31 diciembre 2013

A phase II trial of personalized peptide vaccination in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients : prolongation of prostate-specific antigen doubling time .

Cancer vaccine is one of the attractive treatment modalities for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). However, because of delayed immune responses, its clinical benefits, besides for overall survival (OS), are not well captured by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria. Several surrogate markers for evaluation of cancer vaccine, including prostate-specific antigen doubling time (PSADT), are currently sought. The purpose of this study was to assess prospectively the PSA kinetics and immune responses, as well as the efficacy, safety, and biomarkers of personalized peptide vaccination (PPV) in progressive CRPC. One hundred patients with progressive CRPC were treated with PPV using 2-4 positive peptides from 31 candidate peptides determined by both human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class IA types and the levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) against each peptide. The association between immune responses and PSADT as well as overall survival (OS) was studied. :PPV was safe and well tolerated in all patients with a median survival time of 18.8 months. Peptide-specific IgG and T-cell responses strongly correlated with PSADT (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0007, respectively), which in turn showed correlation with OS (p = 0.018). Positive IgG responses and prolongation of PSADT during PPV were also significantly associated with OS (p = 0.001 and p = 0.004) by multivariate analysis. PSADT could be an appropriate surrogate marker for evaluation of the clinical benefit of cancer vaccine. Further randomized trials are needed to confirm these results. ...

Brian May , Guitarrista de Queen , Podría tener Cáncer .

Brian May es el clásico guitarrista de la legendaria banda Queen. Es reconocido como uno de los más espectaculares e influyentes músicos en la historia y por ende es venerado en todo el planeta. En nuestro país también tiene patente de ídolo.


Es por eso que las alarmas se acaban de encender entre sus fanáticos. May ha permanecido los últimos días ingresado en un hospital aquejado de un dolor agonizante. Tras someterse a una serie de pruebas para averiguar el origen de la dolencia, una resonancia magnética nuclear habría detectado que se trata de un posible cáncer, según informa The Sun.


En la edición online del diario británico, destacan que el músico de 66 años, tuvo que acudir al médico durante estas festividades navideñas al verse complicado por un fuerte dolor.


Aunque aún se desconoce el diagnóstico definitivo, sus fans no han tardado en manifestar su inquietud por la noticia en las redes sociales. Cabe recordar que hace apenas un mes, May aseguró que Queen pensaba lanzar un nuevo álbum que incluiría canciones inéditas con la voz de Freddie Mercury. La noticia de una eventual enfermedad del ídolo a golpeado a sus seguidores .