Circulating tumor cell gene expression and plasma AR gene copy number as biomarkers for castration-resistant prostate cancer patients treated with cabazitaxel.

Background: Cabazitaxel improves overall survival (OS) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients progressing after docetaxel. In this prospective study, we evaluated the prognostic role of CTC gene expression on cabazitaxel-treated patients and its association with plasma androgen receptor (AR) copy number (CN).

Methods: Patients receiving cabazitaxel 20 or 25 mg/sqm for mCRPC were enrolled.

GU-CA-COVID: a clinical audit among Italian genitourinary oncologists during the first COVID-19 outbreak.

Background: Considering the growing genitourinary (GU) cancer population undergoing systemic treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we planned a clinical audit in 24 Italian institutions treating GU malignancies.

Objective: The primary objective was investigating the clinical impact of COVID-19 in GU cancer patients undergoing ICI-based therapy during the first outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 contagion in Italy.

Design Setting And Participants: The included centers were 24 Oncology Departments.

Clinical Outcomes of Metastatic Renal Carcinoma Following Disease Progression to Programmed Death (PD)-1 or PD-L1 Inhibitors (IO): A Meet-URO Group Real World Study (Meet-Uro 7).

Objectives: The aim of our study was to collect data about of the outcome of metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients who progressed after immune checkpoint inhibitors in order to enhance data about efficacy and safety of treatment beyond immune-oncology (IO).

Materials And Methods: A total of 162 eligible patients, progressing to IO, were enrolled from 16 Italian referral centers adhering to the Meet-Uro association. Baseline characteristics, outcome data and toxicities were retrospectively collected.

Ibrutinib in association with venetoclax for the treatment of mantle-cell lymphoma: a multicenter case series.

Introduction: Mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease after intensive chemotherapy have few effective treatment options. Ibrutinib showed a promising median progression-free survival (PFS) with manageable toxicity. The BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax showed encouraging results in R/R MCL patients and preclinical models suggest a potential synergistic effect of dual BTK and BCL2 inhibition.

Cabozantinib in Renal Cell Carcinoma With Brain Metastases: Safety and Efficacy in a Real-World Population.

Background: Cabozantinib showed efficacy and manageable toxicity in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). In this study we aimed to describe the safety and to collect evidence on the potential efficacy of cabozantinib in mRCC patients with brain metastases (BM) in a real-world experience.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively collected data of patients treated with cabozantinib within the Italian Managed Access Program.

Primary mediastinal germ cell tumors.

Backgroud: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a group of neoplasms usually arising in the gonads, and very rarely in sites outside the gonads, mainly in the retroperitoneum, the anterior mediastinum, and pineal gland or the coccyx (mainly in childhood). The prognosis of nonseminoma primary mediastinal GCTs (PMGCTs), is considered to be poorer compared to its retroperitoneal or gonadal counterparts and, according to the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group, it is considered by definition as a "poor risk" disease.

Material And Methods: Our review highlights the clinical features, prognostic factors, and therapeutic strategies in PMGCTs, as described in medical literature.

The effect of a treatment delay on outcome in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Objectives: To investigate if a first-line treatment delay (TD) can negatively affect the outcomes of patients affected by metastatic renal cancer.

Patients And Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of metastatic renal cancer who were ineligible for active surveillance were included in the sample. A TD was defined as the time from the diagnosis of metastatic disease to the start of first-line therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Lenalidomide plus R-CHOP21 in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): long-term follow-up results from a combined analysis from two phase 2 trials.

Lenalidomide-RCHOP (R2-CHOP21) has been shown to be safe and effective in patients with untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The aim of this analysis is to report long-term outcome and toxicities in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients who received R2-CHOP21 in two independent phase 2 trials, conducted by Mayo Clinic (MC) and Fondazione Italiana Linfomi (FIL). All patients received R-CHOP21 plus lenalidomide.

Safety and Efficacy of Cabozantinib for Metastatic Nonclear Renal Cell Carcinoma: Real-world Data From an Italian Managed Access Program.

Objective: The activity of cabozantinib in nonclear cell histologies has not been evaluated.

Materials And Methods: Data were collected across 24 Italian hospitals. Patients were aged 18 years and older with advanced nonclear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status 0 to 2, who had relapsed after previous systemic treatments for metastatic disease.

Early mortality in myeloma patients treated with first-generation novel agents thalidomide, lenalidomide, bortezomib at diagnosis: A pooled analysis.

Introduction: Early toxic death (≤60 days of diagnosis) in elderly multiple myeloma (MM) patients is attributable to active disease, age and co-morbidities. Rate of early toxic deaths is 10% with conventional chemotherapy mainly due to infection and renal failure. Novel agents have improved MM outcome at the expense of newer toxicity.

Safety and Efficacy of Cabozantinib in Metastatic Renal-Cell Carcinoma: Real-World Data From an Italian Managed Access Program.

Background: The randomized phase 3 METEOR study confirmed a survival benefit of cabozantinib over everolimus in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (mRCC) with disease that progressed after treatment with at least one previous antiangiogenic inhibitor. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the safety and activity of cabozantinib in an unselected population.

Methods: Data were collected across 24 Italian centers.

Maintenance in myeloma patients achieving complete response after upfront therapy: a pooled analysis.

