Activation of the Interleukin-18 Signaling Pathway via Direct Receptor Dimerization in the Absence of Interleukin-18

Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is a key cytokine involved in the activation of T and NK cells, which are major effector cells in tumor killing. However, recombinant IL-18 showed limited efficacy in clinical trials. A recent study showed the lack of efficacy was largely due to the existence of IL-18BP, a soluble decoy receptor for IL-18. It was shown that engineered IL-18 variants that maintained pathway activation, but avoided IL-18BP binding, could exert potent antitumor effects. In this study, we demonstrated an alternative strategy to activate IL-18 signaling through direct receptor dimerization. These results provide evidences that the IL-18 pathway can be activated by directly bridging the receptors and, therefore, bypassing the IL-18BP-mediated inhibition.

A myeloid program associated with COVID-19 severity is decreased by therapeutic blockade of IL-6 signaling

Altered myeloid inflammation and lymphopenia are hallmarks of severe infections. We identified the upregulated EN-RAGE gene program in airway and blood myeloid cells from patients with acute lung injury from SARS-CoV-2 or other causes across 7 cohorts. This program was associated with greater clinical severity and predicted future mechanical ventilation and death. EN-RAGEhi myeloid cells express features consistent with suppressor cell functionality, including low HLA-DR and high PD-L1. Sustained EN-RAGE program expression in airway and blood myeloid cells correlated with clinical severity and increasing expression of T cell dysfunction markers. IL-6 upregulated many EN-RAGE program genes in monocytes in vitro. IL-6 signaling blockade by tocilizumab in a placebo-controlled clinical trial led to rapid normalization of EN-RAGE and T cell gene expression. This identifies IL-6 as a key driver of myeloid dysregulation associated with worse clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients and provides insights into shared pathophysiological mechanisms in non-COVID-19 ARDS.

Modeling Acute Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) Diarrhea Severity Using Automatically Contoured Small Bowel

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Acute severe diarrhea is a common toxicity in rectal cancer patients receiving CRT. A better understanding of the radiation tolerance of the small bowel is needed especially for novel radiation drug combinations. We investigate the dose impact by providing auto-contoured small bowel, using data from the ARISTOTLE phase III trial ISRCTN: 09351447.

MATERIALS/METHODS

A subset of participants (n = 93/564) with locally advanced rectal cancer in the ARISTOTLE trial testing the addition of concurrent irinotecan (n = 48) to neoadjuvant capecitabine (n = 45) CRT (45/25 Gy/fx), in an MRI defined high risk of loco-regional failure. CRT was delivered with conformal techniques. Diarrhea was measured using CTCAE v4.0 weekly. We applied an AI-based auto-contouring model to segment the small bowel on planning CT. The small-bowel DVH parameters were combined with the treatment arm, age, sex and MRI-defined tumor stage in a linear regression (LR) model to predict acute diarrhea severity. Explainable Shapley values (conditional marginalized expectation of a machine learning model per feature) were used to quantify the independent and normalized impact of radiation dose vs Irinotecan on the likelihood of severe diarrhea.

RESULTS

The auto-contouring model accuracy was consistent with clinical practice (mean dice coefficient = 0.739) and clinically acceptable when reviewed by clinicians. The treatment arm, MRI-defined T stage and small-bowel mean dose were found to be independently correlated to the diarrhea severity (p<0.001). V30Gy showed the strongest correlation to diarrhea severity in all the DVH parameters. The LR using the three variables yielded mean AUC scores of 0.898 (95% CI: [0.831,0.958]) on predicting Grade 2 and higher diarrhea, and 0.774 (95% CI: [0.678,0.869]) on predicting Grade 3 diarrhea based on 10-fold cross-validation. Shapley values showed that V30Gy>30.56 cm3 increases the likelihood of more severe diarrhea against the average (grade = 1.03) in the cohort. The impact of irradiation will be larger than the usage of Irinotecan within the patients with V30Gy >160.93 cm3.

CONCLUSION

We accurately modelled acute diarrhea (AUC = 0.90) for rectal cancer patients receiving CRT using AI-contoured small-bowel structures. The treatment arm and small-bowel dose were independently correlated to the diarrhea severity. The explainable model allowed us to quantify the impact of radiation dose, usage of irinotecan, and its combination, with a threshold of V30Gy = 160.93 cm3 yielding an equivalent impact. We will be extending the analysis to the whole trial cohort to improve the statistical power.

Cardiorespiratory coupling in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Introduction: The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is an intermittent breather, where the breath begins with an exhalation followed by inhalation and an extended inter-breath interval ranging from 10 to 40 s. Breathing has been shown to alter both the instantaneous heart rate (if H) and stroke volume (iSV) in the bottlenose dolphin, with a transitory ventilatory tachycardia following the breath, and an exponential decrease to a stable if H around 40 beats • min-1 during the inter-breath period. As the total breath duration in the dolphin is around 1 s, it is not possible to assess the contribution of exhalation and inhalation to these changes in cardiac function during normal breathing. Methods: In the current study, we evaluated the if H response by separating expiration and inspiration of a breath, which allowed us to distinguish their respective contribution to the changes in if H. We studied 3 individual male bottlenose dolphins trained to hold their breath between the different respiratory phases (expiration and inhalation). Results: Our data show that inspiration causes an increase in if H, while expiration appears to result in a decrease in if H. Discussion: These data provide improved understanding of the cardiorespiratory coupling in dolphins, and show how both exhalation and inhalation alters if H.

Extra-mandibular Osteoradionecrosis after the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer

AIMS

Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is a serious toxicity of head and neck radiotherapy. It predominantly affects the mandible. Extra-mandibular ORN is rare. The aim of this study was to report the incidence and outcomes of extra-mandibular ORNs from a large institutional database.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In total, 2303 head and neck cancer patients were treated with radical or adjuvant radiotherapy. Of these, extra-mandibular ORN developed in 13 patients (0.5%).

RESULTS

Maxillary ORNs (n = 8) were a consequence of the treatment of various primaries (oropharynx = 3, sinonasal = 2, maxilla = 2, parotid = 1). The median interval from the end of radiotherapy to the development of ORN was 7.5 months (range 3-42 months). The median radiotherapy dose in the centre of the ORN was 48.5 Gy (range 22-66.5 Gy). Four patients (50%) healed in 7, 14, 20 and 41 months. All temporal bone ORNs (n = 5) developed after treatment to the parotid gland (of a total of 115 patients who received radiotherapy for parotid gland malignancy). The median interval from the end of radiotherapy to the development of ORN was 41 months (range 20-68 months). The median total dose in the centre of the ORN was 63.5 Gy (range 60.2-65.3 Gy). ORN healed in only one patient after 32 months of treatment with repeated debridement and topical betamethasone cream.

CONCLUSION

Extra-mandibular ORN is a rare late toxicity and this current study provides useful information on its incidence and outcome. The risk of temporal bone ORN should be considered in the treatment of parotid malignancies and patients should be counselled. More research is required to determine the optimal management of extra-mandibular ORN, particularly on the role of the PENTOCLO regimen.

Whole cycle non-hyperaemic pressure ratios have better stability than diastolic ratios after percutaneous coronary intervention due to changes in diastolic coronary haemodynamics

Background

Post percutaneous intervention (PCI) fractional flow reserve (FFR) value of ≥0.90 is an accepted marker of procedural success, and similarly, a cut-off of ≥0.95 has recently been proposed for post-PCI instantaneous wave free ratio (iFR). However, the stability of non-hyperaemic pressure ratios (NHPRs) and microcirculatory resistance post-PCI, is not well characterised. as submaximal hyperaemia post-PCI may affect them.

Purpose

We performed this study to assess stability and reproducibility of NHPRs measured immediately post-PCI and repeated at 30 minutes post-PCI.

Methods

Seventy-seven patients undergoing pressure wire guided PCI (age 63.77±10.67 years, male 71%,) had haemodynamic assessment done immediately post-PCI and after a recovery period 30 minutes (Figure A, B). Manual offline analysis was performed to derive resting pressure ratios during whole cycle: average ratio of distal coronary pressure to proximal aortic pressure at rest (Pd/Pa) and resting full cycle ratio (RFR); and during diastolic phase: average diastolic pressure ratio (dPR) and mathematically calculated iFRmat, measured by average Pd/Pa during wave free period (WFP) (from 25% into diastole until 5 msec before the end of diastole). We also measured coronary flow velocity by thermo-dilution time (Tmn) and basal microvascular resistance (BMR = Pa × Tmn × [(Pd − Pw) / (Pa − Pw)] baseline) corrected for coronary wedge pressure (Pw). Test-retest statistics was performed between NHPRs values immediately post-PCI and at 30 minutes. Moreover, crossover of NHPRs across the cut-off value of 0.95 was analysed to assess clinical utility of these indices for procedural success. p value of &lt;0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Results

