FLASH Radiotherapy: The Next Technological Advance in Radiation Therapy?

FLASH radiotherapy involves the ultra-fast delivery of radiation treatment at dose rates several orders of magnitude greater than those currently in routine clinical practice. In order to eradicate tumours, all cancerous cells must be killed with normal tissue being spared from radiation damage as much as possible. Ultra-fast dose rates allow normal tissue tolerance levels to be exceeded, at least in animal models, with a greater probability of tumour control and little or no normal tissue damage.</div

FLASH Radiotherapy: A Clarification.

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From kilovoltage to genetically predicted personalised radiotherapy: a quest to reduce breast radiotherapy side effects

Article sections:  The development of megavoltage-based breast conservation techniques   Radiotherapy is necessary in most cases after conservative surgery   Further technological change   Genetic variation and response to radiotherapy   Body clock genes and the scheduling of radiotherapy  </ul

Differences in the molecular profile of endometrial cancers from British White and British South Asian women

OBJECTIVES: To identify differences in the mutational profile of endometrial tumours between British White (BW) and South Asian (BSA) women. METHODS: We analysed primary tumours from matched cohorts of British White (BW) and British South Asian (BSA) women resident in Leicestershire diagnosed with EC. Next Generation Sequencing was performed to investigate mutational differences in a panel of 10 genes previously identified as being commonly mutated in EC. The presence of somatic Mismatch Repair (MMR) gene deficiencies was determined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: In total, 57 tumours (27 BSA and 30 BW) were sequenced. There was no significant difference in the overall mutation frequency of the 10 genes analysed; however, numerous differences were observed between the groups. There was a positive association between PIK3CA and PTEN mutations in the BSA group, with 78% of PIK3CA-mutant tumours harbouring a PTEN mutation, whereas only 11% of PIK3CA wild-type (wt) tumours were PTEN mutant positive (p = 0.0012). In BW women, 90% of ARID1A mutant tumours had co-existent PI3K pathway mutations versus 50% of wild-type (wt) ARID1A patients (p = 0.0485). This trend was not significant in the BSA group (p = 0.66). The age at diagnosis was significantly higher in the BW group with a somatic MMR gene deficiency compared to those with no deficiency (72.8 years versus 59.6 years, p = 0.007), whereas this difference was not seen in the BSA group (64 years versus 60 years, p = 0.37). CONCLUSION: We have identified differences in the mutational profile of primary EC tumours from BW and BSA women. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to explore their potential implications for early detection, treatment response and prognosis.</div