Citations

Abstract Background: PD-L1 blockade with durvalumab (D) is approved as second-line therapy in platinum-refractory metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). Adding CTLA-4 blockade with tremelimumab (T) may improve responses, particularly in pts with low PD-L1 expression. Here we report safety and efficacy in the mUC cohort of the dose-expansion phase of a phase I, multicenter, open-label study of D+T in pts with advanced solid tumors (NCT02261220). Methods: Pts with platinum-refractory mUC received D 20 mg/kg + T 1 mg/kg Q4W for 4 months, followed by D 10 mg/kg Q2W for a total of 12 months of treatment. The primary objectives were safety in the mUC cohort and antitumor activity in the subgroup with tumor cell and immune cell PD-L1 expression <25% (assessed by SP263 IHC assay). Secondary objectives included antitumor activity per RECIST v1.1 in other subgroups. Results: As of Oct 20 2017, 168 pts received treatment and had ≥24 weeks' follow-up. Median age was 65.5 yr (range, 35-85), 78.0% were male, 81.0% had visceral metastases (32.1% liver metastases) and 32.1% had received >1 prior line of chemotherapy. Median duration of follow-up was 11.6 mo. Treatment-related AEs occurred in 75.6% of pts and were Grade 3-4 in 28.6%. One pt died due to a treatment-related AE (pulmonary hemorrhage). Treatment-related AEs led to discontinuation of therapy in 11.9% of pts. Confirmed objective response rate (ORR) was 35/168 (20.8%) including 4 CRs. Responses occurred early (median 1.8 mo) and are durable (median DOR not reached, range 1.9-24.9 mo). At 6 months, the PFS rate was 25.4% and the OS rate was 60.9%. Median PFS was 1.9 mo and median OS was 9.5 mo. Clinical activity was seen regardless of PD-L1 status, but patients with either tumor or immune cell expression ≥25% had numerically higher response rates (29.4% vs 15.1%) and 6-month OS rates than those with <25% expression (Table). Conclusions: D+T had a manageable safety profile and encouraging antitumor activity and survival rate in previously treated mUC regardless of PD-L1 status. Response and survivalPD-L1 ≥25% (n=68)PD-L1 <25% (n=86)PD-L1 unknown (n=14)Total (N=168)Confirmed ORR (CR+PR)(95% CI), %29.4 (19.0-41.7)15.1 (8.3-24.5)14.3 (1.8-42.8)20.8 (15.0-27.8)Ongoing ORR, %60.092.310074.3Disease control rate (CR+PR+SD≥24 weeks) (95% CI), %32.4 (21.5-44.8)24.4 (15.8-34.9)42.9 (17.7-71.1)29.2 (22.4-36.7)Median PFS, months (95% CI)3.5 (1.9-3.7)1.8 (1.8-1.9)4.9 (1.8-NE)1.9 (1.8-3.4)PFS 6-month rate, %26.122.638.525.4Median OS, months (95% CI)*18.9 (8.1-NE)8.0 (4.8-10.0)16.4 (7.3-16.4)9.5 (8.1-18.9)OS 6-month rate, %66.451.991.760.9NE, not estimable *Should be interpreted with caution due to limited follow-up at data cutoff Citation Format: Arjun V. Balar, Amit Mahipal, Enrique Grande, Victor M. Villalobos, Sebastien Salas, Taek Won Kang, Se Hyun Kim, Thomas Powles, Frank Tsai, Aung Naing, Albiruni Razak, Yohann Loriot, Ji Youl Lee, Sang Joon Shin, Rafael Morales-Barrera, Natasha Angra, Feng Xiao, Shaad Abdullah, Michiel S. Van der Heijden. Durvalumab + tremelimumab in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT112.

