Activity and safety of avelumab in high-grade neuroendocrine tumors and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas progressive after chemotherapy (AveNEC trial).

Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasias grade 3 (NEN G3) are rare tumors with poor prognosis and no established second-line therapy. The role of immune checkpoint blockade in these aggressive tumors remains unclear.

Methods: The phase II AVENEC study evaluated the effect of avelumab (AVE, 10 mg/kg IV Q2W) in 60 patients with well-differentiated high-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NET G3, N=22) or poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC, N=38) progressing after ≥ one prior chemotherapy (excluding Merkel cell and small-cell lung cancer).

Early Detection of a Colorectal Carcinoma in an Asymptomatic Patient Using a Combined DNA Stool Test.

Background: Modern, simple stool tests could close the gap regarding the recognition rate (sensitivity) between the current test methods and colonoscopy.

Methods: Here we report a case of a 68-year-old asymptomatic patient, who applied an innovative combined DNA stool test.

Results: Due to a positive KRAS mutation, a colonoscopy was performed and an invasive adenocarcinoma was diagnosed.

Development and validation of a high-throughput screening method for two polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene.

Background And Aim: The human serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) transporter, encoded by the SLC6A4 gene on chromosome 17q11.1-q12, is the cellular reuptake site for serotonin and a site of action for several drugs with central nervous system effects, including both therapeutic agents (e.g.

Biocompatibility of alginates for grafting: impact of alginate molecular weight.

Optimising microencapsulation technology towards the effective clinical transplantation has created the need for highly biocompatible alginates. Therefore, in this study the biocompatibility of different beads prepared from alginates with varying average molecular weight was examined. In some experiments the beads were covered with a multilayer membrane surrounded by an alginate layer.