Immunotherapy has opened a new era in cancer treatment. Drugs represented by immune checkpoint inhibitors have led to important breakthroughs in the treatment of various solid tumors, greatly improving the survival rate of cancer patients. Many types of immunotherapeutic drugs have become widely available; however, their efficacy is variable, and relatively few patients with advanced cancer experience life-altering durable survival, reflecting the complex and highly regulated nature of the immune system. The research field of cancer immunotherapy (CIT) still faces many challenges in pursuing the broader social goal of "curing cancer." Increasing attention has been paid to strengthening the understanding of the molecular or cellular drivers of resistance to immunotherapy, actively exploring more effective therapeutic targets, and developing combination therapy strategies. Here, we review the key challenges that have emerged in the era of CIT and the possible solutions or development directions to overcome these difficulties, providing relevant references for basic research and the development of modified clinical treatment regimens.
Ya-Nan Shi, Ya-Jin Liu, Zhifang Xie, Weiping J. Zhang
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001545
Abstract
Excessive consumption of fructose, the sweetest of all naturally occurring carbohydrates, has been linked to worldwide epidemics of metabolic diseases in humans, and it is considered an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. We provide an overview about the features of fructose metabolism, as well as potential mechanisms by which excessive fructose intake is associated with the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases both in humans and rodents. To accomplish this aim, we focus on illuminating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of fructose metabolism as well as its signaling effects on metabolic and cardiovascular homeostasis in health and disease, highlighting the role of carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein in regulating fructose metabolism.
The significant morbidity and mortality resulted from the infection of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) call for urgent development of effective and safe vaccines. We report the immunogenicity and safety of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, KCONVAC, in healthy adults.
Methods:
Phase 1 and phase 2 randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trials of KCONVAC were conducted in healthy Chinese adults aged 18 to 59 years. The participants in the phase 1 trial were randomized to receive two doses, one each on Days 0 and 14, of either KCONVAC (5 or 10 μg/dose) or placebo. The participants in the phase 2 trial were randomized to receive either KCONVAC (at 5 or 10 μg/dose) or placebo on Days 0 and 14 (0/14 regimen) or Days 0 and 28 (0/28 regimen). In the phase 1 trial, the primary safety endpoint was the proportion of participants experiencing adverse reactions/events within 28 days following the administration of each dose. In the phase 2 trial, the primary immunogenicity endpoints were neutralization antibody seroconversion and titer and anti-receptor-binding domain immunoglobulin G seroconversion at 28 days after the second dose.
Results:
In the phase 1 trial, 60 participants were enrolled and received at least one dose of 5-μg vaccine (n = 24), 10-μg vaccine (n = 24), or placebo (n = 12). In the phase 2 trial, 500 participants were enrolled and received at least one dose of 5-μg vaccine (n = 100 for 0/14 or 0/28 regimens), 10-μg vaccine (n = 100 for each regimen), or placebo (n = 50 for each regimen). In the phase 1 trial, 13 (54%), 11 (46%), and seven (7/12) participants reported at least one adverse event (AE) after receiving 5-, 10-μg vaccine, or placebo, respectively. In the phase 2 trial, 16 (16%), 19 (19%), and nine (18%) 0/14-regimen participants reported at least one AE after receiving 5-, 10-μg vaccine, or placebo, respectively. Similar AE incidences were observed in the three 0/28-regimen treatment groups. No AEs with an intensity of grade 3+ were reported, expect for one vaccine-unrelated serious AE (foot fracture) reported in the phase 1 trial. KCONVAC induced significant antibody responses; 0/28 regimen showed a higher immune responses than that did 0/14 regimen after receiving two vaccine doses.
Conclusions:
Both doses of KCONVAC are well tolerated and able to induce robust immune responses in healthy adults. These results support testing 5-μg vaccine in the 0/28 regimen in an upcoming phase 3 efficacy trial.
Bendamustine was approved in China on May 26th, 2019 by the National Medical Product Administration for the treatment of indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The current study was the registration trial and the first reported evaluation of the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of bendamustine in Chinese adult patients with indolent B-cell NHL following relapse after chemotherapy and rituximab treatment.
