Association of Twice-Daily Radiotherapy With Subsequent Brain Metastases in Adults With Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Importance: Although thoracic twice-daily radiotherapy (TDRT) is one of the standards of care for small cell lung cancer, its association with brain metastases remains unknown.

Objective: To investigate the association of TDRT vs once-daily radiotherapy (ODRT) with brain metastases after prophylactic cranial irradiation in patients with small cell lung cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this multicenter cohort study, data on 778 consecutive patients with small cell lung cancer who had undergone thoracic radiotherapy (609 received ODRT and 169 received TDRT), chemotherapy, and prophylactic cranial irradiation were retrieved from the databases of 8 hospitals in China between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2016.

Titin mutation associated with responsiveness to checkpoint blockades in solid tumors.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy induces potent antitumor immunity across multiple solid tumors, although few patients respond well to this therapy. An emerging biomarker for predicting responsiveness to ICB immunotherapy is tumor mutational burden (TMB). Although several surrogate biomarkers, including deficient mismatch repair, TP53/KRAS mutations, and comutations in DNA damage response pathways, have been shown to be effective for predicting the response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, each is positive for only a small cohort of candidates, and many potential responders to ICB are inevitably missed.

Platelet-membrane-biomimetic nanoparticles for targeted antitumor drug delivery.

Background: Nanoscale drug-delivery systems (DDSs) have great promise in tumor diagnosis and treatment. Platelet membrane (PLTM) biomimetic DDSs are expected to enhance retention in vivo and escape uptake by macrophages, as well as minimizing immunogenicity, attributing to the CD47 protein in PLTM sends "don't eat me" signals to macrophages. In addition, P-selectin is overexpressed on the PLTM, which would allow a PLTM-biomimetic DDS to specifically bind to the CD44 receptors upregulated on the surface of cancer cells.

Quantification of the Plasma Concentration of Apatinib by 2-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography.

Background: Apatinib is a new oral micromolecular tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which is mainly used as a third-line treatment for chemotherapy-refractory advanced metastatic gastric cancer patients. However, apatinib has shown dose titration and severe adverse reactions in clinical practice. Quantification of plasma concentrations of apatinib may be an effective method to balance the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions.

Peripheral memory and naïve T cells in non-small cell lung cancer patients with lung metastases undergoing stereotactic body radiotherapy: predictors of early tumor response.

Background: Further analysis of phase I trial of the KEYNOTE-001 has shown that previous radiotherapy improves the outcomes of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received pembrolizumab treatment, possibly explained by the radiation-induced specific anti-cancer immunity with a memory effect. In this study, we aimed to investigate the peripheral memory and naïve T cells as predictors of early response in lung metastases post-stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

Methods: Sixty-six lung metastases patients with NSCLC who received SBRT were enrolled in this study.

Malignant jejunal gastrointestinal stromal tumor with history of prostate cancer: A case report.

Rationale: The problem of the coexistence of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with other neoplasms is complex, and carcinomas of prostate is one of the common types of GIST-associated cancers. Doubling time of GIST is about 3.9 months for high-risk GIST, and the treatment paradigm for GIST has required the integration of surgery and molecular therapy.

Reproducibility and non-redundancy of radiomic features extracted from arterial phase CT scans in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: impact of tumor segmentation variability.

Background: The reproducibility and non-redundancy of radiomic features are challenges in accelerating the clinical translation of radiomics. In this study, we focused on the robustness and non-redundancy of radiomic features extracted from computed tomography (CT) scans in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with respect to different tumor segmentation methods.

Methods: Arterial enhanced CT images were retrospectively randomly obtained from 106 patients.

Prognostic value of delta inflammatory biomarker-based nomograms in patients with inoperable locally advanced NSCLC.

Objective: Inflammation plays critical roles in tumor growth and progression, and can be adversely affected by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, there have been few studies on the prognostic value of delta (Δ) inflammatory biomarkers before and after chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC).

Methods: In this study, pre/post-treatment and Δ inflammatory biomarkers of 370 patients who were diagnosed as having inoperable LA-NSCLC in Shandong Cancer Hospital between January 2005 and January 2016 were analyzed.

[Discussion on the indications of internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer in the era of precision medicine].

To determine the clinical benefits of internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy (IM-SLNB) acquired by breast cancer patients with clinically positive axillary lymph node (ALN), and further optimize the IM-SLNB indications. All primary breast cancer patients with clinically positive ALN from February 2014 to September 2017 were prospectively recruited in this study. IM-SLNB was performed under the guidance of the modified injection technique.

The clinical characteristic and prognostic factors of leptomeningeal metastasis in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer-a retrospective study from one single cancer institute.

Background: Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) is a detrimental complication of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the optimal therapeutic approach for LM patients is in shortage. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the clinical features and prognostic factors of NSCLC patients with LM.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of NSCLC patients with LM at the Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute between July 2014 and March 2018.

Application of computed tomography-based radiomics signature analysis in the prediction of the response of small cell lung cancer patients to first-line chemotherapy.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the utility of a computed tomography (CT)-based radiomics signature for the early prediction of the tumor response of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients to chemotherapy. A dataset including 92 patients from a clinical trial was retrospectively assembled. All of the patients received the standard first-line regimen of etoposide and cisplatin.

Strain histograms used for differential diagnosis of breast masses according to hardness percentage.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of percentage of hard component (PHC) versus strain ratio (SR) in focal breast lesion diagnosis.Ultrasonography and elastography images of 245 malignant and 255 benign breast lesions were obtained and analyzed according to the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System of the American College of Radiology. PHC and SR were measured for each lesion and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasound (CU) only, PHC with CU, and SR with CU.

