Publications by authors named "Turco F"

Carbon dots (CDs) are promising candidates as oxygen photosensitizers, in cancer therapeutic applications due to their high quantum yield, superior chemical and photostability, low cytotoxicity and ease of chemical functionalization/tuning. Nitrogen doping can further improve oxygen photosensitization performance. Besides photodynamic therapy, however, the possibility to finely and remotely regulate the intracellular redox balance by using physical stimuli has been attracting more and more interest not only for nanotheranostic application, but also as a novel, fully biocompatible therapeutic tool.

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Aggressive variant prostate cancer (AVPC) is characterized by a molecular signature involving combined defects in , , and/or (AVPC-TSGs), identifiable through immunohistochemistry or genomic analysis. The reported prevalence of AVPC-TSG alterations varies widely, reflecting differences in assay sensitivity, treatment pressure, and disease stage evolution. Although robust clinical evidence is still emerging, the study of AVPC-TSG alterations in prostate cancer (PCa) is promising.

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Advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) has a dismal prognosis, with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 10%. Platinum-based chemotherapy has been the backbone of the first-line treatment of aUC for over 40 years. Only in the last decade, the treatment of aUC has evolved and been enriched with new classes of drugs that demonstrated pivotal improvements in terms of oncological responses and, ultimately, survival.

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Background And Objective: Hypertension (HTN) has been linked to an elevated risk of prostate cancer (PC) development and poorer prognosis in localized cases, and is a common side effect of hormonal PC treatments. However, its relationship with the prognosis of metastatic PC is still unclear. We assessed the prognostic role of treatment-related HTN in patients with de novo metastatic hormone-sensitive PC (mHSPC) undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) alone or in combination with docetaxel or androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs).

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Article Synopsis
  • About 20% of prostate cancer patients have alterations in HRR genes like BRCA1/2, which are important biomarkers for treatment with PARP inhibitors like Olaparib, currently approved for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with BRCA mutations in Italy.
  • A survey of 108 oncologists revealed that only 52.8% regularly test all metastatic prostate cancer patients for BRCA mutations, and many face challenges such as long wait times and unclear procedures.
  • These obstacles hinder the effective implementation of genetic testing, limiting access to personalized PARP inhibitor treatment and highlighting the need for improved molecular testing processes in clinical settings.
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Spin-lock (SL) pulses have been proposed to directly detect neuronal activity otherwise inaccessible through standard functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, the practical limits of this technique remain unexplored. Key challenges in SL-based detection include ultra-weak signal variations, sensitivity to magnetic field inhomogeneities, and potential contamination from blood oxygen level-dependent effects, all of which hinder the reliable isolation of neuronal signals.

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  • Innovations in advanced prostate cancer have improved outcomes, but there's still a lack of high-level evidence in clinical management, prompting the 2024 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference to survey experts for insights.
  • A panel of 120 international experts developed and voted on 183 consensus questions through a web-based survey prior to the conference, defining consensus as ≥75% agreement.
  • The voting results highlight areas of agreement and disagreement that can guide clinical decisions and future research, with a focus on individualizing treatment based on patient characteristics and encouraging participation in clinical trials.
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  • * A study analyzed 327 mCRPC patients on Enzalutamide or Abiraterone, finding that 9.8% had NED, which was associated with significantly poorer progression-free survival (PFS), disease control rate (DCR), and PSA response.
  • * The negative impact of NED on patient outcomes was consistent regardless of treatment line, suggesting that assessing NED could help in making better treatment choices for mCRPC.
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Prostate cancer (PC) is generally a hormone-dependent tumor. Androgen deprivation therapy ( has been the standard of care in metastatic disease for more than 80 years. Subsequent studies have highlighted the efficacy of ADT even in earlier disease settings such as in localized disease or in the case of biochemical recurrence (BCR).

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Although intermittent androgen deprivation therapy was often recommended for metastatic hormone-sensitive cancer therapy in the past, we do not know whether its use can be extrapolated to combination therapy. Trials evaluating intermittent therapy are necessary as this strategy could improve patient quality of life and reduce adverse events and costs.

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The landscape of treating metastatic prostate cancer has evolved with the addition of Androgen Receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI) to Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT), significantly improving survival rates. However, prolonged use of these therapies introduces notable side effects, prompting a need to revisit intermittent treatment duration. The EORTC 2238 De-Escalate trial is a pragmatic trial seeking to reassess the role of intermittent therapy in patients undergoing maximal androgen blockade (MAB) for metastatic hormone naïve prostate cancer (mHNPC), i.

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Background & Aims: The average five-year survival of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is 71%. However, there is significant variability in patient prognosis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been introduced into the treatment landscape of mRCC.

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Context: Mutations in the speckle-type POZ (SPOP) gene are frequently identified in prostate cancer (PC); yet, prognostic implications for affected patients remain unclear. Limited consensus exists regarding tailored treatments for SPOP-mutant (SPOPmut) PC.

