36 results match your criteria: "Experimental Clinical Abdominal Oncology Unit[Affiliation]"

Purpose: To investigate whether intermittent treatment after an induction phase of first-line schedule of fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) plus panitumumab (PAN) prevents or delays the onset of resistance and improves safety and compliance with treatment in patients with unresectable / wild-type (wt) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Patients And Methods: IMPROVE (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04425239) was an open-label, multicenter, randomized phase II noncomparative trial.

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  • In the TOPAZ-1 trial, patients with biliary tract cancers (BTC) who had recurrence within 6 months of surgery were excluded, which often happens in practice. This study looked into the effectiveness of cisplatin-gemcitabine-durvalumab (CGD) in patients who did experience early recurrence.
  • The study enrolled 178 BTC patients who had surgery and then underwent treatment with CGD after experiencing either early or late disease recurrence. Key goals were to measure overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).
  • Results showed no significant differences in OS and PFS between early and late relapse groups, suggesting CGD is effective regardless of when the cancer
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Background: Emerging evidence supports tumor tissue-based comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Data on liquid biopsy-based circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) CGP are scarce and mainly retrospective. Prospective comparison between the two tests is not currently available.

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Background: Advances in precision oncology led to approval of tumour-agnostic molecularly guided treatment options (MGTOs). The minimum requirements for claiming tumour-agnostic potential remain elusive.

Methods: The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Precision Medicine Working Group (PMWG) coordinated a project to optimise tumour-agnostic drug development.

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  • - A patient with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) that had a BRAF mutation showed signs of an acquired 'NeoBRAF wild-type' state, indicating a change in the cancer's genetic profile over time.
  • - The patient's treatment involved a combination of surgery, systemic therapy, and targeted therapy, leading to impressive clinical results.
  • - Liquid biopsy, which tracks cancer changes over time, is not commonly used for newly diagnosed RAS and BRAF mutant mCRC patients in standard clinical practice.
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  • The study examines the effectiveness of anti-EGFR inhibitor rechallenge therapy in patients with refractory RAS/BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) using data pooled from four Italian trials conducted between 2015 and 2022.
  • A total of 114 patients participated, with results showing a 17.5% overall response rate and a disease control rate of 72.3%, indicating some level of effectiveness despite previous treatment struggles.
  • The median progression-free survival was reported at 4.0 months and median overall survival at 13.1 months, highlighting the durability of this treatment approach for these patients.
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The discovery and development of novel treatments that harness the patient's immune system and prevent immune escape has dramatically improved outcomes for patients across cancer types. However, not all patients respond to immunotherapy, acquired resistance remains a challenge, and responses are poor in certain tumors which are considered to be immunologically cold. This has led to the need for new immunotherapy-based approaches, including adoptive cell transfer (ACT), therapeutic vaccines, and novel immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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Establishment of patient-derived tumor organoids to functionally inform treatment decisions in metastatic colorectal cancer.

ESMO Open

June 2023

Vall d'Hebron Hospital Campus and Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients tend to have modest benefits from molecularly driven therapeutics. Patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTOs) represent an unmatched model to elucidate tumor resistance to therapy, due to their high capacity to resemble tumor characteristics.

Materials And Methods: We used viable tumor tissue from two cohorts of patients with mCRC, naïve or refractory to treatment, respectively, for generating PDTOs.

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  • * Among 129 patients, 97 had WT circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) while 32 had mutated ctDNA, with similar median anti-EGFR drug-free intervals between groups (10.6 months for mutants vs. 13.0 months for WT).
  • * Results indicate that the duration of being free from anti-EGFR drugs alone isn't a reliable way to choose patients for treatment, highlighting the importance of using liquid biopsies for better treatment outcomes.
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The Cancer Treatment Gap in Lower- to Middle-Income Countries.

Oncology

August 2023

Department of Hematology, Oncology, Palliative Care and Rheumatology, Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg, AK Altona, Hamburg, Germany.

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New approach to implement cancer patient care: The valutazione percorso rete oncologica campana (ValPeROC)-experience from an Italian oncology network.

Eur J Cancer Care (Engl)

November 2022

Department of Urology and Gynecology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS 'Fondazione G. Pascale', Naples, Italy.

Objective: The primary goal of the Campania Oncology Network (ROC) was to reduce cancer delay and care fragmentation through the establishment of cancer-specific multidisciplinary oncologic groups (GOMs) and diagnostic and therapeutic assistance paths (PDTAs).

Methods: Five cancer centres of the ROC, with their own cancer specific GOM, were selected. In our analysis, we have focused on four neoplasms: lung, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers.

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  • Genomics is transforming cancer treatment, but solid, clinical-grade genomic biomarkers for chemotherapy are still needed.
  • A study with 37 patients found KRAS mutations linked to resistance against the chemotherapy trifluridine/tipiracil (FTD/TPI), and a larger real-world analysis with 960 patients confirmed that these mutations correspond to lower survival rates.
  • Data from a phase 3 trial with 800 patients showed that those with KRAS mutations did not benefit from FTD/TPI, indicating that identifying these mutations could guide treatment decisions for around 28% of metastatic colorectal cancer patients.
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Background: Metastatic colorectal cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death worldwide. RAS and BRAF mutational analyses are strongly recommended before beginning chemotherapy in the metastatic setting for their predictive role for the efficacy of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies. In most of cases, mutational status coincides between primary tumor and metastases.