Methods:
This was a prospective, multicenter, open-label, single-arm, phase 3 study (NCT01596621; C18083/3076) with a 2-year follow-up period. Eligible patients received bendamustine hydrochloride 120 mg/m2 infused intravenously on days 1 and 2 of each 21-day treatment cycle for at least six planned cycles (and up to eight cycles). The primary endpoint was the overall response rate (ORR); and secondary endpoints were duration of response (DoR), progression-free survival (PFS), safety, and pharmacokinetics. Patients were classified according to their best overall response after initiation of therapy. Proportions of patients in each response category (complete response [CR], partial response [PR], stable disease, or progressive disease) were summarized along with a two-sided binomial exact 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the ORR.
Results:
A total of 102 patients were enrolled from 20 centers between August 6th, 2012, and June 18th, 2015. At the time of the primary analysis, the ORR was 73% (95% CI: 63%-81%) per Independent Review Committee (IRC) including 19% CR and 54% PR. With the follow-up period, the median DoR was 16.2 months by IRC and 13.4 months by investigator assessment; the median PFS was 18.6 months and 15.3 months, respectively. The most common non-hematologic adverse events (AEs) were gastrointestinal toxicity, pyrexia, and rash. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was reported in 76% of patients. Serious AEs were reported in 29 patients and five patients died during the study. Pharmacokinetic analysis indicated that the characteristics of bendamustine and its metabolites M3 and M4 were generally consistent with those reported for other ethnicities.
Conclusion:
Bendamustine is an active and effective therapy in Chinese patients with relapsed, indolent B-cell NHL, with a comparable risk/benefit relationship to that reported in North American patients.
Xuan Luo, Yu Peng, Ying-Ying Chen, An-Qi Wang, Chui-Wen Deng, Lin-Yi Peng, Qing-Jun Wu, Yan Zhao, Yun-Yun Fei, Wen Zhang
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001451
Abstract
Background:
Epigenetics, especially DNA methylation, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS). Our study aimed to reveal the role of DNA methylation in peripheral monocytes of pSS patients.
Methods:
A total of 11 pSS patients and five age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells using magnetic microbeads. DNA methylation profiles were generated using Human Methylation 850K BeadChips.
Results:
In monocytes from pSS patients, we identified 2819 differentially methylated positions (DMPs), comprising 1977 hypomethylated- and 842 hypermethylated-DMPs, corresponding to 1313 unique genes when compared with HCs. IFI44L, MX1, PAARP9, and IFITM1, which influence the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway, were among the genes hypomethylated in pSS. Functional analysis of genes with a minimum of two DMPs showed involvement in antigen binding, transcriptional regulation, cell adhesion, IFN-γ pathway, type I IFN pathway, antigen presentation, Epstein-Barr virus infection, human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 virus infection, and metabolic disease-related pathways. In addition, patients with higher serum IgG levels exhibited enrichment in Notch signaling and metabolic-related pathways. Upon comparing monocytes with salivary gland epithelial cells, an important overlap was observed in the cell cycle, cell senescence, and interleukin-17 signaling pathways. The differentially methylated genes were more enriched in the ribosome- and AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in anti-Ro/SSA and anti-La/SSB autoantibodies double-positive patients.
Conclusion:
Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling revealed significant differences in DNA methylation in monocytes isolated from patients with pSS.
Yi-Ling Zhou, Yong-Gang Zhang, Rui Zhang, You-Lian Zhou, Nan Li, Mi-Ye Wang, Hao-Ming Tian, She-Yu Li
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001407
Abstract
Background:
Recent cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) changed the therapeutic strategy of guidelines for type 2 diabetes. We compared the characteristics of patients from real-world hospital settings with those of participants in recent pragmatic randomized trials.
Methods:
This electronic medical record (EMR)-based retrospective observational study investigated the data of patients with diabetes from inpatient and outpatient settings in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2019. We identified patients meeting the inclusion criteria of a pragmatic randomized trial (EMPA-REG OUTCOME) based on EMRs and compared their baseline characteristics with those of the trial participants. The cutoff for the clinical significance of each characteristic was set as its minimal clinically important difference based on expert consultation.
