Practical guidelines for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

In recent years, great progress has been made regarding the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly in the field of biological therapies. Nevertheless, the ultimate treatment is not in sight. With the development of new medication, it has become clear that we need a new understanding of IBD. Therapy needs to fit the different subtypes of IBD; e.g. mild disease in comparison to severe chronic active disease or Crohn's disease with or without fistulation or stenosis. The following article gives a practical overview of actual treatments for IBD. The intention of this article is not to provide a complete review of all new scientific developments, but to give a practical guideline for therapy of IBD.

Advances in immunotherapy for treatment of lung cancer

Different approaches for treating lung cancer have been developed over time, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapies against activating mutations. Lately, better understanding of the role of the immunological system in tumor control has opened multiple doors to implement different strategies to enhance immune response against cancer cells. It is known that tumor cells elude immune response by several mechanisms. The development of monoclonal antibodies against the checkpoint inhibitor programmed cell death protein 1 （PD-1） and its ligand （PD-L1）, on T cells, has led to high activity in cancer patients with long lasting responses. Nivolumab, an anti PD-1 inhibitor, has been recently approved for the treatment of squamous cell lung cancer patients, given the survival advantage demonstrated in a phase III trial. Pembrolizumab~ another anti PD-1 antibod）5 has received FDA breakthrough therapy designation for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC）, supported by data from a phase I trial. Clinical trials with anti PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies in NSCLC have demonstrated very good tolerability and activity, with response rates around 20% and a median duration of response of 18 months.

Nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer: a primer on immunotherapy

Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin （BCG） has long been the gold standard treatment of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. Recently, there has been an emergence of novel immunotherapeutic agents, which have shown promise in the treatment of urothelial cell carcinoma. These agents aim to augment, modify, or enhance the immune response. Such strategies include recombinant BCG, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, gene therapy, and adoptive T-cell therapy. Here, we review the emerging immunotherapeutics in the treatment of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer.

Persistence of VRC01-resistant HIV-1 during antiretroviral therapy

VRC01, a broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibody （bnmAb）, can neutralize a diverse array of HIV-1 isolates by mimicking CD4 binding to the envelope glycoprotein gpl20. We have previously demonstrated the presence of VRC01-resistant strains in an HIV-1 infected patient during antiretroviral therapy. Here, we report follow-up studies of two subsequent samples from the same patient. With genetic and phenotypic analysis of over 70 full-length molecular clones of the HIV-1 envelope, we show that VRC01-resistant HIV-1 continued to exist and change in its proportion of the infecting virus during treatment with a highly active antiretroviral therapy. Consistent with our previous observation, the resistant phenotype was associated with a single asparagine residue at position 460 （N460）, a potential N-linked glycosylation site in the V5 region. The persistence and continuing evolution of VRC01-resistant HIV-1 in vivo presents a great challenge to our future preventative and therapeutic interventions based on VRC01.

Current advances in chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for refractory/relapsed multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma(MM),considered an incurable hematological malignancy,is characterized by its clonal evolution of malignant plasma cells.Although the application of autologous stem cell transplantation(ASCT)and the introduction of novel agents such as immunomodulatory drugs(IMiDs)and proteasome inhibitors(PIs)have doubled the median overall survival to eight years,relapsed and refractory diseases are still frequent events in the course of MM.To achieve a durable and deep remission,immunotherapy modalities have been developed for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma(RRMM).Among these approaches,chimeric antigen receptor(CAR)T-cell therapy is the most promising star,based on the results of previous success in B-cell neoplasms.In this immunotherapy,autologous T cells are engineered to express an artificial receptor which targets a tumor-associated antigen and initiates the T-cell killing procedure.Tisagenlecleucel and Axicabtagene,targeting the CD19 antigen,are the two pacesetters of CAR T-cell products.They were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration(FDA)in 2017 for the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL)and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL).Their development enabled unparalleled efficacy in combating hematopoietic neoplasms.In this review article,we summarize six promising candidate antigens in MM that can be targeted by CARs and discuss some noteworthy studies of the safety profile of current CAR T-cell therapy.