BackgroundIndividuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, partly due to systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. B-cells play an important pathogenic role in the inflammatory process that drives RA disease activity. Rituximab, a chimeric murine/human monoclonal antibody that depletes B-cells, i...
PurposeCombining cisplatin or cetuximab with radiation improves overall survival (OS) of patients with stage III or IV head and neck carcinoma (HNC). Cetuximab plus platinum regimens also increase OS in metastatic HNC. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group launched a phase III trial to test the hypothesis that adding cetuximab to the radiation-cispl...
Published in Journal of Hematology & Oncology
The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab established a new era in lymphoma therapy. Since then other epitopes on the lymphoma surface have been identified as potential targets for monoclonal antibodies (mAb). While most mAbs eliminate lymphoma cells mainly by antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, complement-dependent cytotoxicity or dire...
PurposeAn inherited mutation in KRAS (LCS6-variant or rs61764370) results in altered control of the KRAS oncogene. We studied this biomarker's correlation to anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy response in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.Experimental designLCS6-variant and KRAS/BRAF mutational status was determined in 512 patient...
AimsThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of bevacizumab (BEV) on the diffusion properties of irradiated brain gliomas.Materials & methodsNeuroimaging studies and medical records of 44 patients undergoing treatment for cerebral gliomas were reviewed. MRIs were analyzed for presence of restricted diffusion, time to onset, pattern/lo...
For infants with SCID, the ideal conditioning regimen before allogeneic HCT would omit cytotoxic chemotherapy to minimize short- and long-term complications. We performed a prospective pilot trial with G-CSF plus plerixafor given to the host to mobilize HSC from their niches. We enrolled six patients who received CD34-selected haploidentical cells ...
PurposeTo quantify changes in bone marrow fat fraction and determine associations with peripheral blood cell counts.Methods and materialsIn this prospective study, 19 patients received either highly myelotoxic treatment (radiation therapy plus cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil mitomycin C [FU/MMC], or cisplatin/5-FU/cetuximab) or less myelotoxic treatment ...
Natural killer (NK) cells contribute to clinical responses in patients treated with rituximab, but the rules determining NK-cell responsiveness to mAb therapies are poorly defined. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms responsible for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) could yield useful biomarkers for predicting clinical responses ...
Epsilon toxin (ETX), produced by Clostridium perfringens types B and D, is among the most lethal toxins known. ETX is a potential bioterrorism threat that was listed as a Category B agent by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control until 2012 and it still remains a toxin of interest for several government agencies. We produced a monoclonal antibody (MA...
BackgroundA phase II trial was performed to evaluate the efficacy of a dose-dense, 7 days on/7 days off schedule of temozolomide for patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas (HGG).MethodsSixty patients with recurrent HGG received temozolomide at 150 mg/m(2)/day on days 1-7 and days 15-21 during each 4-week cycle. The primary endpoint was 6-month ...
