Immunogenicity after two and three doses of mRNA vaccine in patients with cancer treated with exclusive radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Data on immunoresponse after SARS-CoV-2 vaccines for patients treated with exclusive radiotherapy (RT) are scarce. Since RT may affect the immune system, we conducted the MORA trial (Antibody response and cell-mediated immunity of MOderna mRNA-1273 vaccine in patients treated with RAdiotherapy).

Materials And Methods: Data regarding humoral and cellular immune response of patients treated with RT were prospectively collected after the second and third dose of mRNA vaccines.

The Relationship Between Covid-19 Risk Perception and Vaccine Hesitancy in Cancer Patients: The Moderating Role of Externalizing Traits.

Objective: This mixed-methods study aimed to explore the role of externalizing traits in moderating the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and vaccine hesitancy in patients diagnosed with cancer. A community-based participatory approach - comprising a preliminary qualitative inquiry and a subsequent cross-sectional research - was used to promote effective vaccination campaigns.

Method: 12 people diagnosed with cancer and 7 cancer professionals were recruited for the qualitative inquiry, 356 people either under cancer treatment or in follow-up care for the cross-sectional research.

Be-TeaM: An Italian real-world observational study on second-line therapy for EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients.

Objectives: Molecular diagnostics and care of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are continuously evolving. Few data document the current strategies to manage advanced NSCLC patients beyond progression in clinical practice.

Patients And Methods: Be-TeaM is an Italian multi-center observational study conducted on consecutive EGFR-mutated stage IV NSCLC patients, progressed during/after a first-line EGFR-TKI.

Class 1, 2, and 3 -Mutated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Detailed Clinical, Pathologic, and Molecular Characterization.

Purpose: mutations are grouped in activating -independent signaling as monomers (class 1-V600E) or as dimers (class 2-codons 597/601), and -dependent with impaired kinase activity (class 3-codons 594/596). Although clinical, pathologic, and molecular features of -mutated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) are well known, limited data are available from the two other classes.

Experimental Design: Data from 117 patients with (92 class 1, 12 class 2, and 13 class 3)-mutated mCRC were collected.

Systematic vs. on-demand early palliative care in gastric cancer patients: a randomized clinical trial assessing patient and healthcare service outcomes.

Purpose: Early palliative care (EPC) has shown a positive impact on quality of life (QoL), quality of care, and healthcare costs. We evaluated such effects in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: In this prospective, multicenter study, 186 advanced gastric cancer patients were randomized 1:1 to receive standard cancer care (SCC) plus on-demand EPC (standard arm) or SCC plus systematic EPC (interventional arm).

Prevalence, characteristics, and treatment of fatigue in oncological cancer patients in Italy: a cross-sectional study of the Italian Network for Supportive Care in Cancer (NICSO).

Background: Fatigue is one of the most distressing symptoms of cancer patients. Its characteristics and impact on quality of life have not been fully explored and treatment of cancer-related fatigue in Italian oncological centers has not been codified.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on all patients attending for any reason the 24 participating centers in two non-consecutive days.

Progression-free Survival as a Surrogate End-point in Advanced Colorectal Cancer Treated with Antiangiogenic Therapies.

Background: It is not clear if progression-free survival (PFS) is a good surrogate end-point for overall survival (OS) for metastatic colorectal cancer if antiangiogenic therapies are used.

Materials And Methods: We investigated randomized controlled trials testing antiangiogenic agents against chemotherapy. Log hazard ratios (HR) for PFS and OS were used to construct linear regression models.

Genetic mechanisms in interval colon cancers.

Background And Aim: The factors underlying the development of interval colon cancers are not well defined and are likely heterogeneous. We sought to determine whether there are distinct molecular properties associated with interval colon cancers.

Methods: Colon cancers diagnosed within 5 years of a complete and well-prepped colonoscopic examination were identified over a 7-year period at a single institution.

Severe thrombocytopenia after trastuzumab retreatment: a case report.

Background: Trastuzumab prolongs survival of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer patients in both the adjuvant and metastatic settings. Currently toxicity data are not available on retreatment of metastatic breast cancer patients who relapse after adjuvant trastuzumab. We report one patient with metastatic breast cancer who developed acute thrombocytopenia after trastuzumab infusion.

Molecular and genetic bases of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer remains a formidable challenge for oncologists and patients alike. Despite intensive efforts, attempts at improving survival in the past 15 years, particularly in advanced disease, have failed. This is true even with the introduction of molecularly targeted agents, chosen on the basis of their action on pathways that were supposedly important in pancreatic cancer development and progression: indeed, with the notable exception of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib, that has provided a minimal survival improvement when added to gemcitabine, other agents targeting EGFR, matrix metallo-proteases, farnesyl transferase, or vascular endothelial growth factor have not succeeded in improving outcomes over standard gemcitabine monotherapy for a variety of different reasons.

Emerging pathways and future targets for the molecular therapy of pancreatic cancer.