There were no differences in the baseline characteristics of the study patients. Sub-maximal hyperaemia was demonstrated by Tmn of 0.54 sec (0.32, 0.75) immediately post-PCI which settled by 30 minutes, Tmn of 0.67 sec (0.43, 0.91), p=0.01 (Figure C). The median BMR increased from 49.25 mmHg sec (32.74, 61.61) to 59.60 mmHg sec (39.24, 76.91) at 30 minutes, p=0.04 (Figure D). Despite this, there were no significant differences in the values of resting whole cycle ratios (Pd/Pa and RFR) as well as diastolic ratios (dPR and iFRmat), with whole cardiac cycle NHPRs having best stability post-PCI (Table). Furthermore, crossover above or below the cut-off value of 0.95 occurred in approximately 1 in 5 diastolic NHPRs measurements but was three-fold lower for whole cycle NHPRs.

Conclusion

NHPRs remain stable post-PCI, despite submaximal hyperaemia being detected and may legitimately be used immediately post-PCI to determine procedural success. However, the test-retest reproducibility and clinical utility of diastolic NHPRs (dPR and iFR) was inferior to whole cycle NHPRs (Pd/Pa and RFR).

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): NIHR

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: The experiences of South Australia's Rescue, Retrieval and Aviation Services

COVID-19 poses significant challenges to pre-hospital and retrieval medicine (PHRM) clinicians - and many are unique to this area of clinical practice. We share the experiences of the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS) MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval Service in preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic in the pre-hospital and retrieval setting - including the role of a multidisciplinary leadership team; challenges and potential approaches to screening for COVID-19; personal protective equipment for pre-hospital and aeromedical taskings; issues arising with interstate retrievals; and the role of telehealth. Although novel solutions allowed SAAS MedSTAR to continue to deliver high-quality care, considering the resource implications involved in undertaking the transfer of patients with COVID-19, it is clear that significant community disease transmission threatens to overwhelm any PHRM service. Should Australia face a significant future outbreak, it is conceivable that some PHRM operations may need to be reduced or suspended entirely.

Did Arkansas' Medicaid Patient-Centered Medical Home Program Have Spillover Effects on Commercially Insured Enrollees?

Patient-centered medical homes are increasingly being implemented by state Medicaid programs to incentivize high-quality, coordinated care and ultimately lower health care spending. This study examined whether the Arkansas Medicaid Patient-Centered Medical Home Program's practice-wide transformation activities had spillover effects on commercial beneficiaries. We used difference-in-differences to compare utilization and expenditures of commercially insured enrollees as their practices received Medicaid patient-centered medical home certification on a rolling basis between 2014 and 2016. We found a 5.7% increase in outpatient visits and 13% higher expenditures among early adopting practices. Even without associated reductions in costly emergency department visits or inpatient hospital admissions, decisionmakers should not lose sight of the potential value of increased engagement in and coordination of professional services for a population with high unmet health needs. Our results also emphasize that states can leverage Medicaid to spur system-wide transformation, and the investments generate spillover effects beyond those covered directly by Medicaid.

Impact of diabetes mellitus on 2-year outcomes of Absorb BVS compared to Xience EES: a pooled analysis of the COMPARE-ABSORB and AIDA trial

Background and purpose

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). To evaluate the impact of Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) in patients with DM, we aimed to compare the 2-year outcomes of Absorb BVS versus 2nd generation drug eluting stents Xience (EES) by pooling diabetic patients treated with BVS or EES from two large, randomized controlled trial.

Methods

Patients with medically-treated DM and treated by Absorb BVS in the COMPARE-ABSORB and AIDA trial were pooled for analysis. The primary efficacy outcomes measure was target lesion failure (cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction or target lesion revascularization), and the primary safety outcome measure was device thrombosis at 2-year follow-up.

