Post-surgery adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer has effectively reduced metastatic recurrence rates1. However, a significant proportion of women suffer recurrent cancer at distant metastatic sites despite adjuvant treatment. Identification of the genes critical for tumor response to specific chemotherapy drugs is a challenge, but necessary to improve outcomes2. Using integrated genomics, we identified a small number of over-expressed and amplified genes from chromosome 8q22 significantly associated with early disease recurrence despite anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy. The association was confirmed in an analysis of multiple independent cohorts. Two of these genes, the anti-apoptotic gene YWHAZ, and LAPTM4B, a novel lysosomal gene, sensitized tumor cells to anthracyclines when either was depleted by siRNA knockdown and induced drug resistance when either was over-expressed. Over-expression of LAPTM4B resulted in sequestration of drug, delaying its appearance in the nucleus. Over-expression of these two genes was associated with poor tumor response to anthracycline treatment in a neo-adjuvant chemotherapy trial in women with primary breast cancer. Our results suggest that 8q22 amplification and over-expression of LAPTM4B and YWHAZ contribute to de novo chemoresistance to anthracyclines, and are permissive for metastatic recurrence. These two genes may predict anthracycline resistance and influence selection of chemotherapy.

Therapeutic antibodies targeting PD-1 have made major breakthroughs in cancer treatment. However, the majority of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases are microsatellite stable (MSS) and do not respond to anti-PD-1-based immunotherapy. Combination therapy will be an ideal strategy to overcome this limitation. Gegen Qinlian decoction (GQD), a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has been clinically proven to be effective in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Here, a systemic pharmacological study revealed that GQD acts through multiple targets and pathways in the human body. Combination therapy with GQD and anti-mouse PD-1 potently inhibited the growth of CT26 tumours in a xenograft model. Gut microbiota analysis revealed that combination therapy with GQD and anti-mouse PD-1 significantly enriched for s__Bacteroides_acidifaciens and s__uncultured_organism_g__norank_f__Bacteroidales_S24-7_group . Based on metabolomic analyses, profoundly altered metabolites were identified in the combination therapy group. Two metabolic signalling pathways, namely, glycerophospholipid metabolism and sphingolipid metabolism, were explored. In particular, we found that combination therapy with GQD and anti-mouse PD-1 significantly increased the proportion of CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood and tumour tissues. Direct treatment with GQD and anti-mouse PD-1 increased the expression of IFN-γ, which is a critical factor in antitumour immunotherapy. In addition, combination therapy with GQD and anti-mouse PD-1 downregulated PD-1 and increased IL-2 levels, suggesting that the combination therapy could effectively restore T-cell functions by suppressing inhibitory checkpoints. The application of the Chinese medicinal formula GQD with PD-1 blockade-based immunotherapy can be a novel therapeutic strategy for CRC patients with MSS tumours.

Detection of acute kidney injury is undergoing a dynamic revolution of biomarker technology allowing greater, earlier, and more accurate determination of diagnosis, prognosis, and with powerful implication for management. Biomarkers can be broadly considered as any measurable biologic entity or process that allows differentiation between normal function and injury or disease. The ADQI (Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative) had its Ninth Consensus Conference dedicated to synthesis and formulation of the existing literature on biomarkers for the detection of acute kidney injury in a variety of settings. In the papers that accompany this summary, ADQI workgroups fully develop key concepts from a summary of the literature in the domains of early diagnosis, differential diagnosis, prognosis and management, and concurrent physiologic and imaging measures.