In line with the literature, after acute administration ginkgo improved performance in tests of attention and memory. However, there were no effects after 6 weeks, suggesting that tolerance develops to the effects in young, healthy participants.
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare but clinically aggressive cancer with a high mortality rate. In recent years, antibodies blocking the interactions among PD-1 and its ligands have generated durable tumor regressions in patients with advanced MCC. However, there is a paucity of data regarding effective therapy for patients whose disease is refractory to PD-1 pathway blockade. This retrospective case series describes a heterogeneous group of patients treated with additional immune checkpoint blocking therapy after MCC progression through anti-PD-1. Among 13 patients treated with anti-CTLA-4, alone or in combination with anti-PD-1, objective responses were seen in 4 (31%). Additionally, one patient with MCC refractory to anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 experienced tumor regression with anti-PD-L1. Our report – the largest case series to date describing this patient population – provides evidence that sequentially-administered salvage immune checkpoint blocking therapy can potentially activate anti-tumor immunity in patients with advanced anti-PD-1-refractory MCC and provides a strong rationale for formally testing these agents in multicenter clinical trials. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, our report is the first to demonstrate possible anti-tumor activity of second-line treatment with a PD-L1 antibody in a patient with anti-PD-1-refractory disease.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s40425-019-0661-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Irrational prescribing of PPIs continues both in hospital and in general practise. It is imperative that the side-effects of these medicines are weighed against the benefit and cost effectiveness, especially in the elderly population where polypharmacy remains a substantial concern.
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