NEO

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article aims to describe the ways in which digital health technologies are currently being used to improve the delivery of cancer care, highlight opportunities to expand their use, and discuss barriers to effective and equitable implementation. RECENT FINDINGS: The utilization of digital health tools and development of novel care delivery models that leverage such tools is expanding. Recent studies have shown feasibility and increased implementation in the setting of oncologic care...

Ferroptosis is a form of intracellular iron-dependent cell death that differs from necrosis, autophagy and apoptosis. Intracellular iron mediates Fenton reaction resulting in lipid peroxidation production, which in turn promotes cell death. Although cancer cell exhibit's ability to escape ferroptosis by multiple pathways such as SLC7A11, GPX4, induction of ferroptosis could inhibit cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In tumor microenvironment, ferroptosis could affect immune cell (T cells, macrophages etc...

Colon cancer is on the rise in both men and women. In addition to traditional treatment methods, herbal treatments from complementary and alternative medicine are actively followed. Naturally derived from plants, thymoquinone (TQ) has drawn a lot of attention in the field of cancer treatment. MK-801, an N-methyl-D-aspartate agonist, is used to improve memory and plasticity, but it has also lately been explored as a potential cancer treatment. This study aimed to determine the roles of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate agonists and Thymoquinone on mitochondria and apoptosis...

PURPOSE: A strong immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) represents the major barrier responsible for the failure of current immunotherapy approaches in treating Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM). Within the TME, the regulatory T cells (Tregs) exert immunosuppressive effects on CD8+ T cell - mediated anti-cancer immune killing. Consequently, targeting and inhibiting their immunosuppressive function emerges as an effective therapeutic strategy for GBM. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanisms and effects of Suberanilohydroxamic Acid (SAHA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, on immunosuppressive Tregs...

INTRODUCTION: Current treatment of spinal metastases (SM) aims on preserving spinal stability, neurological status, and functional status as well as achieving local control. It consists of spinal surgery followed by radiotherapy and/or systemic treatment. Adjuvant therapy usually starts with a delay of a few weeks to prevent wound healing issues. Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) has previously been successfully applied during brain tumor, breast and colorectal carcinoma surgery but not in SM, including unstable one, to date...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous and complex etiological disease. Understanding perturbations of circulating metabolites could improve prognosis. METHODS: We recruited breast cancer patients from Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) to perform untargeted (case-control design) and targeted (patient cohort) metabolomics analyses in the discovery and validation phases to evaluate interaction effects between clinical factors and plasma metabolites using multivariable Cox proportional hazards model...

Drug repositioning or repurposing has gained worldwide attention as a plausible way to search for novel molecules for the treatment of particular diseases or disorders. Drug repurposing essentially refers to uncovering approved or failed compounds for use in various diseases. Cancer is a deadly disease and leading cause of mortality. The search for approved non-oncologic drugs for cancer treatment involved in silico modeling, databases, and literature searches. In this review, we provide a concise account of the existing non-oncologic drug molecules and their therapeutic potential in chemotherapy...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the trajectories and potential categories of changes in the sense of coherence (SOC) in patients after colorectal cancer surgery and to analyze predictive factors. METHODS: From January to July 2023, 175 patients with colorectal cancer treated at a tertiary Grade A oncology hospital in Jiangsu Province were selected as the study subjects. Prior to surgery, SOC-13 scale, Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ), and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) were used to survey the patients...

OBJECTIVES: Effective management of neck in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is pivotal for oncological outcomes. Although consensus exists for ipsilateral neck dissection (ND), the necessity for contralateral ND remains controversial. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and implications of bilateral/solely contralateral (B/SC) lymph node metastases (LNMs) to determine the need for contralateral elective ND. Additionally, it examined the prevalence and implications of occult B/SC metastases...

The acetylation of α-tubulin on lysine 40 is a well-studied post-translational modification which has been associated with the presence of long-lived stable microtubules that are more resistant to mechanical breakdown. The discovery of α-tubulin acetyltransferase 1 (ATAT1), the enzyme responsible for lysine 40 acetylation on α-tubulin in a wide range of species, including protists, nematodes, and mammals, dates to about a decade ago. However, the role of ATAT1 in different cellular activities and molecular pathways has been only recently disclosed...

