Atypical B Cells Promote Cancer Progression and Poor Response to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Poor response to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy remains a major barrier in the management of patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Multiple factors are associated with poor outcomes, including biological aging and female sex. More recently, it has emerged that a B-cell-infiltrated pretreatment immune microenvironment of NMIBC tumors can influence the response to intravesically administered BCG.

Diagnostic and prognostic implications of a three-antibody molecular subtyping algorithm for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Intrinsic molecular subtypes may explain marked variation between bladder cancer patients in prognosis and response to therapy. Complex testing algorithms and little attention to more prevalent, early-stage (non-muscle invasive) bladder cancers (NMIBCs) have hindered implementation of subtyping in clinical practice. Here, using a three-antibody immunohistochemistry (IHC) algorithm, we identify the diagnostic and prognostic associations of well-validated proteomic features of basal and luminal subtypes in NMIBC.

BCG vaccine and COVID-19: implications for infection prophylaxis and cancer immunotherapy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 400 000 people globally. Ecological evidence indicates that countries with national universal BCG vaccination programs for tuberculosis (TB) prevention have a much lower incidence of severe COVID-19 and mortality compared with those that do not have such programs. BCG is a century old vaccine used for TB prevention via infant/childhood vaccination in lowto middle-income countries with high infection prevalence rate and is known to reduce all-cause neonatal mortality.

The Tumor Immune Contexture of Prostate Cancer.

One in seven men in North America is expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) during their lifetime (1, 2). While a wide range of treatment options including surgery, radiation, androgen deprivation and chemotherapy have been in practice for the last few decades, there are limited treatment options for metastatic and treatment resistant disease. Immunotherapy targeting T-cell associated immune checkpoints such as CTLA-4, PD-L1, and PD-1 have not yet proven to be efficacious in PCa.

Delivery of chemotherapy for testicular cancer in routine practice: A population-based study.

Introduction: Maintenance of chemotherapy dose intensity is a cornerstone of management in testicular germ cell tumors. We describe chemotherapy delivery and outcomes of patients in routine practice.

Methods: The Ontario Cancer Registry was linked to electronic records of treatment to identify patients diagnosed with testicular cancer treated with orchiectomy and chemotherapy from 2005 to 2010.

Perioperative chemotherapy for bladder cancer in the general population: Are practice patterns finally changing?

Background: Uptake of perioperative chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) has been historically poor. We describe contemporary use of neoadjuvant (NACT) and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) as well as medical oncology (MO) referral patterns in routine practice.

Methods: Electronic treatment records were linked to the population-based Ontario Cancer Registry to identify all MIBC patients treated with cystectomy in Ontario 1994 to 2013.

Impact of Enzalutamide Compared with Bicalutamide on Quality of Life in Men with Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer: Additional Analyses from the TERRAIN Randomised Clinical Trial.

Background: Improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important goal in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Objective: To examine the impact of enzalutamide versus bicalutamide on HRQoL in mCRPC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: TERRAIN is a multinational, phase 2, randomised, double-blind study in asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic men with mCRPC (ClinicalTrials.

Patterns of referral for perioperative chemotherapy among patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer: a population-based study.

Purpose: Reasons for low uptake of perioperative chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer are not well described. Herein, we report referral patterns from urology to medical oncology (MO) in Ontario, Canada, and subsequent use of chemotherapy.

Methods: Electronic treatment records were linked to the Ontario Cancer Registry to describe referral patterns and use of neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT/ACT) among patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated with cystectomy in Ontario from 1994 to 2008.

Why is perioperative chemotherapy for bladder cancer underutilized?

Despite clinical evidence and recommendations from international treatment guidelines, the use of perioperative chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer in routine practice remains low. Although multiple studies have described underutilization, there is an urgent need to better understand the elements contributing to the observed gaps in care. In this commentary, we explore what is known about the factors contributing to underutilization of perioperative chemotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Quality of care indicators and their related outcomes: a population-based study in prostate cancer patients treated with radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: We describe variations across the regional cancer centres in Ontario, Canada for five prostate cancer radiotherapy (RT) quality indicators: incomplete pre-treatment assessment, follow-up care, leg immobilization, bladder filling, and portal film target localization. Along with cancer centre volume, we examined each indicator's association with relevant outcomes: long-term cause-specific survival, urinary incontinence, and gastrointestinal and genitourinary late morbidities.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of 924 prostate cancer patients diagnosed between 1990 and 1998 who received RT within 9 months of diagnosis.

Detection of prostate cancer from RF ultrasound echo signals using fractal analysis.

In this paper we propose a new feature, average Higuchi dimension of RF time series (AHDRFT), for detection of prostate cancer using ultrasound data. The proposed feature is extracted from RF echo signals acquired from prostate tissue in an in vitro setting and is used in combination with texture features extracted from the corresponding B-scan images. In a novel approach towards RF data collection, we continuously recorded backscattered echoes from the prostate tissue to acquire time series of the RF signals.