Publications by authors named "Rassner M"

In recent years, there have been significant advances in the understanding and treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). Despite this progress, there is still limited information on the disease in patients aged 50 or younger, including the impact of young age on disease characteristics, treatment, and outcome. In this retrospective study, we analyzed 68 newly diagnosed MM patients aged ≤ 50 years (y) who had undergone at least one peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT).

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Survival rates for HB patients have improved; however, outcomes for patients who relapse remain poor. A retrospective review of information gathered for the HB99 study and the German Liver Tumor Registry identified 25 relapse patients (6.9%, 25/362).

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Patients with corticosteroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) have a low one-year survival rate. Identification and validation of novel targetable kinases in patients who experience corticosteroid-refractory-aGVHD may help improve outcomes. Kinase-specific proteomics of leukocytes from patients with corticosteroid-refractory-GVHD identified rho kinase type 1 (ROCK1) as the most significantly upregulated kinase.

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Background: Mutations in cKIT or PDGFRA are found in up to 90% of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Previously, we described the design, validation, and clinical performance of a digital droplet (dd)PCR assay panel for the detection of imatinib-sensitive cKIT and PDFGRA mutations in circulating tumor (ct)DNA. In this study, we developed and validated a set of ddPCR assays for the detection of cKIT mutations mediating resistance to cKIT kinase inhibitors in ctDNA.

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Background: Anterolateral thigh (ALT) and gracilis muscle flaps have been described as comparable reconstructive options regarding maximal flap dimension and indications. However, split-thickness skin-grafted muscle flaps are generally believed to be inferior to perforator flaps regarding the esthetic outcome of the recipient site. The purpose of this study was to challenge this assumption, comparing the long-term esthetic outcome of the gracilis and the ALT flap.

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The established standard to ensure state-of-the-art cancer treatment is through multidisciplinary tumor boards (TBs), although resource- and time-intensive. In this validation study, the multiple myeloma (MM)-TB was reexamined, aiming to validate our previous (2012-2014) results, now using the TB data from March 2020 to February 2021. We assessed MM-TB protocols, physicians' documentation, patient, disease, remission status, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) as left-truncated survival times.

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Monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS) is a recognized clinical entity. Literature regarding treatment and its outcomes in MGRS is sparse due to the rarity and misdiagnosis of MGRS. We retrospectively analyzed 280 adults with an MGRS diagnosis from 2003 to 2020 across 19 clinical centers from 12 countries.

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The IL-6 family cytokine Oncostatin M (OSM) is involved in cell development, growth, hematopoiesis, inflammation, and cancer. Intriguingly, OSM has proliferative and antiproliferative effects depending on the target cell. The molecular mechanisms underlying these opposing effects are not fully understood.

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Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has demonstrated great potential as a noninvasive biomarker to assess minimal residual disease (MRD) and profile tumor genotypes in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, little is known about its dynamics during and after tumor resection, or its potential for predicting clinical outcomes. Here, we applied a targeted-capture high-throughput sequencing approach to profile ctDNA at various disease milestones and assessed its predictive value in patients with early-stage and locally advanced NSCLC.

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Objective: In clinical trials (CTs), the assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) has proven to have prognostic value for multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) and next-generation sequencing are currently used in CTs as effective tools for outcome prediction. We have previously described 6- and 8-color MFC panels with and without kappa/lambda, which were equally reliable in detecting aberrant plasma cells (aPC) in myeloma bone marrow (BM) specimens.

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Background: The standard to ensure utmost cancer treatment is a prerequisite in national cancer plans for comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs) and ensured through multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs). Despite these being compulsory for CCCs, various analyses on MTBs have been performed, since MTBs are resource-intensive. Outcome measures in these prior analyses had been survival (OS), MTB-adherence and -satisfaction, inclusion of patients into clinical trials and better cancer care.

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Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) and metastatic poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas (PDTCs) are rare aggressive malignancies with poor overall survival (OS) despite extensive multimodal therapy. These tumors are highly proliferative, with frequently increased tumor mutational burden (TMB) compared with differentiated thyroid carcinomas, and elevated programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels. These tumor properties implicate responsiveness to antiangiogenic and antiproliferative multikinase inhibitors such as lenvatinib, and immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab.

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Background: Treatment with proteasome inhibitors like carfilzomib in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) can induce thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) characterized by neurological symptoms, acute kidney injury, hemolysis and thrombocytopenia. Successful treatment with the monoclonal antibody eculizumab was described for these patients, but reports of ideal management and definitive treatment protocols are lacking.

Case Presentation: The first case describes a 43-years-old IgG-kappa-MM patient that developed TMA during the first course of carfilzomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone (KRd) consolidation after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).

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Delayed diagnosis is a common challenge in the management of multiple myeloma (MM). This prospective interdisciplinary study evaluated symptoms and time to diagnosis (TTD) in 81/295 screened patients at our tertiary center, who were examined by an orthopedist prior to the MM diagnosis. The most frequent complaint was back pain (81%), mainly localized thoracic and/or lumbar.

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Background: Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood plasma of cancer patients is an emerging biomarker used across oncology, facilitating noninvasive disease monitoring and genetic profiling at various disease milestones. Digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) technologies have demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for robust ctDNA detection at relatively low costs. Yet, their value for ctDNA-based management of a broad population of cancer patients beyond clinical trials remains elusive.

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FLT3-ITD tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) show limited clinical activity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) due to emerging resistance. TKI resistance is mediated by secondary FLT3-ITD mutations only in a minority of cases. We hypothesize that the cytokine CCL5 protects AML cells from TKI-mediated cell death and contributes to treatment resistance.

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This prospective trial aimed to investigate whether tumor-specific cKIT and PDGFRA mutations can be detected and quantified in circulating tumor (ct)DNA in patients with active GIST, and whether detection indicates disease activity. We included 25 patients with active disease and cKIT or PDGFRA mutations detected in tissue. Mutant ctDNA was detected in the peripheral blood plasma using allele-specific ligation (L-)PCR and droplet digital (d)PCR.

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Lowered activity of the insulin/IGF signalling (IIS) network can ameliorate the effects of ageing in laboratory animals and, possibly, humans. Although transcriptome remodelling in long-lived IIS mutants has been extensively documented, the causal mechanisms contributing to extended lifespan, particularly in specific tissues, remain unclear. We have characterized the proteomes of four key insulin-sensitive tissues in a long-lived IIS mutant and control, and detected 44% of the predicted proteome (6,085 proteins).

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In epilepsy, the GABA and glutamate balance may be disrupted and a transient decrease in extracellular calcium occurs before and during a seizure. Flow Cytometry based fluorescence activated particle sorting experiments quantified synaptosomes from human neocortical tissue, from both epileptic and non-epileptic patients (27.7% vs.

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Purpose: Pharmacotherapy of epilepsies is limited due to low concentrations at epileptogenic foci, side effects of high systemic doses and that some potentially efficient substances do not pass the blood-brain barrier. To overcome these limitations, we tested the efficacy of local valproate (VPA)-containing polymer implants in a model of necocortical injected tetanus toxin (TeT) in the rat.

Methods: Tetanus toxin was injected intracortically and cobalt (II) chloride (CoCl2) was applied on the cortical surface.

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