IntroductionCharacterization of the tumour immune infiltrate (notably CD8+ T-cells) has strong predictive survival value for cancer patients. Quantification of CD8 T-cells alone cannot determine antigenic experience, as not all infiltrating T-cells recognize tumour antigens. Activated tumour-specific tissue resident memory CD8 T-cells (TRM) can be defined by the co-express of CD103, CD39 and CD8. We investigated the hypothesis that the abundance and localization of TRM provides a higher-resolution route to patient stratification.MethodsA comprehensive series of 1000 colorectal cancer (CRC) were arrayed on a tissue microarray, with representative cores from three tumour locations and the adjacent normal mucosa. Using multiplex immunohistochemistry we quantified and determined the localization of TRM.ResultsAcross all patients, activated TRM were an independent predictor of survival, and superior to CD8 alone. Patients with the best survival had immune-hot tumours heavily infiltrated throughout with activated TRM. Interestingly, differences between right- and left-sided tumours were apparent. In left-sided CRC, only the presence of activated TRM (and not CD8 alone) was prognostically significant. Patients with low numbers of activated TRM cells had a poor prognosis even with high CD8 T-cell infiltration. In contrast, in right-sided CRC, high CD8 T-cell infiltration with low numbers of activated TRM was a good prognosis.ConclusionThe presence of high intra-tumoural CD8 T-cells alone is not a predictor of survival in left-sided CRC and potentially risks under treatment of patients. Measuring both high tumour-associated TRM and total CD8 T-cells in left-sided disease has the potential to minimize current under-treatment of patients. The challenge will be to design immunotherapies, for left-sided CRC patients with high CD8 T-cells and low activate TRM,that result in effective immune responses and thereby improve patient survival.

Bortezomib (BTZ) is a first-in-class reversible and selective proteasome inhibitor. It inhibits the ubiquitin proteasome pathway that leads to the degradation of many intracellular proteins. Initially, BTZ was FDA approved for the treatment of refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma (MM) in 2003. Later, its usage was approved for patients with previously untreated MM. In 2006, BTZ was approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) and, in 2014, for previously untreated MCL. BTZ has been extensively studied either alone or in combination with other drugs for the treatment of different liquid tumors especially in MM. However, limited data evaluated the efficacy and safety of using BTZ in patients with solid tumors. In this review, we will discuss the advanced and novel mechanisms of action of BTZ documented in MM, solid tumors and liquid tumors. Moreover, we will shed the light on the newly discovered pharmacological effects of BTZ in other prevalent diseases.

The present study explores the potential of the new sulfonamide derivatives coupled with salicylamide or anisamide scaffold as immune checkpoint PD-L1 inhibitors. Based on in silico virtual screening 32 derivatives were synthesized and tested in vitro as PD-L1 inhibitors using screening ELISA assay. Five compounds gave promised results with more than 50% inhibition. The most active, with activity 57.152%, was 5-Chloro-N-(4-(N-(3-fluorophenyl)sulfamoyl)phenethyl)salicylamide (30). The other compounds were 5-Chloro-2-methoxy-N-(4-(N-(4-fluorophenyl)sulfamoyl)benzyl)benzamide (4, 53.327%), 5-Chloro-2-methoxy-N-(4-(N-(4-methylphenyl)sulfamoyl)phenethyl)benzamide (17, 51.253%), 5-Chloro-N-(4-(N-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)sulfamoyl)phenethyl)salicylamide (31, 51.058%) and 5-Chloro-2-methoxy-N-(4-(N-(2,4-difluorophenyl)sulfamoyl)benzyl)benzamide (7, 50.993). All compounds were found to be safe and have no cytotoxic effect against the fibroblast cell lines. Moreover, compound 4, 7, 17, and 30 should no or little anti-proliferative activity against the cell lines use in this study except compound 4, which have anti-proliferative activity against PC-3 (66.640%). On the other hand, compound 31 should remark activities against the cell lines MCF7, DU-145, and PC-3. In general, human prostate cancer cell line PC-3 is highly sensitive towards some of the 32 compounds tested at 10 μmol. The molecular docking study and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) analysis of the bioactive compounds were used to elucidate the mode-of-action mechanism.