Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE:To validate an approach to measuring professional identity formation (PIF), we explore if the Professional Identity Essay (PIE), a stage score measure of medical professional identity (PI), predicts clinical communication skills. METHODS:Students completed the PIE during medical school orientation and a 3-case Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) where standardized patients reliably assessed communication skills in 5 domains. Using mediation analyses, relationships between PIE stage scores and communication skills were explored. RESULTS:For the 351 (89%) consenting students, controlling for individual characteristics, there were increases in patient counseling (6.5%, p<0.01), information gathering (4.3%, p = 0.01), organization and management (4.1%, p = 0.02), patient assessment (3.6%, p = 0.04), and relationship development (3.5%, p = 0.03) skills for every half stage increase in PIE score. The communication skills of lower socio-economic status (SES) students are indirectly impacted by their slightly higher PIE stage scores. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Higher PIE stage scores are associated with higher communication skills and lower SES. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS:PIE predicts critical clinical skills and identifies how SES and other characteristics indirectly impact future clinical performance, providing validity evidence for using PIE as a tool in longitudinal formative academic coaching, program and curriculum evaluation, and research.

BACKGROUND:The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated virtual education, but effects on learner engagement are unknown. We developed a virtual in-class engagement measure (VIEM) to assess learner engagement in online surgical education events. METHODS:Using the STROBE, an observer collected tool to document student engagement, as a template an ASE committee workgroup developed the VIEM. The VIEM had two parts: observer assessment and learner self-assessment of engagement. Trained observers collected engagement data from two institutions using the VIEM. Surgical attendings, fellows and residents were observed during virtual learning events. Educator attitudes towards online teaching were also assessed via survey. RESULTS:22 events with 839 learners were observed. VIEM distinguished between sessions with low and high engagement. 20% of learners pretended to participate. Half of instructors were comfortable with virtual teaching, but only 1/3 believed was as effective as in-person. 2/3 of teachers believed video learners were more engaged than audio learners. CONCLUSIONS:Virtual platforms do not automatically translate into increased engagement. Standard tools such as VIEM may help with assessment of engagement during virtual education.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS/OBJECTIVE:Obesity is an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), and platelet hyperactivation in obesity may contribute to this association. Olive oil consumption is associated with lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in the general population. However, little is known for individuals with obesity. We investigated whether olive oil intake is associated with platelet activation in obesity. METHODS AND RESULTS/RESULTS:. Olive oil intake was stratified into <1 time/week (n = 21), 1-3 times/week (n = 18), ≥4 times/week (n = 24). Strata did not differ by age, BMI or platelet count. Unstimulated P-selectin expression did not differ by olive oil consumption. Subjects with more frequent olive oil intake exhibited lower P-selectin expression on submaximal thrombin exposure. CONCLUSIONS:More frequent olive oil intake is associated with reduced thrombin-induced platelet activation in obesity.

Despite recent therapeutic advances in the management of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), up to 50% of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) relapse after first line therapy, and for DLBCL patients who relapse within 12 months after subsequent stem cell transplant (SCT), the median overall survival (OS) is 6.3 months. Recently, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown remarkable activity in relapsed DLBCL with complete response (CR) rate of 40% and 54% for the two of the FDA-approved CAR T-cell products, tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel, respectively. However, at a median follow-up of 18 months, only 36% of patients treated with tisagenlecleucel remained in CR; with longer follow-up for axicabtagene ciloleucel the median progression free survival (PFS) was 5.9 months. Immune escape and immune evasion are primary mechanisms of CAR-T resistance; clearly improvements are needed to increase response rate and cure. While CRISPR-based loss-of-function screens have shown promise for high-throughput identification of genes that modulate T-cell response, these methods have been limited thus far to negative regulators of T-cell functions, and raise safety concerns due to the permanent nature of genome modification. Here we identify positive T-cell regulators via overexpression of ~12,000 barcoded human open reading frames (ORFs). Using this genome-scale ORF screen, we found modulator genes which increased primary human CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell proliferation, including activation markers like CD25 and CD40L, and secretion of key cytokines like interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma. In addition, we developed a single-cell genomics method (OverCITE-seq) for high-throughput quantification of the transcriptome and surface proteome in ORF-engineered T-cells. The top-ranked ORF, lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTBR), is typically expressed in a subset of myeloid cells but absent in lymphocytes. When expressed in T-cells, LTBR induces a profound transcriptional remodelling, resulting in increased resistance to exhaustion and activation-induced apoptosis, as well as upregulation