CheckMate 040 cohort 5: A phase I/II study of nivolumab in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and Child-Pugh B cirrhosis.

Background & Aims Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC) and Child-Pugh B liver function are often excluded from clinical trials. In previous studies, overall survival for these patients treated with sorafenib was ∼3–5 months; thus, new treatments are needed. Nivolumab, alone or in combination with ipilimumab, is conditionally approved in the United States to treat patients with aHCC who previously received sorafenib. We describe nivolumab monotherapy outcomes in patients with Child-Pugh B status. Methods This phase I/II, open-label, non-comparative, multicentre trial (27 centres) included patients with Child-Pugh B (B7–B8) aHCC. Patients received intravenous nivolumab 240 mg every 2 weeks until unacceptable toxicity or disease progression. Primary endpoints were objective response rate (ORR) by investigator assessment (using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1) and duration of response. Safety was assessed using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0. Results Twenty-five sorafenib-naive and 24 sorafenib-treated patients began treatment between November 2016 and October 2017 (median follow-up, 16.3 months). Investigator-assessed ORR was 12% (95% CI 5–25%) with 6 patients responding; disease control rate was 55% (95% CI 40–69%). Median time to response was 2.7 months (interquartile range, 1.4–4.2), and median duration of response was 9.9 months (95% CI 9.7–9.9). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were reported in 25 patients (51%) and led to discontinuation in 2 patients (4%). The most frequent grade 3/4 TRAEs were hypertransaminasemia (n = 2), amylase increase (n = 2), and aspartate aminotransferase increase (n = 2). The safety of nivolumab was comparable to that in patients with Child-Pugh A aHCC. Conclusions Nivolumab showed clinical activity and favourable safety with manageable toxicities, suggesting it could be suitable for patients with Child-Pugh B aHCC. Lay summary In patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, almost all systemic therapies require very good liver function, i.e. Child-Pugh A status. The evidence from this study suggests that nivolumab shows clinical activity and an acceptable safety profile in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with Child-Pugh B status who have mild to moderate impairment of liver function or liver decompensation that might rule out other therapies. Further studies are warranted to assess the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in this patient population. Clinical trial number NCT01658878

The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO

DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry– Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre- DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024

DECIGO pathfinder

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article

Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) Vaccine Effectiveness Against Symptomatic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection During Delta-Dominant and Omicron-Dominant Periods in Japan: A Multicenter Prospective Case-control Study (Factors Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection and the Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines Study)

Background. Although several coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines initially showed high efficacy, there have been concerns because of waning immunity and the emergence of variants with immune escape capacity.Methods. A test-negative design case-control study was conducted in 16 healthcare facilities in Japan during the Deltadominant period (August-September 2021) and the Omicron-dominant period (January-March 2022). Vaccine effectiveness (VE) against symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection was calculated for 2 doses for the Deltadominant period and 2 or 3 doses for the Omicron-dominant period compared with unvaccinated individuals.Results. The analysis included 5795 individuals with 2595 (44.8%) cases. Among vaccinees, 2242 (55.8%) received BNT162b2 and 1624 (40.4%) received messenger RNA (mRNA)-1273 at manufacturer-recommended intervals. During the Delta-dominant period, VE was 88% (95% confidence interval [CI], 82–93) 14 days to 3 months after dose 2 and 87% (95% CI, 38–97) 3 to 6 months after dose 2. During the Omicron-dominant period, VE was 56% (95% CI, 37–70) 14 days to 3 months since dose 2, 52% (95% CI, 40–62) 3 to 6 months after dose 2, 49% (95% CI, 34–61) 6+ months after dose 2, and 74% (95% CI, 62–83) 14+ days after dose 3. Restricting to individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19 and additional adjustment for preventive measures (ie, mask wearing/high-risk behaviors) yielded similar estimates, respectively.Conclusions. In Japan, where most are infection-naïve, and strict prevention measures are maintained regardless of vaccination status, 2-dose mRNA vaccines provided high protection against symptomatic infection during the Delta-dominant period and moderate protection during the Omicron-dominant period. Among individuals who received an mRNA booster dose, VE recovered to a high level

