Publications by authors named "Lukas Heukamp"

Article Synopsis
  • The KDM1A histone demethylase is linked to poor prognosis in aggressive neuroblastomas due to its role in regulating cell growth and differentiation.
  • Research demonstrated that NCL-1, a small molecule inhibitor of KDM1A, effectively reduced cell proliferation and induced neuronal differentiation in various neuroblastoma models.
  • In vivo studies showed that NCL-1 treatment significantly decreased tumor growth in mouse models by altering tumor cell behavior and disrupting blood vessel formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Capmatinib, a potent and selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), holds promise as a therapeutic agent due to its potentially elevated intracranial efficacy in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients harboring exon 14 skipping alterations in (MET Proto-Oncogene). This study aims to evaluate a targeted therapeutic approach to an exon 14 skipping (METex14) advanced NSCLC patient that progressed on Crizotinib and developed off target resistance alteration in PIK3CA.

Case Discription: We present a case of advanced METex14 NSCLC patient wherein central nervous system (CNS) relapse occurred post complete surgical resection and remission of the lung tumor under first-line crizotinib treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The PACIFIC study showed that after radio-chemotherapy, patients with NSCLC derived a benefit in PFS and OS when treated with durvalumab. This effect was limited to patients with a PD-L1 expression of >1%, partly because the outcome in the observational control arm was surprisingly favorable. Thus, it could be speculated that a lack of PD-L1 expression confers a favorable outcome for patients with stage III NSCLC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • PARP inhibitors have shown effectiveness in treating ovarian cancer, particularly benefiting patients with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), and various assays can be used to assess these biomarkers.
  • The study compares the performance of multiple molecular assays for genomic instability (GI) against the standard Myriad myChoice assay using DNA from high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) samples.
  • Results indicate high concordance between different assays for assessing GI, supporting their use in clinical settings for HRD evaluation, which aligns with European Medicines Agency guidelines for PARP inhibitor treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Synaptopodin-2 (SYNPO2) is a protein associated with the Z-disc in striated muscle cells. It interacts with α-actinin and filamin C, playing a role in Z-disc maintenance under stress by chaperone-assisted selective autophagy (CASA). In smooth muscle cells, SYNPO2 is a component of dense bodies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

EGFR-mutant lung cancers develop a wide range of potential resistance alterations under therapy with the third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib. MET amplification ranks among the most common acquired resistance alterations and is currently being investigated as a therapeutic target in several studies. Nevertheless, targeted therapy of MET might similarly result in acquired resistance by point mutations in MET, which further expands therapeutic and diagnostic challenges.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The worldwide approval of the combination maintenance therapy of olaparib and bevacizumab in advanced high-grade serous ovarian cancer requires complex molecular diagnostic assays that are sufficiently robust for the routine detection of driver mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes and genomic instability (GI), employing formalin-fixed (FFPE) paraffin-embedded tumor samples without matched normal tissue. We therefore established a DNA-based hybrid capture NGS assay and an associated bioinformatic pipeline that fulfils our institution's specific needs. The assay´s target regions cover the full exonic territory of relevant cancer-related genes and HRR genes and more than 20,000 evenly distributed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci to allow for the detection of genome-wide allele specific copy number alterations (CNA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lorlatinib, a third-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)/receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (ROS1), demonstrated efficacy in ROS1 positive (ROS1+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), although approval is currently limited to the treatment of ALK+ patients. However, lorlatinib-induced resistance mechanisms, and its efficacy against the resistance mutation G2032R in ROS1, respectively, have not yet been fully understood. Furthermore, concomitant tumor suppressor gene p53 (TP53) mutations occur in driver alteration positive NSCLC, but their prognostic contribution in the context of ROS1 inhibition remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Interleukin-2 is central to the induction and maintenance of both natural (nT) and induced Foxp3-expressing regulatory T cells (iT). Thus, signals that modulate IL-2 availability may, in turn, also influence T homeostasis. Using global knockout and cell-specific knockout mouse models, we evaluated the role of the small GTPase ADP-ribosylation factor 4d (Arl4d) in regulatory T-cell biology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The negative prognostic and predictive value of co-mutations ( mt+) in mutated ( mt+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is increasingly being acknowledged. Data consistently show that mt+ impact negatively on 1st line objective response rate (ORR), progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) with 1st and 2nd generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). However, a negative predictive impact has not been shown for the 3rd generation TKI Osimertinib.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The present prospective study aimed at determining the impact of cell-free tumor DNA (ct-DNA), CA125 and HE4 from blood and ascites for quantification of tumor burden in patients with advanced high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).

Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from tumor FFPE and ct-DNA from plasma before surgery and on subsequent post-surgical days. Extracted DNA was subjected to hybrid-capture based next generation sequencing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Myeloid cells play an essential role in the maintenance of liver homeostasis, as well as the initiation and termination of innate and adaptive immune responses. In chronic hepatic inflammation, the production of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is pivotal for scarring and fibrosis induction and progression. TGF-β signalling is tightly regulated via the Smad protein family.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

For many years, the risk-based therapy stratification of children with neuroblastoma has relied on clinical and molecular covariates. In recent years, genome analysis has revealed further alterations defining risk, tumor biology, and therapeutic targets. The implementation of a robust and scalable method for analyzing traditional and new molecular markers in routine diagnostics is an urgent clinical need.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Abrogation of Notch signaling, which is pivotal for lung development and pulmonary epithelial cell fate decisions was shown to be involved in the aggressiveness and the differentiation of lung carcinomas. Additionally, the transcription factors YAP and TAZ which are involved in the Hippo pathway, were recently shown to be tightly linked with Notch signaling and to regulate the cell fate in epidermal stem cells. Thus, we aim to elucidate the effects of conditional Notch1 deficiency on carcinogenesis and TAZ expression in lung cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Since 2009, several first, second, and third generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have been approved for targeted treatment of mutated metastatic non-small lung cancer (NSCLC). A vast majority of patients is improving quickly on treatment; however, resistance is inevitable and typically occurs after one year for TKI of the first and second generation. Osimertinib, a third generation TKI, has recently been approved for first line treatment in the palliative setting and is expected to become approved for the adjuvant setting as well.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: BRAF mutations have been subtyped in three functional classes with different oncogenic modes of action. The clinical impact of BRAF mutational subtypes in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be defined. So far, ambiguous results were reported from analyses of heterogeneous patient cohorts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although the crucial role of professional phagocytes for the clearance of infections is well-established, several studies indicate an adverse role of leukocytes in the dissemination of during infection. Since only little is known about macrophages in this context, we analyzed the role of macrophages, and in particular reactive oxygen species deficiency, for the seeding of metastases. Infection of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) with revealed that NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2-) deficient, but not NOX1- or NOX4-deficient, BMDM failed to clear intracellular .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMT) are a rare cause of endobronchial masses in adults. Surgery has been the mainstay of treatment of endobronchial IMTs, based on the potential for recurrence. Interventional pulmonology has emerged as a minimally invasive and lung function preserving modality in management of airway obstruction due to tumours.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: We report on the results of the German early access program (EAP) with the third-generation ALK- and ROS1-inhibitor lorlatinib.

Patients And Methods: Patients with documented treatment failure of all approved ALK/ROS1-specific therapies or with resistance mutations not covered by approved inhibitors or leptomeningeal carcinomatosis were enrolled and analyzed.

Results: In total, 52 patients were included [median age 57 years (range 32-81), 54% female, 62% never smokers, 98% adenocarcinoma]; 71% and 29% were ALK- and ROS1-positive, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: After decades of unsuccessful efforts in inhibiting KRAS, promising clinical data targeting the mutation subtype G12C emerge. Since little is known about outcome with standard treatment of patients with G12C mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we analyzed a large, representative, real-world cohort from Germany.

Patients And Methods: A total of 1039 patients with advanced KRAS-mutant or -wildtype NSCLC without druggable alterations have been recruited in the prospective, observational registry CRISP from 12/2015 to 06/2019 by 98 centers in Germany.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: An increasing number of treatment-determining biomarkers has been identified in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and molecular testing is recommended to enable optimal individualized treatment. However, data on implementation of these recommendations in the "real-world" setting are scarce. This study presents comprehensive details on the frequency, methodology and results of biomarker testing of advanced NSCLC in Germany.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

NTRK gene fusions are sporadic genetic alterations that can occur across tumor entities. Whereas they are quite rare in most solid tumors they are present at much higher frequencies in certain rare tumors such as infantile fibrosarcoma, congenital mesoblastic nephroma, secretory breast, or salivary gland carcinoma. NTRK gene fusions or TRK fusion proteins are considered strong oncogenic drivers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Salivary gland carcinomas represent a heterogeneous group of poorly characterized head and neck tumors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate ALK gene and protein aberrations in a large, well-characterized cohort of these tumors. A total of 182 salivary gland carcinomas were tested for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) positivity by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the cut-off of 10% positive cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF