JOURNAL OF CANCER RESEARCH AND CLINICAL ONCOLOGY

Prognostic factors in clear cell sarcoma: an analysis of soft tissue sarcoma in 43 cases
Grothues J, Hardes J, Agaimy A, Collaud S, Podleska L, Farzalyev F, Engel NM, Hamacher R, Fletcher B, Pöttgen C, Bertram S, Schildhaus HU, Streitbürger A, Bauer S and Falkenhorst J
Clear cell sarcoma (CCS) of tendons and aponeuroses and CCS-like malignant gastrointestinal neuroectodermal tumor/sarcoma (GINET) are characterized by frequent local and distant relapses, alongside with low efficacy of all systemic treatments. We aimed to collect a comprehensive dataset to identify prognostic factors and treatment outcomes.
Oncological junior groups across medical specialties in Germany join forces and launch an interdisciplinary alliance: Young Oncologists United (YOU)
Holzgreve A, Heinrich K, Mäurer M and
A novel mouse model recapitulating the MMR-defective SCLC subtype uncovers an actionable sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade
Ibruli O, Rose F, Beleggia F, Schmitt A, Cartolano M, Fernandez LT, Saggau J, Bonasera D, Kiljan M, Gozum G, Lichius L, Cai J, Niu LN, Caiaffa MI, Herter JM, Walczak H, Liccardi G, Grüll H, Büttner R, Bosco G, George J, Thomas RK, Bozek K, Reinhardt HC and Herter-Sprie GS
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has an extremely poor prognosis. Despite high initial response rates to chemotherapy and modest survival improvements with the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), almost all patients experience relapse and fatal outcomes. Recent genomic insights uncovered extensive molecular heterogeneity in addition to the almost uniform loss of RB1 and TRP53. Additionally, defective DNA mismatch repair (MMR) has recently been described in some SCLC cases. Here, we generated a novel SCLC mouse model capturing MMR deficiency and assessed immunotherapy responses.
The role of gut microbial β-glucuronidases in carcinogenesis and cancer treatment: a scoping review
Hillege LE, Stevens MAM, Kristen PAJ, de Vos-Geelen J, Penders J, Redinbo MR and Smidt ML
The human gut microbiota influence critical functions including the metabolism of nutrients, xenobiotics, and drugs. Gut microbial β-glucuronidases (GUS) enzymes facilitate the removal of glucuronic acid from various compounds, potentially affecting anti-cancer drug efficacy and reactivating carcinogens. This review aims to comprehensively analyze and summarize studies on the role of gut microbial GUS in cancer and its interaction with anti-cancer treatments. Its goal is to collate and present insights that are directly relevant to patient care and treatment strategies in oncology.
Overall survival of patients with KIT-mutant metastatic GIST in the era of multiple kinase inhibitor availability
Haller V, Reiff C, Hamacher R, Kostbade K, Kaths M, Treckmann J, Bertram S, Zaun Y, Bauer S and Falkenhorst J
The prognosis of patients with metastatic GIST and imatinib-sensitive primary mutations has significantly improved. However, limited data are available to inform patients about outcomes across different lines of treatment. This retrospective analysis aims to evaluate patient outcomes at a large German GIST referral center over the past 15 years.
Multi-classification of breast cancer pathology images based on a two-stage hybrid network
Wang G, Jia M, Zhou Q, Xu S, Zhao Y, Wang Q, Tian Z, Shi R, Wang K, Yan T, Chen G and Wang B
In current clinical medicine, pathological image diagnosis is the gold standard for cancer diagnosis. After pathologists determine whether breast lesions are malignant or benign, further sub-type classification is often necessary.