Purpose: Maintenance demonstrated to improve survival in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients and the achievement of complete response (CR) is a strong predictor of survival. Nevertheless, the role of maintenance according to response after induction/consolidation has not been investigated so far. To evaluate the impact of maintenance according to response, we pooled together and retrospectively analyzed data from 955 NDMM patients enrolled in two trials (GIMEMA-MM-03-05 and RV-MM-PI-209).

Reference intervals for thyrotropin in an area of Northern Italy: the Pordenone thyroid study (TRIPP).

Purpose: Thyrotropin (TSH) is the most accurate marker of thyroid dysfunction in the absence of pituitary or hypothalamic disease. Studies on TSH reference intervals (RIs) showed wide inter-individual variability and prompted an intense debate about the best estimation of TSH RIs.

Design: We performed a population study on TSH RIs, using current data stored in the laboratory information system (LIS), at the Hospital Department of Laboratory Medicine, Pordenone (Italy), historically an area of mild-moderate iodine deficiency with a relatively high goiter prevalence.

Interleukin-31 and thymic stromal lymphopoietin expression in plasma and lymph node from Hodgkin lymphoma patients.

Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) is a tumor of B-cell origin characterized by Hodgkin and Reed-Stenberg (H/RS) cells embedded in an inflammatory tissue where numerous cytokines/chemokines contribute to shape the microenvironment, leading to the typical clinical symptoms. We investigated: i) the expression of Interleukin-IL-31 (IL-31) and Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP), two Th2-related cytokines with tumor-promoting and pruritogenic functions, and of the respective receptors in HL invaded lymph nodes by flow cytometry, and ii) the potential association of IL-31/TSLP plasma concentrations with clinical characteristics by ELISA. H/RS cells and the major immune cell types infiltrating HL lymph nodes expressed intracytoplasmic and surface IL-31/TSLP, and their receptors.

[Analysis of incidents of violence in a large Italian hospital].

Introduction: An increase in the rate of non-fatal violence events, from 20.65/10,000 in 2012 to 22.81/10,000 in 2014, was observed at the IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genoa.

Novelties in Evaluation and Monitoring of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Infection: Is Standard Virological Suppression Enough for Measuring Antiretroviral Treatment Success?

The high potency and tolerability of the currently available antiretroviral drugs has modified HIV-1 infection from a life-threatening disease to a chronic illness. Nevertheless, some issues still remain open to optimize the management of HIV-1 infected patients in term of maintenance of virological suppression over time, identifying patients that could benefit from simplification therapy, and reducing co-mordibities driven by chronic inflammation. The availability of robust and affordable virological and immunological markers can help in solving these issues by providing information on the burden of HIV-1 reservoir in all the anatomical compartments in which the virus replicates as well as on persistent inflammation, immune activation and senescence despite successful virological suppression.

Freehand 3T MR-guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (VAB): a five-year experience.

Background Magnetic resonance (MR) permits the detection of some malignant lesions that cannot be identified with mammography or ultrasonography. The characterization of these MR-only detectable lesions often requires a biopsy. Purpose To evaluate the technique, the feasibility and the accuracy of freehand 3T MR-guided VAB for the characterization of suspicious, MR-only detectable lesions and to compare VAB results with surgical pathology and follow-up imaging results.

Iodine-based contrast media, multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathies: literature review and ESUR Contrast Media Safety Committee guidelines.

Objectives: Many radiologists and clinicians still consider multiple myeloma (MM) and monoclonal gammopathies (MG) a contraindication for using iodine-based contrast media. The ESUR Contrast Media Safety Committee performed a systematic review of the incidence of post-contrast acute kidney injury (PC-AKI) in these patients.

Methods: A systematic search in Medline and Scopus databases was performed for renal function deterioration studies in patients with MM or MG following administration of iodine-based contrast media.

Outcomes of First-Generation EGFR-TKIs Against Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Harboring Uncommon EGFR Mutations: A Post Hoc Analysis of the BE-POSITIVE Study.

Background: Beyond progression after tyrosine kinase inhibitor in EGFR-positive non-small-cell lung cancer patients (BE-POSITIVE) was the first Italian multicenter observational study that reported the outcomes of first-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in a "real-life" Caucasian EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) population. The sharing of multi-institutional experiences represents a crucial strategy to enrich knowledge about uncommon EGFR mutations. Therefore, we performed a post hoc analysis of the BE-POSITIVE study.

Clinical outcome of patients who reduced sunitinib or pazopanib during first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer.

Objectives: To investigate the different outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who receive a reduced first-line dose of sunitinib or pazopanib compared to those who continue at the standard dose.

Patients And Methods: All the patients treated in 11 oncological centers in Italy for mRCC who started first-line treatment with sunitinib or pazopanib at the standard dose. Descriptive statistical tests were used to highlight differences among groups.

Road Traffic Pollution and Childhood Leukemia: A Nationwide Case-control Study in Italy.

Background: The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding subtypes.

Aim Of The Study: We used the data of the Italian SETIL case-control on childhood leukemia to explore the risk by leukemia subtypes associated to exposure to vehicular traffic.

Methods: We included in the analyses 648 cases of childhood leukemia (565 Acute lymphoblastic-ALL and 80 Acute non lymphoblastic-AnLL) and 980 controls.