Frontiers in Oncology

SPOP gene has a critical role in prostate cancer development and found high mutated in the prostate tumor through various populations. MATH domain represents an important site for SPOP-DNA linkage and other sensitive gene-gene interactions. To investigate the genetic alterations of the MATH domain of SPOP gene in prostate cancer biopsies and correlation with clinical and pathological parameters; DNA samples from 50 prostate cancer tissues were genotyped and confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The fr...

BackgroundSurgery is a common treatment for early-stage HPV-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HPV+HNC). Selection of patients who require adjuvant treatment is based on clinicopathologic risk factors, which have poor individualized prognostic capacity. Circulating tumor HPV DNA (ctHPVDNA) is a highly sensitive and specific biomarker for HPV+HNC at diagnosis, but current clinically available assays lack the necessary sensitivity for accurate minimal residual disease (MRD) detectio...

ObjectiveDual checkpoint inhibitor therapy with nivolumab and ipilimumab has been FDA-approved for a number of cancer sites. However, their role in the treatment of ACC and other salivary gland carcinomas is not well established. Methods and analysisWe performed a Simons two-stage prospective single-institution phase II clinical trial of nivolumab with ipilimumab. Two cohorts were analyzed: patients with metastatic/recurrent ACC and patients with other salivary gland cancers. The primary endpoi...

Molecular characterization of disease is essential for precision medicine due to novel predictive biomarkers. Multiple next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms are available, but their expense and clinical utility vary. Even if a targetable mutation is detected, corresponding drugs may not be available or affordable. No prior studies in Pakistan have focused on integrating NGS results into patient care to assist with therapeutic decision-making and survival outcomes. This retrospective study ...

Molecular characterization of disease is essential for precision medicine due to novel predictive biomarkers. Multiple next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms are available, but their expense and clinical utility vary. Even if a targetable mutation is detected, corresponding drugs may not be available or affordable. No prior studies in Pakistan have focused on integrating NGS results into patient care to assist with therapeutic decision-making and survival outcomes. This retrospective study ...

Purpose/Objective(s)To determine diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) MRI parameters associated with tumor response and oncologic outcomes in head and neck (HNC) patients treated with definitive radiation therapy (RT). Materials/MethodsEighty-six HNC patients enrolled in an active prospective imaging study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center were included in the analysis. Patients had MRIs pre-, mid-, and post-RT completion. Inclusion criteria included adults with histologic eviden...

Prostate cancer is one of the most common and a serious malignancy of males and it is well reported that estrogen plays a pivotal role in prostate carcinogenesis. Catechol-O - methyltransferase (COMT) catalyzes the inactivation of estrogens. Several studies have investigated the association of COMT gene Val158Metpolymorphism with prostate cancer, but results were inconsistent and inconclusive. Hence, to assess this association, we performed a meta-analysis of all published case-control studies. ...

PurposeThere is currently no consensus on the role of proton therapy in head and neck cancers. We conducted a retrospective dosimetric comparison of delivered photon-based intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans with simulated intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plans. Patients and MethodsIn this single-institution retrospective review, we included patients with primary tumors from all head and neck sites treated with unilateral IMRT, who experienced worsened dysphagia and xero...

PURPOSEThe VISION study1 found that Lutetium-177 (177Lu)-PSMA-617 ("Lu-177") improved overall survival in metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). We assessed whether artificial intelligence enhanced PSMA imaging in mCRPC patients starting Lu-177 could identify those with better treatment outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODSWe conducted a single site, tertiary center, retrospective cohort study in 51 consecutive mCRPC patients treated 2022-2024 with Lu-177. These patients had received m...

Background and purposeThe optimal dose and fractionation scheme of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear due to different tolerated liver volumes and degrees of cirrhosis. We compared the effectiveness of stereotactic body radiation therapy dosing regimens for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods and materialsThis single-center retrospective study included 604 patients treated during 2011-2017. Biologically effective dose (BED10) and eq...