Results

Out of a total 3515 enrolled subjects in the two trials, 913 were diabetics. Compared with the non-diabetic patients, those with DM were older, more often to have a history of hypercholesterolemia, chronic renal failure, stroke, hypertension, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and previous PCI. At 2-years, target lesion failure occurred in 10.8% of BVS DM patients and 7.6% of EES DM patients (adjusted HR 1.43, 95% CI: 0.87–2.34, P=0.115). The 2-year rates of cardiac death (2.4% vs 1.6%, P=0.385), TV-MI (5% vs 1.6%, P=0.123) and TLR (7.8% vs 5.8%, P=0.416) showed not significant difference. The 2-year incidence of definite device thrombosis was 3.2% in Absorb BVS versus 0.7% in Xience EES (adjusted HR 4.77, 95% CI: 1.01–22.43, P=0.048).

Conclusion

This pooling of the diabetic patients from two large scale RCTs compared BVS versus 2nd generation DES, showed an increased rate of device thrombosis in BVS-treated patients at 2 years.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding source: Private company. Main funding source(s): Abbott

Early impact of the implementation of Medicaid episode-based payment reforms in Arkansas

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate episode-based payments for upper respiratory tract infections (URI) and perinatal care in Arkansas's Medicaid population.

STUDY SETTING

Upper respiratory infection and perinatal episodes among Medicaid-covered individuals in Arkansas and comparison states from fiscal year (FY) 2011 to 2014.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional observational analysis using a difference-in-difference design to examine outcomes associated with URI and perinatal episodes of care (EOC) from 2011 to 2014. Key dependent variables include antibiotic use, emergency department visits, physician visits, hospitalizations, readmission, and preventive screenings.

DATA COLLECTION

Claims data from the Medicaid Analytic Extract for Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri from 2010 to 2014 with supplemental county-level data from the Area Health Resource File (AHRF).

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

The URI EOC reduced the probability of antibiotic use (marginal effect [ME] = -1.8, 90% CI: -2.2, -1.4), physician visits (ME = 0.6, 90% CI: -0.8, -0.4), improved the probability of strep tests for children diagnosed with pharyngitis (ME = 9.4, 90% CI: 8.5, 10.3), but also increased the probability of an emergency department (ED) visit (ME = 0.1, 90% CI: 0.1, 0.2), relative to the comparison group. For perinatal EOCs, we found a reduced probability of an ED visit during pregnancy (ME = 0.1, 90% CI: -0.2, -0.0), an increased probability of screening for HIV (ME = 6.2, 90% CI: 4.0, 8.5), chlamydia (ME = 9.5, 90% CI: 7.2, 11.8), and group B strep-test (ME = 2.6, 90% CI: 0.5, 4.6), relative to the comparison group. Predelivery and postpartum hospitalizations also increased (ME = 1.2, 90% CI: 0.4, 2.0; ME = 0.4, 90% CI: 0.0, 0.8, respectively), relative to the comparison group.

CONCLUSION

Upper respiratory infection and perinatal EOCs for Arkansas Medicaid beneficiaries produced mixed results. Aligning shared savings with quality metrics and cost-thresholds may help achieve quality targets and disincentivize over utilization within the EOC, but may also have unintended consequences.

Host Species and Body Site Explain the Variation in the Microbiota Associated to Wild Sympatric Mediterranean Teleost Fishes

Microorganisms are an important component in shaping the evolution of hosts and as such, the study of bacterial communities with molecular techniques is shedding light on the complexity of symbioses between bacteria and vertebrates. Teleost fish are a heterogeneous group that live in a wide variety of habitats, and thus a good model group to investigate symbiotic interactions and their influence on host biology and ecology. Here we describe the microbiota of thirteen teleostean species sharing the same environment in the Mediterranean Sea and compare bacterial communities among different species and body sites (external mucus, skin, gills, and intestine). Our results show that Proteobacteria is the dominant phylum present in fish and water. However, the prevalence of other bacterial taxa differs between fish and the surrounding water. Significant differences in bacterial diversity are observed among fish species and body sites, with higher diversity found in the external mucus. No effect of sampling time nor species individual was found. The identification of indicator bacterial taxa further supports that each body site harbors its own characteristic bacterial community. These results improve current knowledge and understanding of symbiotic relationships among bacteria and their fish hosts in the wild since the majority of previous studies focused on captive individuals.

