Publications by authors named "Paolo G Casali"

Background: The marine drug trabectedin has shown unusual effectiveness in the treatment of myxoid liposarcoma (MLPS), a liposarcoma characterized by the expression of the FUS-DDIT3 chimera. Trabectedin elicits a significant transcriptional response in MLPS resulting in cellular depletion and reactivation of adipogenesis. However, the role of the chimeric protein in the mechanism of action of the drug is not entirely understood.

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Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) is a rare tumor hallmarked by the loss of INI1/SMARCB1 expression. Apart from this alteration, little is known about the biology of ES. Despite recent advances in treatment, the prognosis of ES remains unsatisfactory.

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Introduction: Primary (PAS) and radiation-associated angiosarcomas (RAAS) of the breast are rare tumors of vascular origin with poor survival. In this retrospective cohort study, we aimed to assess the impact of multidisciplinary treatment optimization on the prognosis of patients who underwent surgery at a national referral center.

Materials And Methods: Cases of operable angiosarcoma of the breast evaluated by a multidisciplinary team including surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists expert in the field and treated from January 2012 to January 2023 were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database.

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Article Synopsis
  • Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is difficult to treat with traditional chemotherapy, prompting researchers to explore new therapies such as sirolimus and identify biomarkers for tumor aggressiveness.
  • Scientists created a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model from an advanced EHE patient to test sirolimus and to study serum levels of Growth/Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15) as a potential biomarker.
  • The results indicated sirolimus was more effective than doxorubicin in reducing tumor growth and GDF-15 levels, establishing GDF-15 as a promising biomarker for EHE aggressiveness and potentially indicating the effectiveness of sirolimus in patients.
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  • Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a rare type of cancer with unique features, but its natural history and best treatment practices are not well understood.
  • The EURACAN project has created a registry to gather prospective data on newly diagnosed EHE patients to enhance understanding of the disease.
  • The study will involve collecting comprehensive patient data from specialized hospitals to identify prognostic factors, treatment efficacy, and to monitor the disease's progression and outcomes over time.
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  • - The study analyzed how anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) affects immune cells' spatial distribution in high-risk soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and how this relates to patient outcomes.
  • - Researchers examined various tumor areas for specific immune cells using advanced pathology techniques and created a sarcoma immune index (SIS) to predict disease-free and overall survival rates.
  • - Findings revealed that certain immune cell types, particularly PD-1+ and CD20+ B-cells, correlated with prognosis differently based on their locations within the tumor, highlighting NAC's role in altering tumor immune characteristics.
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Purpose Of Review: Liposarcomas (LPSs) represent the most common soft tissue sarcoma (STS) subtype, and exhibit distinct clinical molecular features according to histological subgroup. Chemotherapy (ChT), and in particular anthracycline-based schedules, still remains the standard of treatment for all LPS forms. However, given the increasing knowledge gained throughout last years about LPS molecular biology and their genomic profiling, new therapeutic alternatives with targeted drugs are now to be considered.

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Angiosarcoma (AS) represents a rare and aggressive vascular sarcoma, posing distinct challenges in clinical management compared to other sarcomas. While the current European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) clinical practice guidelines for sarcoma treatment are applicable to AS, its unique aggressiveness and diverse tumor presentations necessitate dedicated and detailed clinical recommendations, which are currently lacking. Notably, considerations regarding surgical extent, radiation therapy (RT), and neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy vary significantly in localized disease, depending on each different site of onset.

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Purpose: To study plasma levels, efficacy and tolerability of imatinib in a patient affected by metastatic GIST treated with oral Imatinib and undergoing hemodialysis.

Patients And Methods: The patient suffered from metastatic GIST to the liver having a mutation of exon 9 of KIT. He was on hemodialysis and received first-line treatment with imatinib 400 mg/day.

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Aggressive angiomyxoma (AA) is a rare mesenchymal neoplasm, which is commonly diagnosed in females and located in the perineal and pelvic region. Tissue specimens of AA patients often show positivity for estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PgR), while some cases of androgen receptor (AR) positivity have been reported in males. When feasible, surgical excision represent the most effective treatment of AA; however, when experiencing advanced or recurrent disease, local disease control could be achieved with systemic hormonal treatment.

