Articles related to BIOMARKERS

This study presents findings from a Phase I clinical trial examining the use of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) combined with pembrolizumab (P) in treating advanced solid tumors, with a focus on the safety and effectiveness of partial tumor irradiation. The trial involved 97 patients, 47% of whom received at least one partial radiation treatment. The overall one-year local failure (LF) rate was 7.6%, and the results suggest an association between tumor response to SBRT+P and improved overall survival (OS), particularly for irradiated tumors. The trial also explored the role of biomarkers, finding that a high Radiomics Score (RS), based largely on CD8+ T cell levels, was linked to better LF, progression-free survival (PFS), and OS. Conversely, increased levels of circulating cytokine IL-8 were associated with worse PFS and OS. The study concluded that SBRT+P is safe for patients with large, advanced solid tumors and recommended further research to compare the effectiveness of complete versus partial tumor irradiation in the context of immunotherapy.

The presence of a prodrome is supported by the increased health care use prior to disease onset and by various biomarkers indicating an inflammatory and axonal degenerative process before any demyelinating event. Further understanding of this prodrome could help identify people at risk of developing MS, and possibly help with early treatment initiation and disability prevention.

A 56-year-old man with no significant medical history, who previously refused colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening, visited his primary care physician. Despite the physician’s recommendations, the patient declined colonoscopy and instead preferred a less invasive screening test. The patient had no symptoms of colorectal issues but had a family history of his father dying from colorectal cancer at age 80. The patient’s hemoglobin level was within the normal range at 13.7 g/dL.

The study included 186 patients who had recently been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer (Stage IV). Investigators were curious about the relationship between depression levels and systemic inflammation ratio (SIR) biomarker levels at diagnosis. SIRs are made up of three biomarkers that are linked to inflammation in the body, which has been linked to lower survival rates. All participants also filled out a depression questionnaire. According to the findings, 35% of patients had moderate to severe depressive symptoms.

In statistical models, neurofilament light chain (Nlf) levels exhibited weaker connections with progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA)—”silent progression”—risk, while glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels indicated very significant associations. Further models revealed that, whereas high NfL levels were linked to an approximately doubled risk of disability worsening, high levels of GFAP were associated with a nearly threefold higher risk of disability worsening. In contrast to low levels of both proteins, high levels of GFAP and NfL were linked to a more than fourfold probability of disease deterioration. Overall, the data, according to the researchers, support NfL as a biomarker of relapse activity and GFAP as a useful biomarker for predicting the likelihood of PIRA. The analysis of both markers provides “complete coverage of biological mechanisms contributing to disability worsening” as a result.

Biomarkers may be used in the dementias to distinguish different aspects of the underlying pathology, detect presymptomatic pathological changes, predict decline or conversion between clinical disease states, and/or monitor disease progression and response to treatment. In this review, the authors discuss the currently available biomarkers, with a particular focus on the three most common neurodegenerative dementias: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).