Risk factors for catastrophic costs associated with tuberculosis in rural South Africa

<sec> <title>SETTING</title> Fifty-five public clinics in northern South Africa. </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> To estimate patient costs and identify the factors associated with catastrophic costs among individuals treated for tuberculosis (TB). </sec> <sec> <title>DESIGN</title> We performed cross-sectional interviews of consecutive patients at public clinics from October 2017 to January 2018. 'Catastrophic costs' were defined as costs totalling ≥20% of annual household income. For participants with no reported income, we considered scenarios where costs were considered non-catastrophic if 1) costs totalled <US$7.70 (ZAR100) or 2) a multidimensional poverty index was above a certain threshold. </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> Among 327 participants, the estimated mean TB episode costs were US$365 (95%CI 233-498): out-of-pocket costs comprised 58% of costs, wages lost due to health care-seeking represented 26%, and income reduction accounted for 16% of costs. Ninety (28%) participants experienced catastrophic costs, which were associated with clinic travel times of 60-90 min (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 1.7, 95%CI 0.9-3.1), unemployment (aPR 2.0, 95%CI 1.0-4.0) and having fewer household members (aPR 0.6, 95%CI 0.3-1.0). </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> In rural South Africa, catastrophic costs from TB are common and associated with distance to clinics, unemployment, and household size. These findings can help tailor social protection programs and enhance service delivery to patients at greatest risk of experiencing financial hardship. </sec>.

Tuberculosis patients with higher levels of poverty face equal or greater costs of illness

SETTING: Fifty-six public clinics in Limpopo Province, South Africa.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between tuberculosis (TB) patient costs and poverty as measured by a multidimensional poverty index.DESIGN: We performed cross-sectional interviews of consecutive patients with TB. TB episode costs were estimated from self-reported income, travel costs, and care-seeking time. Poverty was assessed using the South African Multidimensional Poverty Index (SAMPI) deprivation score (a 12-item household-level index), with higher scores indicating greater poverty. We used multivariable linear regression to adjust for age, sex, human immunodeficiency virus status and travel time.RESULTS: Among 323 participants, 108 (33%) were 'deprived' (deprivation score >0.33). For each 0.1-unit increase in deprivation score, absolute TB episode costs were 1.11 times greater (95%CI 0.97-1.26). TB episode costs were 1.19 times greater with each quintile of higher deprivation score (95%CI 1.00-1.40), but lower by a factor of 0.54 with each quintile of lower self-reported income (higher poverty, 95%CI 0.46-0.62).CONCLUSION: Individuals experiencing multidimensional poverty and the cost of tuberculosis illness in Limpopo, South Africa faced equal or higher costs of TB than non-impoverished patients. Individuals with lower self-reported income experienced higher costs as a proportion of household income but lower absolute costs. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce the economic burden of TB on patients with multidimensional poverty.

278Clinical outcomes of state-of-the-art percutaneous coronary revascularization in patients with three-vessel disease: 3-year follow-up of the SYNTAX II study

Background

The clinical implication of state-of-art PCI at long term follow-up in patients with three vessel disease is undetermined.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether the favourable outcomes of state-of-the-art PCI in the SYNTAX-II trial, demonstrated up to 2 years, are maintained at 3-year follow-up.

Methods

The SYNTAX-II study was a multicentre, single arm study that investigated the impact of a state-of-art PCI strategy on clinical outcomes in patients with de novo three vessel coronary artery disease, without left main disease. State-of-art PCI includes: heart team decision-making utilizing the SYNTAX score II, hybrid iFR-FFR decision-making strategy, intravascular ultrasound guided stent implantation, contemporary chronic total occlusion revascularization techniques and guideline-directed medical therapy. The primary endpoint is major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE – a composite of all-cause death, any stroke, myocardial infarction, or revascularization) at 3 years. Clinical outcomes in SYNTAX-II were compared to the predefined PCI (SYNTAX-I PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft (SYNTAX-I CABG) cohorts from the landmark SYNTAX Trial (SYNTAX-I), selected on the basis of equipoise for long-term (4-year) mortality utilising the SYNTAX Score II.

Results

Between February 2014 and November 2015, 454 patients out of 708 screened patients were enrolled in SYNTAX-II. In SYNTAX-I, 643 (58.8%) patients with 3VD without left main disease had an equipoise recommendation for CABG or PCI based on the SYNTAX Score II and were used as the comparator. At 2 years, MACCE rate in SYNTAX-II was significantly lower compared to SYNTAX-I PCI (13.2% vs. 21.9%, p=0.001). Furthermore, similar two-year outcomes for MACCE were evident between SYNTAX II-PCI and SYNTAX-I CABG (13.2 vs. 15.1%, p=0.42). Three-year results will be presented at ESC2019.

