RESUMEN
Objective: Soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs) of the extremities are a group of malignancies arising from the mesenchymal cells that may develop distant metastases or local recurrence. In this article, we propose a novel methodology aimed to predict metastases and recurrence risk in patients with these malignancies by evaluating magnetic resonance radiomic features that will be formally verified through formal logic models. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study based on a public dataset evaluating MRI scans T2-weighted fat-saturated or short tau inversion recovery and patients having "metastases/local recurrence" (group B) or "no metastases/no local recurrence" (group A) as clinical outcomes. Once radiomic features are extracted, they are included in formal models, on which is automatically verified the logic property written by a radiologist and his computer scientists coworkers. Results: Evaluating the Formal Methods efficacy in predicting distant metastases/local recurrence in STSs (group A vs group B), our methodology showed a sensitivity and specificity of 0.81 and 0.67, respectively; this suggests that radiomics and formal verification may be useful in predicting future metastases or local recurrence development in soft tissue sarcoma. Discussion: Authors discussed about the literature to consider Formal Methods as a valid alternative to other Artificial Intelligence techniques. Conclusions: An innovative and noninvasive rigourous methodology can be significant in predicting local recurrence and metastases development in STSs. Future works can be the assessment on multicentric studies to extract objective disease information, enriching the connection between the radiomic quantitative analysis and the radiological clinical evidences.
RESUMEN
The first vaccines ever made were based on live-attenuated or inactivated pathogens, either whole cells or fragments. Although these vaccines required the co-administration of antigens with adjuvants to induce a strong humoral response, they could only elicit a poor CD8+ T-cell response. In contrast, next-generation nano/microparticle-based vaccines offer several advantages over traditional ones because they can induce a more potent CD8+ T-cell response and, at the same time, are ideal carriers for proteins, adjuvants, and nucleic acids. The fact that these nanocarriers can be loaded with molecules able to modulate the immune response by inducing different effector functions and regulatory activities makes them ideal tools for inverse vaccination, whose goal is to shut down the immune response in autoimmune diseases. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and liposomes are biocompatible materials approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use and are, therefore, suitable for nanoparticle-based vaccines. Recently, another candidate platform for innovative vaccines based on extracellular vesicles (EVs) has been shown to efficiently co-deliver antigens and adjuvants. This review will discuss the potential use of PLGA-NPs, liposomes, and EVs as carriers of peptides, adjuvants, mRNA, and DNA for the development of next-generation vaccines against endemic and emerging viruses in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
