Efficacy of chemotherapy containing bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer according to programmed cell death ligand 1

BACKGROUND Bevacizumab,an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)monoclonal antibody,inhibits angiogenesis and reduces tumor growth.Serum VEGF-C,lactate dehydrogenase,and inflammatory markers have been reported as predictive markers related to bevacizumab treatment.Programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1)could act upon VEGF receptor 2 to induce cancer cell angiogenesis and metastasis.AIM To investigate the efficacy of bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer(CRC)according to the expression of PD-L1.METHODS This analysis included CRC patients who received bevacizumab plus FOLFOX or FOLFIRI as first-line therapy between June 24,2014 and February 28,2022,at Samsung Medical Center(Seoul,South Korea).Analysis of patient data included evaluation of PD-L1 expression by the combined positive score(CPS).We analyzed the efficacy of bevacizumab according to PD-L1 expression status in patients with CRC.RESULTS A total of 124 patients was included in this analysis.Almost all patients were treated with bevacizumab plus FOLFIRI or FOLFOX as the first-line chemotherapy.While 77%of patients received FOLFOX,23%received FOLFIRI as backbone first-line chemotherapy.The numbers of patients with a PD-L1 CPS of 1 or more,5 or more,or 10 or more were 105(85%),64(52%),and 32(26%),respectively.The results showed no significant difference in progression-free survival(PFS)and overall survival(OS)with bevacizumab treatment between patients with PDL1 CPS less than 1 and those with PD-L1 CPS of 1 or more(PD-L1<1%vs PD-L1≥1%;PFS:P=0.93,OS:P=0.33),between patients with PD-L1 CPS less than 5 and of 5 or more(PD-L1<5%vs PD-L1≥5%;PFS:P=0.409,OS:P=0.746),and between patients with PD-L1 CPS less than 10 and of 10 or more(PD-L1<10%vs PD-L1≥10%;PFS:P=0.529,OS:P=0.568).CONCLUSION Chemotherapy containing bevacizumab can be considered as first-line therapy in metastatic CRC irrespective of PD-L1 expression.

High-risk esophageal varices in patients treated with locoregional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma:Assessment with liver computed tomography

AIM： To assess the diagnostic performance of follow- up liver computed tomography （CT） for the detection of high-risk esophageal varices in patients treated with Io- coregional therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. METHODS： We prospectively enrolled 100 patients with cirrhosis who underwent transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation or both procedures for HCCs. All patients underwent upper endoscopy and subsequently liver CT. Three radiolo- gists independently evaluated the presence of high-riskesophageal varices with transverse images alone and with three orthogonal multiplanar reformation （MPR） images, respectively. With endoscopic grading as the reference standard, diagnostic performance was as- sessed by using receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve analysis. RESULTS： The diagnostic performances （areas under the ROC curve） of three observers with transverse im- ages alone were 0.947 ± 0.031, 0.969 ± 0.024, and 0.916 ＋ 0.038, respectively. The mean sensitivity, spec- ificity, positive predicative value （PPV）, and negative predicative value （NPV） with transverse images alone were 90.1%, 86.39%, 70.9%, and 95.9%, respectively. The diagnostic performances, mean sensitivity, specific- ity, PPV, and NPV with three orthogonal MPR images （0.965 ± 0.025, 0.959 ± 0.027, 0.938 ± 0.033, 91.4%, 89.5%, 76.3%, and 96.6%, respectively） were not su- perior to corresponding values with transverse images alone （P 〉 0.05）, except for the mean specificity （P = 0.039）. CONCLUSION： Our results showed excellent diagnos- tic performance, sensitivity and NPV to detect high-risk esophageal varices on follow-up liver CT after Iocore- gional therapy for HCC,

The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induces lung cancer migration and invasion in a TLR2-dependent manner

Dear editor,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2(SARS-CoV-2)infection can lead to severe outcomes in patients with cancer[1].It has been reported that patients with lung cancers disproportionately manifest severe COVID-19 with a high rate of hospitalization and death[2].Notably,the SARS-CoV-2 Spike(S)protein can induce hyper-inflammation in both epithelial cells and macrophages through toll-like receptor(TLR)1/TLR2 or TLR2/6-dependent nuclear factor-kappaB(NF-κB)path-way[3].However,molecular and cellular evidence on whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus affects the severity of lung cancer patients through TLR1/2 or TLR2/6 signaling remains unclear.

Genetic effects on serum testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin in men： a Korean twin and family study

We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study to evaluate the role of genetics in determining the individual difference in total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin levels. Study participants comprised 730 Korean men consisting of 142 pairs of monozygotic twins, 191 pairs of siblings, and 259 father-offspring pairs from 270 families who participated in the Healthy Twin study. Serum concentration of total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay, and free testosterone and bioavailable testosterone were calculated using Vermeulen＇s method. Quantitative genetic analysis based on a variance decomposition model showed that the heritability of total testosterone, free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin were 0.56, 0.45, 0.44, and 0.69, respectively after accounting for age and body mass index. Proportions of variance explained by age and body mass index varied across different traits, from 8% for total testosterone to 31% for sex hormone-binding globulin. Bivariate analysis showed a high degree of additive genetic correlation （p~ = 0.67） and a moderate degree of individual-specific environmental correlation （PE = 0.42） between total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin. The findings confirmed the important role of genetics in determining the individually different levels of testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin during adulthood in Korean men as found in non-Asian populations, which may suggest that common biologic control for determining testosterone level directly or indirectly through binding protein are largely shared among different populations.