Uncovering the flip side of immune checkpoint inhibitors: a comprehensive review of immune-related adverse events and predictive biomarkers

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have generated considerable excitement as a novel class of immunotherapeutic agents due to their remarkable efficacy in treating various types of cancer. However, the widespread use of ICIs has brought about a number of safety concerns, especially the development of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). These serious complications could result in treatment discontinuation and even life-threatening consequences, making it critical to identify high-risk groups and predictive markers of irAEs before initiating therapy. To this end, the current article examines several potential predictive markers of irAEs in important organs affected by ICIs. While retrospective studies have yielded some promising results, limitations such as small sample sizes, variable patient populations, and specific cancer types and ICIs studied make it difficult to generalize the findings. Therefore, prospective cohort studies and real-world investigations are needed to validate the potential of different biomarkers in predicting irAEs risk. Overall, identifying predictive markers of irAEs is a crucial step towards improving patient safety and enhancing the management of irAEs. With ongoing research efforts, it is hoped that more accurate and reliable biomarkers will be identified and incorporated into clinical practice to guide treatment decisions and prevent the development of irAEs in susceptible patients.

Prognosis-related metabolic genes in the development of colorectal cancer progress and perspective

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonplace malignant tumors in the world. The occurrence and development of CRC are involved in numerous events. Metabolic reprogramming is one of the hallmarks of cancer and is convoluted and associated with carcinogenesis. Lots of metabolic genes are involved in the occurrence and progression of CRC. Study methods combining tumor genomics and metabolomics are more likely to explore this field in depth. In this mini-review, we make the latest progress and future prospects into the different molecular mechanisms of seven prognosis-related metabolic genes, we screened out in previous research, involved in the occurrence and development of CRC.

Prognostic role of ring finger and WD repeat domain 3 and immune cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma

We have found that the expression of ring finger and WD repeat domain 3 (RFWD3) is significantly higher in unpaired and paired hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues than in normal tissues. Moreover, this expression has a significant correlation with the infiltration level of 14 immune cell types and when the detected RFWD3 expression levels were grouped as high and low, a prominent difference was revealed for overall survival, disease-specific survival, and progression-free interval. Through statistical analysis (univariate Cox), we were also able to identify RFWD3 as an independent prognostic element for HCC, with RFWD3 having an ability to accurately predict HCC prognosis (area under the curve of 0.863). Finally, we have generated prognostic nomograms for probabilities of 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival in HCC via integrating the factors of age, pathologic stage, alpha-fetoprotein level, and RFWD3 expression.