BackgroundGastric cancer (GC) remains a leading cause of global cancer mortality, with a high prevalence of distant metastasis at diagnosis in Vietnam. Systemic inflammatory markers are emerging as potential tools for risk assessment, yet their independent predictive value in the Vietnamese population requires further clarification. ObjectiveTo evaluate the predictive value of the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) and Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) as cost-effective biomarkers for distan...

Purpose/Objective(s)Pulsed reduced dose rate (PRDR) radiation (RT) is a re-irradiation (Re-RT) technique that potentially overcomes dose/volume constraints in the setting of previous radiation therapy. While the use of this Re-RT technique has been reported for other disease sites, there is minimal data for its use for recurrent or secondary primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). In this study, we report preliminary data from our institution of a consecutive cohort of pati...

IntroductionProstate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among men worldwide. Advances in radiotherapy, particularly Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT), have enabled ultra-hypofractionated treatment schedules that enhance tumor control while reducing treatment time. This study focuses on evaluating the dosimetric accuracy and plan quality of prostate SBRT using RapidArc technology on a Varian Millennium Multileaf Collimator (MLC) system. Materials and MethodsA total of 24 pa...

BackgroundAt present, there is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. For COVID-19 patients, cancer is a coexisting disease that should not be Here, we conducted a multicenter retrospective study to show the clinical information and outcomes of cancer patients infected with COVID-19. MeasurementsMedical records of COVID-19 patients with cancer admitted to hospitals from Jan 5, 2020 to Feb 18, 2020 were collected. ResultsOf the 67 patients (median age: 66 years), th...

BackgroundDespite advances in cancer care and detection, more than 65% of patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (HNSCC) will develop recurrent and/or metastatic disease. The prognosis for these patients is poor with a 5 year overall survival of 39%. Recent treatment advances in immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab and nivolumab, have resulted in clinical benefit in a subset of patients. There is a critical clinical need to identify patients w...

BackgroundMetastatic prostate cancers frequently harbor pathogenic aberrations in DNA damage repair (DDR) genes, that confer sensitivity to PARP inhibitors (PARPi). Therefore, accurate identification of all eligible patients is needed. The development of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) testing alternative is promising as genomic testing of archived tissue leads to up to 30-40% failure rate in prostate cancer. MethodsThis was a bi-institutional retrospective cohort study of patients with metastati...

Burtness et al. recently published the landmark Keynote-48 study, demonstrating a survival benefit for pembrolizumab monotherapy and pembrolizumab/chemotherapy, compared with cetuximab/chemotherapy, in patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). These data are impactful and practice-changing, and have rapidly been adopted in practice, with increasing numbers of HNSCC patients receiving either pembrolizumab monotherapy, or pembrolizumab / chemotherapy, in the...

Background and purposeTo characterize patterns and outcomes of brain MR image changes after proton therapy (PT) for skull base head and neck cancer (HNC). Material and methods127 patients treated with PT for HNC who had received at least 40 Gy(RBE) to the brain and had [≥] 1 follow-up MRI > 6 months after PT were analyzed. MRIs were reviewed for radiation- associated image changes (RAIC). MRIs were rigidly registered to planning CTs, and RAIC were contoured on T1 (post-contrast) and T2 weigh...

Prostate cancer (PCa) continues to trend among top 3 cancers that kill men over 20 years in the United Kingdom and worldwide despite extensive research and resources directed towards its treatment and prevention. In the application of a hallmark of survival mechanisms by the cancer, our study used mRNA seq data to identify genes that are increasingly mutated with progressing PCa from a cohort of 491 PCa patients. We found that ENOX1, CCDC122 and LACC1 deep deletion was positively associated with...

BackgroundImage guided tissue biopsies are critically important in diagnosis and management of cancer patients. High yield samples are also vital for biomarker and resistance mechanism discovery through molecular/genomic analyses. Patients and methodsAll consecutive patients who underwent plugged image-guided biopsy at Royal Marsden from June 2013 until September 2016 were included in the analysis. In second step, a second cohort of patients prospectively treated within two clinical trials (PRO...