Citations

The rising incidence of cancer among young women highlights the importance of understanding treatment‐related gonadotoxicity, which can lead to infertility and long‐term health complications from premature estrogen decline. Although anti‐Müllerian hormone is considered the most reliable indicator of ovarian reserve, its interpretation among oncology patients is complex because it is dependent on the treatment modality, necessitating further research to fully understand the impact of specific treatments on anti‐Müllerian hormone and to identify alternative markers to reliably assess the ovarian toxicity of newer cancer therapies.

BACKGROUND: Patients with arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome are at increased risk for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, but studies have been limited by small sample sizes. We sought to assemble an international arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome registry to delineate the clinical, imaging, and treatment characteristics of patients with arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome who survived sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) or had sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation. METHODS: In this descriptive registry, we characterized patients with arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome who survived SCA, sustained VT, or ventricular fibrillation. Deidentified data were abstracted locally and combined centrally. RESULTS: We included 148 patients who had SCA or VT/ventricular fibrillation. Patients had a mean age of 43.7±15.4 years; 68% were women, 73% had bileaflet prolapse, 65% had mitral annular disjunction, 67% had nonsustained VT, and 59% had inferolateral T-wave inversions. Syncope (n=54, 48%) and anterolateral T-wave inversion (n=26, 22%) were relatively common. Catheter ablation was performed in 50 (35%) patients for premature ventricular complexes and in 18 (17.7%) patients for VT. Sites of origin for arrhythmias were commonly in the papillary muscles, fascicles, mitral annulus, and inferior/inferolateral left ventricle. CONCLUSIONS: In this international descriptive registry of patients with arrhythmogenic mitral valve prolapse syndrome and SCA, patients were young, women, and had bileaflet mitral valve prolapse, mitral annular disjunction, inferolateral T-wave inversions, and nonsustained VT. A history of syncope and anterolateral T-wave inversions was relatively common in patients who survived SCA or sustained VT/ventricular fibrillation.

Abstract Context Lipodystrophy syndromes are rare disorders characterized by deficient adipose tissue, leading to insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and organ system abnormalities. Objective Our goal was to develop a lipodystrophy severity score (LDS) to holistically capture the diverse manifestations of lipodystrophy into a numerical score to aid in prediction of clinical outcomes and/or treatment impact. Design An 8-domain LDS was developed by 8 disease experts in consultation with patient organizations. The LDS was rated for feasibility and content validity by 28 additional clinicians and 9 patient representatives. LDS was compared to the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) of severity for 20 putative patient profiles, each at 2 different time points, and by comparing change in LDS to global impression of change. For external validation, LDS was calculated in 2 cohorts of patients with lipodystrophy treated with metreleptin. Results LDS domains include Diabetes/Insulin Resistance, Microvascular Complications of Diabetes, Lipids, Cardiovascular, Liver, Kidney, Reproductive, and Other. Each domain is assessed by 1 or more questions assessing both lifetime and recent complications of lipodystrophy. The LDS had high content validity and feasibility and high reliability by intraclass correlation coefficients (>0.95). Global and domain-specific LDS were strongly correlated with CGI, as were changes in scores across visits (R = 0.79-0.99, P < .001 for all). In generalized lipodystrophy, metreleptin significantly reduced LDS (from 46 to 26 at 12 months, P < .001). The reductions were smaller in partial lipodystrophy (from 65 to 61 at 12 months, P = .04). Conclusion The LDS can reflect the severity of diverse manifestations of lipodystrophy and monitor changes following interventions.

