Aug 3rd, 2020 - This new edition of the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) guidelines for the management of hemophilia comes at an exciting time in the evolution of the diagnosis and treatment of this condition. Since the publication of the second edition in 2012, tremendous advances have been made in several aspects of the management of hemophilia. These include genetic assessment as well as therapy with ma...

Jul 10th, 2020 - Tumor mutational burden is considered a hallmark indicator of a tumor’s potential for response to immunotherapy. PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) and nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb) have been shown to be more effective in treating tumors with high mutational burden. However, despite having only a moderate number of mutations, advanced clear cell ren...

Jun 25th, 2020 - There used to be a paucity of options for managing advanced renal cell cancer (RCC) with a high toxicity profile including traditional chemotherapy, interferon, and interleukins. With the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in 2007 followed by immunotherapy over the past few years, a paradigm shift emerged in managing this increasingly prevalent disease with its associated high morbidit...

May 30th, 2020 - There is a diverse and broad autoantibody response to tumor and autoimmune disease antigens in melanoma treated with checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs). Results from a recent study presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Meeting show that some of those autoantibodies correlate to clinical outcomes and immune-related adverse events (irAEs; Abstract 10011).

May 29th, 2020 - Data from the global TERAVOLT Consortium, which is investigating the impact of COVID-19 infection on patients with thoracic cancers, have found that these patients are at high risk for hospitalization and death. Prior use of chemotherapy was associated with an increased risk of mortality, as was the use of steroids or anticoagulants. Prior administration of immunotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy ...

May 29th, 2020 - David O'Malley, MD, professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, and director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–The James, discusses the role of PARP inhibitors in the treatment landscape of ovarian cancer.

May 13th, 2020 - Although chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has a relatively high 5-year survival rate (85% for people age 20 and older), effective treatments for advanced disease are still needed. Use of combination or monotherapy Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors has shown promise for people with CLL, with the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib now considered a standard of care for patients of any age. However,...

May 13th, 2020 - The novel combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors ipilimumab and nivolumab may offer patients with rare gynecologic neoplasms the opportunity for improved outcomes, according to a new study (Abstract 6091) that will be presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program.

Mar 26th, 2020 - Lei Fang and colleagues1 suggest that clinicians should consider withholding angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) because of a potential increased risk of worse clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and they suggest calcium channel blockers as an alternative. The hypothesis behind this suggestion is that the e...

Apr 25th, 2020 - No proven drug and no immunisation are yet available for COVID-19 disease. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), a key coronavirus enzyme, which is a potential drug target, has been successfully crystallised. There is evidence suggesting that statins exert anti-viral activity and may block the infectivity of enveloped viruses. The aim of this study was to assess whether statins are potential COV...

Sep 16th, 2019 - The inflammatory contribution to type 2 diabetes (T2D) has suggested new therapeutic targets using biologic drugs designed for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). On this basis, we aimed at investigating whether interleukin-1 (IL-1) inhibition with anakinra, a recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist, could improve both glycaemic and inflammatory parameters in participants with RA and T2D compared wit...

As a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture has the potential to lower blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension. Emerging evidence indicates that the acupuncture-induced inhibition of high BP occurs through the activation of the pathway in the afferent, central, and efferent pathways. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that acupuncture not only acti...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) may disproportionately affect people with cardiovascular disease. Concern has been aroused regarding a potential harmful effect of angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) in this clinical context.

In December 2019, COVID-19 epidemic was described in Wuhan, China, and the infection has spread widely affecting hundreds of thousands. Herein, an effort was made to identify commercially available drugs in order to repurpose them against coronavirus by the means of structure-based virtual screening. In addition, ZINC15 library was used to identify novel leads against main proteases. Human TMPR...

The new Corona-virus, recently called the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) appears for the first time in China and more precisely in Wuhan (December 2019). This disease can be fatal. Seniors, and people with other medical conditions (diabetes, heart disease…), may be more vulnerable and become seriously ill. This is why research into drugs to treat this infection remai...

Mar 18th, 2023 - A small subset of lactotroph adenomas is resistant to dopamine agonists (DA) and can also demonstrate aggressive or even malignant behavior. The implicated mechanisms are not clearly defined. Management can be challenging and requires a multidisciplinary approach. In DA resistant prolactinomas, switching to another DA could be the first option to consider. Further strategies include surgery and...

Mar 18th, 2023 - Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency is a rare inherited neurometabolic disorder that can lead to severe physical and developmental impairment. This report includes 16 patients from the Middle East and is the largest series of patients with confirmed AADC deficiency from this region reported to date. The patients displayed a range of signs and symptoms at presentation and almos...

Mar 18th, 2023 - Human pancreatic α-amylase (HPA), which works as a catalyst for carbohydrate hydrolysis, is one of the viable targets to control type 2 diabetes. The inhibition of α-amylase lowers blood glucose levels and helps to alleviate hyperglycemia complications. Herein, we systematically screened the potential HPA inhibitors from a library of natural products by molecular modeling. The modeling encompas...

Mar 18th, 2023 - Based on preclinical evidence of epigenetic contribution to sensitivity and resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), we hypothesized that guadecitabine (hypomethylating agent) and atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) together would potentiate a clinical response in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) unresponsive to initial immune checkpoint blockade therapy. We designed a single a...

Mar 18th, 2023 - This study aimed to show the effectiveness of interleukin (IL)-23 inhibitors in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) at weeks 12 and 24 in a real-world setting. Forty-three patients with active PsA were enrolled in this study. These patients were treated with either guselkumab (n = 20) or risankizumab (n = 23). Treatment responses at the 12th and 24th weeks were evaluated with the parameters of the number...