No abstract

Necrotizing pneumonia is a severe complication of pneumonia, characterized by local destruction of lung tissue with development of multiple small cavities (abscesses) and may be associated with empyema. Empyema is an unusual complication in neonates with limited data reported. We present a healthy term neonate with late-onset sepsis caused by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia due to severe necrotizing pneumonia associated with advanced stage empyema. To the best of our knowledge this is the youngest reported patient with multifocal lung abscesses associated with stage 2 empyema treated successfully without surgical intervention.

Survival of patients with relapsed/refractory osteosarcoma has not improved in the last 30 years. Several immunotherapeutic approaches have shown benefit in murine osteosarcoma models, including the anti‐programmed death‐1 (anti‐PD‐1) and anti‐cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte antigen‐4 (anti‐CTLA‐4) immune checkpoint inhibitors. Treatment with the T‐cell growth factor interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) has shown some clinical benefit but has limitations due to poor tolerability. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of bempegaldesleukin (BEMPEG; NKTR‐214), a first‐in‐class CD122‐preferential IL‐2 pathway agonist, alone and in combination with anti‐PD‐1 or anti‐CTLA‐4 immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic and orthotopic murine models of osteosarcoma. Treatment with BEMPEG delayed tumor growth and increased overall survival of mice with K7M2‐WT osteosarcoma pulmonary metastases. BEMPEG also inhibited primary tumor growth and metastatic relapse in lungs and bone in the K7M3 orthotopic osteosarcoma mouse model. In addition, it enhanced therapeutic activity of anti‐CTLA‐4 and anti‐PD‐1 checkpoint blockade in the DLM8 subcutaneous murine osteosarcoma model. Finally, BEMPEG strongly increased accumulation of intratumoral effector T cells and natural killer cells, but not T‐regulatory cells, resulting in improved effector:inhibitory cell ratios. Collectively, these data in multiple murine models of osteosarcoma provide a path toward clinical evaluation of BEMPEG‐based regimens in human osteosarcoma.

Giant cell tumor of bone is a benign but locally aggressive osteolytic neoplasm that represents 3% to 5% of all primary bone tumors, primarily found at the epiphyses of long bones. Less than 1% are of calvarial origin. Herein, we report a rare case of a nine-year-old girl with a hemorrhagic giant cell tumor of the left occipital skull base.