387 Background: Level 1 evidence supports treatment of high-risk and node positive PCa using 4-9 weeks of radiotherapy (RT) combined with 18-36 months of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with or without abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (AAP). While effective, some cancers recur, and this prolonged treatment is associated with inconvenience and variable morbidity. We aimed to determine whether the biological synergy of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) with a 6-month combination of ADT, AAP, and the PARP inhibitor niraparib, could enable a shorter intensified, yet safe and effective, therapeutic alternative. Methods: ASCLEPIuS (NCT04194554) is a multicenter investigator-initiated phase I/II trial in high-risk or node positive, homologous recombination unselected, PCa. Patients received 6 months of ADT, AAP, niraparib and SBRT to the prostate (37.5-40 Gy) +/- pelvic lymph nodes (25 Gy). Focal prostate/nodal boosting was permitted. The phase I primary endpoint was the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of niraparib using the time-to-event continuous reassessment method (3 dose levels: 100 mg and 200 mg held during SBRT, or 200 mg concurrent with SBRT). Dose limiting toxicities (DLT) were any persistent grade 4+ hematologic toxicity or any grade 3+ rectal/urinary toxicity at least possibly related to treatment as assessed by CTCAE v5.0. Patient reported quality of life (QOL) was assessed with the EPIC-26 short form. Linear mixed models were used to compare scores over time. Results: Accrual began in Nov. 2020 with a transition from phase I to phase II in May 2023 after enrolling 54 men. Median follow-up of the phase I cohort is 12.1 months (IQR 9.4-18.9), 80% (n=43) had Grade Group 4-5, median PSA was 17 ng/mL (range, 1-73), 15% (n=8) had cN+ disease, and 76% (n=41) received nodal RT. There were 0 DLTs to date, no grade 3+ rectal or urinary toxicities, and 5 serious adverse events at least possibly attributable to study treatment (anemia, non-rectal gastrointestinal, syncope, infection, musculoskeletal). The most common grade 3 toxicities were hypertension (n = 11, 21%) and leukopenia (n=6, 11%). Transient dose reductions or holds of AAP or niraparib occurred in 10 and 11 patients, respectively. There were no statistically significant declines in patient reported urinary QOL at 6- or 12-months post-treatment compared to baseline (all p >0.15). A transient decline in bowel QOL at 6-months occurred (p<0.01), which improved by 12-months (p=0.16). Conclusions: Our phase I findings support the short-term safety and tolerability of the combination of SBRT to the prostate and nodes, ADT, AAP, and niraparib at an MTD of 200 mg in men with high-risk or node positive PCa. Our trial completed phase II enrollment in May 2024, and longer-term safety, efficacy, and genomic correlations will be presented in the future. Clinical trial information: NCT04194554 .

Abstract Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (panNEN) is a rare malignancy and the second most common type of pancreatic cancer after pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), but its etiology is poorly understood. We investigated whether the risk factors of panNEN are concordant with those known for PDAC. We performed the largest case-control study to date on panNENs, comprising 927 sporadic nonfunctional panNEN cases and 1807 frequency-matched controls, using data from the Mayo Clinic Biospecimen Resource for Pancreas Research. We assessed associations for obesity, first-degree family history of pancreatic cancer, cigarette smoking, overall type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM), new-onset T2DM (&lt;1 year before panNEN diagnosis), longstanding T2DM (≥5 years), alcohol intake and aspirin use. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Our results show that overall T2DM (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.37–2.14) and new-onset T2DM (OR = 2.65, 95% CI: 1.92–3.69) are associated with higher odds of panNEN, but not longstanding T2DM (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 0.94–1.75). A non-significant elevated odds of panNEN was observed among participants with a positive family history of pancreatic cancer (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 0.96–2.14). Alcohol use was inversely related to panNEN (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.42–0.66, ever-vs-never). No association was observed for smoking, obesity or aspirin use. These findings indicate that overall T2DM and new-onset T2DM are associated with higher odds of panNEN. Unlike PDAC, alcohol use was inversely related to panNEN, and we found no associations for cigarette smoking, obesity or aspirin use. These results indicate differences in the risk factor profiles of panNEN and PDAC.

