Molecular Profiling of Biliary Tract Cancers in African American and Caucasian Patients.

Purpose: Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) include intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC), and gallbladder cancers. BTCs have a number of genomic alterations, including isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 () mutations, fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 () rearrangements, and amplifications. Therapies targeting these alterations have shown clinical benefit in patients with BTCs in the United States.

Real-world treatment patterns, resource utilization and costs in biliary tract cancers in the USA.

To evaluate real-world treatment patterns, survival and healthcare-resource utilization in US patients with advanced biliary tract cancers (BTC) receiving systemic therapy. This study used claims data from the Healthcare Integrated Research Database (HIRD®) linked to clinical data from the Cancer Care Quality Program (January 1, 2015-September 30, 2020). Of 413 patients, 84.

Mechanisms of resistance to EGFR-targeted therapies in colorectal cancer: more than just genetics.

The development of acquired resistance to anti-EGFR therapies remains poorly understood, with most research to date exploring, and trying to overcome, various genomic mechanisms of resistance. However, recent work supports a model of resistance whereby transcriptomic mechanisms of resistance predominate in the presence of active cytotoxic chemotherapy combined with anti-EGFR therapy in the first-line setting, with a greater predominance of acquired MAPK mutations after single-agent anti-EGFR therapy in the later-line setting. The proposed model has implications for prospective studies evaluating anti-EGFR rechallenge strategies guided by acquired MAPK mutations and highlights the need to address transcriptional mechanisms of resistance.

Independent of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Cirrhosis, Early Adulthood Obesity Is Associated with Cholangiocarcinoma.

Background: It is estimated that 6% to 20% of all cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) diagnoses are explained by primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), but the underlying risk factors in the absence of PSC are unclear. We examined associations of different risk factors with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC) in the United States.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 121 patients with ECC and 308 patients with ICC treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center between May 2014 and March 2020, compared with 1,061 healthy controls.

Truncal Dynamics May Trump: Serial ctDNA to Predict Early Therapeutic Response.

Promising utility of using serial ctDNA in metastatic colorectal cancer to both refine patient selection, reduce toxicity due to chemotherapy, and to evaluate emerging resistance mechanisms may lead the way to novel therapeutic strategies. However, important questions remain in validating its use as a predictive biomarker of treatment response. See related article by Vidal et al.

Resistance Mechanisms to Anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Therapy in Wild-Type Colorectal Cancer Vary by Regimen and Line of Therapy.

Purpose: Acquired resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor (EGFRi) therapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) has previously been explained by the model of acquiring new mutations in , among other MAPK-pathway members. However, this was primarily on the basis of single-agent EGFRi trials and little is known about the resistance mechanisms of EGFRi combined with effective cytotoxic chemotherapy in previously untreated patients.

Methods: We analyzed paired plasma samples from patients with wild-type metastatic CRC enrolled in three large randomized trials evaluating EGFRi in the first line in combination with chemotherapy and as a single agent in third line.

Analgesic-Related Medication Errors Reported to US Poison Control Centers.

Objective: This study investigates the characteristics and trends of medication errors involving analgesic medications.

Design And Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of analgesic-related medication errors reported to the National Poison Data System (NPDS) from 2000 through 2012.

Results: From 2000 through 2012, the NPDS received 533,763 reports of analgesic-related medication errors, averaging 41,059 medication errors annually.