Standard versus fractionated high-dose cisplatin plus radiation for locally advanced head and neck cancer: Results of the CisFRad (GORTEC 2015-02) randomized phase II trial.

Background: Chemoradiotherapy with high-dose cisplatin (HD-Cis: 100 mg/m q3w for three cycles) is the standard of care (SOC) in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LA-HNSCC). Cumulative delivered dose of cisplatin is prognostic of survival, even beyond 200 mg/m but high toxicity compromises its delivery.

Aim: Cisplatin fractionation may allow, by decreasing the peak serum concentration, to decrease toxicity.

Dynamic profiling of immune microenvironment during anti-PD-1 immunotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: the IPRICE study.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) represent a significant breakthrough in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), with long-lasting responses and prolonged survival observed in first- and second-line therapy. However, this is observed in < 20% of patients and high primary/secondary resistance may occur. The primary objective of the identification of predictive factors for the response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (IPRICE) study is to identify predictive factors of response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.

A novel ΔNp63-dependent immune mechanism improves prognosis of HPV-related head and neck cancer.

Background: Deconvoluting the heterogenous prognosis of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is crucial for enhancing patient care, given its rapidly increasing incidence in western countries and the adverse side effects of OSCC treatments.

Methods: Transcriptomic data from HPV-positive OSCC samples were analyzed using unsupervised hierarchical clustering, and clinical relevance was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. HPV-positive OSCC cell line models were used in functional analyses and phenotypic assays to assess cell migration and invasion, response to cisplatin, and phagocytosis by macrophages .

Molecular imaging and related therapeutic options for medullary thyroid carcinoma: state of the art and future opportunities.

Due to its rarity and non-specific clinical presentation, accurate diagnosis, and optimal therapeutic strategy of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) remain challenging. Molecular imaging provides valuable tools for early disease detection, monitoring treatment response, and guiding personalized therapies. By enabling the visualization of molecular and cellular processes, these techniques contribute to a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of more effective clinical interventions.

Tumor-Suppressive and Immunomodulating Activity of miR-30a-3p and miR-30e-3p in HNSCC Cells and Tumoroids.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are heterogeneous tumors, well known for their frequent relapsing nature. To counter recurrence, biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment response prediction are urgently needed. miRNAs can profoundly impact normal physiology and enhance oncogenesis.

Blocking EREG/GPX4 Sensitizes Head and Neck Cancer to Cetuximab through Ferroptosis Induction.

(1) Background: Epiregulin (EREG) is a ligand of EGFR and ErB4 involved in the development and the progression of various cancers including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Its overexpression in HNSCC is correlated with short overall survival and progression-free survival but predictive of tumors responding to anti-EGFR therapies. Besides tumor cells, macrophages and cancer-associated fibroblasts shed EREG in the tumor microenvironment to support tumor progression and to promote therapy resistance.

Impact of the app-based and nurse-led supportive care program AKO@dom on dose intensity of oral-targeted therapies in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer: a multicentric observational retrospective study.

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) remain a cornerstone of metastatic kidney cancer (mRCC). Adverse events (AEs) may lead to dose downregulation, and optimal management of AEs is needed to maintain an efficient dose intensity (DI). The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of an app-based and nurse-led supportive-care program on DI in mRCC patients.

Weekly Paclitaxel, Carboplatin, and Cetuximab as First-Line Treatment of Recurrent and/or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma for Patients Ineligible to Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy: A Retrospective Monocentric Study in 60 Patients.

Objective: For most patients suffering from recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC), chemotherapy is the main option after considering surgery and reirradiation. Cetuximab combined with a platinum-fluorouracil regimen (EXTREME) has been the standard of care for over a decade. Nevertheless, a significant number of patients remain unfit for this regimen because of age, severe comorbidities, or poor performance status.

Cav1/EREG/YAP Axis in the Treatment Resistance of Cav1-Expressing Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

The EGFR-targeting antibody cetuximab (CTX) combined with radiotherapy is the only targeted therapy that has been proven effective for the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LA-HNSCC). Recurrence arises in 50% of patients with HNSCC in the years following treatment. In clinicopathological practice, it is difficult to assign patients to classes of risk because no reliable biomarkers are available to predict the outcome of HPV-unrelated HNSCC.

Immunotherapy Breakthroughs in the Treatment of Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in the recurrent or metastatic (R/M) setting is a devastating disease with a poor prognosis. Until recently, the reference first line treatment was the EXTREME protocol, which yields a 10.1 months median survival, and almost no effective treatment are available in second line.

Bone metastases from a 1p/19q codeleted and IDH1-mutant anaplastic oligodendroglioma: a case report.

Background: Oligodendroglioma is a rare type of primary brain tumor which, like other malignant gliomas, metastasizes very rarely even when in high-grade form.

Case Report: A 36-year-old white man diagnosed 29 months previously as having 1p/19q codeleted anaplastic oligodendroglioma presented bilateral cruralgia and lower limb motor deficits. A computed tomography scan showed multiple osteoblastic bone lesions.

Interest to consider re-challenging by cetuximab and platinum containing regimen in recurrent Head and Neck Cancer.

Background: The EXTREME protocol is the standard of care for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC) in first line. Beyond the first-line except immunotherapy, poor efficacy was reported by second-line chemotherapy. Re-challenge strategies based on a repetition of the first line with platinum and cetuximab regimens might have been an option to consider.

Factors improving the outcome of patients re-irradiated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for relapse or new head and neck cancer developed in irradiated areas.

Background: Patients with secondary/recurrent squamous cell head and neck cancer have poor prognoses. Re-irradiation is a treatment option. However, best technique to re-irradiate is not known.

Any place left for induction chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma?

The issue of induction chemotherapy (ICT) interest in locoregionally advanced squamous cell cancer of the head and neck is a real epic that has been carried out over four phase III studies: PARADIGM, DECIDE, NCT01086826 and lastly the conclusive GORTEC 2007-02. With no significant benefit in overall survival of ICT, followed by concurrent chemoradiation over the standard chemoradiotherapy alone, in three of these studies, and a significant number of treatment-related deaths with the standard regimen docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil, ICT is no longer a hot topic. However, this strategy might still be useful in the aim of limiting the metastatic extension affecting up to 30% of patients: ICT is systematically associated with a reduced metastatic relapse even though the survival effect is never statistically significant when compared directly with concomitant radiochemotherapy.

Cetuximab-Carboplatin-5-Fluorouracil Regimen in Elderly Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous-Cell Carcinoma: A French Retrospective Survey.

Background: The cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy regimen is a standard of care in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The feasibility in the elderly population is currently unknown.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study in order to assess the efficacy and safety of the cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy regimen in patients >65 years with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC.

Prognostic factors in second-line targeted therapy for metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma after progression on an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

Background: About 40% of metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (m-ccRCC) patients receive a second-line targeted therapy after failure of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (anti-VEGFR-TKI). Efficacy of second-line therapy is usually limited and prognostic and predictive factors at the start of second-line therapy are lacking. To identify the subgroup of patients that will benefit from such treatment remains a challenge.