A Case of Giant Cutaneous Lopez Type III Meningioma of the Scalp.

Meningiomas are the most common central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Extracranial meningiomas are rare, constituting 2% of all meningiomas. We describe a case of Lopez type III meningioma of the scalp in a 72-year-old gentleman who had a long-standing giant scalp mass and presented with recent mild left-sided limb weakness and numbness.

Microbes as Master Immunomodulators: Immunopathology, Cancer and Personalized Immunotherapies.

The intricate interplay between the immune system and microbes is an essential part of the physiological homeostasis in health and disease. Immunological recognition of commensal microbes, such as bacterial species resident in the gut or lung as well as dormant viral species, i.e.

Trained Immunity for Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy: Current Knowledge and Future Opportunities.

Memory formation, guided by microbial ligands, has been reported for innate immune cells. Epigenetic imprinting plays an important role herein, involving histone modification after pathogen-/danger-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/DAMPs) recognition by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Such "trained immunity" affects not only the nominal target pathogen, yet also non-related targets that may be encountered later in life.

Immunometabolism and Pulmonary Infections: Implications for Protective Immune Responses and Host-Directed Therapies.

The biology and clinical efficacy of immune cells from patients with infectious diseases or cancer are associated with metabolic programming. Host immune- and stromal-cell genetic and epigenetic signatures in response to the invading pathogen shape disease pathophysiology and disease outcomes. Directly linked to the immunometabolic axis is the role of the host microbiome, which is also discussed here in the context of productive immune responses to lung infections.

Clinically Relevant Immune Responses against Cytomegalovirus: Implications for Precision Medicine.

Immune responses to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) can be used to assess immune fitness in an individual. Further to its clinical significance in posttransplantation settings, emerging clinical and translational studies provide examples of immune correlates of protection pertaining to anti-CMV immune responses in the context of cancer or infectious diseases, e.g.

Adaptive hypofractionated gamma knife radiosurgery in the acute management of brainstem metastases.

Background: Intrinsic brainstem metastases are life-threatening neoplasms requiring rapid, effective intervention. Microsurgery is considered not feasible in most cases and systemic treatment seldom provides a successful outcome. In this context, radiation therapy remains the best option but adverse radiation effects (ARE) remain a major concern.

Correction: Identification of neoepitopes recognized by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with glioma.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.24955.

The concept of rapid rescue radiosurgery in the acute management of critically located brain metastases: A retrospective short-term outcome analysis.

Background: Adaptive hypofractionated gamma knife radiosurgery has been used to treat brain metastases in the eloquent regions while limiting the risk of adverse radiation effect (ARE). Ablative responses might be achieved within days to weeks with the goal to preserve the neurological function. The application of this treatment modality in selected acute/subacute settings has been termed Rapid Rescue Radiosurgery (RRR) in our department.

CMV and EBV targets recognized by tumor-infiltrating B lymphocytes in pancreatic cancer and brain tumors.

Targeted antiviral immune responses to the widespread human pathogens cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) play a pivotal role in determining immune fitness. We show here for the first time that tumor-infiltrating B cell (TIB)- derived immunoglobulin G (IgG) from patients with pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma have unique anti-CMV/EBV immune recognition patterns compared to serum IgG. There is also great heterogeneity between patients, as well as between serum and TIB-IgG, while some viral targets elicited strongly both T-cell and IgG reactivity in tumor infiltrating T- and B-cells.

Neoepitope targets of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes from patients with pancreatic cancer.

Background: Pancreatic cancer exhibits a poor prognosis and often presents with metastasis at diagnosis. Immunotherapeutic approaches targeting private cancer mutations (neoantigens) are a clinically viable option to improve clinical outcomes.

Methods: 3/40 TIL lines (PanTT26, PanTT39, PanTT77) were more closely examined for neoantigen recognition.

The impact of inflationary cytomegalovirus-specific memory T cells on anti-tumour immune responses in patients with cancer.

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous, persistent beta herpesvirus. CMV infection contributes to the accumulation of functional antigen-specific CD8 T-cell pools with an effector-memory phenotype and enrichment of these immune cells in peripheral organs. We review here this 'memory T-cell inflation' phenomenon and associated factors including age and sex.

Cytokine Networks and Survivin Peptide-Specific Cellular Immune Responses Predict Improved Survival in Patients With Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Purpose: We investigated serum cytokine and T-cell responses directed against tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) in association with survival of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

Patients And Methods: Peripheral blood from 205 treatment-naïve patients with glioma (GBM = 145; non-GBM = 60) was obtained on the day of surgery to measure (i) circulating T-cells reacting to viral antigens and TAAs, in the presence or absence of cytokine conditioning with IL-2/IL-15/IL-21 or IL-2/IL-7, and (ii) serum cytokine levels (IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-17A). Patients were followed-up for at least 1000 days post-surgery.

Epstein-Barr virus- and cytomegalovirus-specific immune response in patients with brain cancer.

Background: Patients with brain tumor or pancreatic cancer exhibit the poorest prognosis, while immune fitness and cellular immune exhaustion impacts their survival immensely. This work identifies differences in the immune reactivity to the common human pathogens cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) between patients with brain tumor in comparison to those with pancreatic cancer and healthy individuals.

