Background: Data on patients with COVID-19 who have cancer are lacking. Here we characterise the outcomes of a cohort of patients with cancer and COVID-19 and identify potential prognostic factors for mortality and severe illness.
Methods: In this cohort study, we collected de-identified data on patients with active or previous malignancy, aged 18 years and older, with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection from the USA, Canada, and Spain from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) database for whom baseline data were added between March 17 and April 16, 2020.
Background And Importance: Rarely, corticotrophic pituitary tumors take on an aggressive form characterized by rapid growth, invasion into local structures, compression of cranial nerves, and possible spread to distant sites. When conventional surgery, radiation therapy, and hormones fail to control progression and symptoms, alternative therapies are needed. A novel chemotherapeutic regimen of capecitabine and temozolomide (CAPTEM), originally designed in our laboratory, demonstrated dramatic antineoplastic effects against corticotrophic pituitary tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of capecitabine and temozolomide (CAPTEM) in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) to the liver. This regimen was based on our studies with carcinoid cell lines that showed synergistic cytotoxicity with sequence-specific dosing of 5-fluorouracil preceding temozolomide (TMZ).
Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 18 patients with NETs metastatic to the liver who had failed 60 mg/month of Sandostatin LAR™ (100%), chemotherapy (61%), and hepatic chemoembolization (50%).
Background: Neuroendocrine tumors are uncommon tumors that are histopathologically and biologically heterogeneous and include the multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) 1 and 2 syndromes. The morbidity of MEN-1 and MEN-2 is often due to the symptomatology of the endocrine hormones produced, and the mortality mainly occurs from hepatic dysfunction incurred by liver metastases. At present, there is essentially no effective cure once the tumor has metastasized to the liver.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a mesenchymal malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec(®), ST1571, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland) is a selective inhibitor of break point cluster-Ableson (BCR-ABL), c-Kit, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRα) tyrosine kinases. Imatinib has been approved in the U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMutations in the cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with significantly increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer. Fortunately, effective strategies are available to reduce these risks, including genetic testing, which is an important consideration in determining management of patients with a strong family history of cancer. This article reviews the current evidence for risk-reducing strategies in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and outlines future research directions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe roles of the mitogen-activated kinase protein (MAPK) pathway, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB), and activator protein-1 (AP-1) in cellular responses to growth factors and mitogen are well established. However, the manner by which these proliferative pathways are affected by the tumor suppressor protein p53 is not fully understood. We report here the results of an investigation of the status of p53 on two human melanoma cell lines with wild-type p53 (SK-Mel-186) or mutant p53 (SK-Mel-110).
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