Octreotide therapy in a patient with lung microcytoma

We report the case of a 51-year-old woman with limited Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC). Cytological diagnosis has been made by fibroscopy. Chemotherapy schedule was cisplatin 30 mg/mq and VP-16 100 mg/mq days 1,2,3 q21 as first line treatment. The serum levels of cromogranine A and NSE (Neuron-Specific Enolase) were higher than normal; for this reason we prescribed, together with chemotherapy, octreotide LAR 30 mg every 28 days. Associated toxicity was easily manageable. Subsequent thoracic and panencefalic prophylactic radiotherapy improved tumour response and quality of life. We continued octreotide LAR 30 mg every 28 days even after the end of chemotherapy, as a maintenance therapy, checking periodically serum levels of NSE and cromogranine A. No side effects were observed

Bisphosphonates as anticancer agents in early breast cancer: preclinical and clinical evidence.

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are approved as standard therapy in breast cancer for the treatment of bone metastases, since they were demonstrated to reduce the prevalence of skeletal-related events including fractures and hypercalcemia. In the adjuvant setting, BPs can be given to prevent and treat tumor therapy-induced bone loss in premenopausal and postmenopausal women and, owing to their beneficial effect on bone turnover, have also been evaluated for prevention of bone metastases occurrence. In this article we will review the mechanisms through which BPs have been demonstrated to prevent premetastatic niche formation and cell proliferation in bone lesions. Moreover, preclinical evidence of antitumoral effects of BPs will be presented and results from the most important clinical trials will be described critically. BPs may clearly play a clinically important role in early breast cancer in a postmenopausal adjuvant setting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Optimizing Single Agent Panitumumab Therapy in Pre-Treated Advanced Colorectal Cancer

PURPOSE: To improve the selection of advanced colorectal cancer patients to panitumumab by optimizing the assessment of RAS (KRAS-NRAS) mutations. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Using a centralized pyrosequencing RAS assay, we analyzed the tumors of 94 patients, wild-type for KRAS mutations (codons 12 to 13) by Sanger sequencing (SS), treated with panitumumab. RESULTS: By SS analysis, 94 (62%) of 152 patients were wild-type and their objective response rate to panitumumab was 17%. We first optimized the KRAS test, by performing an accurate tissue-dissection step followed by pyrosequencing, a more sensitive method, and found further mutations in 12 (12.8%) cases. Secondly, tumors were subjected to RAS extension analysis (KRAS, exons 3 to 4; NRAS exons 2 to 4) by pyrosequencing that allowed to identify several rare mutations: KRAS codon 61, 5.3%; codon 146, 5.3%; NRAS, 9.5%. Overall, RAS mutation rate was 32.9%. All patients with additional RAS mutations had progressive or stable disease, except 3 patients with mutations at codon 61 of KRAS or NRAS who experienced partial (2 cases) or complete response. By excluding from the analysis 11 cases with mutations at codons 61, no patient was responsive to treatment (P = .021). RAS wild-type versus RAS mutated cases had a significantly better time to progression (P = .044), that resulted improved (p = .004) by excluding codon 61 mutations. CONCLUSION: This study shows that by optimizing the RAS test it is possible to significantly improve the identification of patients who do not gain benefit of panitumumab. Prospective studies are warranted to determine the clinical significance of rare mutations

Capecitabine in elderly patients with metastatic breast cancer

Aims and background Capecitabine is the reference treatment for anthracycline-and/or taxane-pretreated metastatic breast cancer (MBC). This study examined its efficacy, tolerability and impact on the quality of life of elderly patients with MBC. Materials and methods Between January 2002 and December 2009, 75 consecutive elderly patients with MBC received first-line chemotherapy with capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks. Endpoints were efficacy, tolerability and clinical-benefit response measured every 3 cycles. Results Median age was 76 years (range 65–88); median ECOG performance status was 1 (range 0–2); 51 patients (68%) had received adjuvant chemotherapy and all patients had received hormonal therapy. Median exposure was 6 cycles. After 3 cycles, 11 patients (14.7%) had a partial response, one patient experienced a complete response, and 49 patients (65.3%) had stable disease, amounting to a disease control rate of 81.3%. Stable disease was maintained in 45 patients (60%) after 6 cycles, in 21 patients (28%) after 9 cycles, and in 13 patients (17.3%) after 12 cycles. A clinical-benefit response was experienced by 42 patients (56%), indicating a positive impact on quality of life. Treatment was well tolerated, the most common grade 3 events being diarrhea (12%) hand-foot syndrome (8%), and mucositis (8%). Adverse events were managed with dose adjustments and supportive therapy when required. Conclusions Our results indicate that capecitabine is active and well tolerated in elderly patients with MBC. This dosing regimen warrants further study in the first-line setting for patients with less aggressive MBC who are not candidates for combination therapy. </jats:sec

Palonosetron plus 3-day aprepitant and dexamethasone to prevent nausea and vomiting in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy

