Search results for "Neoplasms"
showing 10 items of 7988 documents
Melanoma of unknown primary: New perspectives for an old story
2021
Melanoma of unknown primary site (MUP) comprises 3-4 % of all melanomas. It mostly presents in lymph nodes (LNs), followed by subcutaneous sites, and visceral organs; nevertheless, there is a trend of increase in the relative incidence of visceral counterpart in recent years. Spontaneous regression of the primary lesion is a well-established theory, based on the evidence that melanoma can undergo regression at the primary site. MUP and stage-matched melanoma of known primary site (MKP) share similar prognostic factors. The survival rate of patients with MUP has been compared to those with stage-matched MKP. Multiple studies conducted before the era of novel therapy with immune checkpoint or…
Identification of responders to immune checkpoint therapy: which biomarkers have the highest value?
2019
Evasion of immune recognition by the innate and acquired immune system is a major principle of tumour cells and belongs to the hallmarks of cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitor-based cancer therapies targeting the co-inhibitory receptors CTLA-4 or PD-1 have received enormous scientific and clinical attention during the last few years, because of promising clinical results observed in the treatment of different cancer entities including melanoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. However, the enthusiasm about the effects of the immune checkpoint inhibitors is muted as only a subfraction of patients shows a stable clinical response. To predefine the patient cohorts that may benefit from im…
A catch-22: Interleukin-22 and cancer.
2017
Barrier surfaces of multicellular organisms are in constant contact with the environment and infractions to the integrity of epithelial surfaces is likely a frequent event. Interestingly, components of the immune system, that can be activated by environmental compounds such as the microbiota or nutrients, are interspersed among epithelial cells or directly underlie the epithelium. It is now appreciated that immune cells continuously receive and integrate signals from the environment. Curiously, such continuous reception of stimulation does not normally trigger an inflammatory response but mediators produced by immune cells in response to such signals seem to rather promote barrier integrity…
A two-gene epigenetic signature for the prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer patients
2019
Background Pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) varies between 30 and 40% approximately. To provide further insight into the prediction of pCR, we evaluated the role of an epigenetic methylation-based signature. Methods Epigenetic assessment of DNA extracted from biopsy archived samples previous to NAC from TNBC patients was performed. Patients included were categorized according to previous response to NAC in responder (pCR or residual cancer burden, RCB = 0) or non-responder (non-pCR or RCB > 0) patients. A methyloma study was performed in a discovery cohort by the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450K arra…
5-Fluorouracil and recombinant alpha interferon-2a in the treatment of advanced colorectal carcinoma: a dose optimization study
1990
A dose optimization study was carried out with the aim of identifying the maximally tolerated dose of recombinant alpha interferon-2a (raIFN-2a) in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5FU). 5FU was given at the dose of 750 mg/m2 over a 4-hour infusion on day 1- - greater than 5 followed by 750 mg/m2 weekly i.v. bolus. Recombinant aIFN-2a was started at 3 x 10(6) IU subcutaneously three times/week. 12 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma were included in the study. 10 patients had previously received chemotherapy for advanced disease. Severe fatigue, most likely attributable to rIFN, was the dose-limiting toxicity. The dosage of raIFN-2a could not be further escalated above 12 x 10(6) IU…
Epigenomic landscape of human colorectal cancer unveils an aberrant core of pan-cancer enhancers orchestrated by YAP/TAZ
2021
Cancer is characterized by pervasive epigenetic alterations with enhancer dysfunction orchestrating the aberrant cancer transcriptional programs and transcriptional dependencies. Here, we epigenetically characterize human colorectal cancer (CRC) using de novo chromatin state discovery on a library of different patient-derived organoids. By exploring this resource, we unveil a tumor-specific deregulated enhancerome that is cancer cell-intrinsic and independent of interpatient heterogeneity. We show that the transcriptional coactivators YAP/TAZ act as key regulators of the conserved CRC gained enhancers. The same YAP/TAZ-bound enhancers display active chromatin profiles across diverse human t…
Can Immunogenic Chemotherapies Relieve Cancer Cell Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors?
2019
The unprecedented clinical activity of checkpoint blockade in several types of cancers has formally demonstrated that anti-tumor immune responses are crucial in cancer therapy. Durable responses seen in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) show that they can trigger the establishment of long-lasting immunologic memory. This beneficial outcome is however achieved for a limited number of patients. In addition, late relapses are emerging suggesting the development of acquired resistances that compromise the anticancer efficacy of ICI. How can this be prevented through combination therapies? We here review the functions of immune checkpoints, the successes of ICI in treating…
Two-Week Aflibercept or Erlotinib Administration Does Not Induce Changes in Intestinal Morphology in Male Sprague–Dawley Rats But Aflibercept Affects…
2019
Gastrointestinal toxicity is a frequently observed adverse event during cancer treatment with traditional chemotherapeutics. Currently, traditional chemotherapeutics are often combined with targeted biologic agents. These biologics, however, possess a distinct toxicity profile, and they may also exacerbate the adverse effects of traditional chemotherapeutics. In this study, we aimed to characterize the gastrointestinal and metabolic changes after a 2-week treatment period with aflibercept, an antiangiogenic VEGFR decoy, and with erlotinib, a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. Male rats were treated either with aflibercept or erlotinib for 2 weeks. During the 2-week treatment period, the animals in …
Exosomal microRNAs in liquid biopsies: future biomarkers for prostate cancer
2017
Abstract: Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer in males in the world. Plasma quantification of prostate-specific antigen substantially improved the early detection of prostate cancer, but still lacks the required specificity. Clinical management of prostate cancer needs advances in the development of new non-invasive biomarkers, ameliorating current diagnosis and prognosis and guiding therapeutic decisions. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. These miRNAs are expressed in the cells and are also present in cell-derived extracellular vesicles such as exosomes. Exosomes have been shown to act as…
PD-L1 Expression and Immune Cell Infiltration in Gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) and Non-GEP Neuroendocrine Neoplasms With High Proliferative Activity
2019
The potential of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN) to respond to checkpoint inhibitors is largely unknown and full of great expectations. Immunohistochemical (IHC) studies of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in the tumor microenvironment and its implications in predicting the response to checkpoint inhibition is a very active subject. Currently, the combined analysis of PD-L1 expression and tumor-associated immune cell (TAIC) infiltration is considered the best predictive marker of therapeutic response. Here we investigated the expression of PD-L1 on tumor cells (TC) and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (IC) by IHC in 68 NEN samples with a high proliferation rate (Ki-67 >20%…