Publications by authors named "Ngai Y"

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  • The study focused on the long-term effects of afatinib in patients with EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who also had other health issues, and assessed the usefulness of monitoring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).
  • Conducted in the UK, the TIMELY trial involved patients receiving afatinib daily until their disease progressed or they experienced significant side effects, with blood samples analyzed every 12 weeks.
  • Results showed that while the median progression-free survival was 7.9 months, some patients experienced long-term benefits, and ctDNA testing improved the detection of EGFR mutations and was linked to better outcomes.
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  • An immunotherapy targeting the 5T4 tumor antigen was tested in a clinical trial to determine if it could delay chemotherapy in patients with asymptomatic relapsed ovarian cancer.
  • The phase II study, TRIOC, was randomized, placebo-controlled, and aimed to evaluate both the effectiveness and safety of the MVA-5T4 treatment among patients meeting specific eligibility criteria.
  • Results showed that the median progression-free survival was similar for both the MVA-5T4 group (59 patients) and placebo group (35 patients), with an 80% progression rate for MVA-5T4 compared to 85.7% for placebo, indicating no significant advantage for the immunotherapy.
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Rationale: The application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) to murine lungs is challenging due to the spongy nature of the tissue. Lungs consist of interconnected air sacs (alveoli) lined by a single layer of flattened epithelial cells, which requires inflation to maintain its natural structure. Therefore, a protocol that is compatible with both lung instillation and high spatial resolution is essential to enable multi-omic studies on murine lung disease models using MALDI-MSI.

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  • The study investigates how different variants of SARS-CoV-2 and host characteristics, like age and prior immunity, influence the virus's replication and transmission in individuals from 2020 to 2022.
  • Researchers used a Bayesian hierarchical model to analyze data from healthy adults undergoing regular PCR testing, focusing on viral kinetics indicated by PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values.
  • Findings showed that older individuals and those with more prior exposures exhibited lower viral shedding, highlighting the need to consider individual characteristics when studying COVID-19 dynamics.
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CD19-negative relapse is a leading cause of treatment failure after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We investigated a CAR T-cell product targeting CD19 and CD22 generated by lentiviral cotransduction with vectors encoding our previously described fast-off rate CD19 CAR (AUTO1) combined with a novel CD22 CAR capable of effective signaling at low antigen density. Twelve patients with advanced B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia were treated (CARPALL [Immunotherapy with CD19/22 CAR Redirected T Cells for High Risk/Relapsed Paediatric CD19+ and/or CD22+ Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia] study, NCT02443831), a third of whom had failed prior licensed CAR therapy.

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The emergence of successive SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) during 2020-22, each exhibiting increased epidemic growth relative to earlier circulating variants, has created a need to understand the drivers of such growth. However, both pathogen biology and changing host characteristics - such as varying levels of immunity - can combine to influence replication and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within and between hosts. Disentangling the role of variant and host in individual-level viral shedding of VOCs is essential to inform COVID-19 planning and response, and interpret past epidemic trends.

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Antigenic differences between commercial Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccine and circulating field virus reduce vaccine efficacy. Fifty-layer chickens were divided into five groups: three vaccinated chicken groups using killed LaSota (Genotype II/GII), Mega, or VD (Genotype VII/GVII) viral strains, negative, and positive control groups. On day 28, Hemagglutination Inhibition (HI) serology of vaccinated chickens was performed using whole virus antigens of RIVS, LaSota, Mega, and VD strains.

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Importance: Bullous pemphigoid is a difficult-to-treat autoimmune blistering skin disease that predominantly affects older adults and is associated with an increased mortality rate.

Objective: To examine the safety and therapeutic potential of nomacopan, an inhibitor of leukotriene B4 and complement C5, in patients with bullous pemphigoid.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter, single-group, phase 2a nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted in the dermatology departments of universities in the Netherlands and Germany.

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Background: Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are used to treat children for mental health disorders but in some children they cause cardiometabolic complications including weight gain and type 2 diabetes. Genetic variants can place a child at risk of developing these metabolic complications. The fat mass and obesity-associated () rs9939609 A allele has been associated with obesity and dietary energy intakes in healthy children but its relation to metabolic complications in SGA-treated children is not known.

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Purpose: Ganetespib, a highly potent, small-molecule Heatshock protein 90 inhibitor, has potential efficacy in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) via activity on critical survival pathways and known synergies with antifolates and platinum chemotherapy. We conducted a dose-escalation study to identify the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of ganetespib in patients with chemotherapy-naïve MPM.

Patients And Methods: MESO-02 (ClinicalTrials.

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Purpose: The IDEAL-CRT phase 1/2 multicenter trial of isotoxically dose-escalated concurrent chemoradiation for stage II/III non-small cell lung cancer investigated two 30-fraction schedules of 5 and 6 weeks' duration. We report toxicity, tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) for both schedules, with long-term follow-up for the 6-week schedule.

