The prognostication of individual disease trajectory and selection of optimal therapy in patients with localized, low-grade prostate cancer often presents significant difficulty. The phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN) has emerged as a potential novel biomarker in this clinical context, based on its demonstrated prognostic significance in multiple retrospective studies. Incorporation into standard clinical practice necessitates exceptional diagnostic accuracy, and PTEN's binary readout-retention or loss-suggests its suitability as a biomarker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Whole lung transpulmonary chemoembolization using a combination of doxorubicin (DXO) and degradable starch microspheres (DSM-TPCE) might be a promising treatment option in soft tissue sarcoma. To pave the way for clinical studies, this study aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of DSM-TPCE with DXO using an ex vivo isolated lung perfusion (ILP) model.
Methods: Nine lung specimens retrieved from patients undergoing lobectomy underwent ex vivo ILP.
Context.—: Recently, a new type of antibody-drug conjugate, trastuzumab-deruxtecan (T-DXd), has been approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer with low level of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene expression. Thereby, eligibility relies on an accurate diagnosis of HER2-low status defined by immunohistochemistry IHC 1+/2+ with no gene amplification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor mammary carcinomas in pet rabbits, prognostic biomarkers are poorly defined, and treatment is limited to surgical excision. Additional treatment options are needed for rabbit patients for which surgery is not a suitable option. In human breast cancer, the immunosuppressive enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) represents a prognostic biomarker and possible therapeutic target.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite their unique histologic features, gliosarcomas belong to the group of glioblastomas and are treated according to the same standards. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a component of a tumor-specific subpopulation of fibroblasts that plays a critical role in tumor growth and invasion. Some case studies suggest an elevated expression of FAP in glioblastoma and a particularly strong expression in gliosarcoma attributed to traits of predominant mesenchymal differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKey Clinical Message: Hypophyseal dysfunction may be overlooked by the currently generally accepted laboratory routine for the differential diagnosis in patients suffering from symptoms of depression or dementia.
Abstract: Hypothyroidism is an important cause of depression and potentially reversible cognitive impairment. Whereas the determination of the plasma concentration of thyrotropin (TSH) is generally considered part of the laboratory screening tests for dementia, the measurement of total or free triiodothyronine (T3, FT3), thyroxine (T4, FT4) and cortisol in plasma does not belong to the routine diagnostic workup in patients with depression or suspected dementia.
Purpose: Imatinib resistance in GI stromal tumors (GISTs) is primarily caused by secondary mutations, and clonal heterogeneity of these secondary mutations represents a major treatment obstacle. KIT inhibitors used after imatinib have clinical activity, albeit with limited benefit. Ripretinib is a potent inhibitor of secondary KIT mutations in the activation loop (AL).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are major components of CRC's tumour microenvironment (TME), but their biological background and interplay with the TME remain poorly understood. This study investigates CAF biology and its impact on CRC progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Current guidelines recommend combination chemotherapy for treatment of patients with unfavorable cancer of unknown primary (CUP). Biomarker-guided targeted therapies may offer additional benefit. Data on the feasibility and effectiveness of comprehensive genomic biomarker profiling of CUP in a standard clinical practice setting are limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFibroblast activation protein α (FAPα) is expressed at high levels in several types of tumors. Here, we report the expression pattern of FAPα in solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) and its potential use as a radiotheranostic target. We analyzed FAPα messenger RNA and protein expression in biopsy samples from SFT patients using immunohistochemistry and multiplexed immunofluorescence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClaudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2), the dominant isoform of CLDN18 in gastric tissues, is a highly specific tight junction protein of the gastric mucosa with variably retained expressions in gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG) proposed an internationally accepted division of the mediastinum into three compartments based on computed tomography (CT): anterior (prevascular), middle (visceral) and posterior (paravertebral) compartment. There is no generally accepted definition for the term "giant" when applied to middle mediastinal lesions. We defined the term "giant" and described our surgical experience in treating patients with giant lesions of the middle mediastinum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDNA mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) and microsatellite instable (MSI) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) can be successfully treated with FDA- and EMA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) pembrolizumab and nivolumab (as single agents targeting the anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)) or combinations of a PD-1 inhibitor with ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4)-targeting antibody. The best treatment strategy beyond progression on single-agent ICI therapy remains unclear. Here, we present the case of a 63-year-old male with Lynch-syndrome-associated, microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) mCRC who achieved a rapid normalization of his tumor markers and a complete metabolic remission (CMR), currently lasting for ten months, on sequential ICI treatment with the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab followed by nivolumab maintenance therapy after progression on single-agent anti-PD-1 ICI therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: The main objectives of our study are (i) to determine the prevalence of () fusions in a routine diagnostic setting in NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) and (ii) to investigate the feasibility of screening approaches including immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a first-line test accompanied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and RNA-(ribonucleic acid-)based next-generation sequencing (RNA-NGS). (2) Methods: A total of 1068 unselected consecutive patients with NSCLC were screened in two scenarios, either with initial IHC followed by RNA-NGS ( = 973) or direct FISH testing ( = 95). (3) Results: One hundred and thirty-three patients (14.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cancer Res Clin Oncol
September 2023
Purpose: EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy in EGFR-mutated lung cancer is limited by acquired resistance. In half of the patients treated with first/second-generation (1st/2nd gen) TKI, resistance is associated with EGFR p.T790M mutation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Systemic therapy is firmly established in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Clinical efficacy is still modest and options are limited. Combination therapy protocols such as FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (Gem/NP) define standard-of-care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present an overview of our prospective fibroblast-activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) registry study across a 3-y period, with head-to-head comparison of tumor uptake in Ga-FAPI and F-FDG PET, as well as FAP immunohistochemistry. This is an interim analysis of the ongoing Ga-FAPI PET prospective observational trial at our department. Patients who underwent clinical imaging with Ga-FAPI PET between October 2018 and October 2021 were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirculating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from circulating free DNA (cfDNA) in GIST is of interest for the detection of heterogeneous resistance mutations and treatment monitoring. However, methodologies for use in a local setting are not standardized and are error-prone and difficult to interpret. We established a workflow to evaluate routine tumor tissue NGS (Illumina-based next generation sequencing) panels and pipelines for ctDNA sequencing in an academic setting.
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