Publications by authors named "Taishi Harada"

This retrospective, multicenter cohort study aimed to determine whether cancer cachexia serves as a biomarker for determining the most effective treatment for patients having non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with high programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) alone or combined with chemotherapy (ICI/chemotherapy). We included 411 patients with advanced NSCLC with a PD-L1 tumor proportion score of ≥50%. The patients were treated with pembrolizumab monotherapy or ICI/chemotherapy.

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Background: Tumor markers such as serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin fragment 19 (CYFRA 21-1) are utilized for assessing the effectiveness of chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Yet, it remains uncertain whether these markers can reliably forecast responses to combined chemoimmunotherapy. Our study aimed to examine the significance and effectiveness of these markers in predicting responses among NSCLC patients undergoing combined chemoimmunotherapy.

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Background: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard therapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there is little evidence supporting its use in older adults. Low-dose daily carboplatin combined with thoracic radiotherapy is considered a standard regimen for this population.

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The association between depth of response (DpR) and treatment outcomes has been documented across various types of cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based treatment is globally used as first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression ≥ 50%. However, in this population, the significance of DpR is not elucidated.

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Introduction: Several studies explored the association between thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and the therapeutic efficacy of immunotherapy. However, the effect of TTF-1 on the therapeutic efficacy of programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor/chemoimmunotherapy in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (non-Sq NSCLC) with a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score of 50% or more who are highly susceptible to immunotherapy remains unresolved. Therefore, we evaluated whether TTF-1 has a clinical impact on this population.

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Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) and leptomeningeal metastasis are difficult conditions with limited treatment options. We report a case of CUP leptomeningeal metastasis that was refractory to empirical chemotherapy but achieved a favorable response to intrathecal trastuzumab after the identification of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) amplification. A 59-year-old woman was diagnosed with CUP with metastasis of a poorly differentiated carcinoma to the left axillary, anterior mediastinal, peritoneal, and bilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes.

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Introduction: The proportion of older patients diagnosed with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been increasing. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy (MONO) and combination therapy of ICI and chemotherapy (COMBO) are standard treatments for patients with NSCLC and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion scores (TPS) ≥ 50%. However, evidence from the clinical trials specifically for older patients is limited.

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Article Synopsis
  • Multiple PD-L1 immunohistochemistry assays (22C3, 28-8, SP142) are used to predict responses to immune therapies in advanced NSCLC, but their comparative effectiveness is not fully understood.
  • A study in Japan observed 70 advanced NSCLC patients treated with combined chemoimmunotherapy, assessing PD-L1 expression using all three assays.
  • Results indicated that the 22C3 assay was the most effective in predicting therapeutic response, showing significant differences in progression-free survival compared to the other assays, suggesting it may be key for clinical decision-making.
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Background: A history of pre-administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors has been reported to be associated with good outcomes of ramucirumab (RAM) plus docetaxel (DOC) combination therapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, existing knowledge on the clinical significance of RAM and DOC following combined chemoimmunotherapy is limited. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of RAM plus DOC therapy after combined chemoimmunotherapy and attempted to identify the predictors of its outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the effectiveness and safety of combining bevacizumab with chemotherapy and atezolizumab in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, building on the existing standard treatment protocols.
  • - Conducted as a phase 3 randomized clinical trial at 37 hospitals in Japan, it enrolled patients with advanced nonsquamous NSCLC between January 2019 and August 2020, focusing on those without genetic driver alterations or who had prior treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
  • - The primary outcome measured was progression-free survival (PFS), assessed by independent reviewers, with a total of 412 patients enrolled in two treatment groups: one receiving the standard regimen and the other receiving the combination with bev
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We present a case of a 45-year-old woman diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia (IP) during a comprehensive breast cancer evaluation. Although the patient showed no obvious clinical symptoms of polymyositis or dermatomyositis, the presence of anti-glycyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase antibodies confirmed anti-synthetase syndrome. The patient began methylprednisolone for treatment of the IP.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The OCEAN study evaluated the effectiveness of osimertinib in treating radiation therapy-naive CNS metastasis in patients with mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), focusing on a cohort of previously untreated individuals.
  • - Results showed a brain metastasis response rate of approximately 76.9% and a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 22 months for CNS metastasis, indicating significant effectiveness of osimertinib in this patient group.
  • - The study reported manageable side effects, with less than 10% experiencing severe adverse events, suggesting osimertinib is a promising first-line treatment option for these patients.
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Although laparoscopic cystectomy is a safe and effective management strategy for ovarian mature cystic teratoma (MCT) in pediatric and adolescent patients, it has been challenged because of its association with a higher risk of intraoperative spillage leading to chemical peritonitis, adhesion formation, and iatrogenic implantation of malignant cells. Here, we report a rare case of a 23-year-old female patient with MCT tissue during laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy that remained in the peritoneum, possibly becoming malignant thereafter. Intraoperatively, the cyst's contents leaked into the abdominal cavity.

