WNT5A is a putative epi-driver of prostate cancer metastasis to the bone.

Background: Current diagnostic tools are unable to distinguish low-grade indolent prostate cancer (PrCa) from that with a propensity to become metastatic and/or lethal. Recent evidence suggests that reprogramming of the transcriptome may drive the metastatic phenotype, and that this reprogramming is controlled, at least in part, by epigenetic changes to the DNA of cancer cells, including methylation. These changes, referred to as 'epigenetic drivers,' have previously been associated with cancer cell survival.

Outcomes based on age in the phase III METEOR trial of cabozantinib versus everolimus in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Cabozantinib improved progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR) compared with everolimus in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after prior antiangiogenic therapy in the phase III METEOR trial (NCT01865747). Limited data are available on the use of targeted therapies in older patients with advanced RCC.

Methods: Efficacy and safety in METEOR were retrospectively analysed for three age subgroups: <65 (n = 394), 65-74 (n = 201) and ≥75 years (n = 63).

Cetuximab Alone or With Irinotecan for Resistant KRAS-, NRAS-, BRAF- and PIK3CA-wild-type Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: The AGITG Randomized Phase II ICECREAM Study.

Background: The Irinotecan Cetuximab Evaluation and Cetuximab Response Evaluation (ICECREAM) study assessed the efficacy of cetuximab monotherapy compared with cetuximab combined with chemotherapy for quadruple wild-type (KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, or P13KCA exon 20) metastatic colorectal cancer.

Patients And Methods: Patients were enrolled in an open-label, multicenter, phase II trial and randomly assigned to cetuximab 400 mg/m, then 250 mg/m cetuximab weekly, with or without irinotecan 180 mg/m every 2 weeks. The primary endpoint was 6-month progression-free survival; secondary endpoints were response rate, overall survival, toxicity, and quality of life.

Copper transporter 1 in human colorectal cancer cell lines: Effects of endogenous and modified expression on oxaliplatin cytotoxicity.

Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is the mainstay for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. Copper transporter proteins have been implicated in the transport of platinum-based anticancer drugs, but their expression in human colorectal cancer cell lines and roles in controlling their sensitivity to oxaliplatin are not well studied or understood. The endogenous and modified expression of copper uptake transporter 1 (hCTR1) was studied in a panel of human colorectal cancer cell lines (DLD-1, SW620, HCT-15 and COLO205) with ~20-fold variation in oxaliplatin sensitivity.

Response to Cetuximab With or Without Irinotecan in Patients With Refractory Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Harboring the KRAS G13D Mutation: Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group ICECREAM Study.

Purpose: RAS mutations predict lack of response to epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), but preclinical studies and retrospective clinical data suggest that patients with tumors harboring the exon 2 KRAS G13D mutation may benefit from cetuximab. We aimed to assess cetuximab monotherapy and cetuximab plus irinotecan in patients with molecularly selected (G13D mutation) chemotherapy-refractory mCRC in a randomized phase II trial of this rare molecular subtype.

Patients And Methods: Patients with chemotherapy-refractory KRAS G13D mutation-positive mCRC who had progressed within 6 months of irinotecan therapy were randomly assigned to cetuximab 400 mg/m(2) loading dose and then 250 mg/m(2) once per week with or without irinotecan 180 mg/m(2) once every 2 weeks.

Phase III randomized, placebo-controlled study of cetuximab plus brivanib alaninate versus cetuximab plus placebo in patients with metastatic, chemotherapy-refractory, wild-type K-RAS colorectal carcinoma: the NCIC Clinical Trials Group and AGITG CO.20 Trial.

Purpose: The antiepidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody cetuximab has improved survival in patients with metastatic, chemotherapy-refractory, wild-type K-RAS colorectal cancer. The addition of brivanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and fibroblast growth factor receptor, to cetuximab has shown encouraging early clinical activity.

Patients And Methods: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with combination chemotherapy were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive cetuximab 400 mg/m(2) intravenous loading dose followed by weekly maintenance of 250 mg/m(2) plus either brivanib 800 mg orally daily (arm A) or placebo (arm B).

Hepatic encephalopathy associated with cancer or anticancer therapy.

Hepatic encephalopathy is an uncommon cause of neurologic deterioration associated with hyperammonemia, which results from hepatic dysfunction or altered ammonia metabolism. Often overlooked, hyperammonemia may occur via any of several pathophysiological processes, and in the setting of malignancy, it is a potentially reversible cause of confusion and coma. Hepatic dysfunction as a result of malignant infiltration, chemotherapeutic toxicities, targeted anticancer therapies, reactivation hepatitis, portosystemic shunting, and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is discussed, and an approach to etiological diagnosis and management is outlined.