Anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody combined with chemoradiotherapy for induction chemotherapy resistant locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A prospective phase II study.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy and safety of nimotuzumab (NTZ) combined with concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in induction chemotherapy (IC) resistant locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LANPC).

Materials And Methods: A single-arm, open-label phase II clinical trial was conducted (NCT04508816). Eligible patients were 18-70 years old, pathologically confirmed NPC at stage III-IVA, stable disease or progressive disease after IC by imaging evaluation, and ECOG performance status with 0-1.

Lymphocyte recovery from radiation-induced lymphopenia in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: correlations with prognosis and lymphocyte-related organs.

Background: Limited studies explored the relationship between lymphocyte recovery after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCCRT) and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: ESCC patients with obtainable absolute lymphocyte counts (ALCs) at 6 months after dCCRT were screened from prospective trials. Patients were divided into groups according to the grade of ALC nadir during radiotherapy (G4 or G1-3) and lymphocyte recovery status, which was assessed by lymphocyte recovery index (LRI), calculated as the ratio of post- to pre-treatment lymphocyte counts.

Is radical radiotherapy with/without surgery an effective treatment in the lymphoepithelial carcinoma of the salivary gland？.

Background: There is limited information of radical radiotherapy (RT) on lymphoepithelial carcinoma of salivary gland (LECSG) regarding to the rarity of the disease. We conducted this retrospective study that evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of radical RT with/without surgery in LECSG.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients that were pathologically diagnosed of LECSG and had definite or suspicious residual disease.

Radiotherapy for Advanced Esophageal Cancer: from Palliation to Curation.

Esophageal cancer is a global health problem, which is 7th most common and 6th most deadly cancer. It has been the era of immuno-oncology for esophageal cancer management. Radiation therapy has been one of the key local therapeutic approaches for esophageal cancer treatment, while its role in advanced disease is challenging and debatable.

Interim position emission tomography-computed tomography during multimodality treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer: a scoping review.

Background: Among cancers, esophageal cancer (EC) has one of the highest incidences and mortality in Asia. As recognized in many national guidelines, functional imaging performed with position emission tomography is recommended for patients with locally advanced disease. This review evaluated evidence for the use of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) interim positron emission tomography (PETint) in bimodality (chemoradiation) and trimodality (chemoradiation followed by surgery) management of locally advanced esophageal cancer (LAEC), with a focus on its prognostic and predictive value.

Long-term outcomes in a retrospective cohort of patients with rectal cancer with complete response after total neoadjuvant therapy: a propensity-score weighted analysis.

Background: The watch-and-wait (W&W) strategy is a novel treatment option for patients with rectal cancer who have a strong desire for organ preservation. The study aimed to explore the long-term outcomes of the W&W strategy in a large cohort of rectal cancer patients who achieved a clinical complete response (cCR) after consolidation total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT), and to compare with patients who achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) after radical surgery.

Methods: The W&W group comprised patients who were assessed as having a cCR after consolidation TNT and adopted the W&W strategy.

Induction chemotherapy plus re-irradiation versus re-irradiation alone in locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A model-based analysis.

Objective: To investigate the role of additional induction chemotherapy (IC) prior to re-irradiation in locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (lrNPC).

Methods: A total of 480 patients from three cancer treatment centers who received re-irradiation between 2012 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival (OS) was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with log-rank method.

Selective Treatment Deintensification by Reducing Radiation Dose and Omitting Concurrent Chemotherapy Based on Response to Induction Chemotherapy in Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Single-Arm, Phase 2 Trial (IChoice-01).

Purpose: To demonstrate the feasibility of deintensification regimen in the light of the response to induction chemotherapy (IC) in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

Methods And Materials: Patients with p16+ OPSCC, T1-2/N1-3M0 (excluding T1N1M0 with single and ≤3 cm lymph node) or T3-4N0-3M0 were enrolled between January 2019 and July 2021. All patients received 2 cycles of IC with docetaxel 75 mg/m dL and cisplatin 75 mg/m dL every 3 weeks.

A simple method to import CAD mesh format models in FLUKA.

Background: Monte Carlo (MC) code FLUKA possesses widespread usage and accuracy in the simulation of particle beam radiotherapy. However, the conversion from computer-aided design (CAD) mesh format models to FLUKA readable geometries could not be implemented directly and conveniently. A simple method was required to be developed.

Nomograms containing body dose parameters for predicting survival in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: To assess the impact of body dose on survival outcomes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and to create novel nomograms incorporating body dose parameters for predicting survival.

Methods: 594 of non-metastasis NPC patients (training group, 396; validation group, 198) received intensity-modulated radiation therapy at our institution from January 2012 to December 2016. Patient characteristics, body dose parameters in dose-volume histogram (DVH) and hematology profiles were collected for predicting overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Favorable prognosis of breast cancer brain metastases patients with limited intracranial and extracranial metastatic lesions.

Background: Breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) are highly heterogenous with widely differing survival. The prognosis of the oligometastatic breast cancer (BC) patients with brain metastases (BM) has not been well studied. We aimed to investigate the prognosis of BCBM patients with limited intracranial and extracranial metastatic lesions.

Combined Aurora Kinase A and CHK1 Inhibition Enhances Radiosensitivity of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Through Induction of Apoptosis and Mitotic Catastrophe Associated With Excessive DNA Damage.