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer treatment remains a challenge for clinicians and researchers. Despite undisputable advances in the comprehension of the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer development and progression, early disease detection and clinical management of patients has made little, if any, progress in the past 20 years. Clinical development of targeted agents directed against validated pathways, such as the EGF/EGF receptor axis, the mutant KRAS protein, MMPs, and VEGF-mediated angiogenesis, alone or in combination with gemcitabine-based standard chemotherapy, has been disappointing.

Fixed-dose-rate gemcitabine: a viable first-line treatment option for advanced pancreatic and biliary tract cancer.

Background: We have already reported on fixed-dose-rate gemcitabine (FDR-Gem) in advanced, inoperable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and biliary tract cancer (BTC) in the context of a formal phase II study; building on that experience, we have now expanded the study to reach a cumulative accrual of 106 patients.

Methods: One hundred six patients (PDAC/BTC, 75/31) were treated with weekly FDR-Gem (1,000 mg/m(2) infused at 10 mg/m(2) per minute). Patient characteristics included: male-to-female ratio, 0.

Deficient DNA mismatch repair is common in Lynch syndrome-associated colorectal adenomas.

Lynch syndrome is caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Both microsatellite instability (MSI) testing and immunohistochemical analyses (IHC) of colon cancers are valuable diagnostic strategies for Lynch syndrome. We sought to determine whether these markers of MMR deficiency were also detectable in pre-cancerous colorectal adenomas.

A phase II study of biweekly paclitaxel (P) and gemcitabine (G), followed by maintenance weekly paclitaxel in elderly patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Background: This phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a novel combination of paclitaxel (P) and gemcitabine (G) in an every 2 weeks schedule followed by weekly paclitaxel (P) as first-line treatment in elderly patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC.

Methods: Elderly patients (> or =65 years of age) with 1997 TNM stage IIIB (pleural effusion)/stage IV NSCLC, performance status (PS) of 0-2 and normal organ function were eligible. Therapy consisted of P at 150 mg/m(2) and G at 2000 mg/m(2) administered every 2 weeks for 3 cycles followed, in progression-free patients, by P at 80 mg/m(2) every week for 6 consecutive weeks every 8 weeks for 2 cycles.

Aromatase inhibitors in post-menopausal metastatic breast carcinoma.

To summarise the advances in the hormonal treatment of post-menopausal metastatic breast cancer, this paper reviews the published literature regarding the randomised trials comparing aromatase inhibitors (AIs) versus tamoxifen as a first-line therapeutic choice, or AIs versus megestrole acetate (MEG) as a second-line option. The pooled analysis of these authors on AI versus MEG as a second-line option for post-menopausal metastatic breast cancer suggested that AIs do not add any significant benefit over MEG in terms of overall response rate (ORR) and time to progression. According to the Cochrane Database, use of an AI as a second-line therapy versus any other endocrine therapy (mostly MEG) has shown a significant benefit in terms of overall survival, but not for progression-free survival, clinical benefit (CB) or ORR.

Gemcitabine-based combinations for inoperable pancreatic cancer: have we made real progress? A meta-analysis of 20 phase 3 trials.

Background: Several attempts have been made at improving the efficacy of gemcitabine in advanced pancreatic cancer by combining it with other chemotherapeutic or molecularly targeted agents. However, randomized trials have produced conflicting results.

Methods: All prospective, randomized, phase 3 trials that compared single-agent gemcitabine with gemcitabine-based combinations were considered eligible for the current analysis.

Gefitinib reverses TRAIL resistance in human bladder cancer cell lines via inhibition of AKT-mediated X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein expression.

In a previous study, we found that the small-molecule epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa) blocked cell proliferation at biologically relevant concentrations in approximately one third (6 of 17) of human bladder cancer cell lines examined. Here, we studied the effects of gefitinib on apoptosis in a representative subset of the same panel of cells. The drug had modest effects on DNA fragmentation as a single agent at concentrations that produced strong growth inhibition (< or =1 micromol/L) and also failed to promote apoptosis induced by conventional chemotherapeutic agents (gemcitabine and paclitaxel).

Molecular correlates of gefitinib responsiveness in human bladder cancer cells.

We characterized the effects of the small molecule epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa) on cell proliferation in a panel of 17 human bladder cancer cell lines. Gefitinib inhibited DNA synthesis in a concentration-dependent fashion in 6 of 17 lines. Growth inhibition was associated with p27(Kip1) accumulation and decreased cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activity.

Epirubicin plus docetaxel in metastatic breast cancer: escalating dose does not improve efficacy. A phase II study.

Background: The combination of anthracyclines and docetaxel have demonstrated a significant activity in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) as first-line chemotherapy. In a previous multicenter phase I study, we recommended two schedules of epirubicin-docetaxel combination for MBC: 1) epirubicin 75 mg/m2, docetaxel 80 mg/m2 every 3 weeks without G-CSF; 2) epirubicin 90 mg/m2 plus docetaxel 90 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, with G-CSF support.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-five advanced breast cancer patients were treated with epirubicin 90 mg/m2 plus docetaxel 90 mg/m2 every 3 weeks, with prophylactic G-CSF.