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Purpose: In metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients (pts), treatment strategies integrating liver resection with induction chemotherapy offer better 5-year survival rates than chemotherapy alone. However, liver resection is a complex and costly procedure, and recurrence occurs in almost 2/3rds of pts, suggesting the need to identify those at higher risk. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether the integration of plasma metabolomics and lipidomics combined with the multiplex analysis of a large panel of plasma cytokines can be used to predict the risk of relapse and other patient outcomes after liver surgery, beyond or in combination with clinical morphovolumetric criteria.

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Background: Maintaining angiogenesis inhibition and switching the chemotherapy backbone represent the current second-line therapy in patients with RAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Regorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor, prolonged overall survival (OS) in the chemorefractory setting.

Materials And Methods: STREAM was an academic, multicenter, single-arm phase II trial, evaluating the activity of regorafenib in RAS-mutant mCRC, in terms of the rate of patients who were progression-free after 6 months from study entry (6mo-PF).

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Young oncologists around the globe face many challenges when it comes to their career and professional development. Aspects such as time management, work-life balance, career progression, and educational opportunities are only some of them. Professional societies have identified these challenges in this professional group and designed programs to tackle them specifically.

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  • The study analyzes the outcomes of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who have the KRASG12C mutation and were treated in Italy from 2011 to 2021, finding a low overall response rate to standard treatments.
  • Of the 256 patients with this mutation, only 111 qualified for the study, with a 38.7% response rate to first-line therapy, a median progression-free survival of 9 months, and a median overall survival of 21 months.
  • The research suggests that intensifying first-line chemotherapy with FOLFOXIRI may benefit fit patients, despite the overall disappointing response to conventional treatments.
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Over the past decade, immunotherapy has become an increasingly fundamental modality in the treatment of cancer. The positive impact of immune checkpoint inhibition, especially anti-programmed death (PD)-1/PD-ligand (L)1 blockade, in patients with different cancers has focused attention on the potential for other immunotherapeutic approaches. These include inhibitors of additional immune checkpoints, adoptive cell transfer (ACT), and therapeutic vaccines.

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  • New targeted therapies for metastatic colorectal cancer are being developed to tailor treatments based on specific genetic biomarkers in patients.!
  • Promising results were seen in trials involving inhibitors like sotorasib and adagrasib, with plans for further studies combining these with anti-monoclonal antibodies.!
  • The review discusses the importance of expanding molecular profiling to better understand tumor characteristics and highlights ongoing clinical trials exploring these advancements.!
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Phase I/II Multicenter Trial of a Novel Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine, HepaVac-101, for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Clin Cancer Res

June 2022

Innovative Immunological Models Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS - Fondazione G. Pascale, Naples, Italy.

Purpose: Immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows considerable promise in improving clinical outcomes. HepaVac-101 represents a single-arm, first-in-human phase I/II multicenter cancer vaccine trial for HCC (NCT03203005). It combines multipeptide antigens (IMA970A) with the TLR7/8/RIG I agonist CV8102.

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Although no definitive data exist in literature, adjuvant chemotherapy is usually recommended in patients with radically resected stage III rectal cancer treated with neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy. We performed a systematic review of literature with direct and indirect comparisons to assess the role of adjuvant mono- or poli-chemotherapy in radically resected rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy. Neither chemotherapy (mono-or poli-chemotherapy) nor polichemotherapy with oxaliplatin-containing regimens seems to improve Overall Survival and Disease-Free Survival in patients with radically resected rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemo-adiotherapy.

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Epigenetic Approaches to Overcome Fluoropyrimidines Resistance in Solid Tumors.

Cancers (Basel)

January 2022

Experimetnal Pharmacology Unit-Laboratory of Naples and Mercogliano (AV), Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS "Fondazione G. Pascale", 80131 Naples, Italy.

Although fluoropyrimidines were introduced as anticancer agents over 60 years ago, they are still the backbone of many combination chemotherapy regimens for the treatment of solid cancers. Like other chemotherapeutic agents, the therapeutic efficacy of fluoropyrimidines can be affected by drug resistance and severe toxicities; thus, novel therapeutic approaches are required to potentiate their efficacy and overcome drug resistance. In the last 20 years, the deregulation of epigenetic mechanisms has been shown to contribute to cancer hallmarks.

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Background: Skin toxicity in patients affected by metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors is well known. However, ad hoc ESMO guidelines have only recently been published.

Aim And Methods: To describe the management (pre-emptive or reactive) of anti-EGFR-related cutaneous adverse events (AEs), in a real-life clinical context, in a selected population of patients with left-sided, metastatic RAS/BRAF wild-type mCRC treated with doublet chemotherapy plus anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody (i.

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