Background The combination of a neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, dexamethasone, and a 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist is currently the standard antiemetic treatment in patients receiving cisplatin-based high emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a combination of palonosetron, a unique second-generation 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist, aprepitant, the only approved neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, and dexamethasone as antiemetic prophylaxis in patients receiving HEC (cisplatin &gt;= 50 mg/mq). Methods Chemotherapy-naive adult patients, receiving cisplatin-based HEC, were treated with palonosetron 0.25 mg/i.v., dexamethasone 20 mg/i.v., and aprepitant 125 mg/p.o., 1-h before chemotherapy. Aprepitant 80 mg/p.o. and dexamethasone 4 mg p.o. were administered on days 2-3. Primary end point was complete response (CR; no vomiting and no use of rescue medication), during the overall study period (0-120 h). Secondary end points were complete control (CR and no more than mild nausea), emesis-free rate, and nausea-free rate during the acute (024 h), delayed (24-120 h), and overall (0-120 h) periods. Safety was also evaluated. Results A total of 222 patients were included in the study. Median age was 62 years, 76.6% were male and 23.4% female, and most common tumors were lung (66.7%) and head and neck (15.8%); 70.3% of patients achieved CR during the overall study period. Complete control, emesis-free rate, and nausea-free rate were 70.3%, 92.8%, and 59.9%, respectively, during the overall phase. The most commonly reported side effects were constipation (39% of patients) and headache (5%). Conclusions This study shows that palonosetron in combination with aprepitant and dexamethasone is effective to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients treated with cisplatin-based HEC

Significance of PD-L1 in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Importance Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have broadened the metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) therapeutic scenario. The association of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) with response and survival in patients treated with ICIs is still controversial. Objectives To evaluate the association of PD-L1 with response rate and overall survival among patients with mUC treated with ICIs. Data Sources PubMed, Embase, American Society of Clinical Oncology and European Society for Medical Oncology Meeting Libraries, and Web of Science were searched up to December 10, 2023. Study Selection Two authors independently screened the studies. Included studies were randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials enrolling patients with mUC receiving ICIs with available overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), or overall response rate (ORR) data, separated between patients with PD-L1-positive and -negative tumors. Data Extraction and Synthesis The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed. Two reviewers independently extracted data. Fixed- or random-effects models were used depending on the heterogeneity among the studies. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were odds ratios (ORs) for ORR and hazard ratios (HRs) for OS, comparing patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and patients with PD-L1-negative tumors. Secondary outcomes were the PFS HR between patients with PD-L1-positive and -negative tumors and OS HR between ICI arms and non-ICI arms of only randomized clinical trials. Results A total of 14 studies were selected, comprising 5271 patients treated with ICIs (2625 patients had PD-L1-positive tumors). The ORR was 13.8% to 78.6% in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and 5.1% to 63.2% in patients with PD-L1-negative tumors, with an association between PD-L1 status and ORR favoring patients with PD-L1-positive tumors (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.47-2.56; P &lt; .001). Median OS ranged from 8.4 to 24.1 months in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and from 6.0 to 19.1 months in patients with PD-L1-negative tumors. The pooled HR showed a significant reduction for patients with PD-L1-positive tumors compared with those with PD-L1-negative tumors in the risk of death (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.89; P = .003) and risk of progression (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44-0.69; P &lt; .001) when ICIs were administered. PD-L1 is not likely to be a predictive biomarker of ICI response. Conclusions and Relevance This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that PD-L1 expression is associated with improved ORR, OS, and PFS for patients with mUC who receive ICIs, but it is unlikely to be useful as a predictive biomarker. Developing predictive biomarkers is essential to select patients most likely to benefit from ICIs and avoid toxic effects and financial burden with these agents

Significance of PD-L1 in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Importance Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have broadened the metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) therapeutic scenario. The association of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) with response and survival in patients treated with ICIs is still controversial. Objectives To evaluate the association of PD-L1 with response rate and overall survival among patients with mUC treated with ICIs. Data Sources PubMed, Embase, American Society of Clinical Oncology and European Society for Medical Oncology Meeting Libraries, and Web of Science were searched up to December 10, 2023. Study Selection Two authors independently screened the studies. Included studies were randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials enrolling patients with mUC receiving ICIs with available overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), or overall response rate (ORR) data, separated between patients with PD-L1-positive and -negative tumors. Data Extraction and Synthesis The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed. Two reviewers independently extracted data. Fixed- or random-effects models were used depending on the heterogeneity among the studies. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were odds ratios (ORs) for ORR and hazard ratios (HRs) for OS, comparing patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and patients with PD-L1-negative tumors. Secondary outcomes were the PFS HR between patients with PD-L1-positive and -negative tumors and OS HR between ICI arms and non-ICI arms of only randomized clinical trials. Results A total of 14 studies were selected, comprising 5271 patients treated with ICIs (2625 patients had PD-L1-positive tumors). The ORR was 13.8% to 78.6% in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and 5.1% to 63.2% in patients with PD-L1-negative tumors, with an association between PD-L1 status and ORR favoring patients with PD-L1-positive tumors (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.47-2.56; P < .001). Median OS ranged from 8.4 to 24.1 months in patients with PD-L1-positive tumors and from 6.0 to 19.1 months in patients with PD-L1-negative tumors. The pooled HR showed a significant reduction for patients with PD-L1-positive tumors compared with those with PD-L1-negative tumors in the risk of death (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.89; P = .003) and risk of progression (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44-0.69; P < .001) when ICIs were administered. PD-L1 is not likely to be a predictive biomarker of ICI response. Conclusions and Relevance This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that PD-L1 expression is associated with improved ORR, OS, and PFS for patients with mUC who receive ICIs, but it is unlikely to be useful as a predictive biomarker. Developing predictive biomarkers is essential to select patients most likely to benefit from ICIs and avoid toxic effects and financial burden with these agents