Symptom Burden and Quality of Life in Long-Term Survivors with Head and Neck Cancer.

In this study, long-term survivors of head and neck cancer (HNC) were evaluated regarding their symptom burden and quality of life (QoL). This prospective study was performed during the regular follow-up consultations at one of Germany's largest tertiary referral centers for HNC. The assessment included demographic, clinical, and oncological data, as well as the MIDOS(2) and the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW QoL) questionnaires.

Efficacy of radiotherapy combined with atezolizumab or docetaxel in patients with previously treated NSCLC.

Radiotherapy showed synergy with immunotherapy, yet the comparative effectiveness of combining immunotherapy (iRT) or chemotherapy (CRT) after platinum therapy failure in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unexplored. We analyzed 163 patients (iRT:  = 120 vs. CRT:  = 43) eligible for combination radiotherapy.

[Highlights of the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting: radiotherapy of head and neck cancer].

At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), several important studies on radiotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) were presented. There were two Chinese phase III trials on treatment escalation for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: adjuvant immune checkpoint inhibition with camrelizumab after induction chemotherapy and cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy (RCT) in the DIPPER trial reached the primary endpoint of improved event-free survival (EFS) but did not improve overall survival (OS). Simultaneous and adjuvant administration of the angiogenesis inhibitor endostar in addition to cisplatin-based RCT for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma led to a significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) and OS.

Full bladder, empty rectum? Revisiting a paradigm in the era of adaptive radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Many patients find it challenging to comply with instructions regarding rectum and bladder filling during pelvic radiotherapy. With the implementation of online adaptive radiotherapy, the reproducibility of organ volumes is no longer a prerequisite. This study aims to analyze the sparing of the bladder and the posterior rectum wall (PRW) in conditions of full versus empty bladder and rectum.

Postoperative pain after parotid surgery-comparison between superficial/total parotidectomy and extracapsular dissection: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: To evaluate postoperative pain and discomfort after parotid surgery with regard to different surgical approaches.

Methods: This clinical study was carried out at a single tertiary referral center (2021-2022) and included 2 groups of adult patients (mean age 56.6 ± 12.

Defining intra-tumoral and systemic immune biomarkers for locally advanced head-and-neck cancer - detailed protocol of a prospective, observatory multicenter trial (ImmunBioKHT) and first results of the immunophenotyping of the patients' peripheral blood.

The approval and effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) highlights the role of the immune system in this tumor entity. HNSCCs not only interacts with the immune system in the tumor tissue, but also induce systemic effects that may be additionally influenced by further factors such as the microbiome. Nonetheless, reliable immunological biomarkers that predict treatment response and outcome in HNSCC patients are lacking.

Tumor-Associated Neutrophils Are a Negative Prognostic Factor in Early Luminal Breast Cancers Lacking Immunosuppressive Macrophage Recruitment.

Background: Tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) are important modulators of the tumor microenvironment with opposing functions that can promote and inhibit tumor progression. The prognostic role of TANs in early luminal breast cancer is unclear.

Methods: A total of 144 patients were treated for early-stage hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer as part of an Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI) phase II trial.

Impact of mediastinal tumor burden and lymphatic spread in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: A secondary analysis of the multicenter randomized PET-Plan trial.

Purpose: The aim of this secondary analysis of the prospective randomized phase 2 PET-Plan trial (ARO-2009-09; NCT00697333) was to evaluate the impact of mediastinal tumor burden and lymphatic spread in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: All patients treated per protocol (n = 172) were included. Patients received isotoxically dose-escalated chemoradiotherapy up to a total dose of 60-74 Gy in 30-37 fractions, aiming as high as possible while adhering to normal tissue constraints.

Studies on Human Cultured Fibroblasts and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas Suggest That Overexpression of Histone Variant H2A.J Promotes Radioresistance and Oncogenic Transformation.

Cellular senescence in response to ionizing radiation (IR) limits the replication of damaged cells by causing permanent cell cycle arrest. However, IR can induce pro-survival signaling pathways that reduce the extent of radiation-induced cytotoxicity and promote the development of radioresistance. The differential incorporation of histone variant H2A.

Effect of different optimization parameters in single isocenter multiple brain metastases radiosurgery.

Purpose: Automated treatment planning for multiple brain metastases differs from traditional planning approaches. It is therefore helpful to understand which parameters for optimization are available and how they affect the plan quality. This study aims to provide a reference for designing multi-metastases treatment plans and to define quality endpoints for benchmarking the technique from a scientific perspective.

Highly acidic -triflylphosphoramides as chiral Brønsted acid catalysts: the effect of weak hydrogen bonds and multiple acceptors on complex structures and aggregation.

-Triflylphosphoramides (NTPAs) represent an important catalyst class in asymmetric catalysis due to their multiple hydrogen bond acceptor sites and acidity, which is increased by several orders of magnitude compared to conventional chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs). Thus, NTPAs allow for several challenging transformations, which are not accessible with CPAs. However, detailed evidence on their hydrogen bonding situation, complex structures and aggregation is still lacking.

Radiation Dermatitis: Radiation-Induced Effects on the Structural and Immunological Barrier Function of the Epidermis.

