Research progress in immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer / 中华消化外科杂志

Biliary tract cancer is a highly lethal disease composed of diverse epithelial tumors, of which incidence is increasing. Nearly two-thirds of patients with biliary tract cancer are in local advanced stage or metastasized at diagnosis. Systemic therapies are the primary treat-ment options, but the prognosis is poor. In recent years, the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors has changed the treatment prospects for advanced solid tumors, and multiple clinical trials and related studies have been conducted worldwide. Based on clinical experiences and pertinent researches in the field, the authors expound upon the research progress in immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer.

Grouping characteristics and predictive indexes of psychological symptoms in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody combined with chemotherapy / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To investigate the grouping characteristics of psychological state symptom clusters in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during programmed death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody combined with chemotherapy, and to analyze the predictors of different symptom cluster characteristics.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. In the form of a questionnaire, 171 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received PD-1 monoclonal antibody combined with chemotherapy in Gansu Wuwei Tumor Hospital from March 2019 to March 2021 were selected as the research object by convenient sampling method. The general data questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Cancer-Related Fatigue Survey Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Physical Activity Measurement Scale for Cancer Patients, Distress Thermometer, and Quality of Life Measurement Scale for Lung Cancer Patients were used for investigation. The latent class model was fitted based on the evaluation results of physical fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep quality and psychological distress in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during treatment. Latent class model analysis was performed on the scale results to establish a category group model. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the demographic characteristics, disease stage, classification, and personality characteristics of patients in each group, and to explore the predictive indicators between different categories.Results:According to the symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep disorder and psychological distress in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during PD-1 monoclonal antibody therapy combined with chemotherapy, they were divided into two different categories. The group with high psychological symptoms accounted for 44.44% (76/171) and the group with low psychological symptoms accounted for 55.56% (95/171). The scores of physiological status, social/family status, emotional status, functional status, additional attention and physical activity in the quality of life scale of lung cancer patients with low psychological symptoms were 11.28 ± 5.62, 17.57 ± 4.31, 11.14 ± 3.27, 14.83 ± 5.24, 14.76 ± 4.03 and 88.61 ± 17.38, respectively. The scores were higher than those in the high psychological symptom group 17.82 ± 4.43, 10.76 ± 3.63, 18.62 ± 6.06, 9.34 ± 3.13, 26.26 ± 3.23, 58.04 ± 15.41, the differences were statistically significant ( t values were 10.36-15.84, all P<0.05); logistic regression analysis showed that personality traits [extroverted ( OR=0.08, 95 % CI 0.03-0.23, P<0.05), intermediate ( OR=0.16, 95 % CI 0.08-0.33, P<0.05)] and physical activity in cancer patients ( OR=0.91, 95 % CI 0.88-0.93, P<0.05) were predictors for distinguishing high psychological symptom group. Conclusions:There are obvious classification characteristics of psychological symptom clusters in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during PD-1 monoclonal antibody combined with chemotherapy. Different psychological interventions and nursing care are given according to different psychological symptom characteristics during treatment to improve the quality of life of patients.

Expressions of programmed death 1 and its ligand in acute myeloid leukemia patients and their effect on anti-tumor effect of programmed death receptor 1-positive natural killer cells in vitro / 白血病·淋巴瘤

