Patterns of Utilization of Imaging Studies and Serum Tumor Markers Among Patients With De Novo Metastatic Breast Cancer.

When monitoring patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC), the optimal strategies for imaging and utilization of tumor markers (TM) are uncertain. We used a retrospective cohort of 302 patients with de novo mBC treated from 2000 to 2012 at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to describe the type and timing of imaging and TM testing during the first line of treatment (baseline, first, and subsequent testing). At baseline, all patients had staging scans, with increasing use of PET/PET-CT (17.

Randomized phase III PITCAP trial and meta-analysis of induction chemotherapy followed by thoracic irradiation with or without concurrent taxane-based chemotherapy in locally advanced NSCLC.

Background: Chemo-radiotherapy is standard of care in the treatment of unresectable stage III NSCLC. We aimed at assessing whether the addition of concurrent taxane-chemotherapy to thoracic irradiation following chemotherapy was able to improve treatment outcome.

Material And Methods: In PITCAP trial, patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC were randomized to receive 2 cycles of platinum-paclitaxel followed by 60-61.

Genitourinary tumours in the targeted therapies era: new advances in clinical practice and future perspectives.

Genitourinary cancers represent a heterogeneous group of malignancies arising from genitourinary tract, and are responsible for almost 359 000 newly diagnosed cases and 58 420 related deaths in USA. Continuous advances in cancer genetics and genomics have contributed towards changing the management paradigms of these neoplasms. Neoangiogenesis, through the activation of the tyrosine-kinase receptors signalling pathways, represents the key mediator event in promoting tumour proliferation, differentiation, invasiveness and motility.

Smart Drug-Delivery Systems for Cancer Nanotherapy.

Background: Despite all the advances achieved in the field of tumor-biology research, in most cases conventional therapies including chemotherapy are still the leading choices. The main disadvantage of these treatments, in addition to the low solubility of many antitumor drugs, is their lack of specificity, which leads to the occurrence of severe side effects due to nonspecific drug uptake by healthy cells.

Objective: The purpose of this manuscript is to review and analyze the recent progress made in cancer nanotherapy.

Treatment of elderly patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The risk of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) increases with age, and given the constant gain in life expectancy of the general population, both localized RCC and metastatic RCC (mRCC) are more frequently observed in the elderly population. The elderly are a heterogeneous group of patients often characterized by the presence of comorbidities, different compliance to treatment and polypharmacy. Here we review the available data with the aim to analyze the safety and efficacy of new targeted therapies (TTs) in elderly mRCC patients.

Prognostic Value of Preoperative Serum Levels of Periostin (PN) in Early Breast Cancer (BCa).

PN is a secreted cell adhesion protein critical for carcinogenesis. Elevated serum levels of PN have been implicated as playing an important role in different types of cancer, and a few reports suggest a potential role as a prognostic marker. We evaluated the prognostic significance of preoperative serum PN concentration in patients with BCa receiving curative surgery.

Periostin: a novel prognostic and therapeutic target for genitourinary cancer?

Many of the cellular abnormalities present in solid tumors are structural in nature and involve the proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Periostin is a protein produced and secreted by the fibroblasts as a component of the ECM where it is involved in regulating intercellular adhesion. The expression of periostin has an important physiological role during embryogenesis and growth, namely at the level of bone, dental, and cardiac tissues.

Dihydrotestosterone and bicalutamide do not affect periostin expression in androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines.

Background/aim: To investigate periostin (POSTN) expression in the LNCaP cell line.

Materials And Methods: Our LNCaP strain did not constitutively express the POSTN gene. Through cell transfection with a cloning vector, we developed an LNCaP cell line that stably expressed POSTN.

Switching to anastrozole versus continued tamoxifen treatment of early breast cancer: long term results of the Italian Tamoxifen Anastrozole trial.

The Italian Tamoxifen Anastrozole (ITA) trial investigated the efficacy of switching to anastrozole for women who were already on adjuvant tamoxifen since 2-3years. Relapse-free survival (RFS) was the primary end-point; event-free survival (EFS), overall survival (OS) and safety were secondary end-points. Herein, we report an update on the long term results of this trial.

Prognostic value of stromal and epithelial periostin expression in human prostate cancer: correlation with clinical pathological features and the risk of biochemical relapse or death.

Background: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic value of POSTN expression following prostatectomy.

Methods: Periostin (POSTN) expression in prostate cancer (PCa) and in normal specimens was evaluated in 90 patients by an immuno-reactive score(IRS) based on the intensity of immunostaining and on the quantity of stained cells. The t-test was applied to compare IRS values in cancer specimens to values in normal specimens.