Chemoradiation of pancreatic carcinoma

Pancreatic carcinoma is a malignancy with a poor prognosis and the 4th. most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Patients are usually diagnosed at advanced stage of the disease. Surgical resection remains the only potentially curative therapy, as only 20% of the patients present with disease are amenable to resection. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and palliative therapies are therapeutic options. Multidisciplinary approach is needed for every stage of the disease. Researches showed an improved survival benefit of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT) combination for locally advanced unresectable pancreatic carcinoma compared to RT or CT alone. In an attempt to improve survival, the efficacy of chemoradiation (CRT) after surgery compared to observation has been tested in several trials. Neoadjuvant CRT achieves a higher probability of margin negative R0 resection. Currently, both 5-FU and gemcitabine have been used concurrently with RT, and also targeted agents (erlotinib, cetuximab, panitumumab, bevacizumab) have been also evaluated

High-dose vitamin C and cancer

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid, ascorbate) is a basic compound that is of great importance with its role in various enzymatic reactions including the synthesis of collagen, as well as with its redox functions. Vitamin C has become the center of interest in cancer studies, in consequence of the facts that connective tissue changes and vitamin C deficiency were first alleged to be associated with cancer in the 1950s; and that high doses of vitamin C was asserted to be cytotoxic for cancer cells, later on. The results of the first study carried out in the 1970s were promising; but afterwards, the studies were ascertained to be faulty. Despite the positive results achieved from some laboratory and animal experiments, randomized clinical trials did not verify those findings, and no clear benefit of vitamin C for cancer treatment could be demonstrated. As for studies, where its use in combination with other cancer treatment regimens was assessed, conflicting results were obtained. Although intake of high doses of vitamin C is alleged to be harmless, based on that it is in the group of water soluble vitamins and is not stored in the body, there are many side effects and drug interactions reported in the literature. For now, it is better to abstain from this treatment, until the benefit of the treatment (if any) is clearly demonstrated, considering the potential side effects and interactions

Efficacy and safety of folfiri plus aflibercept in second-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: Real-life data from Turkish oncology group

Aims: The addition of aflibercept to the fluorouracil and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) regimen significantly improved clinical outcomes in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) previously treated with oxaliplatin. We aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of second-line FOLFIRI and aflibercept combination in patients with metastatic CRC in real-life experience. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and thirty-three patients who treated with FOLFIRI and aflibercept in the second-line were included in the study. The clinical and pathological features of the patients were recorded retrospectively. Survival (overall and progression-free survival [PFS]), response rates, and safety data were analyzed. Results: The median age was 61. Majority of patients (87.5%) received first-line bevacizumab and 10.1% of patients received anti-epidermal growth factor receptor agents. About 80% of patients had KRAS, 18.6% of patients had NRAS, and 6.4% of patients had BRAF mutations. The median OS was 11.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.6-12.6) and the median PFS was 6 months (95% CI, 5.5-6.5). About 4.6% of patients had complete response and 30.6% of patients had partial response as best tumor response. Grade 1-2 toxicities were seen in 33.4% of patients, while grade 3-4 toxicities were recorded in 27% of patients. Eight patients (2%) died due to treatment toxicity. Conclusions: Overall and PFS were similar in routine clinical practice compared to phase III pivotal VELOUR trial. However, response rates were found to be higher. It was observed that there were fewer adverse events compared to the VELOUR trial

Efficacy of subsequent treatments in patients with hormone-positive advanced breast cancer who had disease progression under CDK 4/6 inhibitor therapy.

Background There is no standard treatment recommended at category 1 level in international guidelines for subsequent therapy after cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6) based therapy. We aimed to evaluate which subsequent treatment oncologists prefer in patients with disease progression under CDKi. In addition, we aimed to show the effectiveness of systemic treatments after CDKi and whether there is a survival difference between hormonal treatments (monotherapy vs. mTOR-based). Methods A total of 609 patients from 53 centers were included in the study. Progression-free-survivals (PFS) of subsequent treatments (chemotherapy (CT, n:434) or endocrine therapy (ET, n:175)) after CDKi were calculated. Patients were evaluated in three groups as those who received CDKi in first-line (group A, n:202), second-line (group B, n: 153) and >= 3rd-line (group C, n: 254). PFS was compared according to the use of ET and CT. In addition, ET was compared as monotherapy versus everolimus-based combination therapy. Results The median duration of CDKi in the ET arms of Group A, B, and C was 17.0, 11.0, and 8.5 months in respectively; it was 9.0, 7.0, and 5.0 months in the CT arm. Median PFS after CDKi was 9.5 (5.0-14.0) months in the ET arm of group A, and 5.3 (3.9-6.8) months in the CT arm (p = 0.073). It was 6.7 (5.8-7.7) months in the ET arm of group B, and 5.7 (4.6-6.7) months in the CT arm (p = 0.311). It was 5.3 (2.5-8.0) months in the ET arm of group C and 4.0 (3.5-4.6) months in the CT arm (p = 0.434). Patients who received ET after CDKi were compared as those who received everolimus-based combination therapy versus those who received monotherapy ET: the median PFS in group A, B, and C was 11.0 vs. 5.9 (p = 0.047), 6.7 vs. 5.0 (p = 0.164), 6.7 vs. 3.9 (p = 0.763) months. Conclusion Physicians preferred CT rather than ET in patients with early progression under CDKi. It has been shown that subsequent ET after CDKi can be as effective as CT. It was also observed that better PFS could be achieved with the subsequent everolimus-based treatments after first-line CDKi compared to monotherapy ET