ABSTRACT Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolases (DDAHs) are known to degrade asymmetric dimethylarginine, an endogenous inhibitor of NOS, and maintain vascular homeostasis; however, the regulatory pathways of DDAHs remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to define the role of transmembrane glycoprotein neuropilin‐1 (NRP1) in the expression of DDAHs and investigate the potential roles of NRP1 in regulation of blood pressure. Short hairpin RNA–mediated knockdown of NRP1 reduced the level and mRNA stability of DDAH1 but not DDAH2 in HUVECs, whereas overexpression of NRP1 increased the mRNA stability of DDAH1. Meanwhile, mesenteric arteries and lung vascular endothelial cells of tamoxifen‐inducible endothelial cell–specific NRP1 knockout mice exhibited decreased expression of DDAH1 and slightly increased expression of DDAH2. Mechanistically, the regulation of NRP1 on DDAH1 expression is mediated by a posttranscriptional mechanism involving miR‐219‐5p in HUVECs. Although the endothelial cell–specific NRP1 knockout mice did not exhibit any significant change in blood pressure at the basal level, they were more sensitive to low‐dose angiotensin II infusion–induced increases in blood pressure. Our results show that NRP1 is required for full expression of DDAH1 in endothelial cells and that NRP1 contributes to protection from low‐dose angiotensin II–induced increases in blood pressure.—Wang, Y., Wang, E., Zhang, Y., Madamsetty, V. S., Ji, B., Radisky, D. C., Grande, J. P., Misra, S., Mukhopadhyay, D. Neuropilin‐1 maintains dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 expression in endothelial cells, and contributes to protection from angiotensin II–induced hypertension. FASEB J. 33, 494–500 (2019). www.fasebj.org

There is no therapy that promotes maturation and functionality of a dialysis arteriovenous fistula (AVF). The search for such therapies largely relies on evaluation of vascular responses and putative therapies in experimental AVFs. We studied an AVF in mice with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We demonstrate numerous stressors in the vein of the AVF-CKD group, including pathological shear, mitogenic, inflammatory, and hypoxia-reoxygenation stress. Because stress promotes premature senescence, we examined whether senescence is induced in the vein of the AVF-CKD model. We demonstrate a senescence phenotype in the AVF-CKD model, as indicated by increased expression of p16Ink4a, p21Cip1, and p53 and expected changes for certain senescence-associated microRNAs. RNA-sequencing analysis demonstrated differential expression of ~10,000 genes, including upregulation of proinflammatory and proliferative genes, in the vein of the AVF-CKD group. The vein in the AVF-CKD group exhibited telomere erosion and increased senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and staining. Senescence was induced in the artery of the AVF-CKD group and in the vein of the AVF without CKD. Finally, given the rapidly rising clinical interest in senolytics, we provide proof of concept of senolytics as a therapeutic approach by demonstrating that senolytics decrease p16Ink4a expression in the AVF-CKD model. This study introduces a novel concept underlying the basis for maturational and functional failure in human dialysis AVFs and identifies a new target for senolytic therapy.

Abstract “I have noticed in operations of this kind, which I have seen performed by others upon the living, and in a number of excisions, which I have myself performed on the dead body, that most of the difficulty in the separation of the tumor has occurred in the region of these ligaments…. This difficulty, I believe, to be a very frequent source of that accident, which so commonly occurs in removal of goiter, I mean division of the recurrent laryngeal nerve.” Sir James Berry (1887)

Purpose. Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of end stage renal disease in the United States. Atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis is commonly observed in diabetic patients and impacts the rate of renal and cardiovascular disease progression. We hypothesized that renal artery stenosis contributes to bilateral renal disease in diabetics. In our original study, we found that leptin-deficient diabetic (db/db) mice subjected to RAS developed severe and bilateral renal disease, with the contralateral (uncuffed) kidney showing features reminiscent of progressive diabetic nephropathy. In non-diabetic mice (WT), the cuffed kidney developed progressive atrophy, but the contralateral kidney showed minimal histopathologic alterations. In doing these studies, we observed increased sudden death in db/db mice with RAS, but not in WT mice with RAS. The objective of this study was to characterize the aortic and cardiac phenotype of db/db mice subjected to RAS. Methods . We developed a murine model of renal artery stenosis by placement of a polytetrafluoroethylene cuff on the right renal artery in db/db mice. We studied 109 WT and 95 db/db mice subjected to Renal artery stenosis (RAS) or sham surgery. Results. The mortality rate of db/db RAS mice was about 23.5%, whereas only 1.5% deaths were observed in WT RAS mice. Interestingly, 60% of mortality in the db/db mice occurred in the first two weeks following RAS surgery. Necropsy showed massive intrathoracic hemorrhage associated with aortic dissection. Aortas from db/db RAS mice showed more smooth muscle dropout, medial disruption, and hemorrhage than aortas from WT mice with RAS. Cardiac tissue from db/db RAS mice had more fibrosis than did cardiac tissue from WT RAS mice. Conclusions . Db/db mice subjected to RAS are prone to develop fatal aortic dissection, which is not observed in WT mice with RAS. The db/db RAS model provides the basis for future studies directed towards defining basic mechanisms underlying the interaction of hypertension and diabetes on the development of aortic lesions.