Rationale and Design of the COPERNIC Trial: A Study of On-treatment ctDNA Changes in Chemo-refractory Colorectal Cancer Patients.

Background: Evidence suggests that ctDNA may be a reliable biomarker to monitor metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) evolution. Nevertheless, evidence on the potential of liquid biopsy in this setting is still low quality, mostly consisting of retrospective studies.

Methods: COPERNIC is an international, multicenter clinical trial.

PD-L1 Expression in Paired Samples of Rectal Cancer.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors and immune-related biomarkers are increasingly investigated in rectal cancer (RC). We retrospectively analysed PD-L1 expression in diagnostic biopsy and resection samples from RC patients treated at our centre between 2000 and 2020. PD-L1 immunostaining (22C3 clone) was evaluated according to tumour proportion (TPS), immune cell (ICS), and the combined positive score (CPS).

Non-operative management after immune checkpoint inhibitors for early-stage, dMMR/MSI-H gastrointestinal cancers.

Surgery is a standard treatment for early-stage gastrointestinal cancers, often preceded by neoadjuvant chemo(radio)therapy or followed by adjuvant therapy. While leading to cure in a proportion of patients, it has some drawbacks such as intra/post-operative complications, mutilation and life-long functional sequelae. Further to the unprecedented efficacy data from studies of immune checkpoint inhibitors for advanced mismatch repair deficient/microsatellite instable (dMMR/MSI-H) tumours, a strong interest has recently emerged for the investigation of such agents in the neoadjuvant setting.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage colon cancer.

Surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy is the standard treatment for early-stage colon cancer. However, evidence has recently emerged for neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with the results of randomised clinical trials sparking debates within multidisciplinary teams and splitting the gastrointestinal oncology community. Further to a systematic search of the literature, we provide a thorough and in-depth analysis of the findings from these trials, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Prognostic Value of Circulating Cytokines in Chemorefractory Colorectal Cancer.

Circulating cytokines could be optimal biomarkers for prognostication and management decisions in colorectal cancer (CRC). Chemorefractory CRC patients with available plasma samples were included in this study. In the discovery cohort ( = 85), 182 circulating cytokines were tested with a semi-quantitative multiplex assay, and prognostic cytokines were analyzed in the validation cohort ( = 111) by ELISA.

Preexisting evidence and outcome of phase III trials in gastrointestinal oncology: a systematic review.

Background: A minority of phase III trials in gastrointestinal oncology are positive. We assessed the association between their outcome and the level and characteristics of preexisting evidence.

Methods: EMBASE, PubMed, and proceedings from international meetings were searched for phase III gastrointestinal cancer trials (gastroesophageal, hepatocellular, biliary tract, pancreatic, small bowel, colorectal, anal, stromal, and neuroendocrine) between January 2000 and June 2020.

Unusual metastasis in BRCA mutated pancreatic cancer while on maintenance Olaparib: Two case reports and review of the literature.

The most common metastatic sites of pancreatic cancer are the liver, lymph nodes, peritoneum and lung. Here we report two cases of BRCA mutated pancreatic cancer that developed unusual metastasis while treatment with maintenance Olaparib and leading to rapid death. We hereby review the literature and address the possibility of a different nature and tumour biology of BRCA mutated cancer treated with PARP inhibitors.