Complete remission and fatal interstitial pneumonitis related to nab-paclitaxel in refractory small cell lung cancer: A case report and review of the literature

Organizing pneumonia after pancreatic cancer treatment with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine: a case report

The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing. Most patients have advanced disease at diagnosis, and therapeutics is limited in this setting. Gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel combination is indicated as first-line treatment in patients with metastatic cancer of pancreas. The most common adverse events of Grade 3 or higher gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel combination are neutropenia, fatigue and neuropathy. In this report, we describe a rare case of organizing pneumonia associated with the use of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in metastatic pancreatic cancer. A 68-year-old female underwent total splenopancreatectomy for ductal adenocarcinoma of the neck of the pancreas, followed by adjuvant chemoradiation therapy. Afterwards she relapsed and received first-line chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel combination for 12 cycles. Following the administration of the 12th cycle of gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel, the patient experienced low-grade pyrexia, effort dyspnoea, persistent non-productive cough and malaise. High-resolution CT scan of chest revealed new-onset bilateral peripheral ground-glass opacities, smooth interlobular septal thickening and patchy subpleural consolidation areas, findings consistent with organizing pneumonia. A thorough microbiological workup was negative. Treatment with steroids resulted in prompt clinical and radiological improvement. Organizing pneumonia closely mimics infection or progressive disease and can be difficult to diagnose in the setting of malignancy. Correct diagnosis is of primary importance since delay in treatment can result in significantly adverse patient outcomes.

The Forty-Sixth Euro Congress on Drug Synthesis and Analysis: Snapshot †

The 46th EuroCongress on Drug Synthesis and Analysis (ECDSA-2017) was arranged within the celebration of the 65th Anniversary of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia from 5-8 September 2017 to get together specialists in medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, pharmaceutical analysis, screening of bioactive compounds, pharmacology and drug formulations; promote the exchange of scientific results, methods and ideas; and encourage cooperation between researchers from all over the world. The topic of the conference, "Drug Synthesis and Analysis," meant that the symposium welcomed all pharmacists and/or researchers (chemists, analysts, biologists) and students interested in scientific work dealing with investigations of biologically active compounds as potential drugs. The authors of this manuscript were plenary speakers and other participants of the symposium and members of their research teams. The following summary highlights the major points/topics of the meeting.

Nedaplatin or oxaliplatin combined with paclitaxel and docetaxel as first-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Both nedaplatin and oxaliplatin combined with paclitaxel or docetaxel have demonstrated potent activity in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, but there is no study comparing the difference between these 2 chemotherapy regimens. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety between the combination chemotherapy of nedaplatin or oxaliplatin plus paclitaxel and docetaxel in patients with advanced NSCLC.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed patients with stage III-IV unresectable NSCLC from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013 at Southwest Hospital. They all received nedaplatin (80 mg/m2, nedaplatin group) or oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2, oxaliplatin group) combined with paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) or docetaxel (75 mg/m2) as first-line treatment.

RESULTS

There are 174 patients enrolled - 123 patients in the nedaplatin group and 51 patients in the oxaliplatin group. The objective response rates were 47.3% and 34.1% and the disease control rates were 87.5% and 79.5% in nedaplatin and oxaliplatin groups, respectively. The progression-free survival time was 10.4 months and 9.6 months (p=0.722) and the overall survival time was 18.5 months and 25.5 months in the nedaplatin and oxaliplatin groups, respectively (p=0.09). Total toxicity was greater in the oxaliplatin group (p=0.008), but there is no significant difference among ¾ grade adverse events between the 2 groups (P=0.595).

CONCLUSIONS

The effect of nedaplatin plus paclitaxel and docetaxel is the same as oxaliplatin plus paclitaxel and docetaxel, and the toxicity of nedaplatin is well tolerate as first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC.

Neem leaf glycoprotein is superior than cisplatin and sunitinib malate in restricting melanoma growth by normalization of tumor microenvironment

We have observed earlier that therapeutic treatment with neem leaf glycoprotein (NLGP) inhibits murine B16-melanoma growth in vivo and improves survivability of treated mice. Anti-tumor effect of NLGP is directly associated with enhanced CD8(+) T cell activity and downregulation of suppressive cellular functions. Objective of this present study is to know the efficacy of NLGP in comparison to two popular drugs, Cisplatin and Sunitinib malate (Sutent) in relation to the modulation of tumor microenvironment (TME). Analysis of cytokine milieu within TME revealed IL-10, TGFβ, IL-6 rich type 2 characters was significantly switched to type 1 microenvironment with dominance of IFNγ and IL-2 within NLGP-TME, which was not found in other cases; however Cisplatin-TME appeared better in type 2 to type 1 conversion than Sutent-TME as evidenced by RT-PCR, ELISA and immunohistochemical analysis. NLGP-TME educated CD8(+) T cells exhibited greater cytotoxicity to B16 Melanoma cells in vitro and these cells showed comparatively higher expression of cytotoxicity related molecules, perforin and granzyme B than Cisplatin-TME and Sutent-TME educated T cells. Adoptive transfer of NLGP-TME exposed T cells, but not PBS-TME exposed cells in mice, is able to significantly inhibit the growth of melanoma in vivo. Such tumor growth inhibition was in significantly lower extent when therapeutic CD8(+) T cells were exposed to either Cisplatin-TME or Sutent-TME or control-TME. Accumulated evidences strongly suggest that non toxic NLGP normalized TME allows T cells to perform optimally than other TMEs under study to inhibit the melanoma growth.