The status of DECIGO

DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) is the planned Japanese space gravitational wave antenna, aiming to detect gravitational waves from astrophysically and cosmologically significant sources mainly between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz and thus to open a new window for gravitational wave astronomy and for the universe. DECIGO will consists of three drag-free spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with 1000 km arm lengths whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry-Perot interferometer, and four units of triangular Fabry-Perot interferometers are arranged on heliocentric orbit around the sun. DECIGO is vary ambitious mission, we plan to launch DECIGO in era of 2030s after precursor satellite mission, B-DECIGO. B-DECIGO is essentially smaller version of DECIGO: B-DECIGO consists of three spacecraft arranged in an triangle with 100 km arm lengths orbiting 2000 km above the surface of the earth. It is hoped that the launch date will be late 2020s for the present

Decreases in 15-lipoxygenase metabolites in Olmsted syndrome model rats

Background: Olmsted syndrome (OS) is a congenital dermatosis characterized by palmoplantar keratoderma and periorificial keratotic plaque. TRPV3 (transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype 3) encodes a thermosensitive Ca2+ channel and is the causative gene of OS. However, the molecular mechanism that causes the pathological development of OS is unclear. Objective: We aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying OS pathology from the perspective of lipid metabolism. Methods: Comprehensive lipidomics and microarray analyses were conducted on tissue samples from a non-lesional skin area of OS model rats (Ht rats) and from wild type (WT) rats as the control. Results: Infiltration of leukocytes such as eosinophils and neutrophils and an increase in the fibrotic region were detected in the unaffected skin area of Ht rats compared with the WT rats. Among about 600 lipid species examined, the levels of 15-lipoxygenase (LOX) metabolites, the precursors of anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving lipid mediators, and dihydroceramides decreased by >= 16-fold in Ht rats compared with WT rats: Consistent with the decreases in the 15-LOX metabolites, expression levels of the genes that encode the 15-LOXs, Alox15 and Alox15b, were largely reduced. Conversely, increased expression levels were detected of 1136b, Cc120, Cxcl1, and Cxcl2, which encode cytokines/chemokines, and S100a8 and S100a9, which encode the Ca2+ binding proteins that are implicated in epidermal proliferation. Conclusion: The pro-inflammatory state in the unaffected skin of Ht rats caused by decreases in 15-LOX metabolites and increases in cytokines/chemokines may contribute to the pathogenesis of OS. (C) 2016 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

AM251 Suppresses Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells is one of the causative mechanisms of kidney fibrosis. In our study, we screened lipophilic compounds using a lipid library including approximately 200 lipids to identify those that suppressed EMT induced by a transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 stimulus. Initial screening was performed with the immortalized HK-2 renal tubule epithelial cell line. The most promising compounds were further tested in RPTEC primary renal tubule epithelial cells. We found that the synthetic lipid AM251 suppressed two hallmark events associated with EMT, the upregulation of collagen 1A1 (COL1A1) and downregulation of E-cadherin. Though AM251 is known to act as an antagonist for the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and an agonist for the G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GRP55), the suppression of EMT by AM251 was not mediated through either receptor. Microarray analyses revealed that AM251 inhibited induction of several EMT transcription factors such as SNAIL1, which is the key inducer of EMT, and the AP-1 transcription factors FOSB and JUNB. Activation of SMAD2/3 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was inhibited by AM251, with greater inhibition of the latter, indicating that AM251 acted upstream of SMAD/p38 MAPK in the TGF-beta signaling pathway. Our findings regarding the effects of AM251 on the TGF-beta signaling pathway may inform development of a novel therapeutic agent suppressing EMT, thus preventing kidney fibrosis