Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive cancer with a very poor prognosis. Recently, immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) has taken center stage in the currently ongoing revolution that is changing standard-of-care treatment for several malignancies, including MPM. As multiple arguments and accumulating lines of evidence are in support of the existence of a therapeutic synergism between chemotherapy and immunotherapy, as well as between different classes of immunotherapeutics, we designed a multicenter, single-arm, phase I/II trial in which both programmed-death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibition and dendritic cell (DC) vaccination are integrated in the first-line conventional platinum/pemetrexed-based treatment scheme for epithelioid MPM patients (Immuno-MESODEC, ClinicalTrials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) continues to evolve expeditiously.
Objectives: This retrospective study investigated real-world treatment patterns and EGFR mutation testing in patients with EGFRm advanced NSCLC in Belgium.
Methods: Data were extracted from medical records of adults diagnosed with EGFRm locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC between 1 September 2015 and 31 December 2017.
Objectives: To compare real life effectiveness and safety of nivolumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to age and Eastern Cooperative Group performance status (ECOG-PS).
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients treated with nivolumab for NSCLC within a Belgian compassionate use program from July 2015 until December 2016. Safety and effectiveness were compared between patients aged ≥70 years and < 70 years and between ECOG-PS 0/1 and ≥ 2.
Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death worldwide with cigarette smoking as its major risk factor. Although the incidence of lung cancer in never smokers is rising, this subgroup of patients is underrepresented in genomic studies of lung cancer. Here, we assembled a prospective cohort of 46 never-smoking, nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and performed whole-exome and low-coverage whole-genome sequencing on tumors and matched germline DNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA multicenter study was performed to determine an optimal workflow for liquid biopsy in a clinical setting. In total, 549 plasma samples from 234 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were collected. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor ( circulating cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) mutational analysis was performed using digital droplet PCR (ddPCR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 16-year-old girl was referred with a presumed muco-epidermoid carcinoma of the distal trachea, which was diagnosed by bronchoscopic biopsy. She underwent tracheal resection and end-to-end anastomosis. Final pathologic examination of the resected specimen revealed a benign oncocytic adenoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We previously reported that treatment of patients with symptomatic advanced non-small cell lung cancer with single agent Gemcitabine (GEM) resulted in a superior clinical-benefit response rate (RR) compared to cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. We now report the detailed individual symptom control analysis, and the influence of cisplatin-use, age, performance status (PS) and duration of treatment.
Patients And Methods: Patients received either GEM (1000 mg/m(2), days 1, 8 and 15) or cisplatin (100 mg/m(2), day 1) plus Vindesine (3 mg/m(2), days 1 and 15) (PV), both every 4 weeks.