Current Opinion in Oncology

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: New evidence has recently emerged regarding the utility and benefits of dual p16INKa (p16) and Human papillomavirus (HPV) status testing when determining the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with oropharyngeal cancer. RECENT FINDINGS: HPV RNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the most accurate diagnostic test. The other assays (HPV DNA PCR, HPV DNA/RNA in-situ hybridization (ISH) and p16) applied to formalin fixed tumour tissue have varying but high sensitivities and specificities...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is still a need of biomarkers in the induction and neoadjuvant settings for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The objective of this concise review article is to give an overview on both predictive and prognostic biomarkers potentially useful for the management of SCCHN. RECENT FINDINGS: Human papilloma virus (HPV) positivity translated by the presence of the protein indicator p16 is synonymous of favorable prognosis SCCHN...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The evolving role of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) as metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) for oligometastatic prostate cancer (omPCa) will be discussed. RECENT FINDINGS: Oligometastatic disease (OMD) is an intermediate state between localized and wide-spread malignant disease. OMD has recently been spotlighted given the increasing demonstration of clinical benefit from local therapies despite presence of metastatic disease and allure of the curative potential of MDT in select cases...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Targeting specific steroidogenic enzymes is effective in decreasing testosterone synthesis, resulting in significant antitumor effects in prostate cancer. Such treatments result in disruptions of complicated and intertwining pathways with systemic physiologic consequences via effects on the adrenal gland and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis. This review highlights some of these aspects that need to be taken into consideration when treating patients with androgen biosynthesis inhibitors...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review focuses on special populations poorly represented in current evidence-based practice for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). This includes the elderly and frail, patients on immunosuppression or with autoimmune diseases, patients with brain, liver, and/or bone metastases, and RCC with sarcomatoid features. RECENT FINDINGS: Certain populations are poorly represented in current trials for mRCC. Patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases are often excluded from first-line therapy trials...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review is designed to highlight recent research efforts to optimize treatment strategies in men with advanced prostate cancer. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent research analyses have suggested an overall survival advantage to treating some men with newly identified metastatic prostate cancer with a "triplet" of androgen deprivation therapy, docetaxel, and an androgen receptor axis-targeted agent (ARAT), but further work remains to refine which men need this aggressive of a treatment approach...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Despite the remarkable advances in the treatment of germ cell tumors (GCT), several challenges remain. This review aims to highlight some of these challenges and provide guidance on how to navigate through them. RECENT FINDINGS: Patients with International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group poor risk disease have worse prognosis and investigating novel therapeutic interventions are warranted in this population. Patients with brain metastases require a multidisciplinary approach by a group of clinicians experienced in the management of germ cell tumors...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer (BCR) after unsuccessful curative therapies frequently have an indolent and asymptomatic disease course for years. There are no prospective data showing that treating BCR improves overall survival despite new imaging strategies and emerging therapeutic data. Managing BCR requires a unique perspective in oncology that balances toxicities and disease kinetics. RECENT FINDINGS: Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) imaging is now widely available and can define subclinical disease in patients with BCR who otherwise have negative CT and bone scans, but limited data exists showing that treating PSMA-positive disease has long term impact...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The most common definitive treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is radical cystectomy. However, removing the bladder and surrounding organs poses risks of morbidity that can reduce quality of life, and raises the risk of death. Treatment strategies that preserve the organs can manage the local tumor and mitigate the risk of distant metastasis. Recent data have demonstrated promising outcomes in several bladder-preservation strategies. RECENT FINDINGS: Bladder preservation with trimodality therapy (TMT), combining maximal transurethral resection of the bladder tumor, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (RT), was often reserved for nonsurgical candidates for radical cystectomy...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize the actual antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) tested for patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), outlining the results of safety and efficacy through published clinical trials. RECENT FINDINGS: ADCs combine the specificity of mAbs with the cytotoxic drug (known as payload) via a chemical linker and it is designed to selectively deliver the ultratoxic payload directly to the target cancer cells. To date, various ADCs have been investigated in multiple solid malignancies and others are in clinical development...