Cancer is a condition that has plagued humanity for thousands of years, with the first depictions dating back to ancient Egyptian times. However, not until recent decades have biological therapeutics been developed and refined enough to safely and effectively combat cancer. Three unique immunotherapies have gained traction in recent decades: adoptive T cell transfer, checkpoint inhibitors, and bivalent antibodies. Each has led to clinically approved therapies, as well as to therapies in preclinical and ongoing clinical trials. In this review, we outline the method by which these 3 immunotherapies function as well as any major immunotherapeutic drugs developed for treating a variety of cancers.

spp. are emerging infectious pathogens, especially in the Americas. Although is primarily a parasite of dogs, polymerase chain reaction-confirmed human infections have been reported from Mexico, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. This study reports the presence of DNA in 13.7% of 205 dogs from urban areas in Peru and of those, five were analyzed for phylogenetic variation using the Tandem Repeat Protein 36 (TRP36) gene. The use of the TRP36 gene for such analysis was validated against 16S rRNA and heat shock protein genes using Shannon's entropy bioinformatic approach. When compared with other strains previously reported, three unique and novel strains were detected. In addition, the TRP36 amino acid tandem repeat sequences of the Peruvian strains share close similarity to an strain detected from four human blood bank samples in Costa Rica. This study reports for the first time domestic dogs infected with strains closely related to a zoonotic strain, which may be of public health concern as dogs can be chronically infected with this pathogen.

is an emerging zoonotic pathogen present in the United States, South America, and Europe. The molecular detection of frequently relies on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays that target the genus coupled with DNA sequencing for species determination. However, the presence of other spp. in the sample being tested may result in false-negative results for, especially when Sanger sequencing is used. We developed a sensitive and specific quantitative PCR platform for by targeting the intergenic transcribed spacer,, and genes, which are recommended for subtyping characterization. This PCR platform achieved the limit of detection between five and 10 genomic equivalents per reaction and did not amplify DNA from other species or selected hosts. This PCR platform is a fast and cost-effective option to be used in epidemiological evaluations of reservoirs and vectors and in detecting and quantifying infection in humans.

Background Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) impact both human and veterinary medicine and pose special public health challenges. The main bacterial vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) of importance in veterinary medicine include Anaplasma spp., Bartonella spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia. Taxon-targeted PCR assays are the current gold standard for VBP diagnostics but limitations on the detection of genetically diverse organisms support a novel approach for broader detection of VBPs. We present a methodology for genetic characterization of VBPs using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and computational approaches. A major advantage of NGS is the ability to detect multiple organisms present in the same clinical sample in an unsupervised (i.e. non-targeted) and semi-quantitative way. The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) presented here combines industry-standard microbiome analysis tools with our ad-hoc bioinformatic scripts to form a complete analysis pipeline accessible to veterinary scientists and freely available for download and use at https://github.com/eltonjrv/microbiome.westernu/tree/SOP. Results We tested and validated our SOP by mimicking single, double, and triple infections in genomic canine DNA using serial dilutions of plasmids containing the entire 16 S rRNA gene sequence of (A) phagocytophilum, (B) v. berkhoffii, and E. canis. NGS with broad-range 16 S rRNA primers followed by our bioinformatics SOP was capable of detecting these pathogens in biological replicates of different dilutions. These results illustrate the ability of NGS to detect and genetically characterize multi-infections with different amounts of pathogens in a single sample. Conclusions Bloodborne microbiomics & metagenomics approaches may help expand the molecular diagnostic toolbox in veterinary and human medicine. In this paper, we present both in vitro and in silico detailed protocols that can be combined into a single workflow that may provide a significant improvement in VBP diagnostics and also facilitate future applications of microbiome research in veterinary medicine.