Objective:To investigate the expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its relationship with clinical features and prognosis, and to examine its effect on PD-1-positive natural killer (NK) cells against AML cells in vitro.Methods:The bone marrow samples of 65 AML patients and the peripheral blood of 32 AML patients diagnosed in Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2019 to December 2020 were prospectively collected, and the peripheral blood of 24 healthy people was taken as healthy control. The expression level of PD-L1 in bone marrow tumor cells and expression level of PD-1 in peripheral blood NK cells were detected by flow cytometry. The correlations of PD-1 expression in bone marrow tumor cells and PD-1 expression in NK cells with the clinicopathological features, curative effect and prognosis of patients were analyzed. Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression level of PD-L1 in AML cell line THP-1 (target cells) and the expression level of PD-L1 in NK cell line NKL (effector cells). THP-1 cells treated with and without 25 μmol/L of PD-L1 inhibitor fraxinellone were used as experimental group and control group, and co-cultured with NKL cells at different effector-to-target ratios. The apoptosis of THP-1 cells and the expression of NKG2D in NKL cells were detected by flow cytometry, the cell proliferation status was detected by CCK-8 and the cell proliferation inhibition rate was calculated; the levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the supernatant of co-culture system were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results:The proportion of AML patients with PD-L1-positive expression in bone marrow tumor cells was higher than that in the healthy control group [38.5% (25/65) vs. 8.3% (2/24), P = 0.029]. The proportion of AML patients with PD-1-positive expression in peripheral blood NK cells was higher than that in the healthy control group [40.6% (13/32) vs. 12.5% (3/24), P = 0.035]. There were no statistical differences in sex, age, hemogram, proportion of primordial cells, risk stratification, chromosomal karyotype, gene mutation (except NPM1 gene), fusion gene and French-American-British cooperative group (FAB) typing between patients with PD-L1 positive and negative in bone marrow tumor cells and between patients with PD-1 positive and negative in peripheral blood NK cells (all P > 0.05). In relapsed/refractory patients, the proportion of patients with PD-L1-positive expression in bone marrow tumor cells was higher than that in newly treated patients [58.8% (10/17) vs. 31.2% (15/48), P = 0.045]. There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with PD-1-positive expression in peripheral blood NK cells between relapsed/refractory patients and newly treated patients [(38.5% (5/13) vs. 42.1% (8/19), P = 0.837]. There was no statistical difference in complete remission (CR) rate between PD-L1 positive and negative patients [69.6% (16/23) vs. 74.3% (26/35), P > 0.05]. There was no statistical difference in CR rate between PD-1 positive and negative patients [66.7% (8/12) vs. 70.6% (12/17), P > 0.05]. There was no statistical difference in recurrence rate after CR between PD-L1 positive and negative patients [12.5% (2/16) vs. 19.2% (5/26), P > 0.05]. There was no statistical difference in recurrence rate after CR between PD-1 positive and negative patients [25.0% (2/8) vs. 16.7% (2/12), P > 0.05]. Flow cytometry showed that the positive rate of PD-1 in NKL cells was (67±6)% and the positive rate of PD-L1 in THP-1 cells was (85±5)%. After co-culture with NKL cells, the apoptotic rate and proliferation inhibition rate of THP-1 cells were higher in the experimental group compared with the control group, the expression of NKG2D on the surface of NKL cells was elevated, and the levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α in the co-culture supernatant were increased. Conclusions:In AML patients, the expression of PD-L1 in bone marrow tumor cells is high, and the expression of PD-1 in peripheral blood NK cells is also high. The expression of PD-L1 in bone marrow tumor cells of relapsed/refractory AML patients is higher than that of newly treated patients. Inhibition of PD-L1 expression in THP-1 cells can enhance the tumor killing activity of NKL cells in vitro. The mechanism may be that inhibition of PD-L1 expression in THP-1 cells up-regulates the expression of NKL cell activated receptor NKG2D and promotes the secretion of IFN- γ and TNF- α.

Research advances in immune checkpoint inhibitor-related cholangitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have ushered in a new era of tumor treatment; however, immunotherapy-related adverse events are critical issues that restrict the clinical application of ICIs and have attracted wide attention. The liver is one of the target organs that is easily affected. With the progress in research, scholars have found that besides hepatocytes, intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts can also be attacked by the immune system, leading to the disease known as immune-related cholangitis. This article reviews the research advances in ICI-related cholangitis by summarizing related articles, in order to preliminarily reveal its clinical, pathological, and imaging features and provide clues for early identification, standard treatment, and subsequent research.

Serum levels of soluble programmed death-1 and soluble programmed death-ligand 1 in chronic hepatitis B patients with clinical cure and their clinical features / 临床肝胆病杂志

Objective To investigate the serum levels of soluble programmed death-1 (sPD-1) and soluble programmed death-ligand 1 (sPD-L1) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with clinical cure, the correlation between programmed death-1 (PD-1) and lymphocytes by flow cytometry, and the recovery of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific immunity. Methods A total of 26 CHB patients with clinical cure, 26 treatment-naïve CHB patients, and 26 healthy controls who were diagnosed at the outpatient service of Peking University First Hospital from January to May of 2022 were enrolled, and related clinical data and peripheral blood samples were collected. ELISA was used to measure the serum levels of sPD-1 and sPD-L1, and flow cytometry was used to measure the expression of PD-1 in peripheral blood lymphocytes. CHB patients with clinical cure were compared with the treatment-naïve CHB patients and the healthy controls. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between three groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. The Pearson correlation analysis or the Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between two continuous variables. Results For the 26 CHB patients with clinical cure, the mean time of antiviral therapy was 8.33 years, with entecavir as the antiviral drug. The CHB patients with clinical cure had significantly higher levels of sPD-1 and sPD-L1 than the healthy controls ( P 0.05). Conclusion The serum levels of sPD-1 and sPD-L1 in treatment-naïve CHB patients are mainly associated with exhausted CD8 + T cells in peripheral blood, while there is no significant correlation between serum sPD-1/sPD-L1 and exhausted CD8 + T cells in peripheral blood in CHB patients with clinical cure.