Natural compounds modulate the mechanism of action of tumour-associated macrophages against colorectal cancer: a review
Yuan W, Zhang J, Chen H, Zhuang Y, Zhou H, Li W, Qiu W and Zhou H
Colorectal cancer (CRC) exhibits a substantial morbidity and mortality rate, with its aetiology and pathogenesis remain elusive. It holds significant importance within the tumour microenvironment (TME) and exerts a crucial regulatory influence on tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis. TAMs possess the capability to foster CRC pathogenesis, proliferation, invasion, and metastasis, as well as angiogenesis, immune evasion, and tumour resistance. Furthermore, TAMs can mediate the prognosis of CRC. In this paper, we review the mechanisms by which natural compounds target TAMs to exert anti-CRC effects from the perspective of the promotional effects of TAMs on CRC, mainly regulating the polarization of TAMs, reducing the infiltration and recruitment of TAMs, enhancing the phagocytosis of macrophages, and regulating the signalling pathways and cytokines, and discuss the potential value and therapeutic strategies of natural compounds-targeting the TAMs pathway in CRC clinical treatment.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer diagnoses, oncological care and cancer patients in Germany: a report from the "COVID & Cancer" workshop 2023 of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi)
Erdmann F, Wellbrock M, De Santis KK, Hübner J, Voigtländer S and Arndt V
The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with severe disruptions in healthcare worldwide. Cancer patients are at particular risk of adverse consequences from delays in diagnosis and treatment. To evaluate the available data on the impact of the pandemic on cancer diagnoses, oncological care and patient well-being in Germany, the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) in collaboration with the Epidemiological Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony invited to a workshop on "COVID & Cancer" (held on 26-27 October 2023 in Hanover, Germany). This report provides a summary of the scientific presentations, highlights methodological challenges, and recognises essential evidence gaps.
Age differences in the treatment of lung cancer-a cohort study among 42,000 patients from Germany
Rischke N, Kanbach J and Haug U
We aimed to describe treatment of lung cancer patients in Germany based on health claims data, focusing particularly on differences by age.
Insights into cancer characteristics among SARS-CoV-2 infected hospitalized patients: a comprehensive analysis from the National Clinical Registry for COVID-19
Chatterji S, Turuk A, Das P, Bhattacharya S, Mukherjee S, Ghosh PS, Chatterjee A, Mukerjee A, Kumar G, Satija A, Josten K, Bhalla A, Malhotra P, Bhuniya S, Talukdar A, Ghosh S, Misra S, Bhardwaj P, Chatterjee S, Menon GR, Deo V, Rao VV and
Cancer outcome is dependent on multiple predetermining factors including cancer, type of cancer and its related factors. This study aims to investigate the association between COVID-19 & cancer/cancer types, focusing on risk of in-hospital mortality within 30 days of hospitalization of COVID-19 patients with cancer.
CT-defined muscle density as a prognostic factor in multiple myeloma undergoing autologous stem cell therapy: a retrospective single center study
Surov A, Pönisch W, Borggrefe J and Meyer HJ
Skeletal muscle quality assessment can be performed by cross-sectional imaging. Skeletal muscle density (SMD) identified to be of prognostic relevance of several clinically outcomes in patients with hematological diseases. The purpose of the present study was to establish the effect of SMD on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).
Correction: Multiparametric MRI based deep learning model for prediction of early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after SR following TACE
Wang H, Li J, Ouyang Y, Ren H, An C and Liu W
Identification of a novel molecular classification for hepatocellular carcinoma based on disulfideptosis-related genes and its potential prognostic significance
Wang T, Liu Y, Kong J and Liu J
Globally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent and deadly malignant tumors. A recent study proposed disulfidptosis, a novel form of regulated cell death (RCD), offering a new avenue for identifying tumor prognosis biomarkers and developing novel therapeutic targets.
Transformation zone at the vallate papillae: a significant source of papillomavirus infection at the base of the tongue?
Zhou B, Li D, Chen X, Cai F, Cui J, Liu S, Wang W and Yu D
The aim of this study was to investigate whether the base of the tongue harbours a transformation zone (TZ), i.e., an initiation site for papillomavirus infection, analogous to that in the uterine cervix by examining the histological structure of Von Ebner's gland ducts in the vallate papillae.
Inhibition of NPC1 suppresses cell proliferation and β-catenin signaling activation of liver cancer
Cao D, Chen H, He M, Han N and Tang H
Niemann-Pick Type C1 (NPC1) plays a significant role in the development of liver diseases and liver cancer. Our objective was to investigate the involvement of NPC1 in regulating liver cancer development. We observed that high levels of NPC1 expression in tumor tissues from patients with liver cancer were associated with a poor prognosis. Through in vitro experiments, we found that inhibiting NPC1 expression reduced the proliferation, invasion, and migration of liver cancer cells, while also inducing apoptosis in these cells. Additionally, the inhibition of NPC1 led to decreased activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. In vivo studies further supported our findings by demonstrating that the suppression of liver cancer cell growth was effectively achieved through the inhibition of NPC1. Overall, our results strongly indicate that the inhibition of NPC1 suppresses liver cancer cell proliferation. Targeting NPC1 is a promising potential therapeutic strategy for liver cancer.
