Distal colonocytes targeted by C. rodentium recruit T-cell help for barrier defence.

Interleukin 22 (IL-22) has a non-redundant role in immune defence of the intestinal barrier. T cells, but not innate lymphoid cells, have an indispensable role in sustaining the IL-22 signalling that is required for the protection of colonic crypts against invasion during infection by the enteropathogen Citrobacter rodentium (Cr). However, the intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) subsets targeted by T cell-derived IL-22, and how T cell-derived IL-22 sustains activation in IECs, remain undefined.

A phase II randomized double blinded trial evaluating the efficacy of curcumin with pre-operative chemoradiation for rectal cancer.

Background: studies demonstrate that curcumin increases radioresponse of colorectal cancers. To demonstrate efficacy in humans, we performed a randomized double-blind study of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients receiving pre-operative chemoradiation therapy (CRT) ± curcumin. We used pathologic complete response (pCR) rate as a surrogate for clinical outcome.

Proton beam therapy outcomes for localized unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background And Purpose: This study documents the utilization and efficacy of proton beam therapy (PBT) in western patients with localized unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods And Methods: Forty-six patients with HCC, Child-Pugh class of A or B, no prior radiotherapy history, and ECOG performance status 0-2 received PBT at our institution from 2007 to 2016. Radiographic control within the PBT field (local control, LC) and overall survival (OS) were calculated from the start of PBT.

Preoperative radiation dose escalation for rectal cancer using a concomitant boost strategy improves tumor downstaging without increasing toxicity: A matched-pair analysis.

Purpose: Pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is associated with improved outcomes for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Increased response rates have been reported with higher radiation doses, but these studies often lack long-term outcome and/or toxicity data. We conducted a case-control analysis of patients with LARC who underwent definitive CRT to determine the efficacy and safety of intensified treatment with a concomitant boost (CB) approach.

Dose escalation with an IMRT technique in 15 to 28 fractions is better tolerated than standard doses of 3DCRT for LAPC.

Purpose: To review acute and late toxicities after chemoradiation for locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in patients who were treated with escalated dose radiation (EDR).

Methods And Materials: Maximum Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.0 acute toxicities (AT) during radiation and within 60 days after radiation were recorded for both acute gastrointestinal toxicity and overall toxicity (OT).

Does Unintentional Splenic Radiation Predict Outcomes After Pancreatic Cancer Radiation Therapy?

Purpose: To determine whether severity of lymphopenia is dependent on radiation dose and fractional volume of spleen irradiated unintentionally during definitive chemoradiation (CRT) in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC).

Methods: 177 patients with LAPC received induction chemotherapy (mainly gemcitabine-based regimens) followed by CRT (median 50.4 Gy with concurrent capecitabine) from January 2006 to December 2012.

Recent Advances and Prospects for Multimodality Therapy in Pancreatic Cancer.

The outcomes for treatment of pancreatic cancer have not improved dramatically in many decades. However, the recent promising results with combination chemotherapy regimens for metastatic disease increase optimism for future treatments. With greater control of overt or occult metastatic disease, there will likely be an expanding role for local treatment modalities, especially given that nearly a third of pancreatic cancer patients have locally destructive disease without distant metastatic disease at the time of death.

Phase I Trial of Consolidative Radiotherapy with Concurrent Bevacizumab, Erlotinib and Capecitabine for Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer.

Purpose: To determine the safety, tolerability and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of addition of erlotinib to bevacizumab and capecitabine-based definitive chemoradiation (CRT) in unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Methods: Seventeen patients with CT-staged, biopsy-proven unresectable pancreatic cancer were enrolled between 3/2008 and 10/2010. Prior chemotherapy was permitted.

Focal Radiation Therapy Dose Escalation Improves Overall Survival in Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Patients Receiving Induction Chemotherapy and Consolidative Chemoradiation.

Purpose: To review outcomes of locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) patients treated with dose-escalated intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with curative intent.

Methods And Materials: A total of 200 patients with LAPC were treated with induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation between 2006 and 2014. Of these, 47 (24%) having tumors >1 cm from the luminal organs were selected for dose-escalated IMRT (biologically effective dose [BED] >70 Gy) using a simultaneous integrated boost technique, inspiration breath hold, and computed tomographic image guidance.

Hyperthermia using nanoparticles--Promises and pitfalls.

An ever-increasing body of literature affirms the physical and biological basis for sensitisation of tumours to conventional therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy by mild temperature hyperthermia. This knowledge has fuelled the efforts to attain, maintain, measure and monitor temperature via technological advances. A relatively new entrant in the field of hyperthermia is nanotechnology which capitalises on locally injected or systemically administered nanoparticles that are activated by extrinsic energy sources to generate heat.

The posterior cranial fossa: a comparative MRI-based anatomic study of linear dimensions and volumetry in a homogeneous South Indian population.

Purpose: The posterior fossa contains structures that are vital to life. In this study, we aimed at establishing normal linear dimensions and volume data of the posterior fossa in a homogeneous south Indian population. We also evaluated the influence of large tumors on these parameters.

Paraneoplastic thrombocytosis independently predicts poor prognosis in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Background And Aims: Platelets are believed to promote tumor growth and metastasis but their prognostic role in locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) remains largely unknown. We assessed whether pretreatment platelet counts independently predict survival outcomes in patients with LAPC treated with chemoradiation (CRT).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the MD Anderson pancreatic cancer database and identified 199 patients with LAPC treated with CRT between 2006 and 2012.