of a plethora of proinflammatory cytokines, co-stimulatory molecules and antigen presentation machinery. In order to investigate the mechanism of action of LTBR, we developed an epistasis assay which allows for simultaneous gene knockout and LTBR overexpression in primary T cells. Thus, LTBR appears to induce both canonical and non-canonical NFkB pathways - but the phenotype observed in T cells is dependent only on the former. Finally, we co-expressed several top-ranked genes, including LTBR, with FDA approved CD19-targeting CARs utilizing either 4-1BB or CD28 co-stimulatory domains. In line with previous results, co-expression of top-ranked ORFs increased proinflammatory cytokine secretion and cytotoxicity against CD19+ positive cancer cell lines. This functional improvement was also observed when top-ranked ORFs and CARs were delivered to T cells isolated from DLBCL patients as shown in Figure 1. Our results provide several strategies for improving next generation CAR T-cell therapies via induction of new synthetic cell programs which may optimize immune activation and enhance the efficacy of these important therapies, a high priority for patients with relapsed and refractory DLBCL and other lymphomas. [Formula presented] Disclosures: Mimitou: Immunai: Current Employment. Smibert: Immunai: Current Employment. Diefenbach: Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; IMab: Research Funding; Gilead: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Celgene: Research Funding; AbbVie: Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Merck Sharp & Dohme: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; IGM Biosciences: Research Funding; Morphosys: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; MEI: Consultancy, Research Funding; Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health: Current Employment; Incyte: Research Funding; Trillium: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Genentech, Inc./ F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Sanjana: Qiagen: Consultancy; Vertex: Consultancy.
Copyright

Background: Patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapies and/or autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) are at risk for therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (tMN). As these agents yield increased mutation burden in relapsed malignancies and leave evidence of exposure via mutational signatures, we studied the genomic and temporal relationship between chemo exposure and progression of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) to tMN.
Method(s): We analyzed 32 tMN whole genomes (WG) from 31 patients [27 acute myeloid leukemias (AML), 4 myelodysplastic syndromes]. For 7 patients with tMN post-high-dose melphalan/ASCT, we investigated the presence of antecedent CH using targeted sequencing (MSK-IMPACT; Bolton et al. Nat Gen 2020) on pre-melphalan blood mononuclear cells, granulocytes, or CD34+ apheresis samples.
Result(s): TMN was diagnosed a median of 4.2 years (IQR, 2.6-6.6) following primary treatment. When compared to data from 200 de novo AML from TCGA (NEJM, 2013), tMNs had fewer mutations in FLT3 (9.7% v 28.0%; p = 0.028) and NPM1 (3.2% v 27.0%; p = 0.003). TP53 loss was enriched in tMNs (25.8% v 10.5%; p = 0.035 ). Mutational signature analysis revealed 5 known single base substitution (SBS) signatures in tMN: the hematopoietic stem-cell (SBS-HSC), aging (SBS1), melphalan (SBS-MM1), and platinum signatures (E-SBS1, E-SBS20) (Rustad et al. Nat Comm 2020, Pich et al. Nat Gen 2019). Complex structural variants (SV), defined as >=3 breakpoint pairs involved in simultaneous copy number changes (Rustad et al. Blood Can Disc 2020), were observed in 7 tMNs; including chromothripsis in 6 tumors (19.4%), chromoplexy in 2 (6.5%), templated insertion in 1 (3.2%), and unspecified complex SV in 2 (6.5%). Chromothripsis has not been previously reported in de novo AML and, in 4 cases, involved chromosome 19 with hyper-amplification of the SMARCA4 locus (>=5 copies). CH variants that became clonal in tumor were seen in 5/7 pre-melphalan/ASCT samples and included mutations in TP53, RUNX1, NCOR1, NF1, CREBBP, DNMT3A, and PPM1D. Chemotherapy introduces hundreds of mutations, leaving each exposed cell with a unique catalogue (i.e., barcode). In fact, TMNs with evidence of chemo signatures had a higher mutation burden (median 1574 single nucleotide variants) than those without (median 938; p = 0.004). Detection of chemo signatures in bulk genome sequencing relies on one cell, with its catalogue of mutations, to expand to clonal dominance (Fig 1a, Landau et al. Nat Comm 2020). Given the long latency between exposure and tMN diagnosis, this single-cell expansion model was expected for all samples exposed to melphalan or platinum-based regimens (i.e., agents with a measurable signature). Strikingly, all patients with pre-tMN platinum exposure (n=7) had evidence of platinum SBS signatures whereas only 2 of 7 patients with prior melphalan/ASCT had a melphalan signature (SBS-MM1). As all platinum-exposed tMN had mutational evidence of exposure, a CH clone must have existed prior to exposure, supporting a single-cell expansion model. Absence of a chemo signature for 5/7 post-melphalan/ASCT tumors despite exposure implies tumor progression driven either by multiple clones in parallel (Fig 1b) or by an unexposed clone. As latency largely excludes the former, this suggests pre-tMN CH clones were re-infused during SCT, thus avoiding chemo exposure (Fig 1c). This is supported by two lines of evidence: 1) tMNs from 2 patients exposed to sequential platinum and melphalan/ASCT had platinum but not melphalan signatures confirming single-cell expansion of the pre-tMN CH clone post-platinum but with escape from exposure to melphalan in the ASCT (Fig 1d); 2) targeted sequencing of pre-tMN samples from melphalan/ASCT patients identified tMN genomic mutations at the CH level in 5/7 cases, including in all 3 tested apheresis samples - one of which (TP53) expanded to dominance without a melphalan signature.