Background and Objectives: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common manifestation of connective tissue disease (CTD). (a) Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) can be utilised to improve dyspnoea and quality of life in patients with chronic lung conditions, including both obstructive and restrictive lung diseases. (b) This study aims to determine if PR can be a useful therapy to improve functional capacity and self-reported measures of dyspnoea in patients with CTD-ILD. Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of CTD-ILD at a tertiary centre were prospectively enrolled to receive PR in this study. The primary outcome was a change in the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) between baseline and 8 weeks after PR. The secondary outcome measures included pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS→) Dyspnoea, St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), which were collected before and at 8 weeks after PR. P < .05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Twenty-one patients were included in the data analysis. The baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1 . Following PR, there was a statistically significant improvement in the 6MWT ( Figure 1 ). Improvement in scores was observed in LCQ and the symptom domain of the SGRQ. Trends towards improvement were noted in PROMIS → Dyspnoea scores. Conclusion: In CTD-ILD patients, an 8-week course of PR led to improvements in functional capacity (6MWT) and certain quality of life domains (LCQ and symptom domain of SGRQ). Future studies are required to determine the longer-term benefit of PR in CTD-ILD patients and if these improvements are sustained.

ABSTRACT Genes involved in the regulation of chromatin structure are frequently disrupted in cancer, contributing to an aberrant transcriptome and phenotypic plasticity. Yet, therapeutics targeting mutant forms of chromatin-modifying enzymes have yielded only modest clinical utility, underscoring the difficulty of targeting the epigenomic underpinnings of aberrant gene regulatory networks. Here, we sought to identify novel epigenetic vulnerabilities in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Through phenotypic screens and biochemical analysis, we demonstrated that inhibition of the H3K9 demethylases KDM4A and KDM4C elicits potent, subtype-agnostic cytotoxicity by antagonizing transcriptional networks associated with B-cell identity and epigenetically rewiring heterochromatin. KDM4 demethylases associated with the KRAB zinc finger ZNF587, and their enzymatic inhibition led to DNA replication stress and DNA damage-induced cGAS-STING activation. Broad surveys of transcriptional data from patients also revealed KDM4 family dysregulation in several other cancer types. To explore this potential therapeutic avenue, we performed high-throughput small molecule screens with H3K9me3 nucleosome substrates and identified novel KDM4 demethylase inhibitors. AI-guided protein-ligand binding predictions suggested diverse modes of action for various small molecule hits. Our findings underscore the relevance of targeting fundamental transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms for anti-cancer therapy. HIGHLIGHTS Phenotypic screens identified JIB-04 as a potent anti-cancer agent for multiple subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma JIB-04 binds and inhibits KDM4 demethylases resulting in epigenomic rewiring of heterochromatin KDM4 demethylases cooperate with KRAB zinc fingers to limit DNA replication stress, and KDM4 inhibition instigates DNA-damage and cGAS-STING activation in several human cancers High-throughput small molecule screens with semi-synthetic nucleosome substrates and AI-guided molecular docking simulations identify novel KDM4 inhibitors

ImportanceThe advanced ambulatory heart failure (HF) population comprises patients who have progressed beyond the pillars of recommended stage C HF therapies but can still find meaningful life-years ahead. Although these patients are commonly encountered in practice, national databases selectively capture the small groups accepted for heart transplant listing or left ventricular assist devices. The epidemiology, trajectories, and therapies for other ambulatory patients with advanced HF are poorly understood.ObservationsIn December 2022, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute convened a team of experts to identify knowledge gaps and research priorities for the ambulatory population with limiting daily symptoms and transition toward refractory end-stage D HF, designated as stage C2D. This article summarizes the findings from that 3-day workshop. Workshop participants surveyed the initial challenges and knowledge gaps for (1) recognition of ambulatory C2D HF, (2) estimation of the magnitude of the affected population and identifiable subpopulations, and (3) physiologic phenotypes, such as low cardiac output, right HF, cardiorenal syndromes, congestive hepatopathy and frailty, which offer distinct targets for existing and emerging therapies. Social drivers of HF and patient preferences for quality/length of survival were highlighted as essential modifiers for personalization of therapies.Conclusions and RelevanceTen key points summarized workshop findings, with target cohorts for study proposed as a crucial next step. This workshop summary is intended as a call for action to address knowledge gaps and develop new strategies to improve outcomes in the large ambulatory population with C2D HF.