90 mg/m provided intravenously weekly for 6 weeks, followed by 2 weeks off therapy and oral estramustine 280 mg twice daily for 3 days beginning 24 hours before the first dose of paclitaxel.

Diagnosing environmental allergies: Comparison of skin-prick, intradermal, and serum specific immunoglobulin E testing.

Background: Allergists commonly perform intradermal skin testing (IDST) after negative skin-prick testing (SPT) to comprehensively diagnose environmental allergic sensitization. However, with the availability of modern methods to detect serum-specific immunoglobulin E (ssIgE), it is unclear if ssIgE testing could substitute for IDST.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of ssIgE testing and IDST when added to SPT in diagnosing environmental allergic sensitizations.

Effect of Relocation to the U.S. on Asthma Risk Among Hispanics.

Introduction: Asthma prevalence is reportedly higher among U.S.-born relative to foreign-born Hispanics/Latinos.

Plasma 15-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acid Predicts Treatment Outcomes in Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease.

Background: Aspirin desensitization followed by daily aspirin provides therapeutic benefits to patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). It is not well understood how eicosanoid levels change during aspirin treatment.

Objective: To investigate associations between clinical outcomes of aspirin treatment and plasma eicosanoid levels in patients with AERD.

Effect of ivermectin on allergy-type manifestations in occult strongyloidiasis.

Background: The immunomodulatory effects of helminths have been well described. However, there is a relative lack of literature regarding the link between parasites and allergic diseases. A number of patients with allergic symptoms have positive serologic test results for Strongyloides stercoralis.

Utility of low-dose oral aspirin challenges for diagnosis of aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

Background: Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is diagnosed through graded aspirin challenges that induce hypersensitivity reactions and eicosanoid level changes. It is not known whether diagnostically useful changes also occur after low-dose aspirin challenges that do not induce hypersensitivity reactions.

Objective: To investigate the utility of low-dose oral aspirin challenges for diagnosing AERD by measuring different clinical parameters and eicosanoid changes.

Hydroxychloroquine Destabilizes Phospho-S6 in Human Renal Carcinoma Cells.

mTOR inhibitors are used to treat metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC), but most patients eventually become resistant. One possible mechanism for resistance is upregulation of autophagy, a pathway that helps recycle intracellular proteins and promotes cell survival. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a potent autophagy inhibitor used to treat malaria and autoimmune disorders, is currently being studied in the context of cancer treatment.

Investigation of novel circulating proteins, germ line single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and molecular tumor markers as potential efficacy biomarkers of first-line sunitinib therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose: Sunitinib is a first-line advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) standard of care. In a randomized phase II trial comparing sunitinib treatment schedules, separate exploratory biomarker analyses investigated the correlations of efficacy with selected serum, germ line single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), or tumor markers.

Methods: Advanced RCC patients received first-line sunitinib 50 mg/day on the approved 4-week-on-2-week-off schedule (n = 146) or 37.

Accelerated methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin is safe, effective, and efficient neoadjuvant treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: results of a multicenter phase II study with molecular correlates of response and toxicity.

Purpose: Neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy is standard of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC); however, it is infrequently adopted in practice because of concerns regarding toxicity and delay to cystectomy. We hypothesized that three cycles of neoadjuvant accelerated methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (AMVAC) would be safe, shorten the time to surgery, and yield similar pathologic complete response (pT0) rates compared with historical controls.

Patients And Methods: Patients with cT2-T4a and N0-N1 MIBC were eligible and received three cycles of AMVAC with pegfilgrastim followed by radical cystectomy with lymph node dissection.

PD-1 expression on peripheral blood cells increases with stage in renal cell carcinoma patients and is rapidly reduced after surgical tumor resection.

Programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor is an inhibitory receptor on hematopoietic cells that can negatively regulate immune responses, particularly responses to tumors, which often upregulate PD-1 ligands. PD-1/PD-1 ligand blocking antibodies can reverse the inhibition and show significant therapeutic promise in treating renal cell carcinoma (RCC), lung cancer, and melanoma. While PD-1 expression on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has been associated with poor outcome in RCC, we sought to define immune cell biomarkers, including PD-1, on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that could predict disease progression of RCC patients before and after nephrectomy.

Relationship between urine dichlorophenol levels and asthma morbidity.

Background: Chlorinated phenols are associated with atopic conditions, but it is not known whether they are associated with wheeze or asthma and whether atopy is involved in these associations.

Objectives: To test the association between urine levels of 2 dichlorophenols (2,4- and 2,5-dichlorophenols) and asthma morbidity in atopic and nonatopic wheezers and between total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels.

Methods: Data from a sample of 2,125 participants at least 6 years old from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005 to 2006 were analyzed.

A phase I study of temsirolimus and bryostatin-1 in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma and soft tissue sarcoma.

Background: Temsirolimus, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1, is approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Bryostatin-1 inhibits protein kinase C, a downstream effector of mTOR complex 2. We observed antitumor effects with the combination of temsirolimus and bryostatin-1 in RCC cell lines.