A role for sphingolipids in the yeast heat stress response has been suggested by the isolation of suppressors of mutants lacking these lipids, which are unable to grow at elevated temperatures. The current study examines the possible role of sphingolipids in the heat adaptation of yeast cells as monitored by growth and viability studies. The suppressor of long chain base auxotrophy (SLC, strain 7R4) showed a heat-sensitive phenotype that was corrected by transformation with serine palmitoyltransferase. Thus, the deficiency in sphingolipids and not the suppressor mutation was the cause of the heat-sensitive phenotype of the SLC strain 7R4. The ability of sphingolipids to rescue the heatsensitive phenotype was examined, and two endogenous yeast sphingoid backbones, phytosphingosine and dihydrosphingosine, were found to be most potent in this effect. Next, the effect of heat stress on the levels of the three major classes of sphingolipids was determined. The inositol phosphoceramides showed no change over a 1.5-h time course. However, the four detected species of sphingoid bases increased after 15 min of heat stress from 1.4-to 10.8-fold. The largest increases were seen in two sphingoid bases, C 20 phytosphingosine and C 20 dihydrosphingosine, which increased 6.4-and 10.8-fold over baseline, respectively. At 60 min of heat stress two species of yeast ceramide increased by 9.2-and 10.6-fold over baseline. The increase seen in the ceramides was partially decreased by Fumonisin B1, a ceramide synthase inhibitor. Therefore, heat stress induces accumulation of sphingoid bases and of ceramides, probably through de novo synthesis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that sphingolipids are involved in the yeast heat stress adaptation.Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to respond to a transfer of 25-37 or 39°C with the physiology defined as a heat stress response (1, 2), which appears to involve two phases. The initial phase of the response is the gaining of thermotolerance, and an increase in trehalose accumulation is proposed as a marker for this event (3). This is accompanied by the induction of heat shock proteins (4) and a G 1 arrest in cell cycle that lasts for a period of approximately 1 h (5). Once thermotolerance is gained, the second phase of the response occurs when the yeast begin to grow at the increased temperature. At this point, trehalose is degraded in an HSP70-dependent process (6), and the cells begin to cycle and resume growth. Therefore, the ability of yeast to grow under increased temperature provides for an overall assessment of the heat stress response. However, the mechanisms that mediate adaptation and growth under the heat-stressed state are not fully defined.The isolation of suppressors of mutants lacking sphingolipids in yeast (Table I) has suggested a possible role for sphingolipids in the heat stress response. The initial mutation is a Ura disruption knockout of the serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) gene (LCB1) (7), which catalyzes the first step of sphingolipid biosynthesis (Fig. 1...

Purpose Early cardiac toxicity is a risk associated with adjuvant chemotherapy plus trastuzumab. However, objective measures of cardiac function and health-related quality of life are lacking in long-term follow-up of patients who remain cancer free after completion of adjuvant treatment. Patients and Methods Patients in NSABP Protocol B-31 received anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy with or without trastuzumab for adjuvant treatment of node-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive early-stage breast cancer. A long-term follow-up assessment was undertaken for patients who were alive and disease free, which included measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction by multigated acquisition scan along with patient-reported outcomes using the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI), the Medical Outcomes Study questionnaire, and a review of current medications and comorbid conditions. Results At a median follow-up of 8.8 years among eligible participants, five (4.5%) of 110 in the control group and 10 (3.4%) of 297 in the trastuzumab group had a > 10% decline in left ventricular ejection fraction from baseline to a value < 50%. Lower DASI scores correlated with age and use of medications for hypertension, cardiac conditions, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, but not with whether patients had received trastuzumab. Conclusion In patients without underlying cardiac disease at baseline, the addition of trastuzumab to adjuvant anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy does not result in long-term worsening of cardiac function, cardiac symptoms, or health-related quality of life. The DASI questionnaire may provide a simple and useful tool for monitoring patient-reported changes that reflect cardiac function.

