Sysmex Corporation (シスメックス株式会社, Shisumekkusu Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese company headquartered in Kobe that is engaged in the health care business. Originally called TOA Medical Electronics (a branch of the TOA Corporation), the Sysmex brand was established in 1978, and were mainly involved with haematology analysers. The company was renamed Sysmex Corporation in 1998 taking advantage of brand recognition of their machines.
Second-line FOLFIRI plus ramucirumab (RAM) is one of standard treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) following progression on anti-EGFR therapy in RAS wild-type tumors. However, biomarkers for RAM efficacy remain unclear. We conducted a translational analysis to evaluate the association of plasma biomarkers, including angiogenesis-related factors (AFs) and RAS mutations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), with clinical outcomes. This biomarker study was embedded within the JACCRO CC-16 trial, which enrolled patients with mCRC with RAS wild-type tumors receiving FOLFIRI plus RAM after anti-EGFR therapy. Plasma samples were collected at baseline, day 15, and post-treatment. RAS status in ctDNA was analyzed using BEAMing digital PCR; AFs were assessed using Luminex multiplex assay. Associations with progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and objective response rate (ORR) were analyzed. Among 41 evaluable patients with RAS wild-type tumors, RAS mutations were detected in ctDNA at pretreatment in 44
Background:The chemokine CXCL9, induced by interferon-γ (IFN-γ), is a hallmark of type 1 (T1) inflammation. Its role in chronic respiratory diseases remains unclear, with conflicting evidence suggesting it may reflect steroid-responsive inflammation in interstitial lung disease (ILD) but correlate with worse function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods:Serum levels of CXCL9, KL-6, SP-A, and CRP were measured in 83 ILD patients (with paired samples before and after treatment), 94 COPD patients, and 100 healthy controls (50 smokers and 50 non-smokers). Lung function and biomarker correlations were analyzed, and unsupervised cluster analysis was used to explore inflammatory phenotypes. Results:CXCL9 levels were markedly elevated in both ILD (median: 57.4 pg/mL) and COPD (70.1 pg/mL) compared to healthy smokers (32.5 pg/mL) and non-smokers (37.0 pg/mL). In COPD, CXCL9 correlated with KL-6 (r = 0.459) and SP-A (r = 0.274), indicating neutrophilic inflammation and epithelial injury. In ILD, higher baseline CXCL9 levels predicted subsequent improvement in lung function and declined following treatment. Cluster analysis revealed divergent CXCL9 and KL-6 trajectories linked to disease outcomes, underscoring their value as dynamic, disease-specific biomarkers. Conclusion:CXCL9 levels correlate with divergent roles in ILD and COPD. It may serve as a prognostic marker, identifying treatable inflammation in ILD and inflammatory burden in COPD.
We performed a targeted genomic sequence of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) tissues to investigate vertical intratumoral heterogeneity, invasion processes, and potential biomarkers of platinum-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) efficacy in MIBC. Mutations in key genes thought to be associated with MIBC were investigated using deep amplicon sequencing of tissue samples from 34 Japanese patients with MIBC, including paired superficial and deep layers from seven patients. Genetic mutations linked to the NAC response were identified by stratifying patients into NAC responder and non-responder groups. Somatic mutations were detected in 91.2