Purpose: There is an urgent need for biomarkers and new actionable targets to improve radiosensitivity of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors. We characterized the radiosensitizing effects and underlying mechanisms of combined Aurora kinase A (AURKA) and CHK1 inhibition in TNBC.

Methods And Materials: Different TNBC cell lines were treated with AURKA inhibitor (AURKAi, MLN8237) and CHK1 inhibitor (CHK1i, MK8776).

Molecular characterization of MET fusions from a large real-world Chinese population: A multicenter study.

Purpose: MET is a notable driver gene in the diversity of aberrations with clinical relevance, including exon 14 skipping, copy number gain, point mutations, and gene fusions. Compared with the former two, MET fusions are severely under-reported, leaving a series of unanswered questions. In this study, we addressed this gap by characterizing MET fusions in a large, real-world Chinese cancer population.

Less Irradiation to Lymphocyte-Related Organs Reduced the Risk of G4 Lymphopenia in Esophageal Cancer: Re-Analysis of Prospective Trials.

Background: This study aimed to explore the relationship between irradiation of lymphocyte-related organs at risk (LOARs) and lymphopenia during definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCCRT) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Materials And Methods: Cases of ESCC patients who received dCCRT from 2 prospective clinical trials were identified. To find its correlation with survival outcomes, grades of absolute lymphocyte counts (ALCs) nadir during radiotherapy were recorded following COX analysis.

Prognostic value of circulating Epstein-Barr virus DNA level post-induction chemotherapy for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A recursive partitioning risk stratification analysis.

Background: To evaluate the prognostic value of plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA level post-induction chemotherapy (IC) for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods: A total of 893 newly diagnosed NPC patients treated with IC were retrospectively reviewed. The recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was performed to construct a risk stratification model.

Single-Cell RNA-Seq Analysis Reveals Ferroptosis in the Tumor Microenvironment of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

In this study, we investigated the role of ferroptosis in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the leading cause of renal cancer-related death. We analyzed single-cell data from seven ccRCC cases to determine cell types most correlated with ferroptosis and performed pseudotime analysis on three myeloid subtypes. We identified 16 immune-related ferroptosis genes (IRFGs) by analyzing differentially expressed genes between cell subgroups and between high and low immune infiltration groups in the TCGA-KIRC dataset and the FerrDb V2 database.

The gut microbiota as a booster for radiotherapy: novel insights into radio-protection and radiation injury.

Approximately 60-80% of cancer patients treated with abdominopelvic radiotherapy suffer post-radiotherapy toxicities including radiation enteropathy and myelosuppression. Effective preventive and therapeutic strategies are lacking for such radiation injury. The gut microbiota holds high investigational value for deepening our understanding of the pathogenesis of radiation injury, especially radiation enteropathy which resembles inflammatory bowel disease pathophysiology and for facilitating personalized medicine by providing safer therapies tailored for cancer patients.

Caution against simultaneous integrated boost radiotherapy for upper thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: results from a single-arm phase II trial.

Purpose: To explore the feasibility and safety of simultaneous integrated boost technology (SIB) with elective nodal irradiation (ENI) to the cervical and upper mediastinal lymph node (LN) regions in upper thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Material And Methods: Patients with pathologically proven unresectable upper thoracic ESCC were assigned 50.4 Gy/28 fractions (F) to the clinical target volume (encompassing the ENI area of cervical and upper mediastinal LN regions) and a boost of 63 Gy/28 F to the gross tumor volume.

Facile fabrication of hydrophilic covalent organic framework composites for highly selective enrichment of N-glycopeptides.

The development of facilely synthetic materials acts an essential role in glycoproteome analysis, especially for the highly efficient enrichment of N-linked glycopeptides. In this work, a facile and timesaving route was introduced in which COF served as a carrier and poly (ethylenimine) (PEI) and carrageenan (Carr) were successively coated on the surface via electrostatic interaction. The resultant COF@PEI@Carr showed remarkable performance in glycopeptide enrichment with high sensitivity (2 fmol μL), high selectivity (1:800, molar ratio of human serum IgG to BSA digests), large loading capacity (300 mg g), satisfactory recovery (102.

Newly developed 3D in vitro models to study tumor-immune interaction.

Immunotherapy as a rapidly developing therapeutic approach has revolutionized cancer treatment and revitalized the field of tumor immunology research. 3D in vitro models are emerging as powerful tools considering their feature to maintain tumor cells in a near-native state and have been widely applied in oncology research. The novel 3D culture methods including the co-culture of organoids and immune cells, ALI culture, 3D-microfluidic culture and 3D-bioprinting offer new approaches for tumor immunology study and can be applied in many fields such as personalized treatment, immunotherapy optimizing and adoptive cell therapy.

Chemoradiotherapy with paclitaxel liposome plus cisplatin for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: A retrospective analysis.

Purpose: This single-center retrospective clinical study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of chemoradiotherapy with paclitaxel liposome plus cisplatin for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods: Patients with locally advanced ESCC treated with paclitaxel-liposome-based chemoradiotherapy between 2016 and 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis.

Radiotherapy Alone Versus Concurrent or Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients with Negative Epstein-Barr Virus DNA after Induction Chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and toxicity of induction chemotherapy (IC) plus radiotherapy (RT) and IC plus concurrent or adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CCRT/AC) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with negative Epstein-Barr virus DNA (EBV DNA) after IC. A total of 547 NPC patients with negative plasma EBV DNA post-IC were included. Patients were classified into the IC + RT group and the IC + CCRT/AC group.