The introduction of PD-1 blockades to chemotherapy and radiotherapy has shown promising outcomes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, but anti-PD-1 therapies are only effective in a small proportion of patients, indicating the need for reliable predictive biomarkers of benefit from immunotherapy. Here, we summarized recent advances in immunotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma and studies on potential predictors that correlated with treatment response or long-term survival after immunotherapy, including biomarkers in both the tumor microenvironment and the tumor macroenvironment. Some of these biomarkers have been validated as truly predictive of immunotherapy benefit using cohorts from randomized controlled trials, while others still require further validation of their predictive value. We also summarized the challenges and future directions of biomarker studies, hopefully facilitating the development of predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy that can eventually enter clinical practice.
Humans ; Tumor Microenvironment/immunology* ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma/immunology* ; Immunotherapy/methods* ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/immunology* ; Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism* ; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/therapeutic use*

Objective To investigate the molecular mechanism underlying Porphyromonas gingivalis(Pg)-induced autophagy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).Methods After Pg infected KYSE70 cells and KYSE140 cells pretreated with siAtg7 or Chloroquin(CQ),Western blot was used to measure protein levels of Atg7,LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ,and p62;Immunofluorescent confocal imaging analysis was used to detect autophagosome and autolysosome;CCK-8 assay was used to test cell viability;Transwell assay was used for ESCC cell migration and invasion potentials.Likewise,miR-21-5p inhibitor,RASA1 overexpression plasmid,or U0126 were used to block miR-21-5p/RASA1/ERK signaling pathway prior to Pg infection,followed by the aforementioned methods.In addition,immunohistochemistry was used to examine Pg abundance and LC3 protein levels,and RT-PCR was used to evaluate miR-21-5p expression in ESCC and adjacent tissue samples,followed by correlation analyses be-tween Pg and LC3,and Pg and miR-21-5p.Results Pg infected KYSE70 cells and KYSE140 cells showed upreg-ulation Atg7 protein and LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ protein but downregulation of RASA1 protein and p62 protein,enhanced cell proliferation,migration,and invasion as well as immunofluorescent spots of red,green,and yellow in mRFP-GFP-LC3-labeled ESCC cells.Pretreatment with CQ or siAtg7 abolished the above alterations induced by Pg.Con-sistently,pretreatment with miR-21-5p inhibitor,U0126,or RASA1 overexpression plasmid also blocked Pg-stimu-lated autophagy.In ESCC samples,Pg abundance was correlated with upregulation of miR-21-5p and LC3.Con-clusion Pg promotes autophagy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via miR-21-5p/RASA1/ERK signaling pathway.

Objective:To evaluate the risk factors of clinical cure and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP).Methods:The clinical data of 896 patients who underwent RP at Peking University First Hospital from April 2001 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Average age was (65.90±6.3) years, median preoperative prostate specific antigen (PSA) was 10.75 (0.36-264.20) ng/ml, median prostate volume was 40.0 (12.0-220.9) ml, median PSA density (PSAD) was 0.27 (0.02-3.42) ng/(ml·g). Clinical staging: 432 cases in T 1c stage, 333 cases in T 2a/bstage, 76 cases in T 2c stage, and 55 cases in ≥T 3 stage. Preoperative Gleason score of biopsy: 193 cases in 3+ 3, 315 cases in 3+ 4, 162 cases in 4+ 3, 226 cases in ≥8. The RP surgery was operated by open or laparoscopic or robot-assisted approach. Clinical cure and BCR were used as the end points for analysis. Clinical cure was defined as a decrease in serum PSA level below 0.03 ng/ml 6 weeks after surgery. BCR was defined as the 2 consecutive serum PSA >0.2ng/ml during the follow-up after RP. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the independent risk factors of clinical cure. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw the biochemical recurrence-free survival curve, the log-rank method was used for univariate analysis of BCR, and the Cox regression analysis was used for multivariate analysis. Results:All 896 patients were followed-up for 58 (5-241) months, 678 cases (75.7%) achieved clinical cure. Based on univariate analysis and multivariate analysis, among the preoperative indicators, whether the proportion of positive biopsy needles ≥33% ( P=0.007) and preoperative Gleason score of biopsy ( P=0.041) were independent risk factors of clinical cure. A total of 890 cases were included in the analysis of risk factors of BCR, of whom 172 cases (19.3%) had BCR. The 1-, 5-, and 10-year biochemical recurrence-free survival(BFS)rates were 98.1%, 83.1% and 68.4% respectively. The median BFS has not been reached, and the average BFS was 181 months (95% CI 172-189). The results of univariate and multivariate analysis showed that whether achieved clinical cure ( P=0.001) and postoperative pathological staging ( P<0.001) were independent risk factors of BCR. Conclusions:Whether the proportion of positive biopsy needles≥33% and preoperative Gleason score of biopsy were independent risk factors of clinical cure. Postoperative pathological staging and whether achieved clinical cure may be independent risk factors of BCR.