Conclusions

Three-year results of his study may offer an attractive option of revascularization strategy in predefined patients with de novo 3VD (SYNTAX Score II inclusion) even if the patients have moderate to severe anatomical complexity (anatomic SYNTAX score >22).

Acknowledgement/Funding

European Cardiovascular Research Institute (ECRI) with unrestricted research grants from Volcano and Boston Scientific

P2695ABSORB bioresorbable scaffold versus Xience metallic stent in acute coronary syndromes with treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. A subanalysis of the COMPARE-ABSORB trial

Background

The safety and efficacy of the ABSORB scaffold in ACS patients remain unclear. The COMPARE-ABSORB trial compares the ABSORB to the Xience stent in lesions and patients at high risk for restenosis Patients with STEMI and urgent PCI for non-STEMI were not excluded.

Methods

Patients included in the COMPARE-ABSORB trial undergoing PCI for ACS were eligible. Predefined implantation techniques for ABSORB was mandatory. Primary endpoint is target lesion failure (TLF) at 1 year, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction and clinically indicated target lesion revascularization.

Results

Of 1670 patients, 842 were treated for ACS. At 1-year, TLF occurred in 22 patients (5.0%) of the ABSORB group and in 14 patients (3.5%) of the Xience group (HR 1.44%; 95% CI 0.74%-2.82%, P=0.284). Definite device thrombosis occurred in 9 patients (2.0%) of the ABSORB group and in 2 patients (0.5%) of the Xience group (HR 4.10%; 95% CI 0.89%-18.9%, P=0.071).

Baseline characteristics ABSORB (n=442) XIENCE (n=400) Age, years (SD) 60.7 (9.6) 61.3 (9.1) Male 350/442 (79.2%) 313/400 (78.3%) Current smoker 159/439 (36.2%) 126/397 (31.7%) Diabetes mellitus 152/440 (34.5%) 138/399 (34.6%) Hypertension 298/442 (67.4%) 266/400 (66.5%) Hypercholesterolemia 255/442 (57.7%) 232/400 (58.0%) Family history of coronary artery disease 147/442 (33.3%) 103/400 (25.8%) Previous MI 61/442 (13.8%) 67/400 (16.8%) Established Peripheral Vascular Disease 27/442 (6.1%) 15/400 (3.8%) Previous PCI 83/442 (18.8%) 86/400 (21.5%) Previous CABG 1/442 (0.2%) 4/400 (1.0%) Previous stroke 15/442 (3.4%) 21/400 (5.3%) Renal Insufficiency 9/442 (2.0%) 13/400 (3.3%) Clinical presentation   Unstable angina 149/442 (33.7%) 141/400 (35.3%)   Non-ST elevation myocardial infarction 183/442 (41.4%) 156/400 (39.0%)   ST elevation myocardial infarction 110/442 (24.9%) 103/400 (25.7%)

KM plot for target lesion failure

Conclusion

The COMPARE-ABSORB trial showed no difference in the primary endpoint at one year for the ACS subgroup. The signal for increased thrombosis remained, even with the optimized implantation protocol

Acknowledgement/Funding

Maasstad Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Decreased mRNA and protein stability of W1282X limits response to modulator therapy

BACKGROUND

Cell-based studies have shown that W1282X generates a truncated protein that can be functionally augmented by modulators. However, modulator treatment of primary cells from individuals who carry two copies of W1282X generates no functional CFTR. To understand the lack of response to modulators, we investigated the effect of W1282X on CFTR RNA transcript levels.

METHODS

qRT-PCR and RNA-seq were performed on primary nasal epithelial (NE) cells of a previously studied individual who is homozygous for W1282X, her carrier parents and control individuals without nonsense variants in CFTR.

RESULTS

CFTR RNA bearing W1282X in NE cells shows a steady-state level of 4.2 ± 0.9% of wild-type (WT) CFTR RNA in the mother and 12.4 ± 1.3% in the father. NMDI14, an inhibitor of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD), restored W1282X mRNA to almost 50% of WT levels in the parental NE cells. RNA-seq of the NE cells homozygous for W1282X showed that CFTR transcript level was reduced to 1.7% of WT (p-value: 4.6e-3). Negligible truncated CFTR protein was generated by Flp-In 293 cells stably expressing the W1282X EMG even though CFTR transcript was well above levels observed in the parents and proband. Finally, we demonstrated that NMD inhibition improved the stability and response to correctors of W1282X-CFTR protein expressed in the Flp-In-293 cells.