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Background: The factors that predict the clinical response to ramucirumab plus docetaxel (RD) after first-line chemoimmunotherapy are unresolved. We explored whether the therapeutic efficacy of prior chemoimmunotherapy could predict the outcome of RD as sequential therapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Our study comprised 288 patients with advanced NSCLC who received RD as the second-line treatment after first-line chemoimmunotherapy at 62 Japanese institutions.

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Objective: Few prospective cohort studies with relatively large numbers of patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (non-IPF) of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) have been described. We aimed to assess disease progression and cause of death for patients with non-IPF IIPs or IPF under real-life conditions.

Methods: Data were analysed for a prospective multi-institutional cohort of 528 IIP patients enrolled in Japan between September 2013 and April 2016.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates treatment options for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have high PD-L1 expression and poor performance status, focusing on the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) combined with chemotherapy versus pembrolizumab monotherapy.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 425 NSCLC patients, categorizing them based on their performance status (good vs. poor), finding that those with good performance had significantly better survival outcomes compared to those with poor performance when treated with ICI therapies.
  • In the poor performance status group, there was no significant difference in progression-free survival or overall survival between the combination therapy and monotherapy, indicating that both treatment options may be equally ineffective for these
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Importance: Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy with pembrolizumab and ICI plus chemotherapy have been approved as first-line treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for patients with a programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of 50% or more, but the choice between these 2 therapeutic options is unclear.

Objective: To clarify the association of a history of concurrent medication use with treatment outcomes for ICIs with or without chemotherapy in patients with NSCLC with a high PD-L1 TPS and to determine whether these clinical histories are biomarkers for appropriate treatment selection.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective, multicenter cohort study at 13 hospitals in Japan included patients with advanced NSCLC with a PD-L1 TPS of 50% or more who had received pembrolizumab ICI monotherapy or ICI plus chemotherapy as the initial treatment between March 2017 and December 2020.

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Therapy related-acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS) are complications of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy for malignant diseases. In this report, we describe a patient with advanced lung adenocarcinoma who developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia and MDS associated with a combination of atezolizumab and platinum-based chemotherapy. The patient showed progression from t-MDS to t-AML 20 months after the treatment was initiated.

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There is no standard method of bronchoscopic local therapy for tracheal tumours. We herein present a case involving a 61-year-old woman who was diagnosed with tracheal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma and underwent resection by a bronchoscopic high-frequency electrosurgical snare. Few reports to date have described such use of high-frequency electrosurgical snares; however, they are effective for the treatment of tracheal tumours, especially pedunculated tumours.

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Background: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor plus platinum-etoposide chemotherapy is used as a first-line treatment for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), regardless of age.

Objective: We examined the role of the Geriatric 8 (G8) screening tool for evaluating treatment outcomes in patients with ES-SCLC treated with PD-L1 inhibitor plus platinum-etoposide chemotherapy as first-line therapy.

Patients And Methods: Between September 2019 and October 2021, we prospectively evaluated patients with ES-SCLC treated with immunochemotherapy at ten institutions in Japan.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The results indicated that patients who experienced greater tumor shrinkage at the first treatment evaluation had significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival compared to those who did not.
  • * The study identified a 57% tumor shrinkage as a key metric for predicting treatment responders, suggesting that ETS is a valuable indicator of clinical outcomes for patients receiving this specific chemotherapy regimen.
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Introduction: Lung adenocarcinoma with negative TTF-1 expression is believed to be a poor prognostic factor for certain systemic treatments. Nevertheless, the impact of TTF-1 expression on combined chemoimmunotherapy remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the relationship between tumor TTF-1 expression and the efficacy of combined chemoimmunotherapy in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma.

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Article Synopsis
  • Platinum-doublet chemotherapy combined with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors improves survival in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with the IMpower150 study showing positive outcomes for ABCP therapy (atezolizumab, bevacizumab, paclitaxel, and carboplatin).
  • A retrospective analysis of 30 Japanese NSCLC patients revealed a median age of 69, primarily male (80%), and high objective response rates (73.9%) with median progression-free survival of 8.3 months.
  • The safety profile was promising, with only one case (3.3%) of ICI-induced pneumonitis, indicating ABCP therapy is effective and safe in this population, similar to findings
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Background: Current evidence indicates that immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have a limited efficacy in patients with lung cancer harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. However, there is a lack of data on the efficacy of ICIs after osimertinib treatment, and the predictors of ICI efficacy are unclear.

Methods: We retrospectively assessed consecutive patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC who received ICI-based therapy after osimertinib treatment at 10 institutions in Japan, between March 2016 and March 2021.

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Background: Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) expression in advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been associated with the efficacy of pemetrexed plus platinum chemotherapy. However, the relation between TTF-1 expression and efficacy of the combination of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors plus pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy, a standard first-line treatment regimen for advanced non-squamous NSCLC, has remained unclear.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated TTF-1 expression in tumor tissue of patients with advanced or recurrent non-squamous NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors plus pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy in the first-line setting.

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