Feasibility and Safety of Personalized, Multi-Target, Adoptive Cell Therapy (IMA101): First-in-Human Clinical Trial in Patients with Advanced Metastatic Cancer.

IMA101 is an actively personalized, multi-targeted adoptive cell therapy (ACT), whereby autologous T cells are directed against multiple novel defined peptide-HLA (pHLA) cancer targets. HLA-A*02:01-positive patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors expressing ≥1 of 8 predefined targets underwent leukapheresis. Endogenous T cells specific for up to 4 targets were primed and expanded in vitro.

Environmental predictors of electroactive bacterioplankton in small boreal lakes.

Extracellular electron transfer (EET) by electroactive bacteria in anoxic soils and sediments is an intensively researched subject, but EET's function in planktonic ecology has been less considered. Following the discovery of an unexpectedly high prevalence of EET genes in a bog lake's bacterioplankton, we hypothesized that the redox capacities of dissolved organic matter (DOM) enrich for electroactive bacteria by mediating redox chemistry. We developed the bioinformatics pipeline FEET (Find EET) to identify and summarize predicted EET protein-encoding genes from metagenomics data.

Clinical Benefit in Response to Palbociclib Treatment in Refractory Uterine Leiomyosarcomas with a Common Alteration.

Background: Uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS) responds poorly to conventional chemotherapeutic agents, and personalized therapies have yet to be systematically explored. Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) can identify therapeutic targets and provide insight into the biology of this highly aggressive tumor. We report a case of uLMS treated with the CGP-matched therapy palbociclib, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, with sustained clinical benefit in this rare and deadly malignancy.

The Reliability of a Three-Dimensional Photo System- (3dMDface-) Based Evaluation of the Face in Cleft Lip Infants.

Ample data exists about the high precision of three-dimensional (3D) scanning devices and their data acquisition of the facial surface. However, a question remains regarding which facial landmarks are reliable if identified in 3D images taken under clinical circumstances. Sources of error to be addressed could be technical, user dependent, or patient respectively anatomy related.

Poor and depressed, the tip of the iceberg: the unmet needs of enrollees in an indigent health care plan.

Depression is a leading cause of disability [World Health Organization (WHO), 2001] with economic costs exceeding 63 billion dollars per year in the US [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 1999].

Laser hair removal.

The presence of unwanted hair continues to plague many individuals for whom traditional methods of hair removal remain unsatisfactory. Laser and flashlamp technology now offers the potential for rapid, safe, and effective treatment of unwanted hair. An ever-increasing number of published studies have confirmed the long-term efficacy of laser and flashlamp treatment.

Evaluation of a silicone occlusive dressing after laser skin resurfacing.

Background: Closed dressings are thought to promote postoperative wound healing after laser skin resurfacing; however, quantitative data are lacking.

Objective: To compare postoperative healing after combination carbon dioxide and erbium:YAG full-face laser skin resurfacing in patients who were treated with a silicone occlusive dressing (Silon-TSR; Bio Med Sciences, Inc, Bethlehem, Pa) vs open-wound care consisting of soaks and ointment application.

Design: Thirty-five patients with closed dressings compared retrospectively with 35 control subjects with open-wound care.

Synopsis of laser assisted hair removal systems.

Conventional treatment options for hypertrichosis and hirsutism are tedious and time consuming. Laser hair removal offers an efficient way to permanently reduce excessive hair growth. Hair is damaged using the principle of selective photothermolysis with wavelengths of light well absorbed by follicular melanin and pulse durations that selectively thermally damage the target without damaging surrounding tissue.

Transverse leukonychia with systemic infection.

Transverse white nail bands (leukonychia) have been described in association with systemic illnesses and exposure to toxins, and medications. We describe the occurrence of transverse nail bands in two patients following acute systemic illnesses. In the first case, transverse white nail bands developed in a 30-year-old human immunodeficiency virus-positive man following acute pulmonary tuberculosis.

Optical hair removal.

Traditional methods of hair removal have proven unsatisfactory for many individuals with excessive or unwanted hair. In the last few years, several lasers and xenon flashlamps have been developed that promise to fulfill the need for a practical, safe, and long-lasting method of hair removal. Aggressive marketing of these has contributed to their popularity among patients and physicians.

Constitutive expression of B7-1 (CD80) on mouse keratinocytes does not prevent development of chemically induced skin papillomas and carcinomas.

Expression of the B7-1 (CD80) costimulatory molecule in a variety of tumor cell lines leads to an enhanced CD8+ T cell response to tumor Ags. We used transgenic mice constitutively expressing B7-1 on keratinocytes (K14/B7-1 line) to determine whether keratinocyte B7-1 expression would inhibit the development of papillomas and carcinomas following two-stage chemical carcinogenesis in skin. FVB inbred mice carrying the K14/B7-1 transgene and controls were initiated with 25 micrograms of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene and promoted weekly with 5 micrograms of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate for 20 wk.

Keratinocyte expression of B7-1 in transgenic mice amplifies the primary immune response to cutaneous antigens.

Resting epidermal keratinocytes do not express B7-1 and other known CD28 counterligands with costimulatory activity. The absence of these costimulators on keratinocytes correlates with their ability to preferentially induce T-cell anergy instead of T-cell activation. To test the hypothesis that keratinocytes expressing a CD28 counterligand would be more effective inducers of T-cell-mediated immune responses in skin, we prepared transgenic mice in which expression of the B7-1 costimulator was targeted to basal keratinocytes by using the human K14 promoter.