The role of genetic testing in prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment
Purpose of review
This review provides an overview of the current role of genetic testing in prostate cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
Recent findings
Recent studies have uncovered few but highly penetrant rare pathogenic mutations (RPMs), in genes, such as BRCA2, with strong prostate cancer risk and outcomes associations. Over 260 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have also been identified, each associated with small incremental prostate cancer risk and when combined in a polygenic risk score (PRS), they provide strong prostate cancer risk prediction but do not seem to predict outcomes. Tumor ti...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: GENITOURINARY SYSTEM: Edited by Arif Hussain Source Type: research
Optimizing the prescription doses and tolerability of systemic therapy in head and neck cancer patients
This article reviews the latest advances in systemic therapy for the treatment of locoregionally advanced and reccurent/metastatic head and neck cancer from a tolerability perspective.
Recent findings
Multiple recent attempts have been made to optimize tolerability (and efficacy) of systemic therapy utilizing new regimens, modified prescription doses, drugs such as immunotherapies or genotyping to tailor the systemic therapy to the individual patient.
Summary
Although treatment benefit has to be weighed against potential toxicity, it is reasonable to anticipate potential side effects of systemic therapies. In...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Systemic treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck: what is the best therapeutic sequence?
Purpose of review
The treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients is revolutionized by the advent of anti-PD1 checkpoint inhibitors.
Recent findings
Indeed, Pembrolizumab is approved as monotherapy or used in combination with platin and fluorouracil for first-line patients with tumors expressing PD-L1. Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab are also approved in second line of recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Moreover, the substitution of fluorouracil for a taxane in the TPEx regimen has shown improvement in safety profile when compared with EXTREME regi...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Preoperative immunotherapy for head and neck cancers: state of art
Purpose of review
Programmed cell death 1 (PD-l)-targeting agents have been FDA-approved for treatment of recurrent/ metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Clinical studies employing these agents preoperatively for HNSCC in the definitive setting are emerging and have important implications.
Recent findings
Preclinical studies demonstrate enhanced effectiveness of preoperative PD-1 targeting compared with postoperative treatment. Nine HNSCC clinical studies evaluating preoperative treatment with PD-1-targeted pembrolizumab/nivolumab alone or in combination therapy were recently reported. These...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Nanoparticle therapy for head and neck cancers
Purpose of review
The current review focuses on the therapeutic use of nanoparticles in head and neck cancer (HNC), highlighting nanoparticles at the most advanced clinical development stages.
Recent findings
Literature review covers the three main approaches for therapeutic use of nanoparticles in HNC: first, enhancing radiotherapy effect; second, performing targeted delivery of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or genome editing molecules; third, photothermal therapy.
Summary
Nanoparticles are spherical nanoscale objects that have application in cancer therapies. Nanoparticles have diverse and often composit...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Image-guided surgery in oral cancer: toward improved margin control
Purpose of review
The aim of this review is to discuss recent studies on the assessment of tumor extension and resection margins by different intraoperative techniques allowing for image-guided surgery of oral cancer.
Recent findings
There are different in-vivo and ex-vivo intraoperative techniques to improve margin control of which intraoperative ultrasound and targeted fluorescence-guided resections have high potential clinical value and are closest to clinical implementation.
Summary
In oral cancer surgery, resection margins, particularly deep margins, are often inadequate. Intraoperative frozen sectio...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Editorial: Head and neck squamous cell cancer: ways to optimize the treatment and improve the outcomes
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Oncology)
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: HEAD AND NECK: Edited by Joël Guigay Source Type: research
Editorial introductions
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Oncology)
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - May 1, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTIONS Source Type: research
Harnessing dendritic cells for innovative therapeutic cancer vaccines
Purpose of review
The clinical activity of new immunotherapies in cancer, such as anti-Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/Programmed death-ligand 1, has revealed the importance of the patient's immune system in controlling tumor development. As in infectious diseases, dendritic cells (DCs) are critical for inducing immune responses in cancer. Unfortunately, autologous DC-based vaccines have not yet demonstrated their clinical benefit. Here, we review recent research using allogeneic DCs as alternatives to autologous DCs to develop innovative therapeutic cancer vaccines.
