Shizuoka Prefectural Hospital Organization

Cisplatin (CDDP) induces acute kidney injury (AKI) as a side effect during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Urinary vanin-1 excretion may increase during CDDP treatment. We investigated whether urinary vanin-1 is an early biomarker for CDDP-induced AKI.

Thirty patients were administered 80 mg/m² CDDP on day 1 as NAC for esophageal cancer. Blood and urine samples were collected on days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 after CDDP administration. Serum creatinine (sCr) and urinary vanin-1 levels were measured. Creatinine clearance (cCr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were calculated from sCr. Based on the change in sCr after CDDP administration, the AKI and non-AKI groups were defined using the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes classification. Changes in sCr, cCr, eGFR, and urinary vanin-1 levels were compared between the two groups.

A gradual increase in sCr and a decrease in eGFR were observed over time post-CDDP administration, with differences between the two groups becoming significant by day 4. However, urinary vanin-1 levels increased on day 3 after CDDP administration, and the difference between the two groups was significant on day 3. Receiver operating characteristic curves of urinary vanin-1 on day 3 revealed that a cut-off value of 3.17 ng urinary vanin-1/mg urinary creatinine yielded an area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.83 (P < 0.05), 75.0%, and 22.7%, respectively. The non-AKI incidence below the cut-off value of urinary vanin-1 of 3.17 ng/mg uCr was 89.5%.

Urinary vanin-1 is a superior minimally invasive biomarker for the early prediction of CDDP-induced AKI.

Despite the development of biologics for severe asthma, individuals with uncontrolled status persist, posing a significant social problem. This multicenter prospective study aimed to identify factors associated with the uncontrolled status of patients with severe asthma in the biologic era assessed using the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ).

Subjects with severe asthma diagnosed by respiratory specialists were enrolled from 11 hospitals. Clinical data and questionnaires were collected. We compared controlled (ACQ-5 <1.5) with uncontrolled severe asthma (ACQ-5 ≥1.5) and assessed factors linked to uncontrolled severe asthma using logistic regression analysis.

One hundred fifty-four patients were analyzed (median age, 66 years; 62.3 % female; 52.6 % administered biologics). Among them, 56 patients (36.4 %) had uncontrolled severe asthma (ACQ-5 ≥1.5). The uncontrolled group had more frequent exacerbations (≥2 times in the previous year) and elevated blood neutrophil counts compared with the controlled group. Factors associated with uncontrolled status were analyzed in the overall population, with patients stratified into two groups: those receiving biologics and those not receiving biologics. Multivariate analysis revealed that frequent exacerbations and elevated blood neutrophil counts were associated with uncontrolled status in the overall population and in patients without biologics, whereas elevated blood neutrophil counts were significantly associated with uncontrolled status in patients receiving biologics.

Elevated blood neutrophil counts and frequent exacerbations were independently associated with uncontrolled severe asthma. Specifically, elevated blood neutrophil counts were a significant factor related to uncontrolled status irrespective of biologics, suggesting their potential utility as a biomarker in the biologic era.

Patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with distant metastasis were treated with systemic chemotherapy. Recent advances in multimodal treatments have made conversion therapy a viable option for patients with incurable ESCC.

We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of conversion therapy for ESCC with distant metastases.

Conversion therapy was defined as surgery or chemoradiotherapy (CRT) used to cure tumors that were previously considered incurable because of distant metastasis. We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent ESCC conversion therapy and assessed the treatment outcomes, including adverse events and survival rates.

A total of 147 patients from 22 institutions were included. Systemic chemotherapy was initially administered to all patients. The most common M1 factor was the para-aortic lymph node, accounting for 55% of cases. Following the initial treatment, 116 patients underwent surgery, with 31 receiving CRT as conversion therapy. Postoperative complications in surgery patients included pneumonia (16%), anastomotic leakage (7%), and recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (6%). During CRT, 18% of patients developed grade 3 or higher non-hematological toxicities. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 31.7%. Pathological responders had significantly longer OS than non-responders (hazard ratio 0.493, p = 0.012). The distribution of distant metastasis, regimen type, clinical response, and conversion therapy modality did not have a significant impact on OS.

Conversion therapy can be safely performed for ESCC with distant metastasis and has a favorable prognosis.