齊藤 朋子

BACKGROUND: Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a phenomenon with greatly accelerated tumor growth and clinical deterioration rates compared to pre-therapy, in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). The aim of this study is to clarify the reality of HPD in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were treated with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atez/Bev) using tumor dynamics. METHODS: Medical records of consecutive patients with advanced HCC who were treated with Atez/Bev were retrospectively reviewed. HPD was defined as a more than two- or fourfold increase in tumor growth rate (TGR) or tumor growth kinetics rate (TGKR) before and after treatment. Overall survival (OS) and baseline characteristics with or without HPD were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 85 patients were included in the analysis. When HPD was defined as a twofold of TGR or TGKR, 8 patients (8/85, 9.4%) had HPD and 11 had PD without HPD. A total of 5 patients (5/85, 5.9%) were diagnosed with HPD and 14 with PD without HPD when HPD was defined as a fourfold of TGR or TGKR. No significant difference was observed in the baseline characteristics between HPD and non-HPD. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HPD in patients with advanced HCC treated with Atez/Bev was lower than those treated with nivolumab monotherapy. The HPD mechanism in ICI combined with antibodies targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) remains to be elucidated.

PURPOSE: Ramucirumab was shown to be effective as a second-line treatment after sorafenib in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with alpha-fetoprotein levels > 400 ng/mL in a worldwide phase 3 trial. Ramucirumab is used in patients pretreated with various systemic therapies in clinical practice. We retrospectively examined the treatment outcomes of ramucirumab administered to advanced HCC patients after diverse systemic therapies. METHODS: Data were collected from patients with advanced HCC who received ramucirumab at three institutions in Japan. Radiological assessments were determined according to both Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) version 1.1 and modified RECIST and the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0 was used to assess adverse events. RESULTS: A total of 37 patients treated with ramucirumab between June 2019 and March 2021 were included in the study. Ramucirumab was administered as second, third, fourth, and fifth-line treatment in 13 (35.1%), 14 (37.8%), eight (21.6%), and two (5.4%) patients, respectively. Most patients (29.7%) who received ramucirumab as a second-line therapy were pretreated with lenvatinib. We found grade 3 or higher adverse events only in seven patients and no significant changes in the albumin-bilirubin score during ramucirumab treatment in the present cohort. The median progression-free survival of patients treated with ramucirumab was 2.7 months (95% confidence interval, 1.6-7.3). CONCLUSION: Although ramucirumab is used for various lines of treatment other than second-line immediately after sorafenib, its safety and effectiveness were not significantly different from the findings of the REACH-2 trial.

治療中の疾患がない本学学生で本研究に同意が得られた87名(男性52名、女性35名)を対象に、個人属性、体組成、腹部エコー所見、臨床検査値などについて調査し、ALT高値に影響を与える因子、脂肪肝に影響を与える因子について、それぞれ多変量解析を行った。結果、ALT高値に有意な影響を与える因子として「性別(男性)」と「体脂肪率(25%以上)」が抽出され、脂肪肝に有意な影響を与える因子として「毎週の運動習慣」が抽出された。腸内細菌叢解析を行い、「脂肪肝の有無」を含む諸因子との関連性について解析した結果、「脂肪肝の有無」で菌叢構成に有意な違いは認められず、「運動習慣の有無」で菌叢構成や菌の多様性に有意な違いが認められた。

本学では、毎年入学時に実施している定期接種歴の調査に、2022年度は臨時接種である新型コロナワクチン接種歴を加えて調査した。今回、2022年度学部入学生2439名のうち、予防接種記録を提出し、かつ本研究に同意が得られた2278名を対象に、新型コロナワクチン接種状況について検討した。同年4月2日時点で2回以上接種していたのは2027名(89.0%)で、接種回数の内訳は3回接種者が155名(全体の6.8%)、2回接種が1872名(82.2%)、1回接種が12名(0.5%)であった。2回以上の接種率を学部別にみると、看護学部が最も高く93.8%、最も低いのは理学部の82.1%であった。3回接種率は医学部が最も高く13.8%であった。