The Clinical Utilisation and Duration of Treatment with HER2-Directed Therapies in HER2-Positive Recurrent or Metastatic Salivary Gland Cancers.

Salivary gland cancers (SGC) are rare tumours with limited availability of systemic therapies. Some SGC subtypes overexpress HER2, and this represents a potential therapeutic target, but the evidence base is limited. This study sought to analyse real-world data on the efficacy of HER2-directed therapies in SGC.

Clinical disease course and survival outcomes following disease recurrence in adenoid cystic carcinoma with and without NOTCH signaling pathway activation.

Background: Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare salivary cancer. The highest rates of disease recurrence are in patients with NOTCH pathway activation, reported in up to 20%. Novel drugs targeting NOTCH signaling are under investigation in the recurrent/metastatic (R/M) setting.

Antibiotic use reduces efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with advanced melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Antibiotic (ABX) use can reduce the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors and chemotherapeutics. The effect for patients treated with targeted therapies, namely, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), is less known.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective data were analysed for TKI-treated patients with advanced melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between January 2015 and April 2017 at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Evaluation of the Clinical Utility of Genomic Profiling to Inform Selection of Clinical Trial Therapy in Salivary Gland Cancer.

For most patients with salivary gland cancer, there are no effective standard systemic therapies. Although clinical trials of biomarker-led drug therapies have delivered significant recent advances, there remains a need to understand the clinical utility of genomic profiling of cancer as a means to match patients with recurrent or metastatic salivary gland cancer to clinical trial therapies. In total, 209 patients with salivary gland cancers were profiled with 24 gene (n = 209)) and >325 gene (n = 32) DNA-based next-generation sequencing panels.

The utility of TP53 and PIK3CA mutations as prognostic biomarkers in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Objectives: Despite wide excision and post-operative irradiation, loco-regional and/or metastatic recurrence is a significant clinical problem in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC). Reliable biomarkers are required to tailor post-treatment surveillance to patients at highest risk of recurrence. We sought to determine the utility of TP53 and PIK3CA mutations as prognostic biomarkers in SACC.

Cumulative Antibiotic Use Significantly Decreases Efficacy of Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients with Advanced Cancer.

Background: With the advent of immunotherapy, substantial progress has been made in improving outcomes for patients with advanced cancer. However, not all patients benefit equally from treatment, and confounding immune-related issues may have an impact. Several studies suggest that antibiotic use (which alters the gut microbiome) may result in poorer outcomes for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI).

Mammography screening: a current controversy.

Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Over the past several decades, there has been a concerted effort to detect and diagnose breast cancer in women at early stages using mammography, and a simultaneous increase in lawsuits filed against physicians for a delay in the diagnosis of the disease. Even though mammography screening has become a standard of care for middle-aged and older women, recent questions have been raised about the efficacy of breast cancer screening.

Hypothyroidism and depression: a therapeutic challenge.

Objective: To describe a patient with longstanding depression and hypothyroidism who had marked mood improvement only after triiodothyronine (T3) was added to her thyroxine (T4) replacement therapy.

Case Summary: A 50-year-old white woman had a long history of depression and documented hypothyroidism since 1991. Despite treatment with T4 with dosages up to 0.

Diagnosis of Wilson's disease in an asymptomatic sibling by DNA linkage analysis.

The molecular genetic diagnosis of Wilson's disease in the 5-year-old sister of a patient with Wilson's disease is reported. The girl was clinically free of disease and had no conventional biochemical markers of Wilson's disease (i.e.