Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) remains a significant challenge in gynecologic oncology, particularly in the context of platinum-resistant disease. Mirvetuximab soravtansine (MIRV), was approved after trials revealed favorable response and survival outcomes. MIRV targets folate receptor alpha (FRα), a cell-surface receptor that is overexpressed in EOC and has been associated with aggressive disease phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinical management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) requires accurate identification of tumor-specific genetic alterations to inform treatment options. Historically, providers have relied on single-gene testing (SGT) for actionable variants due to a perception of cost-effectiveness and/or efficient turnaround time compared to next-generation sequencing (NGS). However, not all actionable variants may be evaluated through SGT modalities, and an SGT approach can exhaust valuable tissue needed for more comprehensive analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes based on self-identified race and ethnicity (SIRE) are well documented, yet these variables have historically been excluded from clinical research. Without SIRE, genetic ancestry can be inferred using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) detected from tumor DNA using comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP). However, factors inherent to CGP of tumor DNA increase the difficulty of identifying ancestry-informative SNPs, and current workflows for inferring genetic ancestry from CGP need improvements in key areas of the ancestry inference process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent strides in understanding the molecular underpinnings of head and neck cancers have sparked considerable interest in identifying precise biomarkers that can enhance prognostication and enable personalized treatment strategies. Immunotherapy has particularly revolutionized the therapeutic landscape for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, offering new avenues for treatment. This review comprehensively examines the application and limitations of the established and emerging/novel biomarkers for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Younger patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (<50 years) represent a significant patient population with distinct clinicopathological features and enriched targetable genomic alterations compared to older patients. However, previous studies of younger NSCLC suffer from inconsistent findings, few studies have incorporated sex into their analyses, and studies targeting age-related differences in the tumor immune microenvironment are lacking.
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 8,230 patients with NSCLC, comparing genomic alterations and immunogenic markers of younger and older patients while also considering differences between male and female patients.
KEYNOTE-522 resulted in FDA approval of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with early-stage, high-risk, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Unfortunately, pembrolizumab is associated with several immune-related adverse events (irAEs). We aimed to identify potential tumor microenvironment (TME) biomarkers which could predict patients who may attain pathological complete response (pCR) with chemotherapy alone and be spared the use of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Tissue-based broad molecular profiling of guideline-recommended biomarkers is advised for the therapeutic management of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, practice variation can affect whether all indicated biomarkers are tested. We aimed to evaluate the impact of common single-gene testing (SGT) on subsequent comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) test outcomes and results in NSCLC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) are tumor antigens that are normally expressed in the testes but are aberrantly expressed in several cancers. CTA overexpression drives the metastasis and progression of lung cancer, and is associated with poor prognosis. To improve lung cancer diagnosis, prognostic prediction, and drug discovery, robust CTA identification and quantitation is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT is recommended as an optional study in the current NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Breast Cancer after CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis with contrast and bone scan (CTBS) in stage IIA-IIIC breast cancer. We evaluated our experience with the use of PET/CT in this setting before beginning primary systemic therapy (PST) prior to planned surgery.
Methods: We performed medical record abstractions of all adult female patients with clinical stage IIA-IIIC breast cancer diagnosed at Montefiore Medical Center from January 1, 2014, through January 1, 2019, who underwent PET/CT before PST.
Background: Patients with cancer have a high use of health care utilization at the end of life, which can frequently involve admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU). We sought to evaluate the predictors for outcome in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer admitted to the ICU for nonsurgical conditions.
Patients And Methods: The primary objective was to determine the predictors of hospital mortality.
In patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with chemotherapy plus a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), the prognostic impact of additional chromosomal abnormalities (ACAs) is not well-established. We evaluated the prognostic impact of individual ACAs in 152 patients with Ph+ ALL receiving first-line intensive chemotherapy plus either imatinib (n = 36), dasatinib (n = 74), or ponatinib (n = 42). ACAs were identified in 118 patients (78%).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hemolytic uremic syndrome associated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 has been widely known as a common cause of acute renal failure in children. There are only a few reports of sporadic Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli-hemolytic uremic syndrome in adults in the USA. Analyses from the 2011 outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome associated with Escherichia coli O104:H4 reported that mortality rates are highest in those patients with age >60-years old.
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