Directed Therapies in Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase-rearranged Non-small Cell Lung Cancer.

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements were first implicated as driving mutations in non-small cell lung cancer in 2007. Since then, a number of novel, small-molecule inhibitors directed against the ALK receptor have demonstrated superiority over standard chemotherapies in the treatment of ALK rearrangement-positive lung cancer. Of considerable importance when considering such therapies is the ability of each to overcome mutations conferring acquired resistance, as well as penetrate the central nervous system (CNS), the most common site of metastasis and traditionally the most difficult to breach. Herein is a review of the efficacy, indications, and degree of CNS penetration for the ALK-targeting agents crizotinib, ceretinib, alectinib, brigatinib, and lorlatinib, as well as a summary of ongoing clinical trials comparing these drugs.

Abiraterone is effective and should be considered for the treatment of metastatic castrate-naïve prostate cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the standard of care for the treatment of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer for the past 70 years. Furthermore, adding docetaxel chemotherapy to ADT significantly improved patient survival, and thus became the new standard for patients with high volume disease. However, recent evidence has called this treatment strategy into question since a published study has shown that the drug abiraterone has a similar benefit to docetaxel in a similar patient population group but with less toxicity. The following article considers this key paper and its implications. Areas covered: In this key paper evaluation, the authors discuss the rational, trial design and results of the LATITUDE trial. Furthermore, the past and current standard of care of metastatic castrate-naïve prostate cancer (mCNPC) is discussed, while the authors also compare abiraterone and docetaxel in terms of benefit, safety profile, and affordability. Expert opinion: Abiraterone is highly effective and has an excellent safety profile for the treatment of metastatic castrate-naïve prostate cancer. It is the authors' opinion that it should now be considered the new standard of care.

Directional movement of steinernematid nematodes in response to electrical current.

Steinernematid nematodes are parasites that are important natural regulating agents of insect populations. The infective juvenile nematodes respond to a variety of stimuli that aid in survival and host finding. Host finding strategies among steinernematids differ along a continuum from ambush (sit & wait) to cruiser (search & destroy). In this paper we describe directional movement in response to an electrical current, which was generated on agar plates. Specifically, Steinernema glaseri (a cruiser) moved to a higher electric potential, whereas Steinernema carpocapsae, an ambusher, moved to a lower electric potential. Thus, we hypothesize that steinernematids may detect electrical currents or electromagnetic fields in nature, and these stimuli may be used differentially among species for host finding or enhancing other fitness characters.