0000000000337793
AUTHOR
G. Bruixola
Prognostic Nutritional Index as an independent prognostic factor in locoregionally advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer.
Background: Locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LAHNSCC) is a heterogeneous disease in which better predictive and prognostic factors are needed. Apart from TNM stage, both systemic inflammation and poor nutritional status have a negative impact on survival. Methods: We retrospectively analysed two independent cohorts of a total of 145 patients with LAHNSCC treated with induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy at two different academic institutions. Full clinical data, including the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and derived neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, were analysed in a training cohort of 50 patients. Receiv…
In the literature: October 2020.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are widely used as treatment for an increasing number of solid tumours. Nevertheless, the lack of predictive biomarker represents a limitation across several cancer types. During the last years, the possibility to dynamically study tumour evolution through circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in plasma has opened novel possibility in evaluating disease status and therapeutic response, especially in localised disease to predict the possibility of relapse. However, the specific opportunities for application in the context of immunotherapy remain to be clarified.1 In an article recently published in Cancer Discovery by Zhang et al ,2 a comprehensive analysis of ctDNA dat…
Radiomics and radiogenomics in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Potential contribution to patient management and challenges
Abstract The application of imaging biomarkers in oncology is still in its infancy, but with the expansion of radiomics and radiogenomics a revolution is expected in this field. This may be of special interest in head and neck cancer, since it can promote precision medicine and personalization of treatment by overcoming several intrinsic obstacles in this pathology. Our goal is to provide the medical oncologist with the basis to approach these disciplines and appreciate their main uses in clinical research and clinical practice in the medium term. Aligned with this objective we analyzed the most relevant studies in the field, also highlighting novel opportunities and current challenges.
Targeted next-generation sequencing of circulating-tumor DNA for tracking minimal residual disease in localized colon cancer.
A high percentage of patients diagnosed with localized colon cancer (CC) will relapse after curative treatment. Although pathological staging currently guides our treatment decisions, there are no biomarkers determining minimal residual disease (MRD) and patients are at risk of being undertreated or even overtreated with chemotherapy in this setting. Circulating-tumor DNA (ctDNA) can to be a useful tool to better detect risk of relapse.One hundred and fifty patients diagnosed with localized CC were prospectively enrolled in our study. Tumor tissue from those patients was sequenced by a custom-targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel to characterize somatic mutations. A minimum varian…