Slight advantages of nimotuzumab versus cetuximab plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

This study aimed to compare the efficacy of nimotuzumab (Nimo) versus cetuximab (C225) plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (LA-ESCC). A total of 95 patients with LA-ESCC were retrospectively reviewed, including 65 in Nimo and 30 in C225. The results showed that the ORR in Nimo (61.

Dihydromyricetin alleviates acetaminophen-induced liver injury via the regulation of transformation, lipid homeostasis, cell death and regeneration.

Aims: We previously reported that Hovenia dulcis Thunb. extract, a traditional Chinese medicine rich in dihydromyricetin (DHM), exhibited a significant hepatoprotective effect against acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury. However, whether DHM plays a protective role in APAP hepatotoxicity and what mechanisms are involved remain unclear.

Increased CD8+CD28+ T cells independently predict better early response to stereotactic ablative radiotherapy in patients with lung metastases from non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) shows a remarkable local control of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) metastases, partially as a result of host immune status. However, the predictors of immune cells for tumor response after SABR are unknown. To that effect, we investigated the ability of pre-SABR immune cells in peripheral blood to predict early tumor response to SABR in patients with lung metastases from NSCLC.

Primary tumor location is an important predictor of survival in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: The prognostic value of tumor location in pulmonary adenocarcinoma (ADC) is controversial. We compared the prognosis and relevant data between central-type ADC (CT-ADC) and peripheral-type ADC (PT-ADC) in order to identify the reasons for the different outcomes between them and to improve the treatment strategy and prognosis of these two types.

Patients And Methods: Data of 256 patients with pathologically diagnosed ADC were retrospectively reviewed.

SUVmax and metabolic tumor volume: surrogate image biomarkers of KRAS mutation status in colorectal cancer.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to explore the association between KRAS mutation status and PET/CT metabolic parameters in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and sixty-four CRC patients were enrolled in this study and received PET/CT examination before operation, then KRAS mutation status was analyzed through pathologically confirmed CRC samples. The association between tumor clinical characteristics and PET/CT metabolic parameters, including maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), SUVmean, and metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and KRAS mutation status was analyzed using chi-squared tests, Mann-Whitney tests, and logistic regression analysis.

Delineating the pattern of treatment for elderly locally advanced NSCLC and predicting outcomes by a validated model: A SEER based analysis.

Introduction: Locally advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) represented a highly heterogeneous group, with more than half of the patients aged ≥65 years at the time of diagnosis. However, the optimal treatment for elderly LA-NSCLC patients was still not defined.

Methods: A total of 33530 elderly patients (≥65 years) diagnosed with LA-NSCLC from 2004 to 2014 were identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

Integrating Tumor and Nodal Imaging Characteristics at Baseline and Mid-Treatment Computed Tomography Scans to Predict Distant Metastasis in Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated With Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.

Purpose: Prognostic biomarkers of disease relapse are needed for risk-adaptive therapy of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). This work aims to identify an imaging signature to predict distant metastasis in OPC.

Methods And Materials: This single-institution retrospective study included 140 patients treated with definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy, for whom both pre- and midtreatment contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans were available.

SOX11 hypermethylation as a tumor biomarker in endometrial cancer.

We previously reported that SOX4 is overexpressed in endometrial cancer and that it partially contributes to hypermethylation of miR-129-2 and miR-203. The current study seeks to identify methylation and expression levels of the SOX gene family in endometrial carcinomas. Methylation levels of the 16 SOX gene family members were measured by combining bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA), MassARRAY, and pyrosequencing assays of cell lines and endometrial cancer samples.

Oxytocin involves in chronic stress-evoked melanoma metastasis via β-arrestin 2-mediated ERK signaling pathway.

Stress is associated with an increased risk of lung metastasis in melanoma. However, the underlying mechanism is elusive. Oxytocin (OXT), a neurohormone produced by the hypothalamus, plays a vital role in laboring induction and lactation.

Genetic variations associated with telomere length confer risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma.

Background: Aberrant telomere lengthening is a critical feature of malignant cells. Short leukocyte telomere length (LTL) confers elevated risk of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA). Multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified various single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with LTL in different ethnic populations.

A prospective, three-arm, randomized trial of EGCG for preventing radiation-induced esophagitis in lung cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: This trial investigated whether epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a radioprotector, could be effective in the prevention and treatment of acute radiation-induced esophagitis (ARIE).

Methods And Materials: This is a phase II study of EGCG combined with chemoradiation in unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer or limited stage small cell lung cancer. Patients were randomized into a prophylactic EGCG group (arm A), a therapeutic EGCG group after the occurrence of esophagitis (arm B) or conventional therapy group (arm C).

miR-363 acts as a tumor suppressor in osteosarcoma cells by inhibiting PDZD2.

PDZ domain containing 2 (PDZD2) is a multi-PDZ domain protein that promotes the proliferation of insulinoma cells, and is upregulated during prostate tumorigenesis. However, the function of PDZD2 in other cancers, including osteosarcoma (OS), remains unclear. Dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to tumor initiation, proliferation and metastasis, via the regulation of their target genes.

Association between NAT2 polymorphisms and acute leukemia risk: A meta-analysis.

Background: N-acetyl-transferase 2 (NAT2) polymorphisms have been demonstrated to be associated with acute leukemia (AL); however, the results remain controversial. The present meta-analysis was performed to provide more precise results.

Methods: Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases were used to identify eligible studies.