A Proposal for Revised and Simplified Renal Pelvic Urothelial Carcinoma Staging Criteria: A Clinicopathologic Study of 141 Tumors.

Staging of renal pelvic urothelial carcinoma can be challenging due to anatomic variation at the renal pelvis compared with ureter and bladder and calls into question the prognostic accuracy of the current TNM staging. In this study, we determined staging and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in 141 patients undergoing nephroureterectomy for renal pelvic urothelial carcinoma (pTa=50, pT1=29, pT2=10, pT3=36, and pT4=16). Under current staging criteria, we found no significant difference in CSS between adjacent staging categories step-wise across pTa, pT1, pT2, and pT3 tumors.

Dendritic cell effector mechanisms and tumor immune microenvironment infiltration define TLR8 modulation and PD-1 blockade.

The potent immunostimulatory effects of toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) agonism in combination with PD-1 blockade have resulted in various preclinical investigations, yet the mechanism of action in humans remains unknown. To decipher the combinatory mode of action of TLR8 agonism and PD-1 blockade, we employed a unique, open-label, phase 1b pre-operative window of opportunity clinical trial (NCT03906526) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Matched pre- and post-treatment tumor biopsies from the same lesion were obtained.

The Potential Utility of RAS Q61R Immunohistochemistry as a Screening Tool in Pre-operative Fine Needle Aspirates of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) can either be sporadic, often via mutually exclusive RET or RAS alterations, or inherited via a RET germline alteration. Germline testing is recommended for all patients diagnosed with MTC. RAS p.

Immune Cell Densities Predict Response to Immune Checkpoint-Blockade in Head and Neck Cancer.

Unlabelled: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is the standard of care for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), yet efficacy remains low. The current approach for predicting the likelihood of response to ICB is a single proportional biomarker (PD-L1) expressed in immune and tumor cells (Combined Positive Score, CPS) without differentiation by cell type, potentially explaining its limited predictive value. Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS) have shown a stronger association with ICB response than PD-L1.

Dendritic cell effector mechanisms and tumor immune microenvironment infiltration define TLR8 modulation and PD-1 blockade.

The potent immunostimulatory effects of toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) agonism in combination with PD-1 blockade have resulted in various preclinical investigations, yet the mechanism of action in humans remains unknown. To decipher the combinatory mode of action of TLR8 agonism and PD-1 blockade, we employed a unique, open-label, phase 1b pre-operative window of opportunity clinical trial (NCT03906526) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Matched pre- and post-treatment tumor biopsies from the same lesion were obtained.