Photoacoustic and thermoacoustic tomography of dog prostates

We developed a tri-modal system combining photoacoustic (PA) tomography, thermoacoustic (TA) tomography, and ultrasound (US) imaging. Acquired images of an excised dog prostate were compared to histology results. All three modalities can image distinct features. Features like the urethra were shown in both TA and US images, but TA gave a higher contrast-to-noise ratio. Fibrous tissue was more clearly imaged by TA, while the duct structure was better shown in PA images. These experimental results demonstrate the potential advantages of our tri-modal imaging system

Photoacoustic and thermoacoustic tomography of dog prostates

We developed a tri-modal system combining photoacoustic (PA) tomography, thermoacoustic (TA) tomography, and ultrasound (US) imaging. Acquired images of an excised dog prostate were compared to histology results. All three modalities can image distinct features. Features like the urethra were shown in both TA and US images, but TA gave a higher contrast-to-noise ratio. Fibrous tissue was more clearly imaged by TA, while the duct structure was better shown in PA images. These experimental results demonstrate the potential advantages of our tri-modal imaging system

Divergent viral presentation among human tumors and adjacent normal tissues

We applied a newly developed bioinformatics system called VirusScan to investigate the viral basis of 6,813 human tumors and 559 adjacent normal samples across 23 cancer types and identified 505 virus positive samples with distinctive, organ system- and cancer type-specific distributions. We found that herpes viruses (e.g., subtypes HHV4, HHV5, and HHV6) that are highly prevalent across cancers of the digestive tract showed significantly higher abundances in tumor versus adjacent normal samples, supporting their association with these cancers. We also found three HPV16-positive samples in brain lower grade glioma (LGG). Further, recurrent HBV integration at the KMT2B locus is present in three liver tumors, but absent in their matched adjacent normal samples, indicating that viral integration induced host driver genetic alterations are required on top of viral oncogene expression for initiation and progression of liver hepatocellular carcinoma. Notably, viral integrations were found in many genes, including novel recurrent HPV integrations at PTPN13 in cervical cancer. Finally, we observed a set of HHV4 and HBV variants strongly associated with ethnic groups, likely due to viral sequence evolution under environmental influences. These findings provide important new insights into viral roles of tumor initiation and progression and potential new therapeutic targets

A propensity analysis comparing definitive chemo-radiotherapy for muscle-invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder vs. urothelial carcinoma of the bladder using the National Cancer Database

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) is the second most common histology of primary bladder cancer, but still very limited information is known about its treatment outcomes. Most bladder cancer trials have excluded SqCC, and the current treatment paradigm for localized SqCC is extrapolated from results in urothelial carcinoma (UC). In particular, there is limited data on the efficacy of definitive chemo-radiotherapy (CRT). In this study, we compare overall survival outcomes between SqCC and UC patients treated with definitive CRT. Materials/methods: We queried the National Cancer Database (NCDB) for muscle-invasive (cT2-T4 N0 M0) bladder cancer patients diagnosed from 2004 to 2013 who underwent concurrent CRT. Propensity matching was performed to match patients with SqCC to those with UC. OS was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier survival method, and the log-rank test and Cox regression were used for analyses. Results: 3332 patients met inclusion criteria of which 79 (2.3%) had SqCC. 73.4% of SqCC patients had clinical T2 disease compared to 82.5% of UC patients. Unadjusted median OS for SqCC patients was 15.6 months (95% CI, 11.7–19.6) versus 29.1 months (95% CI, 27.5–30.7) for those with UC (P < 0.0001). On multivariable analysis, factors associated with worse OS included: SqCC histology [HR: 1.53 (95% CI, 1.19–1.97); P = 0.001], increasing age [HR: 1.02 (95% CI, 1.02–1.03); P < 0.0001], increasing clinical T-stage [HR: 1.21 (95% CI, 1.13–1.29); P < 0.0001], and Charlson-Deyo comorbidity index [HR: 1.26 (95% CI, 1.18–1.33); P < 0.0001]. Seventy-seven SqCC patients were included in the propensity-matched analysis (154 total patients) with a median OS for SqCC patients of 15.1 months (95% CI, 11.1–18.9) vs. 30.4 months (95% CI, 19.4–41.4) for patients with UC (P = 0.013). Conclusions: This is the largest study to-date assessing survival outcomes for SqCC of the bladder treated with CRT. In this study, SqCC had worse overall survival compared to UC patients. Histology had a greater impact on survival than increasing T-stage, suggesting that histology should be an important factor when determining a patient’s treatment strategy and that treatment intensification in this subgroup may be warranted. Keywords: Squamous cell bladder cancer, Chemo-radiation, National cancer databas