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Injectable hydrogels have become the material of choice for the treatment of solid tumours based on their advantages in loading anti-tumour materials. This study reviews the main scientific research achievements on anti-tumour injectable hydrogels in recent years. The gel-forming mechanism of anti-tumour injectable hydrogels was listed, and the advantages and difficulties of each gel-forming mechanism were summarised. In addition, several current anti-tumour methods based on injectable hydrogels were discussed, including chemotherapy, hyperthermia-based therapy, catalytic therapy and immune therapy, as well as the integration of diagnosis and treatment to monitor the progress of cancer treatment. The anti-tumour mechanism and the advantages and disadvantages of various tumour treatments were analysed. Finally, the future development trend of injectable hydrogels for anti-tumour therapy was discussed.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the clinical and demographic characteristics, treatment outcomes and complications of patients with pars planitis.MethodsThis retrospective study included patients diagnosed with pars planitis between 1998 and 2019 and followed for at least 6 months. Demographics, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), anterior segment and fundus examination findings, intraocular pressure (IOP) values at baseline and final examination, treatments used during the follow-up, surgeries and complications were noted from medical records of the patients. The percentage of patients given adalimumab (ADA), the reasons for treatment switch and response to ADA were investigated.ResultsOne hundred fifteen eyes of 59 patients were included in the study. Forty-seven percent of patients were female. The median age of the patients was 10 (4–44) years. The median follow-up time was 33 (6–252) months. The median BCVA at admission was 0.20 (0.00–2.00) logMAR. The most common complications were cystoid macular oedema, cataract, epiretinal membrane and inferior peripheral retinoschisis. Prophylactic laser photocoagulation for peripheral retinoschisis was the most common surgical intervention, followed by cataract surgery and pars plana vitrectomy. Approximately 80% of patients received immunosuppressive and corticosteroid therapy for initial treatment. ADA was initiated in 23 patients (38.9%) due to refractory uveitis and adverse effects to the corticosteroid and helped control intraocular inflammation and decrease the use of systemic steroids/immunosuppressives in 22 of 23 (95%) of patients who received ADA. The median BCVA at final examination increased to 0.00 (0.00–2.00) logMAR.ConclusionsPars planitis is a chronic, progressive and insidious disease with several ocular complications and requires early and aggressive treatment. ADA appeared to be effective especially in patients’ refractory to conventional treatment.

Background: Leptin regulates food intake and modulates immunity and inflammation. A positive feedback mechanism has been described between tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and leptin, and it has been suggested that leptin potentiates inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Objective: To assess whether inflammation correlates with leptin concentrations in patients with RA, and whether anti-TNF treatment modulates leptin concentrations in these patients. Methods: Leptin, IL6 and CRP were measured (at baseline and after 2 weeks of treatment) in the blood of 31 patients with RA starting either anti-TNF treatment or placebo, and in 18 healthy controls. Results: In patients with RA, plasma leptin concentrations at baseline correlated inversely with the degree of inflammation as assessed by C reactive protein (CRP; rs2 = 0.21, p<0.01) or interleukin (IL) 6 concentrations (rs2 = 0.22, p<0.008). Mean (SD) leptin concentrations did not differ between patients with RA and controls (6.0 (4.6) v 4.2 (2.8) ng/ml in men; 15.1 (7.9) v 13.4 (5.2) ng/ml in women). Short course anti-TNF treatment for 2 weeks did not modify leptin concentrations, despite significant reduction of CRP and IL6. Conclusion: A significant inverse correlation between inflammation and leptin concentrations was found in patients with active RA, although plasma leptin concentrations did not significantly differ from those in healthy controls. This suggests that active chronic inflammation may lower plasma leptin concentrations. Two weeks’ treatment with anti-TNF did not change plasma leptin concentrations and longer treatment may be needed to see an effect on leptin.

TNFα overproduction is thought to occur in SSc, 3 and although preliminary evaluations of the short term effects of etanercept in SSc reported no toxicity, 4 in vitro data have suggested that TNFα has antifibrotic activity. 5, 6 Although no conclusion can be reached with case reports, it is noteworthy that our patient, like the reported patients with RA with fatal fibrosis exacerbation, 1 was concomitantly treated with azathioprine and anti-TNF. [...]TNFα may trigger fibrosis in patients with underlying interstitial lung disease, possibly irrespective of the associated disease, and should therefore be used with extreme caution in such patients.

Innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) mainly include macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, dendritic cells and bone marrow derived suppressor cells. They play an anti-tumor or pro-tumor role by secreting various cytokines, chemokines and other factors, and determine the occurrence and development of tumors. Comprehending the role of innate immune cells in tumorigenesis and progression can help improve therapeutic approaches targeting innate immune cells in the TME, increasing the likelihood of favorable prognosis. In this review, we discussed the cell biology of innate immune cells, their role in tumorigenesis and development, and the current status of innate immune cell-based immunotherapy, in order to provide an overview for future research lines and clinical trials.