Recent findings
A novel approach using an allo...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: CANCER BIOLOGY: Edited by Pierre Hainaut Source Type: research
Immunomodulation for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy: current challenges
Purpose of review
The emergence of novel immunotherapies, such as immune-checkpoint inhibitors has changed the landscape of systemic cancer treatment. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, despite initial enthusiasm, the proportion of responders to immune-checkpoint inhibitors remains low. We provide a brief update of this rapidly evolving field, with specific focus on the development in the field of predictive factors and the immunomodulation induced by locoregional therapies.
Recent findings
Even if the immune contexture of HCC before the treatment remains the most promising predictive marker for respons...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: CANCER BIOLOGY: Edited by Pierre Hainaut Source Type: research
Transcriptional and epigenetic control of early life cell fate decisions
Purpose of review
Global epigenetic reprogramming of the parental genomes after fertilization ensures the establishment of genome organization permissive for cell specialization and differentiation during development. In this review, we highlight selected, well-characterized relationships between epigenetic factors and transcriptional cell fate regulators during the initial stages of mouse development.
Recent findings
Blastomeres of the mouse embryo are characterized by atypical and dynamic histone modification arrangements, noncoding RNAs and DNA methylation profiles. Moreover, asymmetries in epigenomic pattern...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: CANCER BIOLOGY: Edited by Pierre Hainaut Source Type: research
The multiple molecular dimensions of long noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression and tumorigenesis
Purpose of review
LncRNAs are emerging as key regulators of gene expression and they ensure homeostasis during cell differentiation and development, replication, and adaptation to the environment. Because of their key central role in regulating the biology of living cells, it is crucial to characterize how lncRNAs function at the genetic, transcriptomic, and mechanistic level.
Recent findings
The low endogenous abundance and high molecular complexity of lncRNAs pose unique challenges for their characterization but new methodological advances in biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology have recently made it poss...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: CANCER BIOLOGY: Edited by Pierre Hainaut Source Type: research
Editorial: Chromatin dynamics and immunosurveillance – two sides of the cancer ‘cell identity crisis’
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Oncology)
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: CANCER BIOLOGY: Edited by Pierre Hainaut Source Type: research
Recent advances in radiosensitivity determinants in melanoma
Purpose of review
Radiotherapy has been proven to be useful but insufficient in melanoma management due to the intrinsic radioresistance of melanoma cells. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms and pathways related to resistance/sensitivity to radiotherapy in melanoma is of paramount importance. In this review, we will summarize and discuss the recent ‘discoveries’ and advances in radiosensitivity determinants in melanoma.
Recent findings
The different levels of radiosensitivity among the various melanoma tumors could be attributed to the DNA damage signaling and repair proteins, tumor microenvironment, hy...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: MELANOMA AND OTHER SKIN NEOPLASMS: Edited by Jean A. Klastersky and Ahmad Awada Source Type: research
Management of metastatic melanoma with new immunotherapy approaches beyond PD-1/CTLA-4 inhibitors
Purpose of review
If we may cure metastatic melanoma patients thanks to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), it is fair to say that around 2/3 of the patients present primary or secondary resistance to ICI. Therefore, progresses are needed and numerous new treatments are tested either alone or in combination with cytolytic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) or (PD)-1 blockade to overcome this resistance. In this review, we focused on new immunotherapeutic approaches studied in advanced melanoma previously treated by anti-PD-1 (Programmed cell Death 1 receptor) or anti-CTLA-4 antibodies.
Recent findings
Th...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - February 4, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: MELANOMA AND OTHER SKIN NEOPLASMS: Edited by Jean A. Klastersky and Ahmad Awada Source Type: research