Background The phase 3 KATHERINE trial demonstrated significantly improved invasive disease–free survival with adjuvant trastuzumab emtansine (T‐DM1) versus trastuzumab in patients with HER2‐positive early breast cancer and residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus HER2‐targeted therapy. Methods Patients who received taxane‐ and trastuzumab‐containing neoadjuvant therapy (with/without anthracyclines) and had residual invasive disease (breast and/or axillary nodes) at surgery were randomly assigned to 14 cycles of adjuvant T‐DM1 (3.6 mg/kg intravenously every 3 weeks) or trastuzumab (6 mg/kg intravenously every 3 weeks). The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire–Core 30 (QLQ‐C30) and breast cancer module (QLQ‐BR23) were completed at screening, at day 1 of cycles 5 and 11, within 30 days after study drug completion, and at 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up visits. Results Of patients who were randomly assigned to T‐DM1 (n = 743) and trastuzumab (n = 743), 612 (82%) and 640 (86%), respectively, had valid baseline and ≥1 postbaseline assessments. No clinically meaningful changes (≥10 points) from baseline in mean QLQ‐C30 and QLQ‐BR23 scores occurred in either arm. More patients receiving T‐DM1 reported clinically meaningful deterioration at any assessment point in role functioning (49% vs 41%), appetite loss (38% vs 28%), constipation (47% vs 38%), fatigue (66% vs 60%), nausea/vomiting (39% vs 30%), and systemic therapy side effects (49% vs 36%). These differences were no longer apparent at the 6‐month follow‐up assessment, except for role functioning (23% vs 16%). Conclusion These data suggest that health‐related quality of life was generally maintained in both study arms over the course of treatment.

BackgroundAnti-programmed death 1 (PD1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapies have shown modest activity as monotherapy in recurrent ovarian cancer. Platinum chemotherapies induce T-cell proliferation and enhance tumor recognition. We assessed activity and safety of pembrolizumab with carboplatin in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.Patients and methodsThis phase I/II, single-arm clinical trial studied concurrent carboplatin and pembrolizumab in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer. Primary platinum refractory patients were excluded. Patients were treated after progression on subsequent non-platinum systemic therapy after becoming platinum resistant or refractory. Pembrolizumab 200 mg was given on day 1 and carboplatin area under the curve 2 on days 8 and 15 of a 3-week cycle until progression. Imaging was assessed by blinded independent review. PD-L1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Flow cytometry on peripheral blood mononuclear cells was performed for CD3, CD4, CD8, PD1, CTLA4 and Ki67.ResultsThe most common treatment-related adverse events were lymphopenia (18%) and anemia (9%) with most being grade 1 or 2 (93%). Of 29 patients treated, 23 patients were evaluable for best objective response: 10.3% (95% CI 2.2 to 27.4) had partial response (PR), 51.7% (95% CI 32.5 to 70.6) had stable disease (SD). 56.5% of patients had decreases in target lesions from baseline. All PD-L1-positive patients achieved PR (3/7, 42.8%) or SD (4/7, 57.2%). Median progression-free survival was 4.63 months (95% CI 4.3 to 4.96). Median OS was 11.3 months (95% CI 6.094 to 16.506). Peripheral CD8+PD1+Ki67+ T cells expanded after 3 (p=0.0015) and 5 (p=0.0023) cycles. CTLA4+PD1+CD8+ T cells decreased through the course of treatment up to the 12th cycle (p=0.004). When stratified by ratio of peripheral CD8+PD1+Ki67+ T cells to tumor burden at baseline, patients with a ratio ≥0.0375 who had a significantly longer median OS of 18.37 months compared with those with a ratio <0.0375 who had a median OS of 8.72 months (p=0.0099). No survival advantage was seen with stratification by tumor burden alone (p=0.24) or by CD8+PD1+Ki67+ T cells alone (p=0.53).ConclusionsPembrolizumab with carboplatin was well-tolerated and active in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. A ratio of peripheral T-cell exhaustion to radiographic tumor burden may identify patients more likely to benefit from this chemoimmunotherapy.Trial registration numberNCT03029598.