IntroductionImmunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, have significantly improved the clinical outcomes of various malignancies. However, ...they also cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs) that can be challenging to predict, prevent and treat. Although they likely interact with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), most existing evidence on this topic has come from clinical trials with eligibility criteria that may not accurately reflect real-world settings. The QUALITOP project will study HRQoL in relation to irAEs and its determinants in a real-world study of patients treated with immunotherapy.Methods and analysisThis international, observational, multicentre study takes place in France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. We aim to include about 1800 adult patients with cancer treated with immunotherapy in a specifically recruited prospective cohort, and to additionally obtain data from historical real-world databases (ie, databiobanks) and medical administrative registries (ie, national cancer registries) in which relevant data regarding other adult patients with cancer treated with immunotherapy has already been stored. In the prospective cohort, clinical health status, HRQoL and psychosocial well-being will be monitored until 18 months after treatment initiation through questionnaires (at baseline and 3, 6, 12 and 18 months thereafter), and by data extraction from electronic patient files. Using advanced statistical methods, including causal inference methods, artificial intelligence algorithms and simulation modelling, we will use data from the QUALITOP cohort to improve the understanding of the complex relationships among treatment regimens, patient characteristics, irAEs and HRQoL.Ethics and disseminationAll aspects of the QUALITOP project will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and with ethical approval from a suitable local ethics committee, and all patients will provide signed informed consent. In addition to standard dissemination efforts in the scientific literature, the data and outcomes will contribute to a smart digital platform and medical data lake. These will (1) help increase knowledge about the impact of immunotherapy, (2) facilitate improved interactions between patients, clinicians and the general population and (3) contribute to personalised medicine.Trial registration numberNCT05626764.
Membrane proteins are central to many pathophysiological processes, yet remain very difficult to analyze structurally. Moreover, high-throughput structure-based drug discovery has not yet been ...exploited for membrane proteins because of lack of automation. Here, we present a facile and versatile platform for in meso membrane protein crystallization, enabling rapid atomic structure determination at both cryogenic and room temperatures. We apply this approach to human integral membrane proteins, which allowed us to identify different conformational states of intramembrane enzyme-product complexes and analyze by molecular dynamics simulations the structural dynamics of the ADIPOR2 integral membrane protein. Finally, we demonstrate an automated pipeline combining high-throughput microcrystal soaking, automated laser-based harvesting, and serial crystallography, enabling screening of small-molecule libraries with membrane protein crystals grown in meso. This approach brings needed automation to this important class of drug targets and enables high-throughput structure-based ligand discovery with membrane proteins.
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•A platform for rapid in meso structures by serial crystallography (SSX)•Insights into ADIPOR2 receptor-ligand dynamic interactions•A web-based application for remote user-guided experimental design and execution•An automated SSX-based ligand discovery pipeline for membrane proteins is introduced
Membrane proteins are key regulators of most physiological processes and represent attractive targets for drug discovery programs. One of the most successful methods to obtain high-resolution structures of membrane proteins relies on in meso crystallization in combination with serial synchrotron crystallography. However, this remains a difficult process, with challenges at every step, including complex manual sample recovery protocols leading to limited throughput and sample loss and the difficulty in carrying out high-throughput ligand screening experiments. We have developed a new approach enabling rapid, automated structural analysis of membrane proteins in meso based on the CrystalDirect technology that addresses these issues, enabling high-throughput drug discovery with membrane proteins.
Membrane proteins control many biological processes and represent attractive targets for drug discovery, but are difficult to study structurally. Healey et al. present an automated approach, combining the CrystalDirect technology and serial crystallography, for rapid structural analysis of membrane proteins and opening new opportunities for high-throughput drug discovery.
Images from the OSIRIS scientific imaging system onboard Rosetta show that the nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko consists of two lobes connected by a short neck. The nucleus has a bulk density ...less than half that of water. Activity at a distance from the Sun of >3 astronomical units is predominantly from the neck, where jets have been seen consistently. The nucleus rotates about the principal axis of momentum. The surface morphology suggests that the removal of larger volumes of material, possibly via explosive release of subsurface pressure or via creation of overhangs by sublimation, may be a major mass loss process. The shape raises the question of whether the two lobes represent a contact binary formed 4.5 billion years ago, or a single body where a gap has evolved via mass loss.
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