MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry distinguishes daratumumab from M-proteins.

Background: Daratumumab, a therapeutic IgG kappa monoclonal antibody, can cause a false positive interference on electrophoretic assays that are routinely used to monitor patients with monoclonal gammopathies. In this study, we evaluate the ability of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) to distinguish daratumumab from disease-related IgG kappa monoclonal proteins (M-protein).

Methods: Waste clinical samples from 31 patients who were receiving daratumumab and had a history of IgG kappa monoclonal gammopathy were collected.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Outcome Is Predicted by Expression of Neuronal Calcium Sensor 1.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. There is an urgent demand for prognostic biomarkers that facilitate early tumor detection, as the incidence of HCC has tripled in the United States in the last three decades. Biomarkers to identify populations at risk would have significant impact on survival.

An assessment of neuronal calcium sensor-1 and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.

Neuronal calcium sensor-1 (NCS-1) has been identified as a binding partner of the taxane, paclitaxel. Our previous study showed that overexpression of NCS-1 increased the efficacy of paclitaxel in vitro, but was associated with poor clinical outcome. Here, we determine if NCS-1 expression is associated with pathological complete response (pCR) to taxane-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 105 pre-treatment breast cancer biopsies.

Nuclear IRF-1 expression as a mechanism to assess "Capability" to express PD-L1 and response to PD-1 therapy in metastatic melanoma.

Background: Predictive biomarkers for antibodies against programmed death 1 (PD-1) remain a major unmet need in metastatic melanoma. Specifically, response is seen in tumors that do not express programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), highlighting the need for a more sensitive biomarker. We hypothesize that capacity to express PD-L1, as assessed by an assay for a PD-L1 transcription factor, interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1), may better distinguish patients likely to benefit from anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.

Calcium Sensor, NCS-1, Promotes Tumor Aggressiveness and Predicts Patient Survival.

Neuronal Calcium Sensor 1 (NCS-1) is a multi-functional Ca-binding protein that affects a range of cellular processes beyond those related to neurons. Functional characterization of NCS-1 in neuronal model systems suggests that NCS-1 may influence oncogenic processes. To this end, the biological role of NCS-1 was investigated by altering its endogenous expression in MCF-7 and MB-231 breast cancer cells.

Real-time polymerase chain reaction to follow the response of muscle to training.

The adaptive response of muscle to changes in activity or loading can take many weeks. Changes in the levels of RNA within a muscle fiber can give an early indication of the nature of the response of that fiber to changes in activity or loading. We have designed a new primer set for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that will allow us to follow these early transcriptional changes in rat muscle, and have shown that analysis can be performed by standard techniques on as little as 5 mg of muscle, an amount that can be obtained by needle biopsy.