Publications by authors named "Ralph L Millett"

Purpose: To examine COVID-19 mRNA vaccine-induced binding and neutralizing antibody responses in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to SARS-CoV-2 614D (wild type [WT]) strain and variants of concern after the primary 2-dose and booster vaccination.

Methods: Eighty-two patients with NSCLC and 53 healthy volunteers who received SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines were included in the study. Blood was collected longitudinally, and SARS-CoV-2-specific binding and neutralizing antibody responses were evaluated by Meso Scale Discovery assay and live virus Focus Reduction Neutralization Assay, respectively.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients compared to healthy adults, examining their reactions to various virus strains, including Delta and Omicron.
  • Results indicated NSCLC patients had significantly lower binding and neutralizing antibodies, particularly against the Delta (6-fold reduction) and Omicron (79-fold reduction) variants, compared to healthy individuals.
  • The analysis also revealed that older patients (over 70) had lower antibody levels, while other factors like cancer treatments had no significant impact on the overall antibody response.
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A 53-year-old man with a 1-year history of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) presented with a left bicep mass. Biopsy and staging workup revealed Richter's transformation (RT) Ann Arbor stage 1E diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the bicep. The patient was treated with combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, Vincristine and prednisone followed by site radiation and did well thereafter.

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Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements were first implicated as driving mutations in non-small cell lung cancer in 2007. Since then, a number of novel, small-molecule inhibitors directed against the ALK receptor have demonstrated superiority over standard chemotherapies in the treatment of ALK rearrangement-positive lung cancer. Of considerable importance when considering such therapies is the ability of each to overcome mutations conferring acquired resistance, as well as penetrate the central nervous system (CNS), the most common site of metastasis and traditionally the most difficult to breach.

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Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the standard of care for the treatment of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer for the past 70 years. Furthermore, adding docetaxel chemotherapy to ADT significantly improved patient survival, and thus became the new standard for patients with high volume disease. However, recent evidence has called this treatment strategy into question since a published study has shown that the drug abiraterone has a similar benefit to docetaxel in a similar patient population group but with less toxicity.

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