Intraoperative Type B Aortic Dissection With Malperfusion in a Patient With Marfan Syndrome.

We present the case of a 72-year-old man diagnosed with an aortic root aneurysm who was then diagnosed with Marfan syndrome. The patient suffered an intraoperative type B dissection with lower extremity malperfusion managed with an axillary-bifemoral extra-anatomic bypass.

Spatial colocalization and combined survival benefit of natural killer and CD8 T cells despite profound MHC class I loss in non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) loss is frequent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) rendering tumor cells resistant to T cell lysis. NK cells kill MHC-I-deficient tumor cells, and although previous work indicated their presence at NSCLC margins, they were functionally impaired. Within, we evaluated whether NK cell and CD8 T cell infiltration and activation vary with MHC-I expression.

Spatial colocalization and combined survival benefit of natural killer and CD8 T cells despite profound MHC class I loss in non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: MHC class I (MHC-I) loss is frequent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) rendering tumor cells resistant to T cell lysis. NK cells kill MHC-I-deficient tumor cells, and although previous work indicated their presence at NSCLC margins, they were functionally impaired. Within, we evaluated whether NK cell and CD8 T cell infiltration and activation vary with MHC-I expression.

Sleep, Nutrition, and Health Maintenance in Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Cardiothoracic surgeons work in high-intensity environments starting in surgical training and throughout their careers. They deal with critical patients. Their routine procedures are delicate, require extensive attention to detail, and can have detrimental effects on patients' lives.

Double jeopardy: Successful management of a traumatic ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm with concurrent subdural hematoma.

We present the case of a 59-year-old male who sustained an ascending aortic injury and a subdural hematoma after a head on collision. After undergoing emergent craniotomy for evacuation of the subdural hematoma, he was maintained with strict blood pressure control. Once able to be safely anticoagulated, he underwent replacement of the ascending aorta.

Myeloid Cell Infiltration Correlates With Prognosis in Cholangiocarcinoma and Varies Based on Tumor Location.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is an uncommon malignancy with increasing incidence and dismal prognosis. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the CC tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) based on tumor location to identify therapeutic targets. We hypothesized that the TIME of CC would vary by primary tumor location and that high tumor infiltration by CD8+ T cells and low infiltration by M2 macrophages would be associated with improved survival.

Pancreatic mesothelial cyst.

A 60-year-old woman was investigated for abdominal pain and increasing asthenia. Abdominal CT revealed a 25 mm hypodense cystic lesion in the tail of the pancreas. MRI showed a multiloculated cystic lesion, T1-hypointense and T2-hyperintense lesion, without wall enhancement.

Systems analysis of barrier molecule and ARNT-related gene expression regulation in melanoma.

: We have identified, in melanomas, a set of genes encoding proteins that mediate mechanical barrier function in normal skin (barrier molecule genes, BMGs) and whose overexpression is associated with decreased immune signatures and shorter patient survival. The most overexpressed of these, filaggrin (FLG), is expressed on chromosome 1q21.3, which also encodes genes of the epidermal differentiation complex (EDC).

Immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma patients: is it ready for prime time?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy and the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Current treatment options for patients with intermediate and advanced HCC are limited, and there is an unmet need for novel therapeutic approaches. HCC is an attractive target for immunomodulation therapy, since it arises in an inflammatory milieu due to hepatitis B and C infections and cirrhosis.

Human melanomas and ovarian cancers overexpressing mechanical barrier molecule genes lack immune signatures and have increased patient mortality risk.

We have identified eight genes whose expression in human melanoma metastases and ovarian cancers is associated with a lack of Th1 immune signatures. They encode molecules with mechanical barrier function in the skin and other normal tissues and include filaggrin (FLG), tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (TACSTD2), and six desmosomal proteins (DST, DSC3, DSP, PPL, PKP3, and JUP). This association has been validated in an independent series of 114 melanoma metastases.

The heterogeneity of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells in metastatic melanoma distorts their quantification: how to manage heterogeneity?

CD8 T-cell infiltration of metastatic melanoma may be a useful biomarker for prediction of prognosis and response to therapy. The heterogeneous distribution of CD8 T cells within a single tumor, and across different tumors within a single patient, may complicate quantification of infiltration. However, the impact of heterogeneity has not been quantified sufficiently.

PD-L1, PD-L2 and PD-1 expression in metastatic melanoma: Correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells and clinical outcome.

Therapeutic blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 can have dramatic therapeutic benefit in some patients; however, the prognostic associations of PD-1 and its ligands, in the absence of therapeutic blockade have not been definitively addressed. In particular, associations of PD-L2 with immune infiltrates and with outcome have yet to be explored. We hypothesized that surface expression of both PD-L1 and PD-L2 by melanoma cells would be associated with immune cell infiltration and with overall patient survival, independent of checkpoint blockade therapy.

Heterogeneity of CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in non-small-cell lung cancer: impact on patient prognostic assessments and comparison of quantification by different sampling strategies.

Introduction: Infiltration of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by CD8 T lymphocytes predicts improved patient survival; however, heterogeneity of intratumoral localization complicates this assessment. Strategies for tumor sampling may not accurately represent the whole tumor. We hypothesized that sampling strategies may alter the identification of tumors with high CD8 density and affect the prognostic significance.

Inactivation of the CRL4-CDT2-SET8/p21 ubiquitylation and degradation axis underlies the therapeutic efficacy of pevonedistat in melanoma.

Unlabelled: The cullin-based CRL4-CDT2 ubiquitin ligase is emerging as a master regulator of cell proliferation. CRL4-CDT2 prevents re-initiation of DNA replication during the same cell cycle "rereplication" through targeted degradation of CDT1, SET8 and p21 during S-phase of the cell cycle. We show that CDT2 is overexpressed in cutaneous melanoma and predicts poor overall and disease-free survival.

Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma in the Liver Explant After Liver Transplantation: Histological Differentiation and Prognosis.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICCA) incidentally found in the explanted liver after liver transplantation.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1188 recipients undergoing liver transplantation from August 2003 to August 2014; 13 patients were found to have ICCA (1.1%).

Vaccines, Adjuvants, and Dendritic Cell Activators--Current Status and Future Challenges.

Cancer vaccines offer a low-toxicity approach to induce anticancer immune responses. They have shown promise for clinical benefit with one cancer vaccine approved in the United States for advanced prostate cancer. As other immune therapies are now clearly effective for treatment of advanced cancers of many histologies, there is renewed enthusiasm for optimizing cancer vaccines for use to prevent recurrence in early-stage cancers and/or to combine with other immune therapies for therapy of advanced cancers.