Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Insights into Its Potential Role in the Era of New Immunotherapeutic and Targeted Therapies: The GETH/GELTAMO Experience

Allo-SCT is a curative option for selected patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) MCL, but with significant NRM. We present the long-term results of patients receiving allo-SCT in Spain from March 1995 to February 2020. The primary endpoints were EFS, OS, and cumulative incidence (CI) of NRM, relapse, and GVHD. We included 135 patients, most (85%) receiving RIC. After a median follow-up of 68 months, 5-year EFS and OS were 47 and 50%, respectively. Overall and CR rates were 86 and 80%. The CI of relapse at 1 and 3 years were 7 and 12%. NRM at day 100 and 1 year were 17 and 32%. Previous ASCT and Grade 3-4 aGVHD were associated with a higher NRM. Grade 3-4 aGVHD, donor type (mismatch non-related), and the time-period 2006-2020 were independently related to worse EFS. Patients from 1995-2005 were younger, most from HLA-identical sibling donors, and were pretreated less. Our data confirmed that allo-SCT may be a curative option in R/R MCL with low a CI of relapse, although NRM is still high, being mainly secondary to aGVHD. The arrival of new, highly effective and low toxic immunotherapeutic or targeted therapies inevitably will relegate allo-SCT to those fit patients who fail these therapies, far away from the optimal timing of treatment

A Novel Therapy for Melanoma Developed in Mice: Transformation of Melanoma into Dendritic Cells with Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive bacteria and human pathogen widely used in cancer immunotherapy because of its capacity to induce a specific cytotoxic T cell response in tumours. This bacterial pathogen strongly induces innate and specific immunity with the potential to overcome tumour induced tolerance and weak immunogenicity. Here, we propose a Listeria based vaccination for melanoma based in its tropism for these tumour cells and its ability to transform in vitro and in vivo melanoma cells into matured and activated dendritic cells with competent microbicidal and antigen processing abilities. This Listeria based vaccination using low doses of the pathogen caused melanoma regression by apoptosis as well as bacterial clearance. Vaccination efficacy is LLO dependent and implies the reduction of LLO-specific CD4+ T cell responses, strong stimulation of innate pro-inflammatory immune cells and a prevalence of LLO-specific CD8+ T cells involved in tumour regression and Listeria elimination. These results support the use of low doses of pathogenic Listeria as safe melanoma therapeutic vaccines that do not require antibiotics for bacterial removal

Large enhancement of deuteron polarization with frequency modulated microwaves

We report a large enhancement of 1.7 in deuteron polarization up to values of 0.6 due to frequency modulation of the polarizing microwaves in a two liters polarized target using the method of dynamic nuclear polarization. This target was used during a deep inelastic polarized muon-deuteron scattering experiment at CERN. Measurements of the electron paramagnetic resonance absorption spectra show that frequency modulation gives rise to additional microwave absorption in the spectral wings. Although these results are not understood theoretically, they may provide a useful testing ground for the deeper understanding of dynamic nuclear polarization.Comment: 10 pages, including the figures coming in uuencoded compressed tar files in poltar.uu, which also brings cernart.sty and crna12.sty files neede

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

Measurement of the deuteron polarization in a large target

Adeva B, Ahmad S, Arvidson A, et al. Measurement of the deuteron polarization in a large target. Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A. 1994;349(2-3):334-344

Combined analysis of world data on nucleon spin structure functions

Adeva B, Ahmad S, Arvidson A, et al. Combined analysis of world data on nucleon spin structure functions. Phys.Lett. B. 1994;320(3-4):400-406

Measurement of the polarisation of a high energy muon beam

Adeva B, Ahmad S, Arvidson A, et al. Measurement of the polarisation of a high energy muon beam. Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A. 1994;343(2-3):363-373

Measurement of the spin-dependent structure function g1(x) of the deuteron

Adeva B, Ahmad S, Arvidson A, et al. Measurement of the spin-dependent structure function g1(x) of the deuteron. Phys.Lett. B. 1993;302(4):533-539