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Purpose: A randomized trial was conducted to compare neoadjuvant standard (S) anthracycline + ifosfamide (AI) regimen with histology-tailored (HT) regimen in selected localized high-risk soft tissue sarcoma (STS). The results of the trial demonstrated the superiority of S in all STS histologies except for high-grade myxoid liposarcoma (HG-MLPS) where S and HT appeared to be equivalent. To further evaluate the noninferiority of HT compared with S, the HG-MLPS cohort was expanded.

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Background: To investigate the activity of regorafenib in advanced solitary fibrous tumour (SFT).

Methods: An Italian monocentric investigator-initiated exploratory single-arm Phase II trial was conducted of regorafenib in adult patients with advanced and progressive SFT, until progression or limiting toxicity. Prior treatment with antiangiogenics was allowed.

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Purpose: According to the World Health Organization classification system, uterine leiomyosarcomas (ULMS) are high-grade. A diagnosis of smooth-muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP) is made when Stanford Criteria for ULMS are not met. When a STUMP recurs, the tumor is diagnosed as ULMS and medical treatment is the same as for ULMS.

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Background: To explore the correlation between pathological and radiological response to preoperative treatments and outcome in surgically treated patients with myxofibrosarcoma (MFS) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS).

Methods: All consecutive patients with primary localized MFS and UPS of the extremities and trunk wall surgically treated with curative intent at our center (2005-2021) were included. Clinical data including residual visible tumor (VT%) on surgical specimen and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor (RECIST) were retrieved.

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Importance: Preclinical data about the synergistic activity of radiotherapy (RT) and trabectedin have been reported. The combination of trabectedin and RT in treating myxoid liposarcomas appears worth exploring.

Objective: To explore the effectiveness and safety of trabectedin combined with RT.

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Objective: To report on a retrospective study of primary DSRCT aiming at characterizing long-term survivors (LTS).

Methods: All consecutive patients treated at our institution for a primary DSRCT between 2000 and 2021 were retrospectively identified. Patients received multiagent chemotherapy ± surgery ± hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) ± whole abdomino-pelvic radiotherapy (WAP-RT) ± high-dose chemotherapy ± maintenance chemotherapy (MC).

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Article Synopsis
  • Ultra-rare sarcomas are rare types of cancer, happening less than once in a million people each year, and they make up about 20% of all soft tissue and bone sarcomas.
  • A study looked at the effects of a medicine called trabectedin on 36 patients who had these rare cancers, with some showing improvements after treatment.
  • The results showed that a few patients had their cancer shrink or even disappear, but some faced serious side effects from the treatment.
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  • The study investigates how reference centers (RCs) for rare cancers are incorporated into different national health systems across Europe, highlighting the variations in care quality among countries.
  • Through interviews in Czechia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain, researchers analyzed the integration and formalization of RCs, revealing two primary models: center-based and network-based systems.
  • The findings emphasize that access to treatment at RCs is determined nationally, suggesting a need for better alignment between European and national frameworks to improve patient care.
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Trabectedin is a marine-derived anticancer drug approved for the treatment of patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Here, we aimed to analyze its use in a large cohort of STS patients treated in Italy in a real-world setting. Data on STS patients treated with trabectedin in Italy were prospectively collected from January 2013 to December 2019 by the national drug regulator, the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA).

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Pazopanib was assessed prospectively in the GEIS-32 phase II study (NCT02066285) on advanced solitary fibrous tumour (SFT), resulting in a longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with historical controls treated with chemotherapy. A retrospective analysis of peripheral inflammatory indexes in patients enrolled into GEIS-32 was performed to evaluate their prognostic and predictive value. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg/day as the first antiangiogenic line.

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Background: In ultra-rare sarcomas (URS) the conduction of prospective, randomized trials is challenging. Data from retrospective observational studies (ROS) may represent the best evidence available. ROS implicit limitations led to poor acceptance by the scientific community and regulatory authorities.

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Giant cell tumor of the bone (GCTB) is a locally aggressive neoplasm where surgery is often curative. However, it can rarely give rise to distant metastases. Currently, the only available active therapeutic option for unresectable GCTB is denosumab, an anti-RANKL monoclonal antibody that dampens the aggressive osteolysis typically seen in this disease.

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Rare cancers are malignant tumors with an incidence lower than 6/100,000/year at the EU level. Even if more conservative in comparison to the definition used for rare diseases (also from the regulatory point of view), rare cancers defined this way make up more than twenty percent of new cases of malignant tumors in the EU, including Italy. The rarity of a tumor implies that clinical decision-making is more problematic outside reference centers and networks, that available evidence suffers from a higher uncertainty, that organization of health care is more difficult.

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