Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Intracranial Metastasis of a Salivary Duct Carcinoma: Case Report.

Salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) is a rare subtype of salivary cancers associated with androgen receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) overexpression. It shows a high propensity to give rise to distant metastases mainly to the lung, the bone, and the liver. Intracranial metastases are rare.

Outcome of Hospitalized Cancer Patients with Hypernatremia: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.

Hypernatremia (>145 mmol/L) is a relatively rare event, and the data regarding its role in the outcome of inpatients on an oncology ward are weak. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, prognosis, and outcome of hospitalized cancer patients with hypernatremia. We performed a retrospective case-control study of data obtained from inpatients with a solid tumor at the St.

SAKK 16/14: Durvalumab in Addition to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients With Stage IIIA(N2) Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer-A Multicenter Single-Arm Phase II Trial.

Purpose: For patients with resectable stage IIIA(N2) non-small-cell lung cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and docetaxel followed by surgery resulted in a 1-year event-free survival (EFS) rate of 48% in the SAKK 16/00 trial and is an accepted standard of care. We investigated the additional benefit of perioperative treatment with durvalumab.

Methods: Neoadjuvant treatment consisted of three cycles of cisplatin 100 mg/m and docetaxel 85 mg/m once every 3 weeks followed by two doses of durvalumab 750 mg once every 2 weeks.

Much has changed in the last decade except overall survival: A Swiss single center analysis of treatment and survival in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Molecular therapies for cancers with targetable driver mutations and immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) during the last decade. International treatment guidelines began integrating targeted therapies in 2009 and immunotherapies in 2015. The aim of this study was to examine whether the benefits described for these new therapies in pivotal phase III trials have been translated to a real world patient population.

Tumor mutational burden assessed by targeted NGS predicts clinical benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer.

In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) significantly improve overall survival (OS). Tumor mutational burden (TMB) has emerged as a predictive biomarker for patients treated with ICIs. Here, we evaluated the predictive power of TMB measured by the Oncomine™ Tumor Mutational Load targeted sequencing assay in 76 NSCLC patients treated with ICIs.

Endothelial cell-derived nidogen-1 inhibits migration of SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells.

Background: The tumour microenvironment is a critical regulator of malignant cancer progression. While endothelial cells have been widely studied in the context of tumour angiogenesis, their role as modulators of cancer cell invasion and migration is poorly understood.

Methods: We have investigated the influence of endothelial cells on the invasive and migratory behaviour of human cancer cells in vitro.

Current Treatment of Isolated Locoregional Breast Cancer Recurrences.

Patients with isolated locoregional breast cancer recurrences should be treated with curative intent. Mastectomy is regarded as the standard of care for patients with ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence. In a selected group of patients, partial breast irradiation after second breast-conserving surgery is a viable alternative to mastectomy.

BMP2 response pattern in human lung fibroblasts predicts outcome in lung adenocarcinomas.

Background: Bone morphogenetic proteins play important roles in development, morphogenesis and cancer. With this study we aimed to characterize the response of lung stromal fibroblasts to BMPs and their antagonists on a genome wide level and investigate its potential role in human lung adenocarcinomas.

Methods: We used an ex vivo culture model and measured gene expression changes in human lung fibroblasts after stimulation with BMPs and their antagonists using HEEBO microarrays.

Results of concurrent radio-chemotherapy for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in everyday clinical practice with special reference to early mortality.

Background: Randomized controlled trials have established concurrent chemo-radiotherapy as the preferred treatment option for inoperable local-regionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Because many patients have multiple co-morbidities and would not fulfill the eligibility criteria of clinical trials, the results need to be re-evaluated in daily clinical practice with special reference to early mortality.

Methods: 167 consecutive patients with HNSCC who received concurrent chemo-radiotherapy at the Basel University Hospital between 1988 and 2006 were analyzed retrospectively with a special focus on early deaths and risk factors for an unfavorable outcome.

Analysis of the EGFR mutation status in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma before treatment with Gefitinib.

Background: The efficacy of chemotherapy in metastatic and recurrent squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC) remains unsatisfactory. Gefitinib offers a new therapeutic option with comparable results and better tolerability than chemotherapy. We conducted this study to see if mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) might predict the therapeutic benefit in HNSCC patients.

Global gene expression analysis of the interaction between cancer cells and osteoblasts to predict bone metastasis in breast cancer.

Background: Bone metastasis is a main cause of morbidity in breast cancer. Since breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, the interactions of cancer cells with the skeletal host cells might also be diverse. We hypothesized that gene expression signatures induced by heterotypic interaction of breast cancer cells and osteoblasts might be of clinical relevance.

