Alessandra Anna Prete

Monitoring PD-L1 positive circulating tumor cells in non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with the PD-1 inhibitor Nivolumab

Controversial results on the predictive value of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) status in lung tumor tissue for response to immune checkpoint inhibitors do not allow for any conclusive consideration. Liquid biopsy might allow real-time sampling of patients for PD-L1 through the course of the disease. Twenty-four stage IV NSCLC patients included in the Expanded Access Program with Nivolumab were enrolled. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were analyzed by CellSearch with anti-human B7-H1/PD-L1 PE-conjugated antibody. PD-L1 expressing CTCs were assessed at baseline, at 3 and 6 months after starting therapy, and correlated with outcome. At baseline and at 3 months of treatment, the presence of CTCs and the expression of PD-L1 on their surface were found associated to poor patients outcome. Nevertheless, the high frequency of PD-L1 expressing CTCs hampered to discriminate the role of PD-L1 in defining prognosis. Conversely although CTCs were found in all patients 6 months after treatment, at this time patients could be dichotomized into two groups based PD-L1 expression on CTCs. Patients with PD-L1 negative CTCs all obtained a clinical benefit, while patients with PD-L1 (+) CTCs all experienced progressive disease. This suggests that the persistence of PD-L1(+) CTCs might mirror a mechanism of therapy escape.

Fertility drugs, reproductive strategies and ovarian cancer risk

Several adverse effects have been related to infertility treatments, such as cancer development. In particular, the relationship between infertility, reproductive strategies, and risk of gynecological cancers has aroused much interest in recent years. The evaluation of cancer risk among women treated for infertility is very complex, mainly because of many factors that can contribute to occurrence of cancer in these patients (including parity status). This article addresses the possible association between the use of fertility treatments and the risk of ovarian cancer, through a scrupulous search of the literature published thus far in this field. Our principal objective was to give more conclusive answers on the question whether the use of fertility drug significantly increases ovarian cancer risk. Our analysis focused on the different types of drugs and different treatment schedules used. This study provides additional insights regarding the long-term relationships between fertility drugs and risk of ovarian cancer.

Factors influencing choice of chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)

Management of metastatic colorectal cancer requires a multimodal approach and must be performed by an experienced, multidisciplinary expert team. The optimal choice of the individual treatment modality, according to disease localization and extent, tumor biology, and patient clinical characteristics, will be one that can maintain quality of life and long-term survival, and even cure selected patients. This review is an overview of the different therapeutic approaches available in metastatic colorectal cancer, for the purpose of defining personalized therapeutic algorithms according to tumor biology and patient clinical features.

A 68-year-old Caucasian man presenting with urinary bladder lymphoepithelioma: a case report

IntroductionLymphoepithelioma is a very rare form of malignant tumor originating from epithelial line cells. Its occurrence has potential clinical, therapeutic and prognostic implications. In the present report we describe an unusual case of bladder cancer with two different histological varieties: transition cell carcinoma and lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma. Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the bladder has only been rarely reported in the literature to date.Case presentationWe present the case of a 68-year-old Caucasian man who, after occurrence of hematuria, underwent transurethral resection of a bladder tumor. The results of a histological examination confirmed a high-grade non-muscle-invasive pT1 lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma of the urinary bladder, associated with a concurrent high-grade transition cell carcinoma. After analyzing the histological features, our patient was subjected to treatment with intra-vesical instillations of bacillus Calmette-Guérin. Our work stresses that diagnosis and therapeutic approaches can be difficult and controversial, especially in the early stages of this rare carcinoma.ConclusionsThis report emphasizes the importance of extending our knowledge and experiences regarding this uncommon carcinoma. Further studies are needed to better understand this rare disease and define more accurate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Evaluation of the efficacy of cisplatin–etoposide and the role of thoracic radiotherapy and prophylactic cranial irradiation in LCNEC

In small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), the role of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is well established. Large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) shares several clinicopathological features with SCLC, but its optimal therapy is not defined. We evaluated clinical response and survival outcomes of advanced LCNEC treated in first-line therapy compared with SCLC. 72 patients with stage III–IV LCNEC (n=28) and extensive-stage SCLC (ES-SCLC) (n=44) received cisplatin–etoposide with/without thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI). Comparing LCNEC with SCLC, we observed similar response rates (64.2% versus 59.1%), disease control rates (82.1% versus 88.6%), progression-free survival (mPFS) (7.4 versus 6.1 months) and overall survival (mOS) (10.4 versus 10.9 months). TRT and PCI in both histologies showed a benefit in mOS (34 versus 7.8 months and 34 versus 8.6 months, both p=0.0001). LCNEC patients receiving TRT showed an improvement in mPFS and mOS (12.5 versus 5 months, p=0.02 and 28.3 versus 5 months, p=0.004), similarly to ES-SCLC. PCI in LCNEC showed an increase in mPFS (20.5 versus 6.4 months, p=0.09) and mOS (33.4 versus 8.6 months, p=0.05), as in ES-SCLC. Advanced LCNEC treated with SCLC first-line therapy has a similar clinical response and survival outcomes to ES-SCLC. Cisplatin–etoposide is an efficient treatment for large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. RT and PCI improve survival. http://ow.ly/sBJo309HG8s