Methods: We characterized the humoral and cellular immune responses of patients with brain tumor or pancreatic cancer to cytomegalovirus structural protein pp65 (CMV-pp65) as well as Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) by whole-blood assay and ELISA.

Prediction of improved survival in patients with pancreatic cancer via IL-21 enhanced detection of mesothelin epitope-reactive T-cell responses.

Most patients with pancreatic cancer present with extensive metastasis at diagnosis, with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 5%, despite chemotherapy and surgery. New treatment modalities are needed to improve survival. Mesothelin is a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) in patients with pancreatic cancer that could be used to gauge cellular immune responses directed against transformed cells since up to 100 percent of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells have been shown to strongly express mesothelin.

Identification of neoepitopes recognized by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with glioma.

Neoepitope-specific T-cell responses have been shown to induce durable clinical responses in patients with advanced cancers. We explored the recognition patterns of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most fatal form of tumors of the central nervous system. Whole-genome sequencing was used for generating DNA sequences representing the entire spectrum of 'private' somatic mutations in GBM tumors from five patients, followed by 15-mer peptide prediction and subsequent peptide synthesis.

Gamma knife radiosurgery in the management of endolymphatic sac tumors.

Background: Although widely regarded as rare epithelial tumors with a low grade of malignancy, endolymphatic sac tumors (ELST) often lead to disabling petrous bone destruction and significantly impairing symptoms at the time of primary diagnosis and/or recurrence. ELST is not uncommon in von Hippel Lindau (VHL) patients. Although open surgery is regarded as the best treatment option, recurrence remains a challenge, particularly when gross tumor resection (GTR) is deemed unachievable due to topographic conditions.

Mesothelin as a novel biomarker and immunotherapeutic target in human glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) presents the most malignant form of glioma, with a 5-year survival rate below 3% despite standard therapy. Novel immune-based therapies in improving treatment outcomes in GBM are therefore warranted. Several molecularly defined targets have been identified mediating anti-GBM cellular immune responses.

NY-ESO-1- and survivin-specific T-cell responses in the peripheral blood from patients with glioma.

The prognosis for patients with glioblastoma is grim. Ex vivo expanded tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-reactive T-cells from patients with glioma may represent a viable source for anticancer-directed cellular therapies. Immunohistochemistry was used to test the survivin (n = 40 samples) and NY-ESO-1 (n = 38 samples) protein expression in tumor specimens.

Mesothelin-specific Immune Responses Predict Survival of Patients With Brain Metastasis.

Background: Patients with advanced malignancies, e.g. lung cancer, ovarian cancer or melanoma, frequently present with brain metastases.

Salvage gamma knife radiosurgery in the management of dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors: Long-term outcome in a single-institution case series.

Background: Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNT/DNET) are rare epileptogenic tumors. Microsurgery remains the best treatment option, although case reports exist on the use of gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) in selected cases. We investigated the long-term outcome of GKRS-treated DNTs at our institution in the context of current diagnostic and treatment options.

Multidisciplinary management of clival chordomas; long-term clinical outcome in a single-institution consecutive series.

Objective: Chordomas of the skull base have high recurrence rates even after radical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy. We evaluate the long-term clinical outcome using multidisciplinary management in the treatment of clival chordomas.

Methods: Between 1984 and 2015, 22 patients diagnosed with an intracranial chordoma were treated at the Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patients with glioma.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may represent a viable source of T cells for the biological treatment of patients with gliomas. Glioma tissue was obtained from 16 patients, tumor cell lines were established, and TILs were expanded in 16/16 cases using a combination of IL-2/IL-15/IL-21. Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS, IL-2, IL-17, TNFα and IFNγ production) as well as a cytotoxicity assay was used to detect TIL reactivity against autologous tumor cells or shared tumor-associated antigens (TAAs; i.

Immune recognition surface construction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis epitope-specific antibody responses in tuberculosis patients identified by peptide microarrays.

Background: Understanding of humoral immune responses in tuberculosis (TB) is gaining interest, since B-cells and antibodies may be important in diagnosis as well as protective immune responses. High-content peptide microarrays (HCPM) are highly precise and reliable for gauging specific antibody responses to pathogens, as well as autoantigens.

Methods: An HCPM comprising epitopes spanning 154 proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was used to gauge specific IgG antibody responses in sera of TB patients from Africa and South America.

Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy for infectious diseases: learning from the cancer paradigm.

Objectives: Immune checkpoint pathways regulate optimal host immune responses against transformed cells, induce immunological memory, and limit tissue pathology. Conversely, aberrant immune checkpoint activity signifies a poor prognosis in cancer and infectious diseases. Host-directed therapy (HDT) via immune checkpoint blockade has revolutionized cancer treatment with therapeutic implications for chronic infections, thus laying the foundation for this review.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins involved in cell wall lipid biosynthesis improve BCG vaccine efficacy in a murine TB model.

Objectives: Advances in tuberculosis (TB) vaccine development are urgently required to enhance global disease management. We evaluated the potential of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb)-derived protein antigens Rv0447c, Rv2957 and Rv2958c to boost BCG vaccine efficacy in the presence or absence of glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant formulated in a stable emulsion (GLA-SE) adjuvant.