Patient-derived tumor explant models of tumor immune microenvironment reveal distinct and reproducible immunotherapy responses.

Tumor-resident immune cells play a crucial role in eliciting anti-tumor immunity and immunomodulatory drug responses, yet these functions have been difficult to study without tractable models of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Patient-derived models contain authentic resident immune cells and therefore, could provide new mechanistic insights into how the TIME responds to tumor or immune cell-directed therapies. Here, we assessed the reproducibility and robustness of immunomodulatory drug responses across two different models of breast cancer TIME and one of renal cell carcinoma.

Update on APPEAL, an International Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating Ciprofloxacin Versus Placebo in Patients Undergoing Shockwave Lithotripsy for Urolithiasis.

The blinded APPEAL trial is assessing the effectiveness of antimicrobial prophylaxis in preventing infections after shockwave lithotripsy for urinary stones. This large, pragmatic, international trial will provide trustworthy evidence to inform guidelines and influence global practices.

Timing of Major Postoperative Bleeding Among Patients Undergoing Surgery.

Importance: Although major bleeding is among the most common and prognostically important perioperative complications, the relative timing of bleeding events is not well established. This information is critical for preventing bleeding complications and for informing the timing of pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis.

Objective: To determine the timing of postoperative bleeding among patients undergoing surgery for up to 30 days after surgery.

Pros and Cons of Noninferiority Trials.

Clinical trials are essential for establishing the benefits and harms of various treatments. Among the various trial designs, superiority trials aim to establish the superiority of one treatment over another, while noninferiority trials demonstrate that a new treatment is not inferior to an established one while minimizing harms or patient burdens. In recent years, noninferiority trials have gained prominence.

Immunologic Characterization and T cell Receptor Repertoires of Expanded Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocytes in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Unlabelled: The successful use of expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in adoptive TIL therapies has been reported, but the effects of the TIL expansion, immunophenotype, function, and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of the infused products relative to the tumor microenvironment (TME) are not well understood. In this study, we analyzed the tumor samples ( = 58) from treatment-naïve patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), "pre-rapidly expanded" TILs (pre-REP TIL, = 15) and "rapidly expanded" TILs (REP TIL, = 25) according to a clinical-grade TIL production protocol, with single-cell RNA (scRNA)+TCRαβ-seq (TCRαβ sequencing), TCRβ-sequencing (TCRβ-seq), and flow cytometry. REP TILs encompassed a greater abundance of CD4 than CD8 T cells, with increased LAG-3 and low PD-1 expressions in both CD4 and CD8 T cell compartments compared with the pre-REP TIL and tumor T cells.

Salvage HDR brachytherapy for prostate cancer: a high-volume center experience on 100 consecutive patients.

Aim: This study aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of salvage HDR brachytherapy in patients who have undergone a thorough diagnostic process.

Materials And Methods: 100 prostate cancer patients - locally relapsed after previous radiotherapy - were treated with salvage HDR brachytherapy to a total dose of 24 Gy. Before treatment, the patients underwent PET imaging, prostate MRI, and prostate biopsies to confirm local relapse and exclude systemic disease.

A three-feature prediction model for metastasis-free survival after surgery of localized clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

After surgery of localized renal cell carcinoma, over 20% of the patients will develop distant metastases. Our aim was to develop an easy-to-use prognostic model for predicting metastasis-free survival after radical or partial nephrectomy of localized clear cell RCC. Model training was performed on 196 patients.

PTEN and ERG expression in MRI-ultrasound guided fusion biopsy correlated with radical prostatectomy findings in men with prostate cancer.

Background: Conventional systematic prostate biopsies (SBx) have multiple limitations, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-ultrasound fusion targeting is increasingly applied (fusion biopsies [FBx]). In our previous studies, we have shown that loss of the tumor suppressor gene phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens predicts poor disease-specific survival, and in active surveillance (AS), PTEN loss in SBx predicts an adverse AS outcome, although SBx PTEN status does not correlate well with the corresponding RP status. Here, we have hypothesized that PTEN and erythroblast transformation-specific related gene (ERG) status in FBx correlate better with RP than they would in SBx.

Surgery for metastases of renal cell carcinoma: outcome of treatments and preliminary assessment of Leuven-Udine prognostic groups in the targeted therapy era.

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of surgical treatment for metastases accompanied by modern targeted therapies and to evaluate the performance of the Leuven-Udine (L.U.) prognostic groups model.

Evolving Clinical Picture of Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Population-Based Study from Helsinki.

Background: There is a lack of detailed population-based data for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Objectives: The study aimed to examine the contemporary changes in the clinical picture and treatment of RCC.

Methods: A total of 1,719 consecutive patients living in the Helsinki metropolitan area with a solid or cystic renal mass (Bosniak 3-4) ≥10 mm were identified.

Outcome of surgery for patients with renal cell carcinoma and tumour thrombus in the era of modern targeted therapy.

Objective: This study evaluated the clinical outcome of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with tumour thrombus (TT) after surgical management.

Materials And Methods: In total, 142 consecutive RCC patients with TT who were operated on in Helsinki University Hospital between 2006 and 2014 were analysed. Eighty-eight (62%) of these patients had been operated on with radical intention and 54 (38%) with cytoreductive intention.