Immune escape of hepatic echinococcosis based on the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway / 临床肝胆病杂志

PD-1 and PD-L1 together constitute the stimulus signaling pathway of adaptive immune response, which has been widely used in the research on the mechanism of tumor immune escape and tumor therapy. At the same time, its signaling pathway has been proved to be closely associated with the immune escape of hepatic echinococcosis. This article reviews the chemical structures of PD-1 and PD-L1, the mechanism of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, and the role of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway in immune escape of hepatic echinococcosis, i.e., the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway is involved in immune escape of hepatic echinococcosis under three theories, so as to explore the immune escape of hepatic echinococcosis from a new perspective and provide a basis and ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic echinococcosis.

Clinical and immunological characteristics of PD-1 associated fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVES@#Programmed death 1 (PD-1) associated fulminant type 1 diabetes (PFD) is a rare acute and critical in internal medicine, and its clinical characteristics are still unclear. This study aims to analyze the clinical characteristics of PFD patients to improve clinical diagnosis and treatment.@*METHODS@#We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 10 patients with PFD admitted to the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, combined with the data of 66 patients reported in the relevant literature, analyzed and summarized their clinical and immunological characteristics, and compared the patients with PFD with different islet autoantibody status.@*RESULTS@#Combined with our hospital and literature data, a total of 76 patients with PFD were reported, with the age of (60.9±12.1) years old, 60.0% male and body mass index of (22.1±5.2) kg/m2. In 76 patients, the most common tumors were lung cancer (43.4%) and melanoma (22.4%). Among PD-1 inhibitors, the most common drugs are nivolumab (37.5%) and pembrolizumab (38.9%). 82.2% of PFD patients developed diabetes ketoacidosis. The median onset time from PD-1 related inhibitor treatment to hyperglycemia was 95 (36.0, 164.5) d, and the median treatment cycle before the onset of diabetes was 6 (2.3, 8.0) cycles. 26% (19/73) of PFD patients had positive islet autoantibodies, and the proportion of ketoacidosis in the positive group was significantly higher than that in the negative group (100.0% vs 75.0%, P<0.05). The onset time and infusion times of diabetes after PD-1 inhibitor treatment in the autoantibody positive group were significantly lower than those in the autoantibody negative group (28.5 d vs 120.0 d; 2 cycles vs 7 cycles, both P<0.001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#After initiation of tumor immunotherapy, it is necessary to be alert to the occurrence of adverse reactions of PFD, and the onset of PFD with islet autoantibody positive is faster and more serious than that of patients with autoantibodies negative. Detection of islet autoantibodies and blood glucose before and after treatment with PD-1 inhibitors is of great value for early warning and prediction of PFD.

Clinical characteristics and risk factors of programmed death-1 inhibitors associated with thyroid gland injury / 中华内科杂志

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and related risk factors of thyroid gland injury (TGI) in patients with a malignant tumor treated with a programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor.Methods:A Retrospective case-control study. Data from 198 patients with a malignant tumor who received treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor in Chinese PLA General Hospital from October 2019 to October 2021 were collected and analyzed retrospectively. According to the TGI incurred after receiving treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor, patients were divided into a thyroid gland normal (TGN) group and TGI group. The prevalence, type, time of occurrence, and outcome of TGI were analyzed. The risk factors that may contribute to TGI were analyzed further by logistic regression.Results:TGI prevalence was 29.8% (59/198 cases) after treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor. There were significant differences with respect to previous radiotherapy and targeted therapy between the TGN group and TGI group ( P<0.01 for both), but there were no significant differences with regard to sex, age, tumor type, previous surgery, previous chemotherapy, tumor metastasis, or type of PD-1 inhibitor ( P>0.05 for all). Patients in the TGI group included those with subclinical hypothyroidism (32.2%, n=19), hypothyroidism (27.1%, n=16), thyrotoxicosis (23.7%, n=14), subclinical thyrotoxicosis (10.2%, n=6), and thyroiditis with normal thyroid function (6.8%, n=4), and the median time of occurrence (months) was 3.00, 3.00, 1.50, 1.50, and 0.80 after treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor, respectively. Among 20 patients who presented initially with thyrotoxicosis or subclinical thyrotoxicosis, 12 cases developed hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism subsequently. Logistic regression analysis suggested that previous radiotherapy ( OR=3.737, 95% CI 1.390-10.046), targeted therapy ( OR=3.763, 95% CI 1.553-9.117), thyroglobulin antibodies at baseline ( OR=12.082, 95% CI 1.199-121.775), and thyroid-peroxidase antibodies at baseline ( OR=10.874, 95% CI 1.010-117.047) were risk factors associated with the TGI caused by treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor. Conclusions:After treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor, TGI prevalence was high, especially in those with hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism. Some patients had a transition from thyrotoxicosis to hypothyroidism. Patients who underwent radiotherapy previously, had targeted therapy, or were thyroid autoantibody-positive at baseline may carry an increased risk of TGI following treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor.

