French Institute of Health and Medical Research

About: French Institute of Health and Medical Research is a government organization based out in Paris, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Receptor. The organization has 109367 authors who have published 174236 publications receiving 8365503 citations.

KRAS Mutations As an Independent Prognostic Factor in Patients With Advanced Colorectal Cancer Treated With Cetuximab

Abstract: Purpose Cetuximab is efficient in advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). We previously showed that KRAS mutations were associated with resistance to cetuximab in 30 CRC patients. The aim of this study was to validate, in an independent larger series of 89 patients, the prognostic value of KRAS mutations on response to cetuximab and survival. Patients and Methods Eighty-nine metastatic CRC patients treated with cetuximab after treatment failure with irinotecan-based chemotherapy were analyzed for KRAS mutation by allelic discrimination on tumor DNA. The association between KRAS mutations and tumor response, skin toxicity, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was analyzed. Results A KRAS mutation was present in 27% of the patients and was associated with resistance to cetuximab (0% v 40% of responders among the 24 mutated and 65 nonmutated patients, respectively; P < .001) and a poorer survival (median PFS: 10.1 v 31.4 weeks in patients without mutation; P = .0001; median OS: 10.1 v 14.3 mon...

Instability of a 550-base pair DNA segment and abnormal methylation in fragile X syndrome

Abstract: The fragile X syndrome, a common cause of inherited mental retardation, is characterized by an unusual mode of inheritance. Phenotypic expression has been linked to abnormal cytosine methylation of...

Efficacy of Pembrolizumab in Patients With Noncolorectal High Microsatellite Instability/Mismatch Repair-Deficient Cancer: Results From the Phase II KEYNOTE-158 Study.

Abstract: PURPOSEGenomes of tumors that are deficient in DNA mismatch repair (dMMR) have high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and harbor hundreds to thousands of somatic mutations that encode potential ne...

Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in an Adult Normal Population

Abstract: The vitamin D status of a general adult urban population was estimated between November and April in 1569 subjects selected from 20 French cities grouped in nine geographical regions (between latitude 43° and 51° N). Major differences in 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration were found between regions, the lowest values being seen in the North and the greatest in the South, with a significant ‘sun’ effect (r = 0.72; p = 0.03) and latitude effect (r = -0.79; p = 0.01). In this healthy adult population, 14% of subjects exhibited 25(OH)D values ≤ 30 nmol/l (12 ng/ml), which represents the lower limit (< 2 SD) for a normal adult population measured in winter with the same method (RIA Incstar). A significant negative correlation was found between serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and serum 25(OH)D values (p < 0.01). Serum iPTH held a stable plateau level at 36 pg/ml as long as serum 25(OH)D values were higher than 78 nmol/l (31 ng/ml), but increased when the serum 25(OH)D value fell below this. When the 25(OH)D concentration became equal to or lower than 11.3 nmol/l (4.6 ng/ml), the PTH values reached the upper limit of normal values (55 pg/ml) found in vitamin D replete subjects. These results showed that in French normal adults living in an urban environment with a lack of direct exposure to sunshine, diet failed to provide an adequate amount of vitamin D. It is important to pay attention to this rather high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in the general adult population and to discuss the clinical utility of winter supplementation with low doses of vitamin D.