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Neoadjuvant (presurgical) immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has shown promising clinical activity in head and neck cancer and other cancers, including FDA approvals for neoadjuvant approaches for triple-negative breast cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer. Here we will review recent data from clinical trials in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), including mechanistic studies highlighting local and systemic effects on T cell-mediated immunity. RECENT FINDINGS: A series of clinical trials of neoadjuvant ICB have documented evidence of clinical activity, including clinical to pathologic downstaging and pathologic response in a subset of patients...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Recent recommendations on cachexia highlight, in head and neck cancers, the heterogeneity of studies, focusing on weight loss and sequelae including swallowing disorders. The current national guidelines emphasize that, in cases of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (cCRT) involving the oral cavity and oropharynx, prophylactic gastrostomy placement should be carried out systematically. We review why this technique is particularly relevant in this specific location for the feasibility of cCRT...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review emphasizes the role of epigenetic processes as incidental changes occurring during aging, which, in turn, promote the development of cancer. RECENT FINDINGS: Aging is a complex biological process associated with the progressive deterioration of normal physiological functions, making age a significant risk factor for various disorders, including cancer. The increasing longevity of the population has made cancer a global burden, as the risk of developing most cancers increases with age due to the cumulative effect of exposure to environmental carcinogens and DNA replication errors...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The future of medicine is aimed to equip the physician with tools to assess the individual health of the patient for the uniqueness of the disease that separates it from the rest. The integration of omics technologies into clinical practice, reviewed here, would open new avenues for addressing the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of cancer. The rising cancer burden patiently awaits the advent of such an approach to personalized medicine for routine clinical settings...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, we explore the potential of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) as predictive biomarkers in the response to immunotherapy for melanoma patients. RECENT FINDINGS: The significance of TLS as indicators predicting immunotherapy response becomes particularly pronounced. Melanoma, renowned for its aggressive characteristics, has undergone revolutionary transformations in treatment through immunotherapeutic interventions. Investigations have unveiled a compelling correlation between the presence of TLS in the melanoma tumor microenvironment and favorable responses to immunotherapy...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Breast cancer ranks first among gynecological cancer in India. It is associated with urbanization, changes in lifestyle and obesity. Hormones also play a crucial role in the development of breast cancer. Steroid hormones play critical role in development of breast cancer. RECENT FINDING: Breast cancer is caused due to alteration in different hormone expressions leading to genetic instability. Loss or gains of functions due to genetic instability were associated with the alterations in housekeeping genes...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, we summarized published articles on the role of tripartite motif (TRIM) family members in the initiation and development of human malignancies. RECENT FINDINGS: The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UP-S) plays a critical role in cellular activities, and UP-S dysregulation contributes to tumorigenesis. One of the key regulators of the UP-S is the tripartite motif TRIM protein family, most of which are active E3 ubiquitin ligases. TRIM proteins are critical for the biological functions of cancer cells, including migration, invasion, metastasis, and therapy resistance...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this review is to outline the current landscape of advanced melanoma treatment options, provide insights on selecting combination therapies within different clinical scenarios, capture clinical relevance of anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) monotherapy, and explore the unmet needs with immune check-point inhibitors (ICI) in advanced melanoma. RECENT FINDINGS: ICI based treatment consisted of single agent ICI or dual combination ICI-ICI is the standard of care of front-line treatment of metastatic or unresectable melanoma...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Cellular dormancy is a major contributor to cancer progression and recurrence. This review explores recent findings on the molecular mechanisms implicated in cancer dormancy and investigates potential strategies to improve therapeutic interventions. RECENT FINDINGS: Research on cancer dormancy reveals a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Providing a latent reservoir of tumor cells with reduced proliferation and enhanced drug-tolerance, dormant cancer cells emerge from a clonally diverse population after therapy or at metastatic sites...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.