Final Results of a Phase I/II Trial of the Combination Bendamustine and Rituximab With Temsirolimus (BeRT) in Relapsed Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Follicular Lymphoma.

In this phase I/II study, we explored the combination of Temsirolimus with Bendamustine and Rituximab (BeRT) in patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) follicular lymphoma (FL) or mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Patients with 1 to 3 previous therapies received Bendamustine (90 mg/m, day 1 + 2) and Rituximab (375 mg/m, day 1) with Temsirolimus in doses from 25 to 75 mg in phase I and 50 mg Temsirolimus in phase II, added on day 1, 8, 15 of a 28 days cycle. The primary endpoint of the phase II was ORR at the end of treatment.

The targeted immunocytokine L19-IL2 efficiently inhibits the growth of orthotopic pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: Effective control of pancreatic cancer has been hampered primarily by the lack of tumor specificity of current treatment modalities. The highly specific antibody-mediated delivery of therapeutic agents to the tumor microenvironment might overcome this problem. We therefore investigated the therapeutic efficacy of the targeted immunocytokine L19-Interleukin-2 (L19-IL2), consisting of the human single-chain Fv antibody L19, which is highly specific for the extradomain B (ED-B) of fibronectin, and the human cytokine IL-2, in pancreatic cancer.

Activin A stimulates vascular endothelial growth factor gene transcription in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Background & Aims: Up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor is known to play a critical role in hepatocellular tumor biology. In an attempt to identify factors responsible for vascular endothelial growth factor induction in human hepatocellular carcinoma, we evaluated the effects of activin A, a member of the transforming growth factor-beta cytokine superfamily, on vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression.

Methods: Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, activin A, and its receptors was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Transforming growth factor beta 1 stimulates vascular endothelial growth factor gene transcription in human cholangiocellular carcinoma cells.

The expression pattern and functional interaction of proangiogenic factors in human cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) have not been fully defined. We therefore investigated the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 as well as their respective receptors in human CCC tumor samples and further analyzed their functional interaction in vitro. Expression of VEGF, TGF-beta 1, and their receptors was examined by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, quantitative competitive reverse transcription-PCR, and ELISA.