Androgen receptor, PARP signaling, and tumor microenvironment: the 'perfect triad' in prostate cancer?

Aberrations in the homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway in prostate cancer (PCa) provide a unique opportunity to develop therapeutic strategies that take advantage of the reduced tumor ability to repair DNA damage. Poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi) have been shown to prolong the survival of PCa patients with HRR defects, particularly in those with Breast Cancer type 1 susceptibility protein/Breast Cancer type 2 susceptibility protein alterations. To expand the benefit of PARPi to patients without detectable HRR alterations, multiple preclinical and clinical studies are addressing potential synergies between PARPi and androgen receptor signaling inhibitors, and these strategies are also being evaluated in combination with other drugs such as immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Initial management approach for localized/locally advanced disease is critical to guide metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer care.

Background: Currently, several therapies are available for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) but no specific clinical factors to personalize treatment. We first sought the prognostic value of duration on androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC) in patients receiving androgen-receptor-signaling inhibitors (ARSI) for mCRPC.

Methods: A multicenter cohort of mCRPC patients who started ARSI between July 2011 and October 2021 was identified.

Palliative embolization for metastases of the spine.

Background: To present palliative selective and superselective arterial embolization with N-butyl-cyanoacrylate for cancer patients with spinal metastases.

Materials And Methods: We studied the files of 164 cancer patients (94 men and 70 women; mean age 57.6 years; range 35-81 years) treated from March 2003 to March 2013 with 178 selective arterial embolization procedures for metastases of the spine from variable primary cancers.

(11)C-Choline PET/CT in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients treated with docetaxel.

Purpose: To investigate the role of (11)C-choline PET/CT for evaluating the response to treatment in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) treated with docetaxel in comparison with PSA response.

Methods: Inclusion criteria were (a) proven mCRPC, (b) docetaxel as first line of chemotherapy (docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) + prednisone 5 mg), and (c) (11)C-choline PET/CT and PSA values assessed before and after docetaxel administration. A total of 61 patients were retrospectively enrolled (mean age 68.

Learning from errors: response to gefitinib in kidney urothelial carcinoma with EGFR mutations.

This letter describes the first demonstration of clinical response to the anti-EGFR inhibitor gefitinib in a case of urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis harboring a rare EGFR double mutation. New mutations and unexpected clinical responses should be always explored through wide-spectrum mutational analyses.

Treatment strategy for rectal cancer with synchronous metastasis: 65 consecutive Italian cases from the Bologna Multidisciplinary Rectal Cancer Group.

Background: Twenty percent of rectal cancer patients have synchronous distant metastasis at diagnosis. At present, the treatment strategy in this patient setting is not well defined. This study in one institution evaluates the treatment strategy of three different patient groups.

Clinically-staged T3N0 rectal cancer: is preoperative chemoradiotherapy the optimal treatment?

Background: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy has been widely adopted as the standard of care for stage II-III rectal cancers. However, patients with T3N0 lesions had been shown to have a better prognosis than other categories of locally advanced tumor. Thus, neoadjuvant chemoradiation is likely to be overtreatment in this subgroup of patients.