Expression and significance of programmed death ligand 1 and programmed death 1 in colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the expression and significance of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed death 1 (PD-1) in colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis.Methods:A total of 134 patients with colorectal cancer who received treatment in Xuancheng People's Hospital during 2014-2021 were included in this study. These patients consisted of 74 patients with colorectal cancer combined with schistosomiasis (patient group) and 60 patients with only colorectal cancer (control group). The expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 in colorectal cancer tissue was detected by an immunohistochemical method. The differences in PD-L1 and PD-1 expression were compared between the two groups. The relationships between PD-L1 and PD-1 expression and clinical pathological characteristics were determined.Results:The positive expression rates of PD-L1 and PD-1 in cancer cells and interstitial lymphocytes were 55.4% and 60.8% respectively in the patient group and they were 35.0% and 40.0% respectively in the control group. The positive expression rates of PD-L1 and PD-1 were significantly higher in the patient group than the control group ( χ2 = 5.55, 5.74, both P < 0.05). The expressions of PD-L1 and PD-1 in the patient group were correlated with lymph node metastasis and high tumor-node-metastasis stage ( P < 0.05). Conclusion:PD-L1 and PD-1 are highly expressed in colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis and are related to their invasive behavior. PD-1/PD-L1 singaling pathway may be involved in the molecular mechanism underlying the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis. Blocking PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway may be a new strategy for immunotherapy of colorectal cancer complicated by schistosomiasis.

Over-expression of programmed death-ligand 1 and programmed death-1 on antigen-presenting cells as a predictor of organ dysfunction and mortality during early sepsis: a prospective cohort study / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the changes of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) expression on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and evaluate their association with organ failure and mortality during early sepsis. METHODS: In total, 40 healthy controls and 198 patients with sepsis were included in this study. Peripheral blood was collected within the first 24 h after the diagnosis of sepsis. The expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 was determined on APCs, such as B cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells (DCs), by flow cytometry. Cytokines in plasma, such as interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17A were determined by Luminex assay. RESULTS: PD-1 expression decreased significantly on B cells, monocytes, myeloid DCs (mDCs), and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) as the severity of sepsis increased. PD-1 expression was also markedly decreased in non-survivors compared with survivors. In contrast, PD-L1 expression was markedly higher on mDCs, pDCs, and monocytes in patients with sepsis than in healthy controls and in non-survivors than in survivors. The PD-L1 expression on APCs (monocytes and DCs) was weakly related to organ dysfunction and inflammation. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the PD-1 percentage of monocytes (monocyte PD-1%)+APACHE II model (0.823) and monocyte PD-1%+SOFA model (0.816) had higher prognostic value than other parameters alone. Monocyte PD-1% was an independent risk factor for 28-day mortality. CONCLUSION: The severity of sepsis was correlated with PD-L1 or PD-1 over-expression on APCs. PD-L1 in monocytes and DCs was weakly correlated with inflammation and organ dysfunction during early sepsis. The combination of SOFA or APACHE II scores with monocyte PD-1% could improve the prediction ability for mortality.

Feasibility of programmed death-1 monoclonal antibody treatment for patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome complicated with malignant tumor / 中华传染病杂志

Objective:To investigate the feasibility, efficacy and adverse reactions of programmed death-1(PD-1) inhibitors in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) complicated with malignant tumor.Methods:From September 2020 to August 2021, patients with AIDS complicated with malignant tumor in Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University were enrolled. Data including basic information, laboratory test results, CD4 + T cell count, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load were collected. Patients were continuously administered intravenously PD-1 monoclonal antibody until disease progression or intolerant toxicity reaction occurred. Adverse reactions during treatment were recorded.And treatment outcomes were assessed once every 12 weeks after treatment. HIV viral load was measured after treatment once a week for four consecutive times, then once four weeks for two consecutive times, and then once every 12 weeks. Results:Ten patients were included in the study, including seven males and three females, three cases of Hodgkin′s lymphoma, two cases of cervical cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma respectively, one case of non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma, non-small cell lung cancer and anal cancer respectively. There were four patients with CD4 + T cell count of 100 to 200 cells/μL and two patients with CD4 + T cell count lower than 100 cells/μL. All patients had completed at least three cycles of treatment with PD-1 monoclonal antibody, HIV viral load remained lower than 20 copies /mL. Three cases achieved complete response and three cases achieved partial response. Adverse reactions were cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation (CCEP) (seven cases), major bleeding (three cases), and hearing impairment (one case). Conclusions:PD-1 inhibitor has no adverse effect on the continuous suppression of HIV viral load and has an effect on tumor control, so it is a viable choice in AIDS patients complicated with tumor. However, due to its considerable adverse reactions, multidisciplinary cooperation is needed to reduce the risk of complications and deal with serious complications.

