Sharmastephens3253

Immunosuppressants often raise the concern of infection risks, especially for patients with underlying immune disorders. However, some disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with inherent antiviral activity would be a reasonable choice in the situation of concomitant viral infections and flare up of autoimmune diseases. This review covers DMARDs of treatment potential for SARS-CoV-2 in part I, and antiviral mechanisms plus trial evidence for viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 in part II.

Immunosuppressants often raise the concern of infection risks, especially for patients with underlying immune disorders. However, some disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) with inherent antiviral activity would be a reasonable choice in the situation of concomitant viral infections and flare up of autoimmune diseases. This review covers DMARDs of treatment potential for SARS-CoV-2 in part I, and antiviral mechanisms plus trial evidence for viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 in part II.

Anemia is commonly encountered in cancer patients receiving active chemotherapy. Due to adverse events and presumed negative effects on disease-progression and survival, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents are not frequently used. In this study, we assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) to treat cancer-induced anemia (CIA).

We recruited adult cancer patients on active chemotherapy with a hemoglobin (Hb) level ⩽11.0 g/dL. Based on serum ferritin (sFr) and transferrin saturation (TSAT), patients were divided into 3 groups group I (absolute iron deficiency,

 = 26) with sFr < 30 ng/mL and TSAT < 20%; group II (functional iron deficiency,

 = 24) with sFr 30-800 ng/mL and TSAT < 20%; and patients with TSAT ⩾ 20% were placed in group III as "others" (

 = 34). All patients were treated with intravenous FCM. Serum hepcidin and C-reactive protein were used as biomarkers to predict response.

A total of 84 patients with a median age (SD) of 53.8 (10.6) were recruited. Baseline median Hb level was 10.2 (range 8.3-11.0) gm/dL. At week 12, there was a significant increment in Hb level for patients in groups I and II (median increment 2.35 and 1.5 gm/dL, respectively), with limited response observed in group III, and most of the increment noted as early as week 3 (⩾1.0 g/dL). Responders tended to have lower levels of hepcidin. selleck kinase inhibitor No clinically significant adverse events were reported; however, asymptomatic hypophosphatemia was observed in 39 (46.4%) patients.

Intravenous FCM is a safe and effective treatment option for the management of a subgroup of patients with CIA.The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov [Identifier NCT04246021].

Intravenous FCM is a safe and effective treatment option for the management of a subgroup of patients with CIA.The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov [Identifier NCT04246021].Metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (PCa) remains an incurable entity. In the era of immunotherapy, the complex PCa microenvironment poses a unique challenge to the successful application of this class of agents. However, in the last decade, a tremendous effort has been made to explore this field of therapeutics. In this review, the physiology of the cancer immunity cycle is highlighted in the context of the prostate tumor microenvironment, and the current evidence for use of various classes of immunotherapy agents including vaccines (dendritic cell based, viral vector based and DNA/mRNA based), immune checkpoint inhibitors, Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, antibody-mediated radioimmunotherapy, antibody drug conjugates, and bispecific antibodies, is consolidated. Finally, the future directions for combinatorial approaches to combat PCa are discussed.

Hypertension is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and it is associated with dementia, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although it may be correlated with AD in terms of symptoms, the link between hypertension and AD pathological biomarkers, and the potential underlying mechanism of hypertension with cognitive decline, are still not well understood.

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were used to evaluate cognitive function. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to examine plasma amyloid-beta (Aβ)

, Aβ

, and tau concentration in hypertensive patients. Metabolomics and metagenomics were performed to identify the significantly changed circulating metabolites and microbiota between healthy individuals and hypertensive patients. Pearson's correlation was used to examine the association between cognitive indicators and differential metabolites.

We found significantly decreased MMSE scores, elevated plasma Aβ

, and decreased Aβ

/Aβ

ratio in hypertensive patients, which are critically associated with AD pathology. Based on metabolomics, we found that significantly altered metabolites in the plasma of hypertensive patients were enriched in the benzoate degradation and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways, and they were also correlated with changes in MMSE scores and Aβ

/Aβ

ratio. In addition, metabolomics signaling pathway analysis suggested that microbial metabolism was altered in hypertensive patients. We also identified altered blood microbiota in hypertensive patients compared with the controls.

Our study provides a novel metabolic and microbial mechanism, which may underlie the cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients.

Our study provides a novel metabolic and microbial mechanism, which may underlie the cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients.Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is currently a recommended therapy for recurrent/refractory Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). The success of FMT for CDI has led to interest in its therapeutic potential in many other disorders. The mechanisms that underpin the efficacy of FMT are not fully understood. Importantly, FMT remains a crucial treatment in managing CDI and understanding the mechanisms that underpin its success will be critical to improve its clinical efficacy, safety and usability. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of this may allow us to expose FMT's full potential as a therapeutic tool for other disease states. This review will explore the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of FMT across a variety of diseases.