centanamycin (AS-1-145) / AstraZeneca - LARVOL DELTA

A chemical method for generating live-attenuated, replication-defective DNA viruses for vaccine development. (PubMed, Cell Rep Methods) - "In this study, we have developed a method to produce live-attenuated, replication-defective viruses using centanamycin (CM), a chemical compound that alkylates the A-T-rich minor groove of the DNA and thereby blocks DNA replication...Moreover, mice immunization with CM-attenuated mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV) produced a robust immune response and reduced the viral load in immunized animals against challenges with live, wild-type MCMV. Our study offers a unifying and attractive therapeutic opportunity that chemically attenuated live DNA viruses can be readily developed as new frontline vaccines."

Journal • Cytomegalovirus Infection • Herpes Simplex

Pharmacokinetic (PK) and exposure-response (ER) analysis of pertuzumab (P) in patients (pts) with HER2-positive metastatic gastroesophageal junction and gastric cancer (mGEJC/GC). (ASCO 2018) - P3; "...In JACOB, while there was evidence of treatment activity, addition of P to trastuzumab (H) and chemotherapy (CT) in 1st-line therapy did not significantly improve overall survival (OS) vs placebo (Pla)+H+CT (hazard ratio: 0.84 [95% CI 0.711.00], median OS 17.5 vs 14.2 months), in pts with HER2+ mGEJC/GC...Mean Cmin,ss Cycle 6 for P was 11451.8 g/mL, 99.3% of pts had Cmin,ss for P 20 g/mL... In JACOB, the 840 mg q3w P dose achieved target Cmin,ss in > 99% pts with HER2+ mGEJC/GC. ER analysis showed no correlation between P trough conc and OS. PK data were consistent with prior GC (P: 840 mg) and BC (P: 840 mg/420 mg) studies and higher P CL in HER2+ mGEJC/GC vs other tumor types."

Clinical • PK/PD data • Gastric Cancer • HER2 Breast Cancer • Hormone Receptor Breast Cancer

A CRISPR-Cas12a-based specific enhancer for more sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. (PubMed, EBioMedicine) - "SENA increases both the sensitivity and the specificity of rRT-PCR, solving the uncertainty problem in COVID-19 diagnosis and thus providing a simple and low-cost companion diagnosis for combating the pandemic."

Journal • Infectious Disease • Novel Coronavirus Disease

[VIRTUAL] Resveratrol can miss laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma cells from immune response (ESHG 2020) - "As a result of the study, gene expression relative change levels for EGFR, MYC, and PD-L1 were determined as 1.145, 0.475, 2.695, respectively. According to these results, resveratrol did not cause a significant change in EGFR and MYC expression levels in the LSCC cell line, while it significantly increased PD-L1 levels. It has been found interesting because the resveratrol, which is normally included in the literature as an anticancer, increases levels of PD-L1 because it is likely to support escape from the immune response."

IO Biomarker • Oncology • Squamous Cell Carcinoma • Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck • EGFR • MYC • PD-L1