Conclusion(s): WG sequencing identified novel features of tMN revealing the key driver role of complex SV. Mutational signature analyses and targeted sequencing of pre-tMN samples can increase our understanding of tMN pathogenesis and demonstrate that tMNs arising post-ASCT are often driven by CH clones that re-engraft after escaping melphalan exposure. This mode of expansion suggests that a permissive, immunosuppressed, post-transplant environment might play a more important role than chemotherapy-induced mutagenesis in tMN pathogenesis. [Formula presented] Disclosures: Diamond: Sanofi: Honoraria; Medscape: Honoraria. Watts: Rafael Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Aptevo Therapeutices: Research Funding. Kazandjian: Arcellx: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Bradley: AbbVie: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Bolli: Amgen: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria. Papaemmanuil: Isabl Technologies: Divested equity in a private or publicly-traded company in the past 24 months; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Pharma: Consultancy. Scordo: Kite - A Gilead Company: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; i3 Health: Other: Speaker; Omeros Corporation: Consultancy; Angiocrine Bioscience: Consultancy, Research Funding; McKinsey & Company: Consultancy. Lahoud: MorphoSys: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Stein: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Foghorn Therapeutics: Consultancy; Blueprint Medicines: Consultancy; Gilead Sciences, Inc.: Consultancy; Abbvie: Consultancy; Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Astellas: Consultancy; Syndax Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; PinotBio: Consultancy; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy; Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Consultancy. Sauter: Precision Biosciences: Consultancy; Kite/Gilead: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; GSK: Consultancy; Gamida Cell: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Genmab: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Spectrum Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Juno Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Sanofi-Genzyme: Consultancy, Research Funding. Hassoun: Celgene, Takeda, Janssen: Research Funding. Mailankody: Bristol Myers Squibb/Juno: Research Funding; Physician Education Resource: Honoraria; Plexus Communications: Honoraria; Takeda Oncology: Research Funding; Jansen Oncology: Research Funding; Fate Therapeutics: Research Funding; Allogene Therapeutics: Research Funding; Legend Biotech: Consultancy; Evicore: Consultancy. Korde: Medimmune: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Research Funding. Hultcrantz: Daiichi Sankyo: Research Funding; Intellisphere LLC: Consultancy; Curio Science LLC: Consultancy; GlaxoSmithKline: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding. Shah: Bristol Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding. Shah: Janssen Pharmaceutica: Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding. Park: Servier: Consultancy; Affyimmune: Consultancy; Autolus: Consultancy; Minerva: Consultancy; PrecisionBio: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Kura Oncology: Consultancy; Curocel: Consultancy; Artiva: Consultancy; Innate Pharma: Consultancy; Intellia: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy; Kite Pharma: Consultancy. Landau: Genzyme: Honoraria; Takeda, Janssen, Caelum Biosciences, Celgene, Pfizer, Genzyme: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Research Funding. Sekeres: BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda/Millenium: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Ho: Blueprint Medicine: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Roshal: Celgene: Other: Provision of services; Auron Therapeutics: Other: Ownership / Equity interests; Provision of services; Physicians' Education Resource: Other: Provision of services. Lesokhin: pfizer: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Iteos: Consultancy; Serametrix, Inc: Patents & Royalties; Genetech: Research Funding; Trillium Therapeutics: Consultancy; bristol myers squibb: Research Funding; Behringer Ingelheim: Honoraria. Morgan: BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Jansen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Oncopeptides: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Landgren: Janssen: Other: IDMC; Janssen: Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria; Celgene: Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria; Amgen: Research Funding; Takeda: Other: IDMC; GSK: Honoraria. Maura: OncLive: Honoraria; Medscape: Consultancy, Honoraria.