BACKGROUND: To prevent infectious complications after transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-PB), some studies have investigated the efficacy of rectal disinfection using povidone-iodine (PI) and antibiotic prophylaxis (AP). OBJECTIVE: To summarize available data and compare the efficacy of rectal disinfection using PI with non-PI methods prior to TRUS-PB. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Three databases were queried through November 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) analyzing patients who underwent TRUS-PB...

OBJECTIVES: Confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) is an optical method that enables microscopic visualization of oral mucosa. Previous studies have shown that it is possible to differentiate between physiological and malignant oral mucosa. However, differences in mucosal architecture were not taken into account. The objective was to map the different oral mucosal morphologies and to establish a "CLE map" of physiological mucosa as baseline for further application of this powerful technology...

BACKGROUND: Robotic-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) offers decreased blood loss during surgery, shorter hospital length of stay, and lower risk for thromboembolic events without hindering oncological outcomes. Cutaneous ureterostomies (UCS) are a seldom utilized diversion that can be a suitable alternative for a selected group of patients with competing co-morbidities and limited life expectancy. OBJECTIVE: To describe operative and perioperative characteristics as well as oncological outcomes for patients that underwent RARC + UCS...

OBJECTIVE: BRCA1/2 are integral to the DNA repair mechanism and their germline pathogenic variants (gBRCA) result in a high risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer. Patients with gBRCA mutations showed increased sensitivity to DNA cross-linking agent but might have increased treatment-related toxicities. Thus, we hypothesized that gBRCA mutation ovarian cancer patients who underwent platinum-based chemotherapy might be at higher risk of developing chemotherapy-induced hematologic toxicity...

PURPOSE: The overall survival rate for metastatic osteosarcoma hovers around 20%. Responses to second-line chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies have demonstrated limited efficacy in metastatic osteosarcoma. Our objective is to validate differentially expressed genes and signaling pathways between non-metastatic and metastatic osteosarcoma, employing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and additional functional investigations. We aim to enhance comprehension of metastatic mechanisms and potentially unveil a therapeutic target...

PURPOSE: Chordomas are malignant tumors that destroy bones, compress surrounding nerve tissues and exhibit phenotypes that recapitulate notochordal differentiation in the axial skeleton. Chordomas recur frequently, as they resist radio-chemotherapy and are difficult to completely resect, leading to repeated bone destruction and local expansion via unknown mechanisms. Here, using chordoma specimens and JHC7 chordoma cells, we asked whether chordoma cells possess bone-dissolving activity...

The rising costs of cancer care and subsequent medical financial hardship for cancer survivors and families are well documented in the United States. Less attention has been paid to employment disruptions and loss of household income after a cancer diagnosis and during treatment, potentially resulting in lasting financial hardship, particularly for working-age adults not yet age-eligible for Medicare coverage and their families. In this article, the authors use a composite patient case to illustrate the adverse consequences of cancer diagnosis and treatment for employment, health insurance coverage, household income, and other aspects of financial hardship...

We tried to elucidate the possible roles of maternal embryonic leucine pull chain kinase (MELK) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) growth and metastasis. Differentially expressed genes in LUAD samples were analysed by the GEPIA database. Clinical tissue samples and cells were collected for MELK, EZH2 and LATS2 expression determination. Co-IP assay was used to verify the interaction between EZH2 and MELK; CHX tracking assay and ubiquitination assay detected the degradation of MELK on EZH2 ubiquitination. ChIP assay detected the enrichment of EZH2 and H3K27me3 on the LATS2 promoter region...

Management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains challenging due to population growth, frequent recurrence and drug resistance. Targeting of genes involved with the ferroptosis is a promising alternative treatment strategy for HCC. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) against HCC and explore the underlying mechanisms. The effects of DHA on induction of ferroptosis were investigated with the measurement of malondialdehyde concentrations, oxidised C11 BODIPY 581/591 staining, as well as subcutaneous xenograft experiments...

Plant-derived immunomodulators and antitumor factors have appealed lots of attention from natural product scientists for their efficiency and safety and their important contribution to well-designed targeted drug action and delivery mechanisms. Zerumbone (ZER), the chief component of Zingiber zerumbet rhizomes, has been examined for its wide-spectrum in the treatment of multi-targeted diseases. The rhizomes have been used as food flavoring agents in numerous cuisines and in flora medication. Numerous in vivo and in vitro experiments have prepared confirmation of ZER as a potent immunomodulator as well as a potential anti-tumor agent...