Predictive value of baseline [18f]fdg pet/ct for response to systemic therapy in patients with advanced melanoma

Background/Aim: To evaluate the association between baseline [18F]FDG-PET/CT tumor burden parameters and disease progression rate after first-line target therapy or immunotherapy in advanced melanoma patients. Materials and Methods: Forty four melanoma patients, who underwent [18F]FDG-PET/CT before first-line target therapy (28/44) or immunotherapy (16/44), were retrospectively analyzed. Whole-body and per-district metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) were calculated. Therapy response was assessed according to RECIST 1.1 on CT scan at 3 (early) and 12 (late) months. PET parameters were compared using the Mann–Whitney test. Optimal cut-offs for predicting progression were defined using the ROC curve. PFS and OS were studied using Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results: Median (IQR) MTVwb and TLGwb were 13.1 mL and 72.4, respectively. Non-responder patients were 38/44, 26/28 and 12/16 at early evaluation, and 33/44, 21/28 and 12/16 at late evaluation in the whole-cohort, target, and immunotherapy subgroup, respectively. At late evaluation, MTVbone and TLGbone were higher in non-responders compared to responder patients (all p < 0.037) in the whole-cohort and target subgroup and MTVwb and TLGwb (all p < 0.022) in target subgroup. No significant differences were found for the immunotherapy subgroup. No metabolic parameters were able to predict PFS. Controversially, MTVlfn, TLGlfn, MTVsoft + lfn, TLGsoft + lfn, MTVwb and TLGwb were significantly associated (all p < 0.05) with OS in both the whole-cohort and target therapy subgroup. Conclusions: Higher values of whole-body and bone metabolic parameters were correlated with poorer outcome, while higher values of whole-body, lymph node and soft tissue metabolic parameters were correlated with OS

68Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT-Based Radiomic Analysis and PRRT Outcome: A Preliminary Evaluation Based on an Exploratory Radiomic Analysis on Two Patients

Aim: This work aims to evaluate whether the radiomic features extracted by 68Ga-DOTATOC-PET/CT of two patients are associated with the response to peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) in patients affected by neuroendocrine tumor (NET). Methods: This is a pilot report in two NET patients who experienced a discordant response to PRRT (responder vs. non-responder) according to RECIST1.1. The patients presented with liver metastasis from the rectum and pancreas G3-NET, respectively. Whole-body total-lesion somatostatin receptor-expression (TLSREwb-50) and somatostatin receptor-expressing tumor volume (SRETV wb-50) were obtained in pre- and post-PRRT PET/CT. Radiomic analysis was performed, extracting 38 radiomic features (RFs) from the patients' lesions. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare RFs in the responder patient vs. the non-responder patient. Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the correlation and independence of the different RFs. Results: TLSREwb-50 and SRETVwb-50 modifications correlate with RECIST1.1 response. A total of 28 RFs extracted on pre-therapy PET/CT showed significant differences between the two patients in the Mann–Whitney test (p < 0.05). A total of seven second-order features, with poor correlation with SUVmax and PET volume, were identified by the Pearson correlation matrix. Finally, the first two PCA principal components explain 83.8% of total variance. Conclusion: TLSREwb-50 and SRETVwb-50 are parameters that might be used to predict and to assess the PET response to PRRT. RFs might have a role in defining inter-patient heterogeneity and in the prediction of therapy response. It is important to implement future studies with larger and more homogeneous patient populations to confirm the efficacy of these biomarkers

Taxes and the location of targets

We use rm-level data to investigate the impact of taxes on the international loca- tion of targets in M&A, allowing for domestic acquisitions and heterogeneous responses by companies. The statutory tax rate in the target country is found to have a negative impact on the probability of an acquisition in that country. In addition, the estimated size of the e ect is found to depend on whether (i) acquirer is a domestic or a multina- tional enterprise; (ii) the acquisition is domestic or cross-border; and (iii) the acquirer's country has a worldwide or territorial tax system

Taxes and the Location of Targets ∗

This paper uses firm-level data to investigate the impact of taxes on the international location of targets in M&amp;A. In principle, a higher tax rate in the target’s country could make an acquisition there more likely, less likely, or have no effect at all. We combine financial and ownership data for companies in ORBIS in 2005 with domestic and cross-border acquisitions in ZEPHYR between 2006 and 2008. We estimate a random parameters form of mixed logit model. We find that the statutory tax rate in the target country has a negative impact on the probability of an acquisition in that country, with an average elasticity of around 1. The size of the effect differs (i) between acquirers that were multinational or domestic in 2005; (ii) between domestic and cross-border acquisitions; and (iii) depending on whether the acquirer’s country has a worldwide or territorial tax system. This paper forms part of the output of the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. It was initially prepared for the European Tax Policy Forum (ETPF) conference “Tax policy in an uncertain world ” under the title “How do taxes affect cross-border acquisitions? ” Financial support from the Hundred Group, the ETPF and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (grant number RES-060-25-0033) is gratefull