BMC Cancer

BackgroundPathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) is associated with improved survival and organ preservation. Available blood-based inflammatory indices may help to predict pCR and guide individualized treatment. MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase, and Cochrane Library to identify studies including adult patients with pathologically confirmed LARC treated with n...

BackgroundThe FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module is a condition-specific patient-reported outcome measure for facial skin cancer. While its psychometric properties have been established, normative reference values that enable score interpretation in clinical practice and research are lacking. ObjectiveTo establish normative reference values for the FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module using preoperative patient data and to validate these values by comparison with a demographically matched cohort of healthy partner...

BackgroundCapecitabine monotherapy is frequently employed as second/third-line treatment for metastatic gastrointestinal malignancies. Standard dosing often produces severe toxicities incompatible with palliative care principles. This study compared continuous low-dose (CLD) versus standard-dose (StD) capecitabine in the palliative setting. MethodsAfter at least one prior line of chemotherapy, 33 and 45 patients received StD (1.0-1.25 g/m2 bid on days 1-14 of a 21-day cycle) and CLD (500 mg bid...

ObjectivesHead and neck cancer (HNC) has a high recurrence rate. Safety and effectiveness of PepCan in reducing recurrence for HNC patients were assessed. Methods and analysisPepCan consists of four human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16) E6 peptides and a Candida skin testing reagent (Candin(R), Nielsen Biosciences) as a vaccine adjuvant. Since Candida was known to have a general immune stimulating effects, patients were recruited regardless of their HPV status. Men and women with HNC who had no evid...

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) can be time-consuming to treat with Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) due to the need for intraoperative frozen section (FS) preparation. Two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPFM) can generate H&E-equivalent images from fresh tissue specimens in a fraction of this time. To determine the accuracy of TPFM for the evaluation of squamous cell carcinoma in MMS margins compared to conventional FS Mohs slide preparation. TPFM was used to image 144 first stage MMS m...

Backgroundfollowing a first cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), one-third of patients develop new primaries, escalating their risk of metastasis and poor outcomes. However, current follow-up strategies are not risk-stratified, representing a critical gap in patient management. Objectiveto develop and validate a prognostic model to quantify individualized absolute risk of a first metachronous CSCC after an index tumor, accurately accounting for the high competing risk of mortality in this ...

Selection of systemic therapy for breast cancer remains largely empirical, particularly for chemotherapy, due to the lack of robust biomarkers that predict treatment response at the individual patient level. We developed Oncology CoPilot, a real-world, transcriptomics-guided machine learning (ML) decision-support model designed to integrate heterogeneous tumor gene expression data and treatment response annotations to support treatment response stratification across therapeutic classes. Oncology...

BackgroundThe FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module is a validated patient-reported outcome measure for facial skin cancer surgery. However, the minimally important difference (MID)-- the smallest change in score perceived as meaningful by patients--has not been established. Without the MID, individual score changes cannot be interpreted clinically. This study aimed to determine the MID for all four FACE-Q Skin Cancer scales. MethodsProspective cohort study at a tertiary center (2017-2018). Patients comple...

BackgroundTamoxifen is a cornerstone of endocrine treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, reducing recurrence and breast cancer-specific mortality. However, its use is associated with a small, yet clinically relevant, increase in uterine cancer. As diagnosis of this cancer remains symptom-triggered, it is essential for patients to be aware of this risk and report symptoms promptly for optimal outcomes. We therefore assessed risk awareness among breast cancer survivors while explor...

Purpose: Tumor genomic testing (TGT) is standard-of-care for most patients with advanced/metastatic cancer. Despite established guidelines, patient education prior to TGT is frequently omitted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact and durability of a concise 3-4 minute video for patient education prior to TGT in community versus academic sites and across cancer types. Patients and Methods: Patients undergoing standard-of-care TGT were enrolled at a tertiary academic institution ...

PurposeThis study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of an intraoral light-emitting diode (LED)-based photobiomodulation (PBM) device to reduce the incidence and severity of oral mucositis (OM) from intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). MethodsThis randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial enrolled patients with HNC undergoing high-dose IMRT over 6-8 weeks, with or without concurrent chemotherapy. Participants received daily 10-minute PBM or sham...

BackgroundA retrospective study in Nature recently reported improved overall survival (OS) when COVID-19 mRNA vaccination was administered around initiation of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. Whether this association depends on vaccination timing relative to ICI treatment remains unclear. MethodsWe conducted a single-centre retrospective cohort study of patients receiving palliative-intent ICI therapy at a UK tertiary cancer centre (October 2014-December 2025). Two vaccination exposu...

ImportanceHereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC) is predominantly due to germline CDH1 variants and confers a high lifetime risk of diffuse gastric cancer (DGC). Prophylactic total gastrectomy (PTG) is thought to prevent DGC but has potential long-term functional, nutritional and quality-of-life (QOL) sequelae. ObjectiveWe report the clinical, pathological and long-term weight and QOL outcomes from a prospective cohort of patients with HDGC who underwent PTG. Design and SettingThis is a sing...

BackgroundQuality-of-life (QoL) assessment is essential in breast cancer care, yet limited evidence describes how interrelated QoL domains change during pharmacotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate correlations among functional and symptom scales using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR23, highlighting their ability to reveal multidimensional QoL patterns. MethodsA prospective observational study was conducted in two second-referral hospitals in Indonesia, enrolling 106 female breast cancer patients...

BackgroundLeptomeningeal disease (LMD) is a serious complication of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with poor survival. This single-institution retrospective study compares overall survival (OS) among MBC patients with LMD based on CSF parameters (glucose, protein, and WBC count) MethodologyMBC patients who were diagnosed with LMD between 2010-2023 at Wilmot Cancer Institute were screened for eligibility. Only those with available data on CSF glucose, protein, and WBC count were included. OS was...

Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are promising biomarkers for predicting therapeutic outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), with higher sTIL levels correlating with improved chemotherapy response and survival outcomes. Currently, sTILs are manually evaluated by pathologists, which is prone to inter-reader variability. In this study, we have developed an AI-driven TIL segmentation pipeline to process entire diagnostic hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained whole slide images for r...

IntroductionRegional disparities in the incidence of colorectal cancer remain a concern within the UK, particularly in North West England, with 37% higher incidences than the national average. Given the growing burden of treatment-related side effects such as cognitive impairment, this study aims to investigate whether prehabilitation can improve brain health and cognitive function in patients with colorectal cancer receiving adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MethodsThis randomised control...

BackgroundResearch infra-structure is essential for conducting phase III cancer clinical trials as its lack precludes trial availability and its maturity may influence the portfolio of available options. Several studies have highlighted global disparities, but none has ever mapped the worldwide network of research facilities conducting such trials. MethodsWe extracted all research sites within recruiting phase III cancer interventional trials from the ClinicalTrials.gov database on July 23, 202...

BackgroundAdjuvant abemaciclib+endocrine therapy (ET) improves long-term outcomes in high-risk, hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative early breast cancer (eBC). However, treatment is frequently complicated by diarrhea, affecting adherence and quality of life (QoL). Increasing evidence suggests that abemaciclib-induced gastrointestinal toxicity may involve gut microbiota alterations. We conducted a prospective case-control pilot study evaluating the efficacy of MBR-01, a standardized preb...

IntroductionThe precise determination of diagnostic cut-off points is essential for the development of multimarker panels in oncology. In previous work on pulmonary nodules, it was observed that the standard two-parameter logistic fit could be insufficient for biomarkers with asymmetric distributions. Furthermore, the calculation of empirical cut-off points based on graphical visualization presented limitations in precision and reproducibility. ObjectiveThis study presents a methodological adva...