BACKGROUND: High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a new, noninvasive technique with potential to ablate and inactivate tumors. Treatment of solid tumors with HIFU has been reported. In this study, the safety and effects of HIFU in the clinical therapy of malignant bone tumors were assessed. METHODS: Biochemical markers and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) were used to evaluate 25 patients with malignant bone tumors before and after HIFU treatment. RESULTS: HIFU resulted in significant improvement in biochemical markers, and no severe complications were observed. After HIFU treatment, 21 (87.5%) patients were completely relieved of pain, and 24 (100%) experienced significant relief. On the basis of MRI or PET-CT, HIFU was effective: For patients with primary bone tumors, 6 (46.2%) had a complete response, 5 (38.4%) had a partial response, 1 (7.8%) had a moderate response, and 1 suffered progressive disease; the response rate was 84.6%. For patients with metastatic bone tumors, 5 (41.7%) had complete response, 4 (33.3%) had partial response, 1 (8.3%) had a moderate response, 1 (8.3%) had stable disease, and 1 suffered progressive disease; the response rate was 75.0%. The 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 100.0%, 84.6%, 69.2%, and 38.5%, respectively, for patients with primary bone tumors and 83.3%, 16.7%, 0%, and 0%, respectively, for patients with metastatic bone tumors. The survival rates for patients with primary bone tumors were significantly better than for those with metastatic tumors. CONCLUSIONS: HIFU safely and noninvasively ablated malignant bone tumors and relieved pain. HIFU ablation should be further investigated, as it appears to be successful in the treatment of primary malignant bone tumors. Cancer 2010;116:3934-42.

Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells have shown great success in the treatment of B cell malignancies, this strategy has limited efficacy in patients with solid tumors. In mouse CAR-T cells, IL-7 and CCL19 expression have been demonstrated to improve T cell infiltration and CAR-T cell survival in mouse tumors. Therefore, in the current study, we engineered human CAR-T cells to secrete human IL-7 and CCL19 (7 × 19) and found that these 7 × 19 CAR-T cells showed enhanced capacities of expansion and migration in vitro. Furthermore, 7 × 19 CAR-T cells showed superior tumor suppression ability compared to conventional CAR-T cells in xenografts of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines, primary HCC tissue samples and pancreatic carcinoma (PC) cell lines. We then initiated a phase 1 clinical trial in advanced HCC/PC/ovarian carcinoma (OC) patients with glypican-3 (GPC3) or mesothelin (MSLN) expression. In a patient with advanced HCC, anti-GPC3-7 × 19 CAR-T treatment resulted in complete tumor disappearance 30 days post intratumor injection. In a patient with advanced PC, anti-MSLN-7 × 19 CAR-T treatment resulted in almost complete tumor disappearance 240 days post-intravenous infusion. Our results demonstrated that the incorporation of 7 × 19 into CAR-T cells significantly enhanced the antitumor activity against human solid tumor. Trial registration: NCT03198546. Registered 26 June 2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03198546?term=NCT03198546&draw=2&rank=1

Although surgical resection with curative intent is the main therapy for both primary and metastatic lung tumors, about 80% of lung cancers cannot be removed by surgery. Because most patients with unresectable lung cancer only receive limited benefits from traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy, many novel local treatment modalities have emerged including local ablation therapy. The Minimally Invasive Treatment of Lung Cancer Branch, Professional Committee of Minimally Invasive Treatment of Cancer of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association and Committee on Tumor Ablations, Chinese College of Interventionalists have organized multidisciplinary experts to develop guidelines for this treatment modality. These guidelines aim at standardizing thermal ablation procedures, describing the indications for candidates, assessing outcomes, and preventing postablation complications.

MWA, by the simultaneous application of double antennae, can generate a larger ablation zone, in vivo, compared with multipolar RFA.