Cancer immunotherapy: Breakthrough or "deja vu, all over again"?

From the application of Coley's toxin in the early 1900s to the present clinical trials using immune checkpoint regulatory inhibitors, the history of cancer immunotherapy has consisted of extremely high levels of enthusiasm after anecdotal case reports of enormous success, followed by decreasing levels of enthusiasm as the results of controlled clinical trials are available. In this review, this pattern will be documented for the various immunotherapeutic approaches over the years. The sole exception being vaccination against cancer causing viruses, which have already prevented thousands of cancers.

Drug Transporter Function--Implications in CKD.

Drug transporters typically move substrates, including drugs, in an intracellular to extracellular direction and thus are efflux transporters. There is a small subset of transporters that move substrates in the opposite direction and are classified as influx transporters. Collectively, drug transporters contribute to the pharmacokinetic profile of a wide variety of drugs and other molecules including xenobiotics, metabolites, and endogenous solutes.

Parameters of phosphorus homeostasis at normal and reduced GFR: theoretical considerations.

Aims: Influx and reabsorption of phosphorus (IP and TRP) are assessed with fractional excretion and reabsorption (FEP and FTRP, nl ≤ 20% and ≥ 80%), or with excretion and reabsorption per volume of filtrate (EP/GFR and TRP/GFR, fasting nl ≈ 0.4 and 3.0 mg/dL).

Use of sevelamer to examine the role of intraluminal phosphate in the pathogenesis of secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Aims: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) promotes calcium reabsorption in the cortical distal nephron (CDN). The phosphate concentration ([P]f) rises in that segment in chronic kidney disease (CKD); in theory, high [P]f could reduce availability of calcium for reabsorption and necessitate a compensatory rise in [PTH]. With assumptions, [P]f is proportional to phosphate excreted/volume of filtrate (EP/GFR).