Results:
We included 48,257 inpatients and 36,857 outpatients with diabetes and found that 8389 (17.4%) inpatients and 2646 (7.2%) outpatients met the inclusion criteria for the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial. Compared with the trial population, the realworld inpatients meeting the eligibility criteria of the EMPA-REG OUTCOME had similar age, blood pressure, and lipid profiles but comprised of fewer males, metformin users, anti-hypertensive drug users, and aspirin users, and had a lower body mass index. The group of outpatients meeting the eligibility criteria had fewer males, similar age, fewer metformin users, fewer insulin users, fewer anti-hypertensive drug users, and fewer aspirin users compared with the trial population.
Conclusions:
The trial population in EMPA-REG OUTCOME represents only a small portion of patients with diabetes from the inpatient and outpatient departments of a Chinese tertiary medical center. Evidence localization in different clinical settings and validation are essential to enabling extrapolation of the results from CVOTs in patients with diabetes to Chinese clinical practice.
Yan Zhao, Lin Cai, Xiao-Yang Liu, Heng Zhang, Jian-Zhong Zhang
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001510
Abstract
Background:
There have been few real-life dose-comparing studies on the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in Chinese patients with plaque psoriasis. We conducted a real-life cohort study to investigate the efficacy and safety of secukinumab 150 and 300 mg in Chinese patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.
Methods:
A total of 106 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis were included in this study. Patients received either secukinumab 150 mg or secukinumab 300 mg according to patients’ weights and severity of psoriasis. The treatment continued for at least 24 weeks. The efficacy was evaluated by improvement in the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) scores. The safety was also analyzed.
Results:
Fifty-nine patients (55.7%) were treated with secukinumab 300 mg and 47 patients (44.3%) were treated with secukinumab 150 mg. After 12-week treatment, PASI75/90/100 responses were achieved in 100%, 97.8%, and 95.7% of patients, respectively, in secukinumab 150 mg group, and the efficacy was maintained to week 24. In secukinumab 300 mg group, PASI75/90/100 responses were achieved in 93.2%, 81.4%, and 76.3% of patients, respectively, at week 12. In this group, PASI75/90/100 responses reached 91.5%, 86.4%, and 79.9%, respectively, at week 24. Biologic-experienced patients had lower responses than biologic-naïve patients. Secukinumab 150 and 300 mg were well tolerated. Five patients discontinued treatment due to poor response, adverse event, or economic reasons.
Conclusions:
This real-life study demonstrated that high PASI 90 and PASI 100 responses were achieved in Chinese psoriasis patients receiving secukinumab 150 or 300 mg. Biologic-naïve was associated with better clinical efficacy.
With current chemotherapy treatment, >90% of survival has been obtained for Burkitt lymphoma (BL). In this study, the demographic characteristics and treatment outcomes are presented for 78 children in China with central nervous system-positive (CNS+) BL.
Methods:
This retrospective study consecutively enrolled 78 CNS+ BL patients in Beijing Children’s Hospital (BCH) from 2007 to 2019 who received the BCH B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma regimen (modified by French-American-British mature lymphoma B-cell 96 [FAB/LMB96] C1 arm ± rituximab). Clinical characteristics, methods of disease detection in the CNS, and outcomes were evaluated. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess prognostic factors.
Results:
The median age of 65 boys and 13 girls at the time of diagnosis was 5.7 years (ranging from 1 to 14 years). Patients were followed up for a median time of 34 months (ranging from 1 to 72 months). Bone marrow invasion was found in 38 (48.7%) patients. There were 48 (61.5%), 44 (56.4%), and 25 (32%) patients with cranial nerve palsy, intracerebral mass (ICM), and parameningeal extension, respectively. Abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) morphology and CSF immunophenotype appeared in 15 (19.2%) and 15 (19.2%) patients, respectively. There were 69 (88.5%) patients treated with chemotherapy combined with rituximab, and nine patients were treated solely with chemotherapy. Finally, five patients died of treatment-related infection, recurrence occurred for 13, and one developed a second tumor. The 3-year overall survival and event-free survival rates were 78.9% ± 4.7% and 71.4% ± 6.0%, respectively. Treatment with chemotherapy only, ICM positivity, and >4 organs involved at diagnosis were independent risk factors.
Conclusions:
Rituximab combined with a modified LMB96 regimen has greatly increased the efficacy of treatment for Chinese children with CNS+ BL, and with the continuous collection of outcome data, treatment-related complications are decreasing. For further verification, a large sample multicentre randomized controlled study should be performed to explore a treatment scheme for Chinese children with even greater efficacy.
