Proceedings of the 2016 China Cancer Immunotherapy Workshop

A1 Proceedings of 2016 China Cancer Immunotherapy Workshop, Beijing, China Bin Xue, Jiaqi Xu, Wenru Song, Zhimin Yang, Ke Liu, Zihai Li A2 Set the stage: fundamental immunology in forty minutes Zihai Li A3 What have we learnt from the anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy of advanced human cancer? Lieping Chen A4 Immune checkpoint inhibitors in lung cancer Edward B. Garon A5 Mechanisms of response and resistance to checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma Siwen Hu-Lieskovan A6 Checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in lymphoid malignancies Wei Ding A7 Translational research to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy in genitourinary malignancies Chong-Xian Pan A8 Immune checkpoint inhibitors in gastrointestinal malignancies Weijing Sun A9 What’s next beyond PD-1/PDL1? Yong-Jun Liu A10 Cancer vaccines: new insights into the oldest immunotherapy strategy Lei Zheng A11 Bispecific antibodies for cancer immunotherapy Delong Liu A12 Updates on CAR-T immunotherapy Michel Sadelain A13 Adoptive T cell therapy: personalizing cancer treatment Cassian Yee A14 Immune targets and neoantigens for cancer immunotherapy Rongfu Wang A15 Phase I/IIa trial of chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells against CD133 in patients with advanced and metastatic solid tumors Meixia Chen, Yao Wang, Zhiqiang Wu, Hanren Dai, Can Luo, Yang Liu, Chuan Tong, Yelei Guo, Qingming Yang, Weidong Han A16 Cancer immunotherapy biomarkers: progress and issues Lisa H. Butterfield A17 Shaping of immunotherapy response by cancer genomes Timothy A. Chan A18 Unique development consideration for cancer immunotherapy Wenru Song A19 Immunotherapy combination Ruirong Yuan A20 Immunotherapy combination with radiotherapy Bo Lu A21 Cancer immunotherapy: past, present and future Ke Liu A22 Breakthrough therapy designation drug development and approval Max Ning A23 Current European regulation of innovative oncology medicines: opportunities for immunotherapy Harald Enzmann, Heinz Zwierzina     

The Differential Expression of EphB2 and EphB4 Receptor Kinases in Normal Bladder and in Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder

Effective treatment of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder requires early diagnosis. Identifying novel molecular markers in TCC would guide the development of diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Ephrins mediate signals via tyrosine kinase activity that modulates diverse physiologic and developmental processes, and ephrins are increasingly implicated in carcinogenesis. The aim of our study was to examine the differential regulation of EphB4 and EphB2 in normal bladder and in TCC of the bladder in 40 patients undergoing radical cystectomy for curative intent. Immunostaining and Western blotting revealed that normal urothelium expresses EphB2 (20 of 24 cases, 83% of the time) not EphB4 (0 of 24 cases, 0%). In sharp contrast, TCC specimens show loss of EphB2 expression (0 of 34 cases, 0%) and gain of EphB4 expression (32 of 34, 94%). Furthermore, EphB4 signal strength statistically correlated with higher tumor stage, and trended toward the presence of carcinoma in situ (CIS). These results are confirmed by analysis of normal urothelial and tumor cell lines. EphB2 is not a survival factor in normal urothelium, while EphB4 is a survival factor in TCC. Treatment of bladder tumor xenograft with an EphB4 inhibitor sEphB4-HSA leads to 62% tumor regression and complete remission when combined with Bevacizumab. Furthermore, tissue analysis revealed that sEphB4-HSA led to increased apoptosis, decreased proliferation, and reduced vessel density, implicating direct tumor cell targeting as well as anti-angiogenesis effect. In summary loss of EphB2 and gain of EphB4 expression represents an inflection point in the development, growth and possibly progression of TCC. Therapeutic compounds targeting EphB4 have potential for diagnosing and treating TCC.     

Dermatoglyphics from All Chinese Ethnic Groups Reveal Geographic Patterning

Completion of a survey of dermatoglyphic variables for all ethnic groups in an ethnically diverse country like China is a huge research project, and an achievement that anthropological and dermatoglyphic scholars in the country could once only dream of. However, through the endeavors of scientists in China over the last 30 years, the dream has become reality. This paper reports the results of a comprehensive analysis of dermatoglyphics from all ethnic groups in China. Using cluster analysis and principal component analysis of dermatoglyphics, it has been found that Chinese populations can be generally divided into a southern group and a northern group. Furthermore, there has been considerable debate about the origins of many Chinese populations and about proper assignment of these peoples to larger ethnic groups. In this paper, we suggest that dermatoglyphic data can inform these debates by helping to classify a Chinese population as a northern or southern group, using selected reference populations and quantitative methods. This study is the first to assemble and investigate dermatoglyphics from all 56 Chinese ethnic groups. It is fortunate that data on population dermatoglyphics, a field of physical anthropology, have now been collected for all 56 Chinese ethnic groups, because intermarriage between individuals from different Chinese ethnic groups occurs more frequently in recent times, making population dermatoglyphic research an ever more challenging field of inquiry.     

水生植物荇菜和菹草分解对物种混合的响应研究

为探讨水生植物混合的分解效应, 研究了浮叶植物荇菜(Nymphoides peltatum)、沉水植物菹草(Potamogeton crispus)及两物种混合的分解速率和养分动态。结果显示: (1)两单物种的分解速率与初始N含量呈显著正相关关系(P 0.05, r=0.862), 荇菜和菹草分解90d后的干重剩余率分别为24.74%和44.91%。物种混合干重剩余率在分解初期阶段的实测值比期望值高6.63% (P 0.05), 表明物种混合对分解速率具有拮抗效应, 但在随后的分解时间里无显著的混合效应, 分解90d后干重剩余率为30.39%; (2)在分解初期的N、P释放阶段, 物种混合的N、P剩余率实测值比其期望值分别高14.36%和12.88% (P 0.05), 表明物种混合对初期N、P元素释放具有拮抗效应, 在随后的分解过程中对N元素无显著的混合效应, 但分解后期P剩余率实测值比期望值低4.26% (P 0.05), 表现为协同效应; (3)物种混合N、P动态在分解初期呈一个快速释放的过程, 但在随后的分解阶段N元素释放或积累, P元素持续释放, 最终N、P均表现为净释放, 与两单物种分解的N、P动态的规律基本一致。另外, 总酚在物种混合分解初期释放迅速, 随后释放缓慢。研究结果表明, 荇菜和菹草混合分解存在非加和效应, 即单物种的分解速率和营养动态变化不能用来预测两物种混合的分解速率和营养动态变化。物种混合在分解的不同阶段其分解效应不同, 这说明混合效应具出一定的时间依赖性。此外, 混合效应与浮叶植物和沉水植物其初始质量特征有较密切的关系。