Methods And Materials: Patients received isotoxically individualized tumor radiation doses of 63 to 71 Gy in 5 weeks or 63 to 73 Gy in 6 weeks, delivered concurrently with 2 cycles of cisplatin and vinorelbine.

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Objective: To review the first 8-month outcome of the Common Mental Disorder Clinic model in Hong Kong in terms of patient exit status and improvement in depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Methods: During the first appointment, patients were interviewed by a multidisciplinary team comprising a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse, and an occupational therapist. A multidisciplinary case conference was conducted to discuss clinical observations, diagnosis, issues of concern, and the optimal individualised treatment plan.

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Background: Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening detects early-stage lung cancer and reduces mortality. We proposed a sequential approach targeted to a high-risk group as a potentially efficient screening strategy.

Methods: LungSEARCH was a national multicentre randomised trial.

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Purpose: We previously demonstrated that the median survival of patients with poor prognosis non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) considered unfit for first-line platinum chemotherapy was <4 months. We evaluated whether VeriStrat could be used as a prognostic or predictive biomarker in this population.

Experimental Design: We conducted a randomised double-blind trial among patients with untreated advanced NSCLC considered unfit for platinum chemotherapy because of poor performance status (PS) or multiple comorbidities.

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Introduction: Despite the widespread use of transient elastography for non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis, the optimal cut-off liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values remain unclear. This study aimed to validate the optimal cut-off LSM values for significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD).

Methods: Prospective multicentre data of CLD patients who underwent paired liver biopsy and LSM was analysed to determine the optimal cut-off LSM values for predicting significant fibrosis (METAVIR F ≥ 2) and cirrhosis (METAVIR F4).

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Background: Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are commonly used to treat children with mental health conditions (MHCs) but are associated with adverse effects including obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes. The mechanisms underlying these complications are unknown, but it has been suggested that SGAs increase appetite leading to weight gain. The present objective was to perform a pilot study to investigate appetite and satiety hormones in SGA-treated (risperidone or quetiapine) and SGA-naive children with similar mental health conditions.

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Purpose: Recent improvements in lung cancer survival have spurred an interest in understanding and minimizing long-term radiation-induced lung damage (RILD). However, there are still no objective criteria to quantify RILD, leading to variable reporting across centers and trials. We propose a set of objective imaging biomarkers for quantifying common radiologic findings observed 12 months after lung cancer radiation therapy.

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Introduction: Following growing evidence to support the safety, local control (LC) and potential improvement in overall survival (OS) in patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that have been treated with local ablative therapy such as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), we initiate the SARON trial to investigate the impact and feasibility of adding SABR/SRS and radical radiotherapy (RRT) following standard chemotherapy on OS.

Methods And Analysis: SARON is a large, randomised controlled, multicentre, phase III trial for patients with oligometastatic EGFR, ALK and ROS1 mutation negative NSCLC (1-3 sites of synchronous metastatic disease, one of which must be extracranial). 340 patients will be recruited over 3 years from approximately 30 UK sites and randomised to receive either standard platinum-doublet chemotherapy only (control arm) or standard chemotherapy followed by RRT/SABR to their primary tumour and then SABR/SRS to all other metastatic sites (investigational arm).

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Purpose: The heart receives high radiation doses during radiation therapy of advanced-stage lung cancer. We have explored associations between overall survival, cardiac radiation doses, and electrocardiographic (ECG) changes in patients treated in IDEAL-CRT, a trial of isotoxically escalated concurrent chemoradiation delivering tumor doses of 63 to 73 Gy.

Methods And Materials: Dosimetric and survival data were analyzed for 78 patients.

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The early detection of relapse following primary surgery for non-small-cell lung cancer and the characterization of emerging subclones, which seed metastatic sites, might offer new therapeutic approaches for limiting tumour recurrence. The ability to track the evolutionary dynamics of early-stage lung cancer non-invasively in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) has not yet been demonstrated. Here we use a tumour-specific phylogenetic approach to profile the ctDNA of the first 100 TRACERx (Tracking Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Evolution Through Therapy (Rx)) study participants, including one patient who was also recruited to the PEACE (Posthumous Evaluation of Advanced Cancer Environment) post-mortem study.

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Background: Among patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), data on intratumor heterogeneity and cancer genome evolution have been limited to small retrospective cohorts. We wanted to prospectively investigate intratumor heterogeneity in relation to clinical outcome and to determine the clonal nature of driver events and evolutionary processes in early-stage NSCLC.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we performed multiregion whole-exome sequencing on 100 early-stage NSCLC tumors that had been resected before systemic therapy.

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