Development in immunotherapy of lung cancer / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although improvement has been achieved in platinum-based chemotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors-based molecular targeted therapy, they still have limitations. Immunotherapy has recently emerged as a very effective new treatment, and there is now growing enthusiasm in cancer immunotherapy worldwide. We summarized the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinical trials, and the current status and progress of anti programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) agents in lung cancer treatment. Attention has been paid to finding out the factors which influence the therapeutic effect of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy and reducing the occurrence of adverse events.

Efficacy and tolerability of immunotherapy in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma with or without chemotherapy: a meta-analysis / Eficácia e tolerabilidade da imunoterapia em carcinoma nasofaríngeo avançado, com ou sem quimioterapia: uma metanálise

Abstract Introduction Evidence of programmed death-1 inhibitors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma has been accumulated. However, previous clinical studies were basically small sample size. Objective This study aimed to summarize existing studies to comprehensively compare programmed death-1 inhibitors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma with or without chemotherapy. Methods Different databases were searched for full-text publications with a programmed death-1 inhibitor with or without chemotherapy. No study-to-study heterogeneity was detected, and fixed-effect models were applied to synthesize data. Results Seven studies were included. The mean progression-free survival duration of programmed death-1 inhibitors treatment was 4.66 months. The 6 month progression-free survival rate was 50%, however, the12 month progression-free survival rate fell to 27%. Comparing with programmed death-1 inhibitor monotherapy, the objective response rate was higher in combination therapy (pooled RR = 2.90, 95% CI: 2.07-4.08). The partial response rate was higher in patients receiving programmed death-1 in association with chemotherapy (pooled RR = 3.09, 95% CI: 2.15-4.46), In contrast, the progressive disease rate was lower in combination therapy group (pooled RR = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01-0.31). Stable disease condition was comparable (pooled RR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.50-1.64) with or without chemotherapy. Programmed death-1 single use or combined with chemotherapy did not influence the total adverse events occurrence (pooled RR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.93-1.05). However, combination therapy could increase the risk of serious adverse events such as anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia. Conclusion The present study summarized the efficacy and safety of programmed death-1 inhibitors in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Combination therapy showed higher anti-tumor activity except for higher risk of myelosuppression.

Resumo Introdução Há um acúmulo de evidências sobre os inibidores de morte celular programada‐1 no carcinoma nasofaríngeo. Porém, os estudos clínicos anteriores foram quase todos feitos com amostras de tamanho pequeno. Objetivo Resumir os estudos existentes para comparar de forma abrangente os inibidores de morte celular programada‐1 em carcinoma nasofaríngeo com ou sem quimioterapia. Método A pesquisa foi feita em diferentes bases de dados em busca de publicações de texto completo que usaram um inibidor de morte celular programada‐1 com ou sem quimioterapia. Nenhuma heterogeneidade entre os estudos foi detectada e modelos de efeito fixo foram aplicados para sintetizar os dados. Resultados Sete estudos foram incluídos. A duração média da sobrevida livre de progressão no tratamento com inibidores de morte celular programada‐1 foi de 4,66 meses. A taxa de sobrevida livre de progressão em seis meses foi de 50%; no entanto, a taxa de sobrevida livre de progressão em 12 meses caiu para 27%. Em comparação com a monoterapia com inibidor de morte celular programada‐1, a taxa de resposta objetiva (taxa de resposta combinada = 2,90, IC de 95%: 2,07-4,08). A taxa de resposta parcial foi maior em pacientes que receberam morte celular programada‐1 em combinação com quimioterapia (taxa de resposta combinada = 3,09, IC 95%: 2,15‐4,46). Ao contrário, a taxa de progressão da doença foi menor no grupo com terapia combinada (taxa de resposta combinada = 0,06, IC de 95%: 0,01-0,31). A condição de estabilidade da doença com ou sem quimioterapia foi comparável (taxa de resposta combinada = 0,90, IC de 95%: 0,50-1,64). O uso isolado de morte celular programada‐1 ou combinado com quimioterapia não influenciou a ocorrência de eventos adversos totais (taxa de resposta combinada = 0,99, IC de 95%: 0,93-1,05). No entanto, a terapia combinada pode aumentar o risco de eventos adversos graves, como anemia, trombocitopenia e neutropenia. Conclusão O presente estudo fez um resumo da eficácia e segurança dos inibidores de morte celular programada‐1 em carcinoma nasofaríngeo. A terapia combinada mostrou uma atividade antitumoral maior, excetuando‐se o risco maior de mielossupressão.

