Radiotherapy cancer biomarkers

BACKGROUND: The majority of anal cancers (84-95%) are driven by infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV-positive tumours show significantly better responses to chemo-radiotherapy when compared with HPV-negative tumours. HPV infection is linked to alterations in DNA damage response proteins, including MRE11. MRE11 is a potential predictive biomarker for response to radiotherapy in muscle-invasive bladder cancer and may hold predictive power in other cancers. METHODS: Using a previously reported cohort, we evaluated the levels of MRE11 in anal cancer and assessed its predictive value in this disease...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore the associations of Kruppel-like factor 4 expression with sensitivity to radiation therapy in locally advanced cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients. METHODS: The records of 117 locally advanced cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients were retrospectively reviewed, and Kruppel-like factor 4 expression in cervical carcinoma tissues was examined by immunohistochemical staining. The associations of Kruppel-like factor 4 expression with clinicopathological parameters were analyzed...

BACKGROUND: Research into long-term cause-specific mortality of women diagnosed with breast cancer is important because it allows for the splitting of the population into patients who eventually die from breast cancer and from other causes. The adoption of this approach helps to identify patients with an elevated risk of eventual death from breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to examine the associations between both sociodemographic and clinicopathologic characteristics and the underlying risks of death from breast cancer and from other causes for women diagnosed with breast cancer...

Being a non-histone protein, Ki-67 is one of the essential biomarkers for the immunohistochemical assessment of proliferation rate in breast cancer screening and grading. The Ki-67 signature is always sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Due to random morphological, color and intensity variations of cell nuclei (immunopositive and immunonegative), manual/subjective assessment of Ki-67 scoring is error-prone and time-consuming. Hence, several machine learning approaches have been reported; nevertheless, none of them had worked on deep learning based hotspots detection and proliferation scoring...

This study aimed to investigate the immunogenicity of a cancer vaccine consisting of the NeuGcGM3 ganglioside combined with the outer membrane protein complex of Neisseria meningitides to form very small size particles. The vaccine is administered together with Montanide ISA51, as adjuvant treatment for breast cancer patients. After surgical resection and standard first-line chemo/radiotherapy, breast cancer patients in stage II-III were enrolled in a phase III clinical trial and allocated into 2 strata, according to the number of positive lymph nodes [stratum I (0-3); stratum II (≥4)]...

PARP inhibitors demonstrate synthetic lethality in tumors with BRCA1/2 mutations and other homologous recombination repair deficiencies by interfering with DNA repair and causing direct toxicity to DNA through PARP trapping. PARP inhibitors have been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of BRCA1/2-mutated ovarian cancers, which has led to a shift in the treatment paradigm of this disease. Further studies to establish the role of PARP inhibitors during earlier stages of treatment are ongoing. The use of PARP inhibitors in other cancers with homologous recombination repair deficiencies, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, is gradually evolving as well, including their use in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings...

Prostate cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in men worldwide and the commonest cancer in men in the United Kingdom. The recent updates on the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer were discussed at a multidisciplinary day event organised by the British Institute of Radiology and held in London in November 2016. This day covered the use of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) biomarker and of advanced imaging techniques such as Multi-parametric and whole body MRI, choline-PET/CT and gallium-labelled prostate specific membrane antigen for the detection of prostate cancer...

PURPOSE: Imaging biomarkers assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or positron emission tomography (PET) enable non-invasive tumor characterization in cervix cancer patients. We investigated the spatio-temporal stability of hypoxia, perfusion, and the cell density of tumors over time by repetitive imaging prior to, during, and after radio-chemotherapy. PROCEDURES: Thirteen patients were included in this prospective study. The imaging protocol included the following: [(18)F]fluoromisonidazole ([(18)F]FMISO)-PET/x-ray computed tomography (CT) and multiparametric (mp)-MRI at four time-points (TP): baseline (BL); and weeks 2 (TP1), 5 (TP2), and 19 after treatment start (follow-up FU)...

Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate levels of plasma miR-145 in patients with cervical cancer (CC) and investigate its biomarker potential. Methods Using qRT-PCR, we compared plasma miR-145 levels in 120 patients with CC, 120 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and 120 healthy volunteers. The association between plasma miR-145 expression and clinicopathological factors, including radiation response, was also analyzed. Results Plasma miR-145 levels were lower in CC patient than in CIN patients and healthy controls...

BACKGROUND: Treatments that target cancer stem cells play an important role in the controlling and eliminating of tumor initiation as well as in development, progression, and chemotherapy/radiotherapy resistance. In our previous study, we cultured and harvested human laryngeal cancer stem cells (CSCs) and applied microRNA biochips to screen differentially expressed miRNAs that were related to radiation tolerance in irradiated human laryngeal CSCs. According to the predicted genes and pathways of differential miRNAs target, down-regulated expression of hsa-miR-138-2-3p under radiation was thought to play a key role in enhancing the radio-sensitivity in human laryngeal squamous cancer stem cells...