Ming Lu, Yu-Han Zhang, Bin Lu, Jie Cai, Cheng-Cheng Liu, Hong-Da Chen, Min Dai
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001524
Abstract
Background:
Fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) are the most widely used non-invasive tests in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. However, evidence about the direct comparison of the test performance of the self-administered qualitative a laboratory-based quantitative FITs in a CRC screening setting is sparse.
Methods:
Based on a CRC screening trial (TARGET-C), we included 3144 pre-colonoscopy fecal samples, including 24 CRCs, 230 advanced adenomas, 622 non-advanced adenomas, and 2268 participants without significant findings at colonoscopy. Three self-administered qualitative FITs (Pupu tube) with positivity thresholds of 8.0, 14.4, or 20.8 μg hemoglobin (Hb)/g preset by the manufacturer and one laboratory-based quantitative FIT (OC-Sensor) with a positivity threshold of 20 μg Hb/g recommended by the manufacturer were tested by trained staff in the central laboratory. The diagnostic performance of the FITs for detecting colorectal neoplasms was compared in the different scenarios using the preset and adjusted thresholds (for the quantitative FIT).
Results:
At the thresholds preset by the manufacturers, apart from the qualitative FIT-3, significantly higher sensitivities for detecting advanced adenoma were observed for the qualitative FIT-1 (33.9% [95% CI: 28.7-39.4%]) and qualitative FIT-2 (22.2% [95% CI: 17.7-27.2%]) compared to the quantitative FIT (11.7% [95% CI: 8.4-15.8%]), while at a cost of significantly lower specificities. However, such difference was not observed for detecting CRC. For scenarios of adjusting the positivity thresholds of the quantitative FIT to yield comparable specificity or comparable positivity rate to the three qualitative FITs accordingly, there were no significant differences in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values and positive/negative likelihood ratios for detecting CRC or advanced adenoma between the two types of FITs, which was further evidenced in ROC analysis.
Conclusions:
Although the self-administered qualitative and the laboratory-based quantitative FITs had varied test performance at the positivity thresholds preset by the manufacturer, such heterogeneity could be overcome by adjusting thresholds to yield comparable specificities or positivity rates. Future CRC screening programs should select appropriate types of FITs and define the thresholds based on the targeted specificities and manageable positivity rates.
Kai-Wen Tang, Zhe-Xu Guo, Zhong-Hua Wu, Cen Zhou, Jie Sun, Xin Wang, Yong-Xi Song, Zhen-Ning Wang
Chinese Medical JournalVol.134,No.112021
DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001494
Abstract
Background:
Although increasing abnormal expression of circular RNAs (circRNAs) has been revealed in various cancers, there were a small number of studies about circRNAs in gastric cancer (GC). Here, we explored the expression and function of a novel circRNA, circ_0049447, in GC.
Methods:
A total of 80 GC tissues and non-tumorous tissues were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University. And all cells were cultured with 10% fetal bovine serum and incubated at 37°C and 5% CO2. The expression of circ_0049447 was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The biological function of circ_0049447 on proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was evaluated by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation assay, transwell migration and invasion assay, and Western blotting. Luciferase report assay was used to verify the direct binding between circ_0049447 and predicted microRNA (miRNA). Furthermore, a xenograft mouse model was used to validate the function of circ_0049447 in vivo.
Results:
We demonstrated that circ_0049447 was downregulated in GC (P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve reached 0.838, while sensitivity was 82.3% and specificity was 77.2%. CCK-8 and colony formation assay showed that overexpression of circ_0049447 could inhibit the proliferation (P < 0.05). Transwell migration and invasion assay showed upregulated circ_0049447 could impede migration in GC cells (P < 0.05). In addition, overexpression of circ_0049447 could impede GC cell EMT. Upregulation of miR-324-5p in GC specimens and direct binding between miR-324-5p with circ_0049447 proven by luciferase reporter assay indicated that circ_0049447 may inhibit GC by sponging certain miRNA.
Conclusion:
Circ_0049447 acts as a tumor suppressor in GC through reducing proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT, and it is a promising biomarker for diagnosis.
