Citations

TPS10057 Background: Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is an aggressive tumor of the bone and soft tissue primarily affecting adolescents and young adults. For patients with recurrent disease, outcomes remain poor with 5-year survival rates of 10%–15%, highlighting the need for novel approaches. STEAP1 is highly expressed in EWS cell lines, xenograft models, and patient tumor samples 1 and is transcriptionally regulated by EWSR1::FLI1 , the main oncogenic driver in EWS. Xaluritamig, a humanized bispecific XmAb 2+1 T-cell engager targeting STEAP1 and CD3, has demonstrated potent, antigen-dependent T-cell–mediated lysis of STEAP1-expressing EWS cell lines 1 and induced robust in vivo antitumor activity in EWS xenograft models with concomitant CD8+ T-cell activation. In metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, another STEAP1-expressing solid malignancy, xaluritamig has shown meaningful antitumor activity and a manageable safety profile 2 supporting its clinical evaluation in R/R EWS. Methods: This ongoing, phase 1b, single-arm, open-label, two-part, multicenter study (NCT07297979) is evaluating xaluritamig in pediatric, adolescent, and adult patients with a histologic diagnosis of EWS and an EWSR1 :: ETS fusion gene locally confirmed by next-generation sequencing. Patients must have R/R EWS following ≥1 line of systemic therapy and Karnofsky or Lansky performance status ≥70. Part 1 (dose confirmation) consists of cohort 1 (age ≥12 years) and cohort 2 (age ≥2 to <12 years), and part 2 (dose expansion) includes patients aged ≥2 years with no upper age limit at enrollment. This study includes a 21-day screening period, a treatment period, a safety follow-up period, and a long-term follow-up period. Patients receive xaluritamig every 2 weeks once reaching the target dose until radiographic disease progression per RECIST v1.1, clinical disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, initiation of other anticancer therapy not permitted per protocol, withdrawal of consent, death, or end of study as determined by the sponsor, whichever is earlier. Primary endpoints are safety, tolerability, and determination of recommended dose(s) for expansion. Secondary endpoints are pharmacokinetics, preliminary antitumor activity, and immunogenicity. Biomarker evaluation as an exploratory endpoint includes assessment of serum cytokines, other pro-inflammatory markers, immune-cell subsets, circulating tumor DNA, STEAP1 protein expression, and tumor genomic profile and their association with safety and efficacy. CRS mitigation plan includes step-up dosing, steroid premedication, and administration of interleukin-6 inhibitors as needed. Site activation commenced in January 2026 and enrollment is ongoing. 1. Nolan-Stevaux O. Cancer Res. 2020;80(16_Suppl):DDT02–03. 2. Kelly WK, Danila DC, Lin CC, et al. Cancer Discov . 2024;14(1):76-89. Clinical trial information: NCT07297979 .

10030 Background: CABO is a multi-targeted kinase inhibitor of VEGFR2, c-MET, AXL and RET and has shown clinical evidence of activity in two prior studies of adult and pediatric patients with advanced OS. We report results of a feasibility cohort of CABO + MAP chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed high-risk OS. Methods: Patients <40 years, body surface area ≥ 0.8 m 2 and new diagnosis of high-grade OS with metastatic disease and resectable primary tumor were eligible. Patients were enrolled to two CABO dose levels (Dose Level 1 (DL1) 25 mg/m 2 /day, maximum 40 mg/day; Dose Level 2 (DL2) 35 mg/m 2 /day; maximum 60 mg/day) using a modified IQ 3+3 design. CABO was orally administered concomitantly with six 35-day cycles of MAP (cisplatin 60 mg/m 2 on days 1-2 (cycles 1-4), doxorubicin 37.5 mg/m 2 on days 1-2 (with dexrazoxane), methotrexate 12 g/m 2 on days 22, 29) and for 24 weeks as maintenance monotherapy. CABO was held after 7 weeks and resumed during 4 th MAP cycle to allow for primary tumor resection and metastatic surgeries. Dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) were assessed during weeks 1-6 of treatment; additional monitoring for post-surgical complications was conducted through completion of 4 th MAP cycle. The primary endpoint for this cohort was feasibility of combination therapy. Results: Ten patients (median age 11.5 years, 70% male) were enrolled and treated with CABO + MAP (DL1, n=4; DL2, n=6). Median cumulative doses of all MAP agents were maintained throughout treatment with no dose reductions. Concomitant dosing of CABO with MAP was tolerated with no protocol-specified DLTs occurring during the evaluation period. DL2 (35 mg/m 2 ) was established as the recommended dose for further study of combination therapy. Commonly reported adverse events included hematologic toxicities, febrile neutropenia, and alanine/aspartate aminotransferase (AST/ALT) elevation. Interruption of CABO was required in 6 patients for Grade 3+ AST/ALT elevation following methotrexate (n=3), wound complications (n=3), and Grade 3 pneumothorax (n=1). Wounds included two Grade 3 port site events and one Grade 1 primary tumor resection site; two patients later resumed CABO after healing without wound recurrence. Dose reduction of CABO was required in one patient for Grade 4 amylase elevation. Conclusions: The combination of CABO + MAP is feasible with no protocol-specified DLTs during the evaluation period. Generalizability is limited based on cohort size. Further evaluation of CABO + MAP is ongoing in a phase II/III randomized efficacy study in newly diagnosed standard and high-risk patients using CABO dose of 35 mg/m 2 /day (max 60 mg), with delayed initiation of CABO in patients with port placement and early safety monitoring for wound-related events, as well as full study monitoring of dose delivery, wound complications and systemic toxicity. Clinical trial information: NCT05691478 .

