Bianca Quijano

A single dose of a PD-1 inhibitor prior to surgery for melanoma may put patients in remission, according to a study published in Nature Medicine (Mar. 2019; 25(3):454–461). Immune responses brought on by this therapy can reach their peak as early as seven days after treatment. Researchers reported that this is much earlier than previous studies have shown.

Exclusively breastfeeding children for the first three months of their lives may significantly lower their risk of developing atopic dermatitis (AD) at six years old, compared with children who were not breastfed or who were breastfed for a shorter period, according to research presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2019 Annual Meeting and published online ahead of print at The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Feb. 2019; 143(2):AB124).

Leprosy should be considered in the differential diagnosis when evaluating both foreign- and U.S.-born patients with granulomatous dermatitis and peripheral neuropathy, despite the condition’s rarity in the North America. That is according to a report published online ahead of print (Mayo Clinic Proceedings Feb. 20, 2019). The study examined local case studies of leprosy by reviewing the risk factors and demographic information of affected patients.