Suppression of melanoma by mice lacking MHC-II: Mechanisms and implications for cancer immunotherapy.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors interfere with T cell exhaustion but often fail to cure or control cancer long-term in patients. Using a genetic screen in C57BL/6J mice, we discovered a mutation in host H2-Aa that caused strong immune-mediated resistance to mouse melanomas. H2-Aa encodes an MHC class II α chain, and its absence in C57BL/6J mice eliminates all MHC-II expression.

Prompt administration of antibiotics is associated with improved outcomes in febrile neutropenia in children with cancer.

Background: Time-to-antibiotic (TTA) administration is a widely used quality-of-care measure for children with cancer and febrile neutropenia (FN). We sought to determine whether TTA is associated with outcomes of FN.

Procedure: A single-center, retrospective cohort study was conducted of 1,628 FN admissions from 653 patients from 2001 to 2009.