Increased rate of positive penicillin skin tests among patients with glioma: insights into the association between allergies and glioma risk

AllergoOncology: Biomarkers and refined classification for research in the allergy and glioma nexus-A joint EAACI-EANO position paper

Epidemiological studies have explored the relationship between allergic diseases and cancer risk or prognosis in AllergoOncology. Some studies suggest an inverse association, but uncertainties remain, including in IgE-mediated diseases and glioma. Allergic disease stems from a Th2-biased immune response to allergens in predisposed atopic individuals. Allergic disorders vary in phenotype, genotype and endotype, affecting their pathophysiology. Beyond clinical manifestation and commonly used clinical markers, there is ongoing research to identify novel biomarkers for allergy diagnosis, monitoring, severity assessment and treatment. Gliomas, the most common and diverse brain tumours, have in parallel undergone changes in classification over time, with specific molecular biomarkers defining glioma subtypes. Gliomas exhibit a complex tumour-immune interphase and distinct immune microenvironment features. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy hold promise for primary brain tumour treatment, but require more specific and effective approaches. Animal studies indicate allergic airway inflammation may delay glioma progression. This collaborative European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) Position Paper summarizes recent advances and emerging biomarkers for refined allergy and adult-type diffuse glioma classification to inform future epidemiological and clinical studies. Future research is needed to enhance our understanding of immune-glioma interactions to ultimately improve patient prognosis and survival.

Selective Induced Altered Coccidians to Immunize and Prevent Enteritis

Microbiomic flora in digestive tract is pivotal to the state of our health and disease. Antibiotics affect GI, control composition of microbiome, and shift equilibrium from health into disease status. Coccidiosis causes gastrointestinal inflammation. Antibiotic additives contaminate animal products and enter food chain, consumed by humans with possible allergic, antibiotic resistance and enigmatic side effects. Purposed study induced nonpathogenic, immunogenic organisms to protect against disease and abolish antibiotics' use in food animals and side effects in man. Diverse species of Coccidia were used as model. Immature organisms were treated with serial purification procedure prior to developmental stages to obtain altered strains. Chicks received oral gavage immunized with serial low doses of normal or altered organisms or sham treatment and were challenged with high infective normal organisms to compare pathogenicity and immunogenicity. Mature induced altered forms of E. tenella and E. necatrix lacked developmental stage of "sporocysts" and contained free sporozoites. In contrast, E. maxima progressed to normal forms or did not mature at all. Animals that received altered forms were considerably protected with higher weight gain and antibody titers against challenge infection compared to those that received normal organisms (p < 0.05). This is the first report to induce selected protective altered organisms for possible preventive measures to minimize antibiotic use in food animals.

Pre-treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with neutrophil and T-cell infiltration and predicts clinical outcome in patients with glioblastoma

BACKGROUND

Markers of systemic inflammation are correlated with patient survival in various cancers. The prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was compared with that of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with glioblastoma. The association of NLR with neutrophil and T- cell infiltration was also explored.

METHODS

A total of 152 patients with glioblastoma were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical information was obtained from electronic medical records. Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the survival function of pre-treatment NLR and PLR in these glioblastoma patients. Neutrophil and CD3(+) T-cell infiltration was assessed by immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarray cores from glioblastomas.

RESULTS

Pre-treatment NLR levels were significantly correlated with overall survival (OS) in glioblastoma patients (multivariate hazard ratio =1.050; 95% confidence interval, 1.003-1.100; P = 0.037). Despite the correlation between NLR and PLR (R = 0.509, P < 0.001), NLR was superior to PLR as a prognostic factor. High pre-treatment NLR (≥4 versus < 4) was significantly associated with high neutrophil infiltration and low CD3(+) T-cell infiltration into tumors, and predicted poor OS (mean, 10.6 vs. 17.9 months, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Pre-treatment NLR is of prognostic significance independent of MGMT status and is superior to PLR as a prognostic factor. Our results demonstrate a correlation between elevated peripheral blood NLR levels and increased tumor neutrophil infiltration/decreased CD3(+) T-cell infiltration.