Publications by authors named "Ryan Merrell"

Current treatment outcome of patients with glioblastoma (GBM) remains poor. Following standard therapy, recurrence is universal with limited survival. Tumors from 173 GBM patients are analysed for somatic mutations to generate a personalized peptide vaccine targeting tumor-specific neoantigens.

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Article Synopsis
  • There is a significant need for new treatments for glioblastoma (GBM), and acetazolamide has shown promise in enhancing the effectiveness of the existing treatment, temozolomide (TMZ), by addressing resistance mechanisms.
  • This phase I trial involved 24 patients with high-grade gliomas, administering acetazolamide alongside TMZ, and observed no dose-limiting toxicities while monitoring common side effects.
  • Results indicated a median overall survival of about 30 months for GBM patients, with a notable survival rate that suggests acetazolamide could be beneficial, warranting further investigation in randomized trials and highlighting BCL-3 expression as a potential prognostic marker.
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Congenital DNA mismatch repair defects (dMMR), such as Lynch Syndrome, predispose patients to a variety of cancers and account for approximately 1% of glioblastoma cases. While few therapeutic options exist for glioblastoma, checkpoint blockade therapy has proven effective in dMMR tumors. Here we present a case study of a male in their 30s diagnosed with dMMR glioblastoma treated with pembrolizumab who experienced a partial response to therapy.

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  • * The researchers tested different flip angles and bandwidths of editing pulses, finding that larger angles (over 180°) maximize lactate signals while minimizing threonine interference during magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3T.
  • * Results from both simulations and real patient data showed a significant increase in lactate signal yield with these optimized pulse settings, proving effective in brain tumor assessments where elevated lactate levels were present.
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Introduction: The Understanding New Interventions with GBM ThErapy (UNITE) study was designed to assess the effect of prophylaxis for ocular side effects (OSEs) in patients with glioblastoma receiving the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) depatuxizumab mafodotin. UNITE (NCT03419403) was a phase 3b, open-label, randomized, exploratory study performed at 18 research sites in 5 countries.

Methods: The study enrolled adult patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-amplified, histologically confirmed, newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma or grade IV gliosarcoma, and a Karnofsky Performance Status ≥70, receiving depatuxizumab mafodotin.

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  • Glioma is a rare but aggressive brain tumor, with familial glioma being a genetically influenced form that makes up about 5% of cases.
  • Researchers conducted whole-genome sequencing on 203 individuals from 189 families with familial glioma, also validating findings in a separate group of 122 individuals.
  • The study identified significant variants in seven genes, particularly affecting tumor cell proliferation, highlighting the importance of these genes in understanding familial glioma.
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Background: Serclutamab talirine (Ser-T, formerly ABBV-321) is an antibody-drug conjugate consisting of an antibody (AM-1-ABT-806) directed against activated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and a pyrrolobenzodiazepine dimer. We investigated Ser-T monotherapy in a phase I, first-in-human, dose-escalation, and dose-expansion study in patients with advanced solid tumors associated with EGFR overexpression.

Methods: Eligible patients (≥18 years) had advanced, histologically confirmed solid tumors associated with EGFR overexpression (centralized testing).

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The NCCN Guidelines for Central Nervous System (CNS) Cancers focus on management of the following adult CNS cancers: glioma (WHO grade 1, WHO grade 2-3 oligodendroglioma [1p19q codeleted, IDH-mutant], WHO grade 2-4 IDH-mutant astrocytoma, WHO grade 4 glioblastoma), intracranial and spinal ependymomas, medulloblastoma, limited and extensive brain metastases, leptomeningeal metastases, non-AIDS-related primary CNS lymphomas, metastatic spine tumors, meningiomas, and primary spinal cord tumors. The information contained in the algorithms and principles of management sections in the NCCN Guidelines for CNS Cancers are designed to help clinicians navigate through the complex management of patients with CNS tumors. Several important principles guide surgical management and treatment with radiotherapy and systemic therapy for adults with brain tumors.

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Objective: To develop and implement a customized toolkit within the electronic medical record (EMR) to standardize care of patients with brain tumors.

Patients And Methods: We built a customized structured clinical documentation support toolkit to capture standardized data at office visits. We detail the process by which this toolkit was conceptualized and developed.

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Incidental meningiomas (IMs) are the most common intracranial neoplasms, especially in perimenopausal women. There is ongoing debate on whether their incidence is increased by hormone replacement therapy. Meningiomas often express estrogen receptors, which were linked to higher proliferative activity according to some reports.

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Background: Bevacizumab has promising activity against recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). However, acquired resistance to this agent results in tumor recurrence. We hypothesized that vorinostat, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor with anti-angiogenic effects, would prevent acquired resistance to bevacizumab.