Objective: To elucidate the prognostic and predictive significance of SPOP mutations across distinct PC stages and treatments.

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Background: Both cabazitaxel and lutetium-177 prostate-specific membrane antigen (Lu-PSMA) improve survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) after an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor and docetaxel, but there are limited data regarding Lu-PSMA activity after cabazitaxel.

Objective: To assess the activity of Lu-PSMA and determinants of outcomes after cabazitaxel in mCRPC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A retrospective analysis was conducted of consecutive mCRPC patients from eight European centers treated with Lu-PSMA after cabazitaxel.

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Purpose: To introduce a tool (TensorFit) for ultrafast and robust metabolite fitting of MRSI data based on Torch's auto-differentiation and optimization framework.

Methods: TensorFit was implemented in Python based on Torch's auto-differentiation to fit individual metabolites in MRS spectra. The underlying time domain and/or frequency domain fitting model is based on a linear combination of metabolite spectroscopic response.

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The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors or other ICIs has significantly improved the prognosis for patients with mccRCC. This marks a major milestone in the treatment of mccRCC. Nonetheless, most patients will discontinue first-line therapy.

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Androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPI) and polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose inhibitors (PARPi) are part of the standard of care in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). There is biological evidence that the association of ARPI and PARPi could have a synergistic effect; therefore, several ongoing clinical trials are investigating the efficacy of this combination with preliminary results that are not perfectly concordant in identifying patients who can obtain the most benefit from this therapeutic option. The purpose of this review is to describe the PARPi mechanisms of action and to analyze the biological mechanisms behind the interplay between the androgen receptor and the PARPi system to better understand the rationale of the ARPI + PARPi combinations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Darolutamide is an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor for prostate cancer, and its toxicity profile is a crucial factor for treatment selection, although efficacy among different ARPIs appears similar.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using data from clinical trials comparing darolutamide to placebo, focusing on adverse events (AEs) that could lead to treatment discontinuation.
  • The results showed that darolutamide did not significantly increase AEs compared to placebo, except for a notable higher incidence of bone fractures associated with placebo.
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The maintenance of homeostasis in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is ensured by the presence of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which regulates important physiological activities, such as motility, permeability, fluid secretion, immunity, and visceral pain sensation. Beside its direct effects on the GI system, the ECS in the central nervous system indirectly regulates GI functions, such as food intake and energy balance. Mounting evidence suggests that the ECS may play an important role in modulating central neurotransmission which affects GI functioning.

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. R0 minor parenchyma-sparing hepatectomy (PSH) is feasible for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) in contact with hepatic veins (HV) at hepatocaval confluence since HV can be reconstructed, but in the case of contact with the first-order glissonean pedicle (GP), major hepatectomy is mandatory. To pursue an R0 parenchyma-sparing policy, we proposed vessel-guided mesohepatectomy for liver partition (MLP) and eventually combination with liver augmentation techniques for staged major PSH.

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Background: Treatment of metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) dramatically changed. PEACE-1 and ARASENS trials established triplet therapy efficacy. Identifying prognostic factors supporting treatment choice is pivotal.

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Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors have displayed enormous potential as a platform for delivery of gene therapies. Purification of rAAV at industrial scale involves a series of elaborate, material, and time-consuming midstream steps, such as clarification by depth filtration and concentration/buffer exchange by tangential flow filtration. In this study, we developed a filter-less flow capture method for purification of rAAV serotype 5, using a high-gradient magnetic separator and magnetic Mag Sepharose beads coupled to an AVB affinity ligand.

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With the rise of novel 3D magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) acquisition protocols in clinical practice, which are capable of capturing a large number of spectra from a subject's brain, there is a need for an automated preprocessing pipeline that filters out bad-quality spectra and identifies contaminated but salvageable spectra prior to the metabolite quantification step. This work introduces such a pipeline based on an ensemble of deep-learning classifiers. The dataset consists of 36,338 spectra from one healthy subject and five brain tumor patients, acquired with an EPSI variant, which implemented a novel type of spectral editing named SLOtboom-Weng (SLOW) editing on a 7T MR scanner.

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Article Synopsis
  • Environmental and occupational exposures are linked to a higher risk of various cancers, including lung and genitourinary cancers, though the mechanisms behind this increased risk aren't fully understood.
  • Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, while genitourinary cancers are significant contributors to cancer mortality, especially in Western countries.
  • The review aims to identify key risk factors for these cancers, explore the mechanisms of how these exposures lead to cancer, and discuss preventative strategies and early detection methods to mitigate these risks.
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Introduction: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are usually considered the highest level of evidence for clinical practice. Patients assigned to control arm in RCTs should always receive the best available treatments to protect participants while also allowing for proper interpretation and applicability of study results. Here we analysed RCTs published in oncology between 2017 and 2021 to describe the frequency of suboptimal control arms.

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