[Factors Affecting Adherence to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Japanese Patients with Breast Cancer-An Observational Study].

The purpose of this study was to investigate adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) and the factors affecting demotivation and motivation to continue adjuvant ET. In patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in Japan, an online survey was conducted from June to July 2021 to investigate the treatment effects, side effects, concerns about side effects(for demotivation only), convenience of hospital visits, treatment duration, concerns about recurrence/progression, treatment cost, support from healthcare professionals, and support from family, the patient association, and peers(for motivation only). According to the responses from 263 patients, the most common factor affecting demotivation to continue adjuvant ET was the burden of side effects, and the most common factor affecting motivation to continue adjuvant ET was concerns about recurrence/progression.

Patients' preferences for postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative advanced breast cancer treatments in Japan.

Background: This study aimed to identify factors affecting patients' preferences for postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer treatments, their relative importance, and impact of sociodemographic/clinical characteristics.

Methods: Japanese postmenopausal patients with HR+ breast cancer chose between 2 hypothetical treatments for HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer using an online discrete choice experiment, defined by different levels of 5 attributes: progression-free survival (PFS), incidence of diarrhea (IOD), frequency of loose stools of grade 1-3 severity (FOS), duration of diarrhea (DOD), and route/frequency of administration (RFA). Conditional logit modeling identified relative preferences for each attribute.

Necitumumab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin versus gemcitabine and cisplatin alone as first-line treatment for stage IV squamous non-small cell lung cancer: A phase 1b and randomized, open-label, multicenter, phase 2 trial in Japan.

Objectives: This open-label, multicenter, phase 1b/2 study assessed necitumumab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC + N) in patients with previously untreated squamous non-small cell lung cancer in Japan.

Materials And Methods: The phase 1b part determined the gemcitabine dose for the phase 2 part, in which patients were randomized 1:1 to GC + N or gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) (gemcitabine 1250 mg/m on days 1 and 8; cisplatin 75 mg/m on day 1 of maximum four 3-week cycles; nectimumab 800 mg on days 1 and 8 of a 3-week cycle continued until progressive disease or unacceptable toxicity). The primary endpoint of the phase 2 part was overall survival.

[Pemetrexed for Treatment of Nonsquamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer].

Pemetrexed(Alimta®)is a multi-targeted antifolate that shows antitumor effects by inhibiting enzymes in the folate metabolic pathway essential for cell replication. Pemetrexed is a standard treatment for Japanese patients with nonsquamous, non-small-cell lung cancer. In this review, we summarize the evidence of clinical studies for the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed in the treatment of nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer as first-line chemotherapy and continuation maintenance therapy.

Dietary sterol preference in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Since insects are unable to biosynthesize sterols de novo, sterols must be obtained from dietary sources. Although it has been reported that beta-sitosterol is crucial for larval growth in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, little has been investigated concerning the dietary selection of sterols by Bombyx larvae. Here, we demonstrate that Bombyx larvae have the following sterol preference: beta-sitosterol >> ergosterol > cholesterol = stigmasterol.