0000000000134882
AUTHOR
Lucia Lombardi
Evolution of Therapy Decision-Making Process for Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Advanced non-small cell lung cancer remains a lethal disease with poor prognosis. In the last decades results of systemic chemotherapy have reached a disappointing plateau without significant differences between the most widely employed third-generation regimens. Recent scientific evidence has shed new light on the management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer, especially for the important role of histological definition in therapy-planning process. The results of new biologic agents are also reported as are the promising data on pharmacogenomic-guided treatment.
Modeling interactions between Human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter-1 and other factors involved in the response to gemcitabine treatment to predict clinical outcomes in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients.
Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely aggressive malignancy, characterized by largely unsatisfactory responses to the currently available therapeutic strategies. In this study we evaluated the expression of genes involved in gemcitabine uptake in a selected cohort of patients with PDAC, with well-defined clinical-pathological features. Methods mRNA levels of hENT1, CHOP, MRP1 and DCK were evaluated by means of qRT-PCR in matched pairs of tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples collected from PDAC patients treated with gemcitabine after surgical tumor resection. To detect possible interaction between gene expression levels and to identify subgroups of patients a…
New molecular targets in bone metastases.
Bone metastases have a major impact on morbidity and on mortality in cancer patients. Despite its clinical relevance, metastasis remains the most poorly elucidated aspect of carcinogenesis. The biological mechanisms leading to bone metastasis establishment have been referred as " vicious circle," a complex network between cancer cells and the bone microenvironment. This review is aimed to underline the new molecular targets in bone metastases management other than bisphosphonates. Different pathways or molecules such as RANK/RANKL/OPG, cathepsin K, endothelin-1, Wnt/DKK1, Src have recently emerged as potential targets and nowadays preclinical and clinical trials are underway. The results fr…
Needle Insertion Difficulty Algorithm (NIDA): A novel pilot study to predict Huber needle insertion difficulty in totally implanted devices.
Safeguarding of venous assets in cancer patients provides for positioning vascular devices. In totally implanted central venous access devices, hereinafter referred as TIVADs, it’s necessary introducing Huber needle, into subcutaneous port, to use it. This procedure is not easy for all implanted devices. The procedural difficulty is to be attributed both to the type of the implanted port and to the skill of the clinician. The degree of patient satisfaction is variable and related with the clinician performing the maneuver. It follows a professional dissatisfaction of the clinician and a hesitation of the patient. Moreover, the incorrect positioning of the Huber needle into the port, could …