IGF-I induced genes in stromal fibroblasts predict the clinical outcome of breast and lung cancer patients.

Background: Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-I) signalling is important for cancer initiation and progression. Given the emerging evidence for the role of the stroma in these processes, we aimed to characterize the effects of IGF-I on cancer cells and stromal cells separately.

Methods: We used an ex vivo culture model and measured gene expression changes after IGF-I stimulation with cDNA microarrays.

Gene profiling of clinical routine biopsies and prediction of survival in non-small cell lung cancer.

Rationale: Global gene expression analysis provides a comprehensive molecular characterization of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of integrating expression profiling into routine clinical work-up by including both surgical and minute bronchoscopic biopsies and to develop a robust prognostic gene expression signature.

Methods: Tissue samples from 41 chemotherapy-naive patients with NSCLC and 15 control patients with inflammatory lung diseases were obtained during routine clinical work-up and gene expression profiles were gained using an oligonucleotide array platform (NovaChip; 34'207 transcripts).

Tumor-endothelial interaction links the CD44(+)/CD24(-) phenotype with poor prognosis in early-stage breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: The genomic effects of tumor-endothelial interactions in cancer are not yet well characterized. To study this interaction in breast cancer, we set up an ex vivo coculture model with human benign and malignant breast epithelial cells with endothelial cells to determine the associated gene expression changes using DNA microarrays.

Results: The most prominent response to coculture was the induction of the M-phase cell cycle genes in a subset of breast cancer cocultures that were absent in cocultures with normal breast epithelial cells.

Characterization of heterotypic interaction effects in vitro to deconvolute global gene expression profiles in cancer.

Background: Perturbations in cell-cell interactions are a key feature of cancer. However, little is known about the systematic effects of cell-cell interaction on global gene expression in cancer.

Results: We used an ex vivo model to simulate tumor-stroma interaction by systematically co-cultivating breast cancer cells with stromal fibroblasts and determined associated gene expression changes with cDNA microarrays.

Early CD30 signaling is critical for adoptively transferred CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease.

Murine CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg cells) reduce acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD). However, surface molecules critical for suppression are unclear. Deficiency of CD30 (CD30-/-) leads to impaired thymic negative selection and augmented T-cell autoreactivity.

Inhibition of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cell function by calcineurin-dependent interleukin-2 production.

CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells control immunologic tolerance and antitumor immune responses. Therefore, in vivo modification of Treg function by immunosuppressant drugs has broad implications for transplantation biology, autoimmunity, and vaccination strategies. In vivo bioluminescence imaging demonstrated reduced early proliferation of donor-derived luciferase-labeled conventional T cells in animals treated with Treg cells after major histocompatibility complex mismatch bone marrow transplantation.

Prognostic and predictive relevance of DNAM-1, SOCS6 and CADH-7 genes on chromosome 18q in colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Chromosome 18q deletion has been described as a negative prognostic factor in colorectal cancer (CRC). The relationship between its supposed negative prognostic influence and the inactivation of candidate tumor suppressors deleted in colorectal cancer, Smad2 and Smad4 has not been definitively established. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the genetic status of three novel putative tumor suppressors, Cadh-7, DNAX accessory molecule-1 (Dnam-1) and suppressor of cytokine signaling (Socs6) on chromosome 18q and to correlate molecular results with patient survival and benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

STRAP is a strong predictive marker of adjuvant chemotherapy benefit in colorectal cancer.

Background: Molecular predictors for the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer are of considerable clinical interest. To this aim, we analyzed the serine threonine receptor-associated protein (STRAP), an inhibitor of TGF-beta signaling, with regard to prognosis and prediction of adjuvant 5-FU chemotherapy benefit.

Methods: The gene copy status of STRAP was determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 166 colorectal tumor biopsies, which had been collected from a randomized multicenter trial of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/mitomycin C (MMC) adjuvant chemotherapy of the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK).

Obstructive jaundice caused by enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma in a patient with celiac sprue.

Patients with celiac sprue carry a considerable risk of gastrointestinal malignancies; in particular, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. These malignancies represent the most serious complications of celiac disease. Commonly, patients present with deteriorating symptoms of the underlying disease, which makes an early diagnosis difficult.

Amplification of SKI is a prognostic marker in early colorectal cancer.

Background: Improved risk stratification of early colorectal cancer might help to better select patients for adjuvant treatment. Alterations in the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) pathway have frequently been found in colorectal cancer, but their impact on prognosis remains controversial. We therefore analyzed two transcriptional corepressors of the TGF-beta signaling pathway with respect to prognosis and prediction of chemotherapy benefit in early colorectal cancer.