Prognostic Significance of Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 in Patients With Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: A Large Cohort Study of Surgically Resected Cases.

The aim of our analysis was to evaluate the prognostic effect of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
PD-L1 expression among 1070 surgically resected NSCLC specimens was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, histology, stage, and performance status.
Sixty-eight patients (6%) were PD-L1 strong positive; 410 (38%) were PD-L1 weak positive. A significantly higher prevalence of PD-L1 positivity was observed among patients with squamous cell carcinoma and among stage IIIB/IV patients. PD-L1 expression may be associated with poorer overall survival, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-2.26; p=0.02) for PD-L1 strong positive, 1.18 (95% CI, 0.96-1.46; p=0.12) for PD-L1 weak positive, and 1.23 (95% CI, 1.00-1.51; p=0.05) for the combined strong- and weak-positive groups compared with PD-L1 negative. Negative prognostic effect of PD-L1 expression was not statistically significant after adjusting for postsurgical chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Similar results were observed for progression-free survival. Among stage I patients, the disease recurrence rate was higher in the PD-L1-positive versus negative group (48% versus 27%, p<0.001), with an adjusted HR for disease-free survival of 2.01 (95% CI, 1.08-3.73; p=0.03) for PD-L1 strong positive and 1.57 (95% CI, 1.17-2.11; p=0.003) for PD-L1 weak positive compared with PD-L1 negative.
Tumor PD-L1 expression may be associated with poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC, although its significance weakens when postsurgical therapy is considered.
Copyright © 2016 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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A biotech production facility contamination case study–minute mouse virus.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDING Proceedings of the PDA/FDA Adventitious Viruses in Biologics: Detection and Mitigation Strategies Workshop in Bethesda, MD, USA; December 1-3, 2010 Guest Editors: Arifa Khan (Bethesda, MD), Patricia Hughes (Bethesda, MD) and Michael Wiebe (San Francisco, CA).

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Pasireotide for the Medical Management of Feline Hypersomatotropism.

Feline hypersomatotropism (HST) is a cause of diabetes mellitus in cats. Pasireotide is a novel multireceptor ligand somatostatin analog that improves biochemical control of humans with HST.
Pasireotide improves biochemical control of HST and diabetes mellitus in cats.
Hypersomatotropism was diagnosed in diabetic cats with serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentration >1,000 ng/mL by radioimmunoassay and pituitary enlargement.
Insulin-like growth factor 1 was measured and glycemic control assessed using a 12-hour blood glucose curve on days 1 and 5. On days 2, 3, and 4, cats received 0.03 mg/kg pasireotide SC q12h. IGF-1, insulin dose, and estimated insulin sensitivity (product of the area under the blood glucose curve [BGC] and insulin dose) were compared pre- and post treatment. Paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed rank tests were employed for comparison where appropriate; a linear mixed model was created to compare BGC results.
Insulin-like growth factor 1 decreased in all 12 cats that completed the study (median [range] day 1: 2,000 ng/mL [1,051-2,000] and day 5: 1,105 ng/mL [380-1,727], P = .002, Wilcoxon signed rank test). Insulin dose was lower on day 5 than on day 1 (mean reduction 1.3 [0-2.7] units/kg/injection, P = .003, paired t-test). The product of insulin dose and area under the BGC was lower on day 5 than day 1 (difference of means: 1,912; SD, 1523; u × mg/dL × hours, P = .001; paired t-test). No clinically relevant adverse effects were encountered.
Short-acting pasireotide rapidly decreased IGF-1 in cats with HST and insulin-dependent diabetes. The decrease in IGF-1 was associated with increased insulin sensitivity.
Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

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Application of lentiviral vectors for development of production cell lines and safety testing of lentiviral-derived cells or products.

Lentiviral vectors (LVs) are frequently used to engineer cell lines for preclinical research purposes including assay development and target validation. Development of production cell lines for manufacturing recombinant protein therapeutics may also benefit from the use of LVs because they may reduce timelines and generate more uniform or higher expressing stable pools and clones. In addition, LVs could be advantageous for engineering new, alternative host cell substrates due to their ability to efficiently transduce most cell types. We demonstrate here that NS0 mouse myeloma cells, a host cell frequently used for protein production, can be transduced with LVs to greater than 80% efficiency and with no cytotoxic effects. The use of LVs for engineering of production cell lines will require additional testing procedures. Since LVs have previously been used in human gene therapy clinical trials, safety testing assays and procedures have been developed that could easily be applied to the development process for manufacturing cell lines to ensure the absence of unwanted viral material in cell banks and biologic products.

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Smac mimetic with TNF-α targets Pim-1 isoforms and reactive oxygen species production to abrogate transformation from blebbishields.

Cancer cells are capable of sphere formation (transformation) through reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glycolysis shift. Transformation is linked to tumorigenesis and therapy resistance, hence targeting regulators of ROS and glycolysis is important for cancer therapeutic candidates. Here, we demonstrate that Smac mimetic AZ58 in combination with tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was able to inhibit the production of ROS, inhibit glycolysis through Pim-1 kinase-mediated Ser-112 phosphorylation of BAD, and increase depolarization of mitochondria. We also identified mitochondrial isoforms of Pim-1 kinase that were targeted for degradation by AZ58 in combination with TNF-α or AZ58 in combination with Fas ligand (FasL) plus cycloheximide (CHX) through caspase-3 to block transformation. Our study demonstrates that Smac mimetic in combination with TNF-α is an ideal candidate to target Pim-1 expression, inhibit ROS production and to block transformation from blebbishields.
© 2016 Authors; published by Portland Press Limited.

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