Inflammatory cell infiltrate in a responding metastatic nodule after vaccine-based immunotherapy

A patient with von Hippel Lindau disease, bilateral symmetric renal cell carcinoma and pulmonary metastases treated with immunotherapy is the subject of this study. A left kidney and tumour mass were removed and the tumour cells used to make an autologous tumour/bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine as part of the treatment protocol. The patient's pulmonary nodules responded, but the remaining renal nodule subsequently grew. Samples of both tumours were obtained allowing for an internally controlled evaluation of the histological and immunohistologic differences between a responding and non-responding tumour nodule after therapy. The immunotherapy protocol is designed to promote a T cell response to autologous tumour. Cellular infiltrates were demonstrated in both responding and non-responding nodules compared with the pretreatment tumour specimen, but the responding nodule contained proportionately more T cells as well as markedly increased numbers of plasma cells and granulocytes. This suggested that several arms of the immune system may have been operative in the responding nodule

A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance

We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known species of urban microorganisms and a consistent set of 31 species found in 97% of samples that were distinct from human commensal organisms. Profiles of AMR genes varied widely in type and density across cities. Cities showed distinct microbial taxonomic signatures that were driven by climate and geographic differences. These results constitute a high-resolution global metagenomic atlas that enables discovery of organisms and genes, highlights potential public health and forensic applications, and provides a culture-independent view of AMR burden in cities