CONCLUSION

These results show that W1282X can cause substantial degradation of CFTR mRNA that has to be addressed before efforts aimed at augmenting CFTR protein function can be effective.

Oncology care model: Early palliative care experiences and outcomes

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Background: Through the Oncology Care Model (OCM), the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of cancer care. OCM practices have committed to provide enhanced services to Medicare beneficiaries, including palliative care designed to optimize quality of life. This study examines if OCM practices engaging in early palliative care discussions have timely hospice referrals as well a lower aggressive end-of-life care and Medicare costs. Methods: During site visits to 30 OCM practices, we asked was How and when is palliative care introduced to patients? We used Medicare claims data to stratify the 30 practices into high or low performers based on 3 end-of-life quality measures scores. Next, we examined their scores on Cancer CAHPS shared decision making and Medicare expenditures, as well as what staff reported about the use of palliative care during site visits. Claims and CAHPS data encompass the first 6 months of OCM, July-December 2016. Site visits were conducted February - May 2017. Results: Patient risk scores were equal among practice groups. High Performers said: “Palliative care is introduced right off the bat. We provide information on hospice and palliative care so it’s not a word they find with end of life only. It’s a difficult conversation but you have to put it out there. As part of patient education, we say the differences between palliative care and hospice. Low Performers said: “Palliative care is introduced on a case by case basis. To transfer to an inpatient hospice, now you have to be on your last breath. Programs that get cut because they are not integral to the patients’ acute issues include palliative care. If hospice comes up, I pull palliative care at that point.” Conclusions: Early OCM results support growing evidence that palliative care shared decision making discussions are most beneficial near the time of cancer diagnosis. [Table: see text]

Abstract SY19-03: Inflammation-driven cancer: Host and microbial pathways

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is home to a large number and vast array of bacteria that play an important role in nutrition, immune system development, and host defense. In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) there is a breakdown in this mutualistic relationship, resulting in aberrant inflammatory responses that can progress to colon cancer. Our studies in model systems have implicated innate lymphoid cells and production of IL-22 as key drivers of neoplasia and cancer in the intestine. In this presentation I will discuss new checkpoints that control bacteria-driven innate inflammation in the intestine as well as the functional effects of IL-22 on intestinal epithelial cells and interactions between IL-22 signaling and oncogenic mutations. Further understanding of the interactions between host genetics, gut microbiota, and deranged inflammatory pathways will yield new approaches to patient stratification and personalized therapy.

Citation Format: Fiona Powrie, Sarah McCuaig, Nathan West, Grigory Ryzhakov. Inflammation-driven cancer: Host and microbial pathways [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr SY19-03. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-SY19-03

Adjuvant chemotherapy may improve disease-free survival in patients with rectal cancer positive for MRI-detected extramural venous invasion following chemoradiation

AIM

MRI-detected extramural venous invasion (mrEMVI) is a poor prognostic factor in rectal cancer. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) can cause regression in the severity of EMVI and subsequently improve survival whereas mrEMVI persisting after CRT confers an increased risk of recurrence. The effect of adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) following CRT on survival in rectal cancer remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a survival advantage for AC given to patients with mrEMVI persisting after CRT.

METHOD

A prospective analysis was conducted of consecutive patients with locally advanced rectal cancer between 2006 and 2013. All patients underwent CRT followed by surgery. AC was given to selected patients based on the presence of specific 'high-risk' features. Comparison was made between patients offered AC with observation alone. The primary outcome was 3-year disease-free survival (DFS).

RESULTS

Of 631 patients, 227 (36.0%) demonstrated persistent mrEMVI following CRT. Patients were grouped on the basis of AC or observation and were matched for age, performance status and final histopathological staging. Three-year DFS in the AC group was 74.6% compared with 53.7% in the observation only group. AC had a survival benefit on multivariate analysis (hazard ratio 0.458; 95% CI: 0.271-0.775, P = 0.004).

CONCLUSION

Patients with persistent mrEMVI following CRT who receive AC may have a decreased risk of recurrence and an improved 3-year DFS compared with patients not receiving AC, irrespective of age and performance status.