[Checkpoint inhibitors for cancer therapy]. / Checkpointinhibitoren in der Tumortherapie.

In recent years, a breakthrough in tumor therapy was achieved with the development of checkpoint inhibitors. Checkpoint inhibitors activate the immune defense against tumors by overcoming the inhibitory effect of specific cell surface proteins acting as control points, the so-called checkpoints. This article provides an overview of the mode of action of approved checkpoint inhibitors and the status of current clinical development.The previously approved checkpoint inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies directed against the checkpoints CTLA­4 and PD-1/PD-L1, are used in various tumor entities (including lung, kidney, and urothelial carcinoma; head and neck cancer; melanoma; and Hodgkin lymphoma). For the first time, long-term survival has been achieved in some of these patients with advanced tumors. Unfortunately, this efficacy can be observed only in a small proportion of the treated patients, depending on the tumor indication. Improved efficacy is envisioned by patient selection via predictive biomarkers and the development of combination therapies. Mandatory testing of the expression level of the predictive PD-L1 biomarker is already required in some indications to select patients with an enhanced benefit/risk relationship.

[Eosinophilia, ECP and Ecp/Eo ratio in allergic and non-allergic diseases]. / Eozynofilia, ECP, wskaznik ECP/Eo w chorobach alergicznych i niealergicznych.

Eosinophilia in peripheral blood occurs in allergic as well as non-allergic diseases. In the research there were 26 patients with eosinophil level above 5% encountered in leukocyte smear of peripheral blood encountered. Patients were split into 3 groups: patients with allergic atopic disease (ANN), patients with non-atopic (contact dermatitis) disease and patients with upper airways infection and/or parasitic disease. In the researched groups there were no statistically significant differences of ECP level in serum and of ECP/Eo ratio detected. There were also correlations between ECP and ECP/Eo ratio for every researched group analyzed. The highest correlation was observed in patients with contact dermatitis and in non-atopic patients in general. Initial results show uselessness of applied research methods in the routine differential diagnosis of eosinophilia.