Integrated genome analysis of uterine leiomyosarcoma to identify novel driver genes and targetable pathways.

Uterine leiomyosarcomas (uLMS) are rare, aggressive malignancies for which limited treatment options are available. To gain novel molecular insights into uLMS and identify potential novel therapeutic targets, we characterized 84 uLMS samples for genome-wide somatic copy number alterations, mutations, gene fusions and gene expression and performed a data integration analysis. We found that alterations affecting TP53, RB1, PTEN, MED12, YWHAE and VIPR2 were present in the majority of uLMS.

Establishment and characterization of uterine sarcoma and carcinosarcoma patient-derived xenograft models.

Objective: Uterine sarcomas (US) and carcinosarcomas (CS) are rare, aggressive cancers. The lack of reliable preclinical models hampers the search for new treatment strategies and predictive biomarkers. To this end, we established and characterized US and CS patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models.

Potential Targets' Analysis Reveals Dual PI3K/mTOR Pathway Inhibition as a Promising Therapeutic Strategy for Uterine Leiomyosarcomas-an ENITEC Group Initiative.

Uterine sarcomas are rare and heterogeneous tumors characterized by an aggressive clinical behavior. Their high rates of recurrence and mortality point to the urgent need for novel targeted therapies and alternative treatment strategies. However, no molecular prognostic or predictive biomarkers are available so far to guide choice and modality of treatment.

External validation of non-imaging models for predicting distant metastasis in patients with endometrial cancer.

Objective: To evaluate two non-imaging models designed to predict distant metastasis (stages IIIC-IV) in endometrial carcinoma (EC). Both used preoperative histological and biological findings. One used primary tumoral size, the other did not.

Evaluation of models to predict lymph node metastasis in endometrial cancer: A multicentre study.

Background: Several models (preoperative and postoperative) have been developed to predict lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with endometrial cancer. The purpose of our investigation was to compare available models in a multicentre study.

Methods: In a cohort of 519 patients with endometrial cancer who had undergone primary hysterectomy and at least a pelvic lymphadenectomy, we compared the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs), calibrations, rates of false negatives (FN), and the number of patients at low-risk for LNM using ten different models (three preoperative and seven postoperative).

Characteristics and prognosis of patients with early-stage endometrial cancer who refuse adjuvant radiotherapy.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors for refusing adjuvant radiotherapy in patients who have undergone surgery for early-stage endometrial cancer, and to compare their survival rates with patients who have undergone adjuvant radiotherapy.

Methods: Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for patients operated on for histologically-proven early-stage endometrioid endometrial cancer, between 1988 and 2012, were screened. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses tested the associations between refusal of adjuvant radiotherapy and demographic, tumoral, and management characteristics.

High levels of soluble MICA are significantly related to increased disease-free and disease-specific survival in patients with cervical adenocarcinoma.

Downregulation of major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related molecule A (MICA) and upregulation of human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) on the tumor cells are important immune escape mechanisms for different epithelial tumors. In addition, upregulation of the soluble forms of the latter molecules in serum leads to peripheral T-cell and natural killer (NK)-cell tolerance. As for cervical cancer, it remains unknown whether soluble MICA (sMICA) and soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) concentrations are related to tumor characteristics or patient survival rates.

Open versus laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection in early stage cervical cancer: no difference in surgical or disease outcome.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate in a retrospective study the effect of laparoscopic surgery, introduced in our center in 1994 as part of the standard treatment of early stage cervical cancer, on surgical and disease outcomes.

Patients And Methods: A total of 169 women with cervical carcinoma stage IB1 (n = 150) or IB2 (n = 19) were included in the study. Seventy-six patients who underwent laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection (LPLND), followed either by open radical hysterectomy (n = 63) or, in case of positive lymph nodes, by primary chemoradiation (n = 13), were compared with an historic cohort of 93 patients who underwent a fully open, traditional Wertheim-Meigs procedure (WM).