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Background: Targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) alone does not improve overall survival (OS) in recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM). The angiopoiein (Ang)-TIE2 system may play a role in tumor survival under VEGF inhibition. We conducted a phase 2, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of bevacizumab plus trebananib (a novel Fc fusion protein that sequesters Ang1/Ang2) over bevacizumab alone in rGBM.

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Glioma incidence is highest in non-Hispanic Whites, and to date, glioma genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to date have only included European ancestry (EA) populations. African Americans and Hispanics in the US have varying proportions of EA, African (AA) and Native American ancestries (NAA). It is unknown if identified GWAS loci or increased EA is associated with increased glioma risk.

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Background: There have been few studies of sufficient size to address the relationship between glioma risk and the use of aspirin or NSAIDs, and results have been conflicting. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between glioma and aspirin/NSAID use, and to aggregate these findings with prior published studies using meta-analysis.

Methods: The Glioma International Case-Control Study (GICC) consists of 4,533 glioma cases and 4,171 controls recruited from 2010 to 2013.

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Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in the United States. Incidence of GBM increases with age, and younger age-at-diagnosis is significantly associated with improved prognosis. While the relationship between candidate GBM risk SNPs and age-at-diagnosis has been explored, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have not previously been stratified by age.

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Background: To date, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 25 risk variants for glioma, explaining 30% of heritable risk. Most histologies occur with significantly higher incidence in males, and this difference is not explained by currently known risk factors. A previous GWAS identified sex-specific glioma risk variants, and this analysis aims to further elucidate risk variation by sex using gene- and pathway-based approaches.

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Background: Patients with glioblastoma (GBM) have a dismal prognosis. Nearly all will relapse with no clear standard of care for recurrent disease (rGBM). Approximately 50% of patients have tumors harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) amplification.

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Incidence of glioma is approximately 50% higher in males. Previous analyses have examined exposures related to sex hormones in women as potential protective factors for these tumors, with inconsistent results. Previous glioma genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have not stratified by sex.

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Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas can be very resistant to treatment if they progress after standard therapy with surgery and radiation. We present the case of a patient with a multiply recurrent pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma which demonstrated a sustained partial response to a combination regimen of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib and tumor treating fields. The regimen proved tolerable and efficacious in this case.

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Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of glioma-related seizures and seizure control at the time of tumor diagnosis with respect to tumor histologic subtypes, tumor treatment and patient characteristics, and to compare seizure history preceding tumor diagnosis (or study enrollment) between glioma patients and healthy controls.

Methods: The Glioma International Case Control study (GICC) risk factor questionnaire collected information on demographics, past medical/medication history, and occupational history. Cases from eight centers were also asked detailed questions on seizures in relation to glioma diagnosis; cases (n = 4533) and controls (n = 4171) were also asked about seizures less than 2 years from diagnosis and previous seizure history more than 2 years prior to tumor diagnosis, including childhood seizures.

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In the absence of significant extracranial disease, patients with solitary brain metastases have shown benefit with resection. Brain lesions due to endometrial cancer are uncommon, and the only described skull base involvement is limited to the pituitary gland. We report the case of a 60-year-old female with endometrial cancer who presented with weeks of right cheek pain and numbness that was accompanied by headaches.

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Background: We recently reported an acceptable safety and pharmacokinetic profile of depatuxizumab mafodotin (depatux-m), formerly called ABT-414, plus radiation and temozolomide in newly diagnosed glioblastoma (arm A). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of depatux-m, either in combination with temozolomide in newly diagnosed or recurrent glioblastoma (arm B) or as monotherapy in recurrent glioblastoma (arm C).

Methods: In this multicenter phase I dose escalation study, patients received depatux-m (0.

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Purpose: Patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) have a poor prognosis. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene amplification is present in ~ 50% of glioblastomas (GBMs). Depatuxizumab mafodotin (depatux-m), formerly ABT-414, is an antibody-drug conjugate that preferentially binds cells with EGFR amplification, is internalized and releases a potent antimicrotubule agent, monomethyl auristatin F (MMAF).

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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have transformed our understanding of glioma susceptibility, but individual studies have had limited power to identify risk loci. We performed a meta-analysis of existing GWAS and two new GWAS, which totaled 12,496 cases and 18,190 controls. We identified five new loci for glioblastoma (GBM) at 1p31.

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Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), recommended phase II dose (RPTD), safety, and pharmacokinetics of ABT-414 plus radiation and temozolomide in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. ABT-414 is a first-in-class, tumor-specific antibody-drug conjugate that preferentially targets tumors expressing overactive epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

Methods: In this multicenter phase I study, patients received 0.

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