查看更多>>摘要：Introduction: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for most lung cancers and is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. Alterations in c-MET, a tyrosine kinase receptor, have been involved in many cases of NSCLC progression and metastasis. Crizotinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been used in NSCLC treatment with limited success. Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we analyzed data from patients diagnosed with lung cancer at Soroka University Medical Center between January 2015 and January 2020. We investigated patient characteristics, including disease-associated mutation type and median survival in response to different TKI treatments. Results: A total of 780 patients with lung cancer were included in the study, 134 of whom had small cell lung cancer and 646 had NSCLC. Of the NSCLC patients, 403 were diagnosed with advanced or metastatic disease, and 374 underwent molecular testing. We identified 16 patients with either c-MET mutations or amplifications who were treated with crizotinib. Of these patients, 7 expressed a c-MET exon 14 skipping mutation while the remaining 9 patients expressed c-MET amplification. Among the patients with a c-MET exon 14 skip mutation, the overall survival was 22.8 months and the median progression-free survival (PFS) on crizotinib treatment was 12.4 months. Of the patients with c-MET amplification, the median overall survival was 5.4 months and the median PFS with crizotinib treatment was 2.6 months. Discussion and Conclusions: We analyzed the data of a series of cases describing patients diagnosed with different stages of NSCLC, having either a c-MET exon 14 skipping mutation or an amplification mutation, and treated with various TKIs, including crizotinib. We investigated the characteristics of these patient groups in accordance with mutation types and compared median survival between patient groups. Crizotinib was found to be an optimal treatment for NSCLC harboring c-MET exon 14 skipping mutations.
查看更多>>摘要：Introduction: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common malignant tumor in southern China and Southeast Asia. Although substantial research on NPC has been conducted, the resulting improvement in clinical outcomes remains very disappointing. NPC treatment typically involves radiation therapy and chemotherapy, but the high incidence of metastasis and recurrence in NPC patients result in poor survival. Therefore, identifying potential biomarkers and discovering therapeutic targets are necessary to design tailored treatments based on the genetic profiles of NPC patients. Methods: Correlations of protein immunostaining with clinicopathological features were analyzed by Pearson’s χ 2 test. The Kaplan-Meier method with a log-rank test was used to generate survival curves. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: In this study, we comparatively analyzed cytoskeletal organization and biogenesis (GO:0007010) and tumorigenesis in the NPC transcriptome (GSE12452) and found that formin-like 2 (FMNL2) expression was significantly upregulated in NPC tumor tissues. Moreover, high FMNL2 expression was significantly correlated with primary tumor stage (p = 0.001), lymph node status (p = 0.004), cancer stage (p = 0.006), and histological grade (p = 0.040). More importantly, high FMNL2 expression was significantly correlated with poor survival in NPC patients according to univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Conclusion: This study reveals that FMNL2 may be an important potential biomarker for evaluating the prognosis of NPC patients.
查看更多>>摘要：Introduction: Dysregulation of metal ion homeostasis is associated with urothelial carcinogenesis. From a published urinary bladder urothelial carcinoma (UBUC) transcriptome, we identified metallothionein 2A (MT2A) as the most significantly upregulated gene implicated in cancer progression among metal ion binding-related genes. Therefore, we analyzed the association between MT2A expression and clinical significance in our well-characterized cohort of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and UBUC. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathological characteristics of 295 and 340 patients with UBUC and UTUC, respectively. MT2A expression was assessed using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. We further correlated MT2A expression with clinicopathological factors, disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) using the Pearson’s χ 2 test, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results: High MT2A expression was significantly associated with aggressive pathological features including high tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, high tumor grade, vascular invasion, and perineural invasion. In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, high MT2A expression was significantly correlated with poor DSS (p < 0.0001) and MFS (p < 0.0001); in the multivariate analysis, it was an independent predictor of CSS (p < 0.001) and MFS (p = 0.001). Gene coexpression analysis demonstrated that MT2A overexpression promotes UC progression through complement activation. Conclusion: High MT2A expression correlated with aggressive UC features and was an independent predictor of cancer metastasis and patient survival, suggesting its role in risk stratification and decision-making in patients with UTUC and UBUC.
查看更多>>摘要：Introduction: The role of sarcopenia in malignant cutaneous melanoma is unclear. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to analyze the prevalence and clinical role of sarcopenia in patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma based on a large cohort. Methods: MEDLINE, Cochrane, and SCOPUS databases were checked for relationships between sarcopenia and clinical outcomes in melanoma up to September 2021. Overall, 6 studies including 719 patients met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia was 40.23%. Sarcopenia did not influence dose-limiting toxicity of treatment, hazard ratio (HR) 1.01, 95% CI (0.70–1.47). Sarcopenia was associated with lower progression-free survival (PFS): HR 1.49, 95% CI (0.98–2.26), and lower overall survival (OS): HR 1.67, 95% CI (1.11–2.52). Conclusions: The cumulative prevalence of sarcopenia in malignant cutaneous melanoma is 40.77%. Sarcopenia is slightly associated with PFS and OS and it is not associated with treatment toxicity.
查看更多>>摘要：Introduction: Cancer aggravates COVID-19 prognosis. Nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is particularly frequent in cancer patients, who need to attend hospitals regularly. Since March 2020, all cancer patients having access to the Oncology Unit at the “Andrea Tortora” Hospital (Pagani, Salerno – referred to as “the Hospital”) as inpatients or outpatients receiving intravenous therapy have been screened for SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR nasal swab. The ongoing COICA (COVID-19 infection in cancer patients) study is an ambispective, multicenter, observational study designed to assess the prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cancer patients. The aim of the study presented here was to explore potential differences in COVID-19-related outcomes among screening-detected versus nonscreening-detected SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. Methods: The COICA study enrolled cancer patients who had received any anticancer systemic therapy within 3 months since the day they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on RT-PCR. The target accrual is 128 patients, and the study was approved by the competent Ethics Committee. Only the subgroup of patients enrolled at the Hospital was considered in this unplanned interim analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association of screening-based versus nonscreening-based diagnosis. Results: Since March 15, 2020, until August 15, 2021, a total of 931 outpatients and 230 inpatients were repeatedly screened for SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR nasal swab at the Hospital. Among these, 71 asymptomatic patients were positive on routine screening and 5 patients were positive for SARS-CoV-2 outside the institutional screening. Seven patients died because of COVID-19. At univariate analysis, nonscreening- versus screening-detected SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with significantly higher odds of O 2 therapy (OR = 16.2; 95% CI = 2.2–117.1; p = 0.006), hospital admission (OR = 31.5; 95% CI = 3.1–317.8; p = 0.003), admission to ICU (OR = 23.0; 95% CI = 2.4–223.8; p = 0.007), and death (OR = 8.8; 95% CI = 1.2–65.5; p = 0.034). Conclusion: Routine screening with RT-PCR may represent a feasible and effective strategy in reducing viral circulation and possibly COVID-19 mortality in patients with active cancer having repeated access to hospital facilities.
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Karger