Real world experience on treatment, outcome and toxicity of crizotinib in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Crizotinib has been the standard treatment for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It demonstrated superior progression-free survival (PFS) and higher objective response rates (ORRs) chemotherapy in previously treated and untreated patients with ALK-positive advanced NSCLC. This retrospective analysis reports real-world experience in treatment outcome and toxicity of crizotinib in this group of patients, with a focus on the cardiac toxicity and its management.

Molecular mechanism of action and potential biomarkers of growth inhibition of synergistic combination of afatinib and dasatinib against gefitinib-resistant non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Epidermal growth factor receptor - tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) is the first choice of treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients harbouring activating EGFR mutations. However, single agent usually has limited efficacy due to heterogeneous resistant mechanisms of cancer cells. Thus drug combination therapy would offer more benefits by synergistic interactions and avoidance of resistance emergence.

Phase II study of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced gastric cancer.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival of locally advanced gastric cancer patients. However, benefit is limited and the best regimen remains controversial.

Objectives: Our primary objective of this prospective, multicenter phase 2 study was to evaluate the pathological complete response rate (PCR) with 2 cycles of docetaxel and capecitabine.

Silica-F127 nanohybrid-encapsulated manganese oxide nanoparticles for optimized T1 magnetic resonance relaxivity.

To properly engineer MnO nanoparticles (MONPs) of high r1 relaxivity, a nanohybrid coating consisting of silica and F127 (PEO106PPO70PEO106) is designed to encapsulate MONPs. Achieved by an interfacial templating scheme, the nanohybrid encapsulating layer is highly permeable and hydrophilic to allow for an optimal access of water molecules to the encapsulated manganese oxide core. Hence, the efficacy of MONPs as MRI contrast agents is significantly improved, as demonstrated by an enhancement of the MR signal measured with a pre-clinical 7.

Silica-shell cross-linked micelles encapsulating fluorescent conjugated polymers for targeted cellular imaging.

A bioinspired silification approach was successfully used to encapsulate fluorescent conjugated polymers inside silica-shell cross-linked polymeric micelles (CP-SSCL) in the highly benign synthesis environment of room temperature and near-neutral aqueous environment. Four different conjugated polymers were employed to demonstrate the versatility of the bioinspired silification, resulting in the formation of CP-SSCL with different emission wavelengths across the visible spectrum. The CP-SSCL are characterized by a large absorption coefficient and high quantum yield, indicating that they exhibit the required high fluorescence brightness for cellular imaging application.

Clinical experience with gefitinib in Indian patients.

Introduction: Treatment options are limited in patients with advanced or refractory non-small cell lung cancer and lead to suboptimal outcome and/or benefit. The epidermal growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib (IRESSA) has been approved in many countries. Increased responsiveness to gefitinib has been demonstrated in particular subsets of patients, for example never smokers and patients of Asian origin.

Detection and comparison of epidermal growth factor receptor mutations in cells and fluid of malignant pleural effusion in non-small cell lung cancer.

Cells or cell-free fluid of malignant pleural effusion could be important clinical specimen for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation screening in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, their usefulness in mutation detection has not been well compared. In this study we recruited 26 East Asian NSCLC patients with malignant pleural effusion, determined the mutation status of EGFR in both cells and matched cell-free fluid with the use of sequencing and mutant-enriched PCR.

Differential reactions of microglia to brain metastasis of lung cancer.

The brain is a common metastatic site for various types of cancers, especially lung cancer. Patients with brain metastases have a poor prognosis in spite of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. It is postulated that immune cells in the brain may play a major role in cancer metastasis, dormancy, and relapse.