Copyright

The landscape of HIV medicine dramatically changed with the advent of contemporary antiretroviral therapies (ART) which has allowed persons with HIV (PWH) to achieve good virologic control, essentially eliminating HIV-related complications and increasing life expectancy. As PWH are living longer, non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), have become a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in PWH with rates that are 50-100% higher than in well-matched persons without HIV. In this review, we focus on disease of the coronary microvasculature and myocardium in HIV. We highlight a key hormonal system important to cardiovascular endocrinology, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), as a potential mediator of inflammatory driven-vascular and myocardial injury and consider RAAS blockade as a physiologically-targeted strategy to reduce CVD in HIV.

BACKGROUND:Cancer genetic testing to assess an individual's cancer risk and to enable genomics-informed cancer treatment has grown exponentially in the past decade. Because of this continued growth and a shortage of health care workers, there is a need for automated strategies that provide high-quality genetics services to patients to reduce the clinical demand for genetics providers. Conversational agents have shown promise in managing mental health, pain, and other chronic conditions and are increasingly being used in cancer genetic services. However, research on how patients interact with these agents to satisfy their information needs is limited. OBJECTIVE:Our primary aim is to assess user interactions with a conversational agent for pretest genetics education. METHODS:We conducted a feasibility study of user interactions with a conversational agent who delivers pretest genetics education to primary care patients without cancer who are eligible for cancer genetic evaluation. The conversational agent provided scripted content similar to that delivered in a pretest genetic counseling visit for cancer genetic testing. Outside of a core set of information delivered to all patients, users were able to navigate within the chat to request additional content in their areas of interest. An artificial intelligence-based preprogrammed library was also established to allow users to ask open-ended questions to the conversational agent. Transcripts of the interactions were recorded. Here, we describe the information selected, time spent to complete the chat, and use of the open-ended question feature. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative measures, and thematic analyses were used for qualitative responses. RESULTS:We invited 103 patients to participate, of which 88.3% (91/103) were offered access to the conversational agent, 39% (36/91) started the chat, and 32% (30/91) completed the chat. Most users who completed the chat indicated that they wanted to continue with genetic testing (21/30, 70%), few were unsure (9/30, 30%), and no patient declined to move forward with testing. Those who decided to test spent an average of 10 (SD 2.57) minutes on the chat, selected an average of 1.87 (SD 1.2) additional pieces of information, and generally did not ask open-ended questions. Those who were unsure spent 4 more minutes on average (mean 14.1, SD 7.41; P=.03) on the chat, selected an average of 3.67 (SD 2.9) additional pieces of information, and asked at least one open-ended question. CONCLUSIONS:The pretest chat provided enough information for most patients to decide on cancer genetic testing, as indicated by the small number of open-ended questions. A subset of participants were still unsure about receiving genetic testing and may require additional education or interpersonal support before making a testing decision. Conversational agents have the potential to become a scalable alternative for pretest genetics education, reducing the clinical demand on genetics providers.

Numerous studies have found that organizational features connected with the work environment of nurses have a significant influence on patients' safety. The aim of this research was to capture nurses' opinions about patients' safety and discern relationships with work environment characteristics. This cross-sectional study surveyed 1825 nurses. The research used questionnaire consisting of four parts: (1) covered The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI); (2) assessed the quality of nursing care and care safety; (3) contained information on the most recent duty served by the nurses and (4) captured social and demographic data of participants. The research identified strong association between patient safety assessment and work environment of nurses in the aspect of employment adequacy, cooperation between nurses and doctors, support for nurses from the managing staff, the possibility to participate in the management as well as professional promotion of nurses employed in the hospital (p < 0.001). Nurses rated patient safety higher when responsible for a smaller number of patients. Work environment factors such as proper staffing, good cooperation with doctors, support from the management, as well as professional independence are significantly related to nurses' assessment of patients' safety.