Tick-borne diseases, due to a diversity of bacterial pathogens, represent a significant and increasing public health threat throughout the Northern Hemisphere. A high-throughput 16S V1-V2 rRNA gene-based metagenomics assay was developed and evaluated using >13,000 residual samples from patients suspected of having tick-borne illness and >1,000 controls. Taxonomic predictions for tick-borne bacteria were exceptionally accurate, as independently validated by secondary testing. Overall, 881 specimens were positive for bacterial tick-borne agents.

We evaluated a commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) from LMD Laboratories, Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., for the detection of antibodies in serum to the cysticercus of Taenia solium. The ELISA was performed on 308 serum samples; 198 from a pool of healthy individuals, 42 from patients who had antibodies against a variety of parasites other than T. solium, and 68 from patients suspected of having cysticercosis. All of these 68 specimens were tested both by the ELISA and by an immunoblot method (enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot assay [EITB]) developed at the Parasitic Serology Laboratory of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-seven of the 68 serum samples from patients suspected of having cysticercosis were positive by both EITB and ELISA, while 31 were negative by both assays. ELISA results for three and two samples were considered false positive and false negative, respectively, when compared with the results of EITB. Results for an additional five samples were considered equivocal but were technically positive because their optical density readings were slightly above the cutoff value. Three of the 198 serum samples from the bank of serum samples from healthy individuals were also false positive by ELISA (the EITB result for the samples was negative). Six other serum samples from healthy individuals which had equivocal results and the five serum samples from patients with equivocal results were EITB negative. Serum samples containing antibodies against Echinococcus spp. frequently cross-reacted with the cysticercus ELISA antigen (13 of 16 specimens), but serum samples with antibodies against other parasites did not (2 of 26 specimens); all of these serum samples were EITB negative. The commercially available ELISA that we describe is a simple and rapid test. Considering all 308 specimens, the ELISA had a specificity of 93% (when samples with equivocal results were considered negative) or 89% (when samples with equivocal results were considered positive); the sensitivity was 93%.

We evaluated a commercially produced enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; LMD Laboratories, Inc.) for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in 296 stool specimens submitted to the Mayo Clinic parasitology laboratory for routine examination. The specimens examined were fresh (4 specimens), were stored frozen at -65 degrees C (49 specimens), or were preserved in 10% formalin (243 specimens). Results were compared with those obtained by indirect immunofluorescent antibody detection (Merifluor Cryptosporidium/Giardia; Meridian Diagnostics, Inc.). One hundred of the specimens were positive by indirect immunofluorescent antibody and ELISA, while 187 were negative by both methods; 91 of these negative stool samples contained 121 parasites of 17 different species. Eight ELISA false negatives and one false positive were observed. The ELISA sensitivity was 93%, specificity was 99%, and the positive predictive value was 99%. Storage of specimens preserved in 10% formalin or frozen fresh at -65 degrees C for up to 18 months did not appear to affect the results. There was no cross-reactivity with Giardia lamblia (54 negative specimens) or with the 16 other parasites present in the ELISA-negative stool samples. The ELISA is a fast, easy-to-read, and accurate method for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in stool specimens.

Abstract Objectives Pathogenic free-living amebae (FLAs) cause skin, ocular, and central nervous system (CNS) infections with significant morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis of FLA infections by pathologic examination of tissue sections can be aided using molecular assays. This study investigated the performance characteristics of a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (FLA-PCR) for detection and differentiation of FLAs in clinical specimens. Methods FLA-PCR was performed on 39 human specimens comprising one cutaneous, 14 corneal, and 24 CNS formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues with a histopathologic diagnosis of FLA infection and four CNS FFPE tissues with inflammation but no evidence of FLAs. In addition, clinical specificity and assay limit of detection were determined. Results FLA detection sensitivities ranged from 79% to 84% in FFPE tissues. No cross-reactivity was observed. Conclusions While sensitivity is limited, FLA-PCR assay may serve as a useful adjunct for detection or confirmation of FLA infections in FFPE tissues.

We compared the diagnosis of malaria in 297 patients from Thailand by a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using the LightCycler with conventional microscopy using Giemsa-stained thick and thin blood films. The PCR assay can be completed in one hour and has the potential to detect and identify four species of Plasmodium in a single reaction by use of melting temperature curve analysis (however, we did not detect Plasmodium ovale in this study). Blood was collected, stored, and transported on IsoCode STIX, which provide a stable matrix for the archiving and rapid simple extraction of DNA. A genus-specific primer set corresponding to the 18S ribosomal RNA was used to amplify the target sequence. Fluorescence resonance energy technology hybridization probes were designed for P. falciparum over a region containing basepair mismatches, which allowed differentiation of the other Plasmodium species. The PCR results correlated with the microscopic results in 282 (95%) of 297 patient specimens. Most of these were single-species infections caused by P. vivax (150) and P. falciparum (120), along with 5 P. malariae, 2 mixed infections (P. falciparum and P. vivax), and 5 negative specimens. No negative microscopy specimens were positive by PCR (100% specificity for detection of any Plasmodium). The 15 discrepant results could not be resolved, but given the subjective nature of microscopy and the analytical objectivity of the PCR, the PCR results may be correct. The ability of the PCR method to detect mixed infections or to detect P. ovale could not be determined in this study. Within the limitations of initial equipment costs, this real-time PCR assay is a rapid, accurate, and efficient method for the specific diagnosis of malaria. It may have application in clinical laboratories, as well as in epidemiologic studies and antimalarial efficacy trials.

We previously developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for detection of the four Plasmodium species that infect humans. Recent studies have shown that natural transmission of the simian parasite Plasmodium knowlesi to humans occurs frequently in Southeast Asia. We have expanded our PCR assay to include detection of P. knowlesi.