Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients experience skeletal muscle degeneration, including respiratory muscles. Respiratory decline in glucocorticoid-treated DMD patients, measured by percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC%p), is typically 5% annually in patients aged 10 to 18 years. Objective: Evaluate the effects of eteplirsen on FVC%p annual change in 3 trials versus matched Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group Duchenne Natural History Study (CINRG DNHS) controls. Methods: Eteplirsen studies 201/202 evaluated eligible ambulatory DMD patients for at least 4 years, study 204 evaluated primarily non-ambulatory DMD patients for 2 years, and ongoing study 301 is evaluating ambulatory DMD patients for 2 years (interim analysis is included). Eteplirsen-treated patients (n = 74) were amenable to exon 51 skipping and were receiving glucocorticoids. Three CINRG DNHS cohorts included: glucocorticoid-treated patients amenable to exon 51 skipping (Exon 51 CINRG DNHS; n = 20), all glucocorticoid-treated CINRG patients (All CINRG DNHS; n = 172), and all glucocorticoidtreated genotyped CINRG DNHS patients (Genotyped CINRG DNHS; n = 148). FVC%p assessments between ages 10 and <18 years were included for all patients; mixed-model analyses characterized FVC%p annual change. Results: FVC%p annual change was greater for CINRG DNHS Exon 51 controls (-6.00) versus patients in studies 201/202, study 204, and study 301 (-2.19, P < 0.001;-3.66, P 0.004; and-3.79, P 0.017, respectively). FVC%p annual change in all eteplirsen studies suggested treatment benefit compared with the Genotyped CINRG DNHS (-5.67) and All CINRG DNHS (-5.56) cohorts (P < 0.05, all comparisons). Conclusions: Significant, clinically meaningful attenuation of FVC%p decline was observed in eteplirsen-treated patients versus CINRG DNHS controls.

Purpose To evaluate safety (primary endpoint), tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamic profile, and preliminary activity of the intravenous, pan-class I isoform PI3K/mTOR inhibitor PF-05212384 in patients with advanced solid tumors. Experimental Design Part 1 of this open-label phase I study was designed to estimate the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in patients with non-selected solid tumors, using a modified continual reassessment method to guide dose escalation. Objectives of Part 2 were MTD confirmation and assessment of preliminary activity in patients with selected tumor types and PI3K pathway dysregulation. Results Seventy-seven of the 78 enrolled patients received treatment. The MTD for PF-05212384, administered intravenously once weekly, was estimated to be 154 mg. The most common treatment-related adverse events (AEs) were mucosal inflammation/stomatitis (58.4%), nausea (42.9%), hyperglycemia (26%), decreased appetite (24.7%), fatigue (24.7%), and vomiting (24.7%). The majority of patients treated at the MTD experienced only grade 1 treatment-related AEs. Grade 3 treatment-related AEs occurred in 23.8% of patients at the MTD. No treatment-related grade 4–5 AEs were reported at any dose level. Antitumor activity was noted in this heavily pretreated patient population, with two partial responses (PR) and an unconfirmed PR. Eight patients had long-lasting stable disease (>6 months). Pharmacokinetic analyses showed a biphasic concentration-time profile for PF-05212384 (half-life, 30–37 hours after multiple dosing). PF-05212384 inhibited downstream effectors of the PI3K pathway in paired tumor biopsies. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the manageable safety profile and antitumor activity of the PI3K/mTOR inhibitor PF-05212384, supporting further clinical development for patients with advanced solid malignancies.

Acupuncture for simple obesity appeared to be an effective treatment, but more studies on the safety of acupuncture used to treat simple obesity are required.

The present study aimed to identify potential novel biomarkers in synovial tissue obtained from patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Osteoarthritis (OA) for differential diagnosis. The genome-wide expression profiling datasets of synovial tissues from RA and OA cohorts, including GSE55235, GSE55457 and GSE55584 datasets, were retrieved and used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs; P<0.05; false discovery rate <0.05 and Fold Change >2) between RA and OA using R software. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses of DEGs were performed to determine molecular and biochemical pathways associated with the identified DEGs, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the DEGs was constructed using Cytoscape software. Significant modules in the PPI network and candidate driver genes were screened using the Molecular Complex Detection Algorithm. Potential biomarkers were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic and logistic regression analyses. Large numbers of DEGs were detected, including 273, 205 and 179 DEGs in the GSE55235, GSE55457 and GSE55584 datasets, respectively. Among them, 80 DEGs exhibited identical expression trends in all the three datasets, including 49 upregulated and 31 downregulated genes in patients with RA. DEGs in patients suffering from RA compared with patients suffering from OA were predominantly associated with the primary immunodeficiency pathway, including interleukin 7 receptor (IL7R) and signal transducer activator of transcription 1 (STAT1). The sensitivity of IL7R + STAT1 to differentiate RA from OA was 93.94% with a specificity of 80.77%. The results generated from analyses of the GSE36700 dataset were closely associated with results generated from analyses of GSE55235, GSE55457 and GSE55584 datasets, which further verified the reliability of the aforementioned results. The results of the present study suggested that increased expression of IL7R and STAT1 in synovial tissue as well as in the primary immunodeficiency may be associated with RA occurrence. These identified novel biomarkers may be used to predict disease occurrence and clinically differentiate RA from OA.