Bioinformatic and experimental data pertaining to the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in ovarian cancer
Ashmore AA, Balasubramanian B, Phillips A, Asher V, Bali A, Ordóñez-Morán P and Khan R
The Nod-Like Receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome plays a role in regulating inflammatory signaling and is a well-established contributor to pyroptotic cell death. It has been investigated extensively in cancer but there remains limited evidence of its role within ovarian cancer (OC). Bioinformatic investigation of gene expression data has highlighted that higher expression of NLRP3 and genes associated with the NLRP3 complex appear to be positively correlated with OC and may also have prognostic significance. However, heterogeneity exists within the results and experimental data is limited and contradictory. If the NLRP3 inflammasome is to be exploited as a therapeutic target, further laboratory-based investigation is required to determine its role in cancer. Furthermore, its relationship with clinically important characteristics such as histopathological subtype may be of key significance in developing targeted therapies towards specific cohorts of patients.
Opportunities and challenges of using circulating tumor DNA to predict lung cancer immunotherapy efficacy
Li S, Yuan T, Yuan J, Zhu B and Chen D
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), particularly anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1)/ programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies, have led to significant progress in lung cancer treatment. However, only a minority of patients have responses to these therapies. Detecting peripheral blood of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) allows minimally invasive diagnosis, characterization, and monitoring of lung cancer. ctDNA has potential to be a prognostic biomarker and a predictor of the response to ICI therapy since it can indicate the genomic status and tumor burden. Recent studies on lung cancer have shown that pretreatment ctDNA analysis can detect residual proliferative disease in the adjuvant immunotherapy setting and evaluate tumor burden in patients with metastatic disease. Early ctDNA dynamics can not only predict the clinical outcome of ICI therapy but also help distinguish between pseudoprogression and real progression. Furthermore, in addition to quantitative assessment, ctDNA can also detect genetic predictors of response to ICI therapy. However, barriers still exist in the application of ctDNA analysis in clinical lung cancer treatment. The predictive value of ctDNA in lung cancer immunotherapy requires further identification and resolution of these challenges. This review aims to summarize the existing data of ctDNA analysis in patients receiving immunotherapy for lung cancer, understand the limitations of clinical treatment, and discuss future research directions.
Five-year overall survival of early- and late-onset colorectal cancer in Medellín, Colombia: a comparative study
Ruiz-Grajales ÁE, Correa-Cote JC, Sánchez-Zapata MÁ, Orozco-Puerta MM, Baena-García JF and Castrillón-Martínez E
Early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) (EOCRC, < 50 years) has distinct clinicopathological features from late-onset CRC (LOCRC, ≥ 50 years). However, evidence on survival outcomes is contradictory. We aimed to analyse the differences in 5-year overall survival (OS) between EOCRC and LOCRC.
Effects of preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy on postoperative delirium in patients with gynecological tumor surgery: an observational study
Yang Y, Chen J, Wen Q, Jin G, Liu F, Yu L and He J
To investigate whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) increases the incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) in patients with gynecological tumors undergoing radical hysterectomy.
Integration of single-cell and spatial transcriptome sequencing identifies CDKN2A as a senescent biomarker in endothelial cells implicating hepatocellular carcinoma malignancy
Ma Y, Yi C, Cai N and Chen J
Highly complex tumor microenvironment makes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as one of the most malignant tumors worldwide. The role of cellular senescence in HCC has been gradually recognized. The present study aimed to comprehensively elucidate the senescence-related features of HCC in single-cell and spatial dimension.
Efficacy of sintilimab combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab in conversional treatment of locally advanced HER2-positive gastric cancer: case analysis and literature review
Ibrahim S, Maimaitiaili A, Zhu G and Ye S
Regional lymph nodes that are fixed and fused into clusters or those exhibiting metastases outside the regional lymph nodes are generally classified as stage IV (M1) or unresectable. Patients with such nodes almost always need pre-operative treatment so that they can undergo surgical resection. Combining immunotherapy with trastuzumab and chemotherapy significantly improved the prognosis of HER-2 positive gastric/gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) cancer. However, very few reports are available on the role of immunotherapy in converting patients with unresectable cancer to resectable cancer.