Development of a new high-affinity human antibody with antitumor activity against solid and blood malignancies.

mAbs have emerged as a promising strategy for the treatment of cancer. However, in several malignancies, no effective antitumor mAbs are yet available. Identifying therapeutic mAbs that recognize common tumor antigens could render the treatment widely applicable.

Association of Safety Culture with Surgical Site Infection Outcomes.

Background: Hospital workplace culture may have an impact on surgical outcomes; however, this association has not been established. We designed a study to evaluate the association between safety culture and surgical site infection (SSI).

Study Design: Using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and National Healthcare Safety Network definitions, we measured 12 dimensions of safety culture and colon SSI rates, respectively, in the surgical units of Minnesota community hospitals.

Generation of new peptide-Fc fusion proteins that mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against different types of cancer cells.

Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), a key effector function for the clinical effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies, is triggered by the engagement of the antibody Fc domain with the Fcγ receptors expressed by innate immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages. Here, we fused cancer cell-binding peptides to the Fc domain of human IgG1 to engineer novel peptide-Fc fusion proteins with ADCC activity. The designed fusion proteins were expressed in human embryonic kidney 293T cells, followed by purification and characterization by western blots.

Recombinant Lactobacillus plantarum induces immune responses to cancer testis antigen NY-ESO-1 and maturation of dendritic cells.

Given their safe use in humans and inherent adjuvanticity, Lactic Acid Bacteria may offer several advantages over other mucosal delivery strategies for cancer vaccines. The objective of this study is to evaluate the immune responses in mice after oral immunization with Lactobacillus (L) plantarum WCFS1 expressing a cell-wall anchored tumor antigen NY-ESO-1. And to investigate the immunostimulatory potency of this new candidate vaccine on human dendritic cells (DCs).