Effects of Maxingloushi decoction on immune inflammation and programmed death markers in mice with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND: To investigate effects of Maxingloushi decoction on lung inflammation and programmed death markers (programmed death-1 [PD-1], programmed death-ligand 1 [PD-L1]) in the lung tissue, peripheral blood, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BLF) in a mouse model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: Thirty-six mature male BALB/C mice were randomly divided into normal group (group A, n=6), COPD model group (group B, n=10), Maxingloushi decoction + COPD group (group C, n=10), and PD-1 inhibitor + COPD group (group D, n=10). The COPD model was established by smoke inhalation combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Levels of PD-1 and PD-L1 in plasma and BLF were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Histopathological techniques were used to semi-quantitatively analyze the immuno-fluorescence optical density (IOD) value of the lung tissue. RESULTS: In plasma and BLF, the expression of PD-1 in the group B was higher than that in the group A, and the expression of PD-L1 was lower than that in the group A. The expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in the lung tissue was normalized in the group C in comparison with the group B (P<0.05) and the group D (P<0.05), and inflammatory cell infiltration in the lung tissue was also improved. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reveal that COPD causes an immune imbalance in the peripheral blood and lung tissue, and that both Maxingloushi decoction and PD-1 inhibitor treatment can mitigate lung inflammation in COPD by reducing PD-1 expression and increasing PD-L1 expression. The treatment effect of Maxingloushi decoction may be superior to that of PD-1 inhibitor.

Real-world study on the efficacy and prognostic predictive biomarker of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with programmed death-1/programmed death ligand 1 inhibitors / 中华肿瘤杂志

Objective: To describe the actual efficacy of programmed death-1 (PD-1)/ programmed-death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explore potential prognostic predictive biomarkers. Methods: Patients with metastatic NSCLC who were treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors at Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2016 to December 2019, either as monotherapy or in combination with other agents, were consecutively enrolled into this study. We retrospectively collected the data of demographics, clinical information and pathologic assessment to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and conduct the survival analysis. Major endpoint of our study is progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints include objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and overall survival (OS). Results: The ORR of 174 patients who underwent PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor was 28.7%, and the DCR was 79.3%. Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) occurred in 23 patients (13.2%). Brain metastasis, line of treatment, and treatment patterns were associated with the ORR of metastatic NSCLC patients who underwent immunotherapy (P<0.05). After a median follow-up duration of 18.8 months, the median PFS was 10.5 months (ranged from 1.5 to 40.8 months) while the median OS was not reached. The 2-year survival rate was estimated to be 63.0%. The pathologic type was related with the PFS of metastatic NSCLC patients who underwent immunotherapy (P=0.028). Sex, age, brain metastasis and autoimmune diseases were associated with OS (P<0.05). Analysis of the receptor characteristic curve (ROC) of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) predicting ORR of immunotherapy in metastatic NSCLC showed that the areas under the curve of NLR before immunotherapy (NLR(C0)), NLR after one cycle of immunotherapy (NLR(C1)) and ΔNLR were 0.600, 0.706 and 0.628, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that NLR(C1) was an independent factor of the ORR of metastatic NSCLC patients who underwent immunotherapy (OR=0.161, 95% CI: 0.062-0.422), and the efficacy of combination therapy was better than that of single agent (OR=0.395, 95% CI: 0.174-0.896). The immunotherapy efficacy in patients without brain metastasis was better than those with metastasis (OR=0.291, 95% CI: 0.095-0.887). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that NLR(C1) was an independent influencing factor of PFS of metastatic NSCLC patients after immunotherapy (HR=0.480, 95% CI: 0.303-0.759). Sex (HR=0.399, 95% CI: 0.161-0.991, P=0.048), age (HR=0.356, 95% CI: 0.170-0.745, P=0.006) were independent influencing factors of OS of metastatic NSCLC patients after immunotherapy. Conclusions: PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors are proved to be efficacious and have tolerable toxicities for patients with metastatic NSCLC. Patients at advanced age could still benefit from immunotherapy. Brain metastasis is related to compromised response. Earlier application of immunotherapy in combination with other modalities enhances the efficacy without elevating risk of irAEs. NLR(C1) is an early predictor of clinical outcome. The OS of patients younger than 75 years may be improved when treated with immunotherapy.