An important hallmark of radiation dermatitis is the impairment of the mitotic ability of the stem/progenitor cells in the basal cell layers due to radiation-induced DNA damage, leading to suppressed cell renewal in the epidermis. However, this mechanism alone does not adequately explain the complex pathogenesis of radiation-induced skin injury. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on the complex pathogenesis of radiation dermatitis and correlate these with the clinical features of radiation-induced skin reactions.

Machine Learning-assisted immunophenotyping of peripheral blood identifies innate immune cells as best predictor of response to induction chemo-immunotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - knowledge obtained from the CheckRad-CD8 trial.

Purpose: Individual prediction of treatment response is crucial for personalized treatment in multimodal approaches against head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). So far, no reliable predictive parameters for treatment schemes containing immunotherapy have been identified. This study aims to predict treatment response to induction chemo-immunotherapy based on the peripheral blood immune status in patients with locally advanced HNSCC.

TCCIA: a comprehensive resource for exploring CircRNA in cancer immunotherapy.

Background: Immunotherapies targeting immune checkpoints have gained increasing attention in cancer treatment, emphasizing the need for predictive biomarkers. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators of tumor immunity, particularly in the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, and have shown potential in predicting immunotherapy efficacy. Yet, the detailed roles of circRNAs in cancer immunotherapy are not fully understood.

Expression of 3q Oncogene SEC62 Predicts Survival in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients Treated with Primary Chemoradiation.

Primary chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is an established treatment option for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) usually combining intensity modified radiotherapy with concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy. Though the majority of patients can be cured with this regimen, treatment response is highly heterogeneous and can hardly be predicted. SEC62 represents a metastasis stimulating oncogene that is frequently overexpressed in various cancer entities and is associated with poor outcome.

Explainable convolutional neural networks for assessing head and neck cancer histopathology.

Purpose: Although neural networks have shown remarkable performance in medical image analysis, their translation into clinical practice remains difficult due to their lack of interpretability. An emerging field that addresses this problem is Explainable AI.

Methods: Here, we aimed to investigate the ability of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to classify head and neck cancer histopathology.

Automated Image Analysis of Transmission Electron Micrographs: Nanoscale Evaluation of Radiation-Induced DNA Damage in the Context of Chromatin.

Background: Heavy ion irradiation (IR) with high-linear energy transfer (LET) is characterized by a unique depth dose distribution and increased biological effectiveness. Following high-LET IR, localized energy deposition along the particle trajectories induces clustered DNA lesions, leading to low electron density domains (LEDDs). To investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of DNA repair and chromatin remodeling, we established the automated image analysis of transmission electron micrographs.

Radiotherapy combined with docetaxel alters the immune phenotype of HNSCC cells and results in increased surface expression of CD137 and release of HMGB1 of specifically HPV-positive tumor cells.

Purpose: Human papilloma virus (HPV) positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tumors respond significantly better to anticancer treatments. It is assumed to be due to a better response to radiotherapy (RT), and presumably to an increased immunogenicity. However, little is known how the immune phenotype of HNSCC tumor cells is modulated by standard treatment, namely by radiochemotherapy (RCT).

ArthroRad trial: randomized multicenter single-blinded trial on the effect of low-dose radiotherapy for painful osteoarthritis-final results after 12-month follow-up.

Objective: Updated report about the randomized comparison of the effect of radiotherapy on painful osteoarthritis (OA) applying a standard dose vs. a very low dose regime after a follow-up of 1 year.

Patients And Methods: Patients presenting with OA of the hand/finger and knee joints were included.

Identification of an endogenous retroviral signature to predict anti-PD1 response in advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma: an integrated analysis of three clinical trials.

Background: Endogenous retrovirus (ERV) elements are genomic footprints of ancestral retroviral infections within the human genome. Previous studies have demonstrated that dysregulated ERV transcription level is associated with immune cell infiltration in cancers, but the association between ERV expression and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade response is currently unraveled for solid cancers, such as advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

Methods: ERV mRNA profiles were obtained from three clinical trials of ccRCC where the patients were treated with anti-PD-1 (CM-009, CM-010, CM-025, and TCGA-KIRC data).

A comparison between p16-positive head and neck cancer of unknown primary (HPV-HNCUP) and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-OPSCC): are they the same disease?

Introduction: The following study aimed to answer the question if HPV-HNCUP and HPV-OPSCC are the same disease. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to compare the oncological outcomes of both groups, in particular the 5-year overall survival rate (OS), the 5-year disease specific survival rate (DSS) and the 5-year progression free survival rate (PFS).

Materials And Methods: Firstly, between January 1st, 2007, and March 31st, 2020 a total of 131 patients were treated with HNCUP at our Department.

[Highlights of the ASCO and ESMO annual meetings 2022: radiotherapy of head and neck cancer].

At the 2022 annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), several studies on radiation therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) were presented. Among the main topics were new concepts for treatment de-escalation with the goal of reducing side effects. Radiotherapy alone for nasopharyngeal carcinoma with an intermediate-risk profile was found to be noninferior to chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin while improving tolerability.