Detection of Aneuploidy in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Patients with Breast Cancer Can Improve Diagnosis of Leptomeningeal Metastases.

Purpose: Detection of leptomeningeal metastasis is hampered by limited sensitivities of currently used techniques: MRI and cytology of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Detection of cell-free tumor DNA in CSF has been proposed as a tumor-specific candidate to detect leptomeningeal metastasis at an earlier stage. The aim of this study was to investigate mutation and aneuploidy status in CSF-derived cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of patients with breast cancer with a clinical suspicion of leptomeningeal metastasis.

Interim results from the CATNON trial (EORTC study 26053-22054) of treatment with concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide for 1p/19q non-co-deleted anaplastic glioma: a phase 3, randomised, open-label intergroup study.

Background: The role of temozolomide chemotherapy in newly diagnosed 1p/19q non-co-deleted anaplastic gliomas, which are associated with lower sensitivity to chemotherapy and worse prognosis than 1p/19q co-deleted tumours, is unclear. We assessed the use of radiotherapy with concurrent and adjuvant temozolomide in adults with non-co-deleted anaplastic gliomas.

Methods: This was a phase 3, randomised, open-label study with a 2 × 2 factorial design.

Treatment of large low-grade oligodendroglial tumors with upfront procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine chemotherapy with long follow-up: a retrospective cohort study with growth kinetics.

We treated patients with newly diagnosed and large low-grade oligodendroglial tumors with upfront procarbazine, CCNU and vincristine (PCV) in order to delay radiotherapy. Patients were treated with PCV for a maximum of 6 cycles. The response to treatment was defined according to the RANO criteria; in addition change over time of mean tumor diameters (growth kinetics) was calculated.

Single-agent bevacizumab or lomustine versus a combination of bevacizumab plus lomustine in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (BELOB trial): a randomised controlled phase 2 trial.

Background: Treatment options for recurrent glioblastoma are scarce, with second-line chemotherapy showing only modest activity against the tumour. Despite the absence of well controlled trials, bevacizumab is widely used in the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. Nonetheless, whether the high response rates reported after treatment with this drug translate into an overall survival benefit remains unclear.

Dose dense 1 week on/1 week off temozolomide in recurrent glioma: a retrospective study.

Alternative temozolomide regimens have been proposed to overcome O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase mediated resistance. We investigated the efficacy and tolerability of 1 week on/1 week off temozolomide (ddTMZ) regimen in a cohort of patients treated with ddTMZ between 2005 and 2011 for the progression of a glioblastoma during or after chemo-radiation with temozolomide or a recurrence of another type of glioma after radiotherapy and at least one line of chemotherapy. Patients received ddTMZ at 100-150 mg/m(2)/d (days 1-7 and 15-21 in cycles of 28-days).

First-line temozolomide chemotherapy in progressive low-grade astrocytomas after radiotherapy: molecular characteristics in relation to response.

Only a few studies examined the effect of temozolomide (TMZ) in recurrent low-grade astrocytoma (LGA) after surgery, none of which included a homogeneous and sufficiently sized group of patients with progression after radiotherapy (RT). We evaluated a cohort of 58 patients treated with TMZ for progression after RT of a previous LGA and investigated the relation between outcome and mutations in the IDH1, IDH2, and TP53 genes, O⁶-methylguanine-methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation, trisomy of chromosome 7, and loss of chromosomes 1p and 19q. All patients received first-line TMZ 200 mg/m²/day on days 1-5 every 4 weeks for a progressive LGA with a contrast-enhancing lesion on MRI after RT.

Successful treatment of low-grade oligodendroglial tumors with a chemotherapy regimen of procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine.

Background: Anaplastic oligodendroglioma (OD) tumors, especially those with the combined loss of the short arm of chromosome 1 (1p) and the long arm of chromosome 19 (19q), are sensitive to chemotherapy. Only limited data are available on the role of chemotherapy in low-grade OD. The authors retrospectively studied the outcome of the procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine (PCV) chemotherapy regimen in a group of 16 patients with newly diagnosed OD and 5 patients with recurrent low-grade OD.