CXCL5 inhibits tumor immune of lung cancer via modulating PD1/PD-L1 signaling / 中华肿瘤杂志

Objective: To investigate the role of CXCL5 in tumor immune of lung cancer and to explore the potential molecular mechanisms. Methods: A total of 62 cases of patients with lung cancer admitted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University from May 2018 to December 2019 were recruited as study object. Another 20 cases of patients with pulmonary infectious diseases and 20 cases of healthy control were selected as control. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine serum levels of CXCL5 in patients with lung cancer, pulmonary infectious diseases and healthy control. Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) was used to detect the expressions of CXCL5 and PD-1/PD-L1 in tumor and paracarcinoma tissues of patients with lung cancer. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between CXCL5 and PD-1 in tumor and paracarcinoma tissues of patients with lung cancer. Lewis cells either expressing CXCL5 or vector plasmids were used to establish C57BL/6J mice model of lung cancer, and all mice were then divided into vehicle and PD-1 antibody treatment groups, 10 mice for each group. The mice survival and tumor growth curves were recorded. IHC was used to evaluate the expressions of CXCL5, PD-1 as well as the proportions of CD8(+) T and Treg cells in xenograft tumor tissues. Results: In patients with lung cancer, the serum level of CXCL5 [(351.7±51.5) ng/L] was significant higher than that in patients with pulmonary infectious diseases and healthy control [(124.7±23.4) ng/L, P<0.001]. The expression levels of CXCL5 (0.136±0.034), CXCR2 (0.255±0.050), PD-1 (0.054±0.012) and PD-L1 (0.350±0.084) in tumor were significant higher than those in paracarcinoma normal tissues [(0.074±0.022), (0.112±0.023), (0.041±0.007) and (0.270±0.043) respectively, P<0.001]. CXCL5 was significant positively correlated with PD-1 in tumor tissues of lung cancer (r=0.643, P<0.001), but not correlated with PD-1 in paracarcinoma tissues(r=0.088, P=0.496). The vector control group, CXCL5 overexpression group, vector control + anti-PD-1 antibody treatment group and CXCL5 overexpression + anti-PD-1 antibody treatment group all successfully formed tumors in mice, while CXCL5 overexpression increased the tumor growth significantly (P<0.01), which was abrogated by the treatment of anti-PD-1 antibody. CXCL5 overexpression decreased the mice survival time significantly (P<0.01), this effect was also abrogated by the treatment of anti-PD-1 antibody. The proportion of CD8(+) T cells in CXCL5 overexpression group [(10.40±2.00)%] was significant lower than that in vector control group [(21.20±3.30)%, P=0.002]. The proportion of CD4(+) Foxp3(+) Treg cells in CXCL5 overexpression group [(38.40±3.70)%] was significant higher than that in vector control group [(23.30±2.25)%, P<0.001]. After the treatment of anti-PD-1 antibody, no significant difference were observed for the proportion of CD8(+) T cells [(34.10±5.00)% and (33.40±4.00)% respectively] and Treg cells [(14.70±3.50)% and (14.50±3.30)% respectively] in xenograft tumor tissues between CXCL5 overexpression+ anti-PD-1 antibody treatment group and vector control + anti-PD-1 antibody treatment group (P>0.05). Conclusion: The expressions of CXCL5 and PD-1/PD-L1 are all increased significantly in the tumor tissues of patients with lung cancer, CXCL5 may inhibit tumor immune of lung cancer via modulating PD-1/PD-L1 signaling.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with TKIs as a bridge therapy for advanced HCC before liver transplantation / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To investigate the safety and efficacy of combining programmed death-1 (PD-1) with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before liver transplantation(LT).Methods:The data of six males with a mean ± s. d. age of (57.5±4.3) years who were treated with PD-1 inhibitors combined with TKIs for advanced HCC before LT at Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital Medical University and the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital were retrospectively analysed. The tumor stagings, the use of PD-1 inhibitors and TKIs with their discontinuation in pre-LT/post-LT liver function recovery durations, incidences of complication. The tumor recurrence and disease-free survival rates were determined on follow-up of these patients at outpatients clinics.Results:For the 6 patients included in this study, four patients were classified by the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging (BCLC) as C and the China Liver Cancer Staging (CNLC) as Ⅲa, and two patients were classified by the BCLC staging as B and the CNLC asⅡb. The mean cycle of PD-1 inhibitor used was 5.5 (1-20), and the mean duration of PD-1 inhibitor discontinuation was 19.5 (12-45) days pre-LT. All patients who were treated with PD-1 inhibitors combined with TKIs reached the liver transplantation standard, and all successfully underwent orthotopic liver transplantation. The liver function recovered well without any serious complications post-LT. All the patients survived without developing any acute rejection or other complications. The follow-up time ranged from 8.2 to 27.3 months, with a median of 11.9 months. No patients had died, and 2 patients developed tumor recurrence. The median (range) tumor-free survival time was 10.9 (2.9-27.3) months.Conclusion:Patients with advanced HCC could benefit from combined PD-1 inhibitors with TKIs therapy pre-LT. There were no increased incidences of acute rejection and other complications post-LT.

