This study evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) immune cell response during neoadjuvant primary systemic therapy (PST) with trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive primary breast cancer. In all, 23 patients with IHC 3 þ primary breast cancer were treated with trastuzumab plus docetaxel. Pathological complete and partial responses were documented for nine (39%) and 14 (61%) patients, respectively. Case-matched controls comprised patients treated with docetaxel-based PST without trastuzumab (D; n ¼ 23) or PST without docetaxel or trastuzumab (non-taxane, non-trastuzumab, NT -NT; n ¼ 23). All surgical specimens were blind-analysed by two independent pathologists, with immunohistochemical evaluation of B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Potential cytolytic cells were stained for Granzyme B and TiA1. HER2 expression was also evaluated in residual tumour cells. Trastuzumab treatment was associated with significantly increased numbers of tumour-associated NK cells and increased lymphocyte expression of Granzyme B and TiA1 compared with controls. This study supports an in vivo role for immune (particularly NK cell) responses in the mechanism of trastuzumab action in breast cancer. These results suggest that trastuzumab plus taxanes lead to enhanced NK cell activity, which may partially account for the synergistic activity of trastuzumab and docetaxel in breast cancer.

No abstract

Although the proportion of HTR developing new tumors is greater as compared with KTR, the mean number of tumors per patient is higher in KTR. This could be due to a longer immunosuppression in patients younger at transplantation.

B-lymphoproliferative disorder (BLPD) is a rare but severe complication of organ and bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Profound cytotoxic T-cell deficiency is thought to allow the outgrowth of Epstein-Barr virus–transformed B cells. When possible, reduction of immunosuppressive treatment or surgery for localized disease may cure BLPD. Therapeutic approaches using chemotherapy or antiviral drugs have limited effects on survival. Adoptive immunotherapy with donor T-cell infusions has given promising results in BMT recipients. We previously reported that administration of two monoclonal anti–B-cell antibodies (anti-CD21 and anti-CD24) could contribute to the control of oligoclonal BLPD. Here we report the long-term results of treatment with these monoclonal anti–B-cell antibodies for cases of severe BLPD. In an open multicenter trial, 58 patients in whom aggressive B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder developed after BMT (n = 27) or organ (n = 31) transplantation received 0.2 mg/kg/d of specific anti-CD21 and anti-CD24 murine monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) for 10 days. The treatment was well tolerated. Thirty-six of the 59 episodes of BLPD in the 58 patients presented complete remission (61%). The relapse rate was low (3 of 36, 8%). Multivariate analysis identified the following risk factors for partial or no response to anti–B-cell MoAb therapy: multivisceral disease (P ≤ .005), central nervous system involvement (P ≤ .05), and late onset of BLPD (P ≤ .005). The overall long-term survival was 46% (median follow-up, 61 months); it was lower among BMT patients (35%) than organ transplant patients (55%). None of the patients who had received BMT for hematological malignancy survived for 1 year. Eight of these 11 patients presented monoclonal BLPD. Tumor burden was the only other variable that contributed significantly to poor survival. Thus, as assessed from this long-term study, the use of anti–B-cell MoAbs therefore appears to be a safe and relatively effective therapy for severe posttransplant BLPD. © 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the benefit of switching from calcineurin inhibitors (CnI) to sirolimus in posttransplant Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Fourteen patients monitored in five French departments who had developed posttransplant KS were switched from CnI to sirolimus either abruptly (n = 9) or progressively (n = 5) with trough levels 5-12 ng/mL. Two patients had a complete remission, eight a partial response, and five no significant improvement of KS. The mean time to response was 3.9 months. After a mean follow-up of 16 months, 3 partial responders, with previous severe and refractory KS, suffered again from KS progression despite the lack of concomitant infectious or neoplastic event. These relapses occurred 5-9 months after switching. The tolerance of sirolimus has been excellent except for in one patient who developed severe interstitial pneumonitis. Sirolimus is usually useful in the management of posttransplant KS. It may be, however, ineffective or transiently effective in some patients with severe KS. Prospective studies with pharmacodynamic evaluation are important in order to better assess the duration of responses and the mechanisms of primary and acquired drug resistance.