With the economy's globalization and the population's aging, cancer has become the leading cause of death in most countries. While imposing a considerable burden on society, the high morbidity and mortality rates have continuously prompted researchers to develop new oncology treatment options. Anti-tumor regimens have evolved from early single surgical treatment to combined (or not) chemoradiotherapy and then to the current stage of tumor immunotherapy. Tumor immunotherapy has undoubtedly pulled some patients back from the death. However, this strategy of activating or boosting the body's immune system hardly benefits most patients. It is limited by low bioavailability, low response rate and severe side effects. Thankfully, the rapid development of nanotechnology has broken through the bottleneck problem of anti-tumor immunotherapy. Multifunctional nanomaterials can not only kill tumors by combining anti-tumor drugs but also can be designed to enhance the body's immunity and thus achieve a multi-treatment effect. It is worth noting that the variety of nanomaterials, their modifiability, and the diversity of combinations allow them to shine in antitumor immunotherapy. In this paper, several nanobiotics commonly used in tumor immunotherapy at this stage are discussed, and they activate or enhance the body's immunity with their unique advantages. In conclusion, we reviewed recent advances in tumor immunotherapy based on nanomaterials, such as biological cell membrane modification, self-assembly, mesoporous, metal and hydrogels, to explore new directions and strategies for tumor immunotherapy.

Advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic standards have substantially enhanced the survival of patients with malignant tumors. Nevertheless, the quest for effective strategies to address resistant or recurrent advanced tumors remains a critical and unwavering objective. Bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) unleashed a new era of anti-tumor treatment by simultaneously binding to two distinct targets, thereby enhancing specificity, minimizing off-target toxicities, and synergistically modulating anti-tumor immunity and the tumor microenvironment. Compared with the combination of two monoclonal antibodies, BsAbs represent the physical integration of dual specificities, demonstrating superior binding efficacy, reducing the risk of drug resistance, and enabling unique biological functions such as bridging tumor cells and T cells to achieve precise cytotoxicity. However, limitations such as off-target toxicities, drug resistance and immune-related adverse effects require carefully evaluation and further optimization. Further studies are necessary to explore the potential of combining BsAbs with other anti-tumor strategies, balancing the efficacy and safety, optimizing the outpatient-based administration workflow. By tracking the research advancements of recently approved BsAbs and BsAb candidates in clinical trials, it is evident that BsAbs holds significant promise as a novel and transformative option for improving survival outcomes for patients. Graphic Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of six prognostic scores for predicting the outcomes to first-line chemoimmunotherapy (CIT) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. NSCLC patients receiving first-line CIT were included. The prognostic scores evaluated were RMH, MDACC, MDACC+NLR, MDA-ICI, LIPI, and GRIm. Survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted via the Cox proportional hazards regression model. The C-index and time-dependent AUC were calculated to comprehensively quantify and compare the predictive performance of each system. The Log-rank test and False Discovery Rate (FDR) correction was employed to compare survival outcomes across different risk groups defined by the six prognostic scoring systems. A cohort of 298 NSCLC patients was analyzed. The median overall survival (mOS) of patients receiving first-line CIT was 36.5 months (95%CI: NE-NE), and the median progression-free survival (mPFS) was 14.5 months (95%CI: 11.9-17.1). Multivariate analysis showed that bone metastasis ( = 0.042), and more than two metastatic sites ( = 0.031) as independent predictors of poor OS. In quantitative performance comparison, RMH achieved the highest C-indices for both OS (0.672, 95%CI: 0.531-0.813) and PFS (0.652, 0.564-0.737); MDACC also performed well, with C-indices for OS (0.651, 0.564-0.737) and PFS (0.615, 0.554-0.738). Time-dependent AUC analysis showed that MDA-ICI attained the highest 1-year OS and PFS AUC (0.630 and 0.592), followed by the MDACC+NLR (0.600 and 0.571). Based on log-rank testing and following FDR correction, only the MDACC maintained a statistically significant association with OS (high-risk 14.0 vs. intermediate-risk 34.6 vs. low-risk NR months; P = 0.003, Q = 0.036). For PFS, the MDACC+NLR score showed a marginal significance after FDR correction (Q = 0.054). The RMH, MDACC, and MDACC+NLR scoring systems all demonstrate prognostic utility in the NSCLC patients treated with first-line CIT, and the optimal choice among them may depend on the specific clinical context and the outcome metric of primary interest.