The use of portal vein embolization combined with lenvatinib and a PD-1 inhibitor to treat patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To study the safety and treatment outcomes of portal vein embolization (PVE) combined with lenvatinib plus an anti-programmed death-1(PD-1) antibody to treat patients with initially unreasectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC).Methods:This study retrospectively analyzed the data of six patients with uHCC who received first-line combined systemic therapy with lenvatinib plus an anti-PD-1 antibody, and then underwent pre-hepatectomy PVE at the Department of Liver Surgery at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from May 2019 to November 2020. All enrolled patients were males, aged (54.6±6.2) (ranged 46 to 63) years. Tumor response and liver volume were evaluated by medical imagings once every 2 months (±2 weeks) and evaluated using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (version 1.1). Patients were followed-up by outpatient interviews or by phone calls to record their survival and tumor outcome status.Results:Three of the six enrolled patients had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage A and three had stage B disease. One patient achieved a partial response and five patients had stable diseases. The mean ± s. d. future liver remnant (FLR) percentage was (29.0±8.9) % before PVE and the combination therapy, and was (41.3±10.8) % before the last evaluation for liver surgery ( t=10.79, P<0.001). Hepatectomy was carried out in five patients, and one patient who failed to develop significant FLR hypertrophy did not undergo hepatectomy. Grade B post-hepatectomy liver failure and major postoperative complications (i.e. pleural effusion requiring additional percutaneous drainage) occurred in one patient. After a median post-operative follow-up of 4.5 (range: 1.0-12.3) months, all five patients were alive and were tumor free. Conclusion:PVE followed by hepatectomy is feasible in a uHCC patients receiving systemic therapy with lenvatinib and an anti-PD-1 antibody.

Current research status on immune-related adverse events / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have progressed rapidly over the past decade and have become one of the most promising oncology treatments. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors reduce T-cell tolerance and lead to a unique spectrum of immune-related adverse events (IRAE). IRAE can involve multiple systems, including endocrine, gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin systems and there is no predictive marker with high specificity and sensitivity. Mild IRAE can be alleviated by discontinuing immune checkpoint inhibitors while severe IRAEs require active intervention. The first-line treatment is glucocorticoids, and immunosuppressants can be considered in refractory cases. However the optimal choice of immunosuppressants is currently controversial. This review provides an overview of the epidemiology and possible mechanisms of immune-related adverse events, outlines some promising predictive biomarkers, and describes several immunotherapy-related organ toxicity and management.

A prediction model of pathological complete response in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer after PD-1 antibody combined with total neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy based on MRI radiomics / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Objective: To construct a prediction model of pathologic complete response (pCR) in locally advanced rectal cancer patients who received programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) antibody and total neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy by using radiomics based on MR imaging data and to investigate its predictive value. Methods: A clinical diagnostic test study was carried out. Clinicopathalogical and radiological data of 38 patients with middle-low rectal cancer who received PD-1 antibody combined with total neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and underwent TME surgery from January 2019 to September 2021 in our hospital were retrospectively collected. Among 38 patients, 23 were males and 15 were females with a median age of 68 (47-79) years and 13 (34.2%) a chieved pCR. These 38 patients were stratified and randomly divided into the training group (n=26) and test group (n=12) for modeling. All the patients underwent rectal MRI before treatment. The clinical, imaging and radiomics features of all the patients were collected, and the clinical feature model and radiomics model were constructed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of each model were drawn, and the constructed model was evaluated through the area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. Results: There were no significant differences in age, gender, primary location of tumor and postoperative pathology between the two groups (all P>0.05). Forty-one features were extracted from region of interest in each modality, including 9 first-order features, 24 gray level co-occurrence matrix features and 8 shape features. From 38 patients, 41 features were extracted from each imaging modality of baseline and preoperative DWI and T2WI images, totally 164 features. Only 4 features were preserved after correlation analysis between each pair of features and t-test between pCR and non-pCR subjects. After LASSO cross validation, only the first-order skewness of the baseline DWI image before treatment and the volume in the baseline T2WI image before treatment were retained. The area under the curve, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the prediction model established by applying these two features in the training group and the test group were 0.856 and 0.844, 77.8% and 100.0%, 88.2% and 75.0%, 77.8% and 66.7%, 88.2% and 100.0%, respectively. The decision curve analysis of the radiomics model showed that the strategy of this model in predicting pCR was better than that in treating all the patients as pCR and that in treating all the patients as non-pCR. Conclusion: The pCR prediction model for rectal cancer patients receiving PD-1 antibody combined with total neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy based on MRI radiomics has the potential to be used in clinical screening or rectal cancer patients who can be spared from radical surgery.