PST with trastuzumab plus docetaxel achieved promising efficacy, with a high pCR rate and good tolerability, in women with stage II or III HER2-positive breast cancer.

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated Although phenotypic analysis of LPDs has suggested similarities with LCLs, based on positive immunohistology for CD23, CD58 (LFA-3), and CD54 (ICAM-1) in three lesions (12), other studies found positive CD23 expression in only five of nine LPD lesions (13), and three lesions were positive for the expression of CD38, a surface antigen associated with plasma-cell formation (13). Furthermore, histopathologic analysis characterizes LPD as polymorphic B-cell immunoblasts with variable degrees ofplasmacytoid features (14)(15)(16).In this study, we have addressed the question of whether EBV-associated LPDs are mature LCL-like activated B cells or represent a more differentiated plasmacytoid phenotype, by examining patterns of cellular and viral gene expression in EBV-induced LPDs of severe combined immunodeficiency/ human (SCID/hu) chimeric mice, a model that has been shown to be remarkably similar to human posttransplant . Recent studies on EBV-induced tumor formation in SCID/hu chimeric mice have shown that CD23 and CD20 expression by the tumor cells is greatly reduced relative to donor-matched LCLs (20,21) and that tumor cells have a plasmacytoid morphology (17, 18). We injected LCLs into SCID mice and compared the resultant tumor cells to the input LCL. Analysis of LCL-derived tumors, rather than tumors arising in SCID mice engrafted with human peripheral blood (17, 18, 20), ensures that all tumor cells are EBVinfected and avoids the possible presence of reactive (i.e., uninfected) B-cell populations. We present data to show that phenotypic changes in the tumor cells consistent with a terminally differentiated plasma cell were observed and that the tumor cells have significantly reduced EBNA2 and LMP1 gene expression relative to the input LCLs, indicating that

B-lymphoproliferative disorder (BLPD) is a rare but severe complication of organ and bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Profound cytotoxic T-cell deficiency is thought to allow the outgrowth of Epstein-Barr virus–transformed B cells. When possible, reduction of immunosuppressive treatment or surgery for localized disease may cure BLPD. Therapeutic approaches using chemotherapy or antiviral drugs have limited effects on survival. Adoptive immunotherapy with donor T-cell infusions has given promising results in BMT recipients. We previously reported that administration of two monoclonal anti–B-cell antibodies (anti-CD21 and anti-CD24) could contribute to the control of oligoclonal BLPD. Here we report the long-term results of treatment with these monoclonal anti–B-cell antibodies for cases of severe BLPD. In an open multicenter trial, 58 patients in whom aggressive B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder developed after BMT (n = 27) or organ (n = 31) transplantation received 0.2 mg/kg/d of specific anti-CD21 and anti-CD24 murine monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) for 10 days. The treatment was well tolerated. Thirty-six of the 59 episodes of BLPD in the 58 patients presented complete remission (61%). The relapse rate was low (3 of 36, 8%). Multivariate analysis identified the following risk factors for partial or no response to anti–B-cell MoAb therapy: multivisceral disease (P ≤ .005), central nervous system involvement (P ≤ .05), and late onset of BLPD (P ≤ .005). The overall long-term survival was 46% (median follow-up, 61 months); it was lower among BMT patients (35%) than organ transplant patients (55%). None of the patients who had received BMT for hematological malignancy survived for 1 year. Eight of these 11 patients presented monoclonal BLPD. Tumor burden was the only other variable that contributed significantly to poor survival. Thus, as assessed from this long-term study, the use of anti–B-cell MoAbs therefore appears to be a safe and relatively effective therapy for severe posttransplant BLPD. © 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.