Platinum-based chemotherapeutics are amongst the most powerful anti-cancer drugs. Although their exact mechanism of action is not well understood, it is thought to be mediated through covalent DNA binding. We investigated the effect of platinum-based chemotherapeutics on signaling through signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, which are involved in many oncogenic signaling pathways. We performed in vitro experiments in various cancer cell lines, investigating the effects of platinum chemotherapeutics on STAT phosphorylation and nuclear translocation, the expression of STAT-modulating proteins and downstream signaling pathways...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a disease with diverse clinical symptoms, molecular profiles, and its nature to response its therapeutic treatments. Radiotherapy (RT), along with surgery and chemotherapy is a part of treatment in breast cancer. The aim of present study was to investigate pre and post treatment effects of radiotherapy in serum fatty acids and its lipids profile in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: In this comparative as well as follow up study, Serum fatty acids were performed by gas chromatography to investigate fatty acids and Microlab for analysis of lipid profile...

Saliva, a biological fluid, is a promising candidate for novel approaches to prognosis, clinical diagnosis, monitoring and management of patients with both oral and systemic diseases. However, to date, saliva has not been widely investigated as a biomarker for radiation exposure. Since white blood cells are also present in saliva, it should theoretically be possible to investigate the transcriptional biomarkers of radiation exposure classically studied in whole blood. Therefore, we collected whole blood and saliva samples from eight head and neck cancer patients before the start of radiation treatment, at mid-treatment and after treatment...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature and elucidate open questions for future clinical trials concerning diagnostics and treatment modalities for cervical cancer of unknown primary (CUP). METHODS: A literature search for head and neck CUP was performed with focus on diagnostics and therapies as well as molecular markers. RESULTS: High level evidence on CUP is limited. However, it seems that a consensus exists regarding the optimal diagnostic procedures...

Recently, the immune checkpoint inhibitors that target programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) have made a breakthrough in treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with the efficacy of approximately 20%; among which, nivolumab has acquired treatment indications in lung squamous cell carcinoma. The inhibitors targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) are also undergoing clinical trials. Researches on immune checkpoint inhibitors have been rapidly implemented in a variety of different types of lung cancer, such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and locally advanced NSCLC, and these inhibitors began to be applied in combination with some established treatments, including chemotherapy, targeting therapy and radiotherapy...

Targeting deficient mechanisms of cellular DNA repair still represents the basis for the treatment of the majority of solid tumors, and increased DNA repair capacity is a hallmark mechanism of resistance not only to DNA-damaging treatments such as cytotoxic drugs and radiotherapy, but also to small molecule targeted drugs such as inhibitors of poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP). Hence, there is substantial medical need for potent and convenient biomarkers of individual response to DNA-targeted treatment in personalized cancer care...

A lack of appropriate diagnostic tools for prostate cancer has led to overdiagnosis and over treatment. In a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, Hamdy et al showed no difference in the outcomes of patients that had undergone either radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, or active monitoring. In an effort to enhance clinical stratification, the development of improved, more accurate diagnostic tools is actively being pursued. Herein, we explore recent advances in prostate cancer screening, including biomarker assays, genetic testing, and specialized fields, such as mathematical oncology...

BACKGROUND: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy with extended pelvic lymph node dissection is considered to be the treatment of choice for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Despite this aggressive treatment the outcome is poor and ultimately, 30% of the patients with ≥pT3 tumors develop a pelvic recurrence. We hypothesize that postoperative adjuvant external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) might prevent local and lymph node recurrence and improve disease free- and overall survival as loco-regional recurrence is linked to the development of distant metastasis...

Radiotherapy is a common therapeutic strategy used to treat esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, tumor cells often develop radioresistance, thereby reducing treatment efficacy. Here, we aimed to identify the mechanisms through which ESCC cells develop radioresistance and identify associated biomarkers. Eca109 cells were exposed to repeated radiation at 2 Gy/fraction for a total dose of 60 Gy (Eca109R60/2Gy cells). MTT and colony formation assays were performed to measure cell proliferation and compare the radiation biology parameters of Eca109 and Eca109R60/2Gy cells...

Identification of biomarkers for predicting radiosensitivity would be useful for administering individualized radiotherapy (RT) to patients with esophageal cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 (XRCC1), ras association domain family 1 (RASSF1) protein expression, clinicopathological characteristics, radiosensitivity and survival rate in 76 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who were treated with RT...