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Objective To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 47 young NSCLC patients mutation style of EGFR and PD-L1 expression in tumor cells, to understand their clinicopathological and molecular characteristics. Methods We enrolled 47 young (≤40 years old) patients confirmed as NSCLC who underwent surgical resection, and 94 old patients (≥60 years old) were matched as 1:2 by R language. EGFR mutation status was detected by ARMS-PCR, and the expression of PD-L1 was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results The median age of 47 young patients with NSCLC was 37 years old. The disease was more common in women and the majority type was adenocarcinoma. In youth group, the 19del and 20ins were more frequent, but the exon 21 L858R point mutation proportion was higher in elder group. The expression of PD-L1 was significantly increased in the solid predominant histological subtype. The PD-L1 expression in 19del patients was higher than that in the patients with L858R mutation in youth group. Conclusion The majority of young NSCLC patients are female, nonsmokers and suffered from adenocarcinoma cancer. The proportion of EGFR alteration in 19del and 20ins in youth group is higher than that in elder group. The positive rate of PD-L1 expression in solid predominant histological subtype is higher than that with other subtypes. The expression of PD-L1 in young patients with EGFR 19del is higher than that with L858R.
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BACKGROUND@#Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterized by rapid growth, early metastasis and acquired therapeutic resistance, and the prognosis is extremely poor. Studies have proved that the stem cell marker CD44 is correlated with tumor recurrence and treatment resistance, however, there are limited reports yet concerning on the CD44 expression and its clinical prognostic significance in SCLC patients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of CD44 in tumor tissues as well as serum of SCLC patients and explore its correlation with the clinical characteristics, therapeutic effect and prognosis.@*METHODS@#The tumor tissues and serum samples of 47 newly diagnosed SCLC patients were collected. Immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were applied to detect CD44. The relationship between CD44 level and the clinical characteristics as well as prognosis of the patients was analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The stem cell marker CD44 was detectable both in serum sample and tumor tissue of SCLC patients. The positive rate of CD44 in tumor tissue was significantly higher in patients with performance status (PS) 2 than that of patients with PS 0-1 (85.71% vs 30%, P=0.017). Patients were divided in to different groups according to the treatment efficacy. The CD44 immunohistochemical score and serum level in the disease progression group were significantly higher than those in the disease control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.006, P=0.034), Univariate analysis depicted that the progression-free survival (PFS) of CD44 positive patients was significantly shorter than that of CD44 negative patients (5.23 mon vs 9.03 mon, P=0.036).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The positive expression of CD44 in tumor tissues of pre-treatment SCLC patients is correlated with poor PFS. The clinical significance of CD44 is worthy to be further studied.
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BACKGROUND@#In recent years, a number of clinical trials have shown that immunocheckpoint inhibitors (ICI) have brought survival benefits to patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however, such clinical trials comprise cohorts selected based on strict and complex entry and exclusion criteria, and the results cannot fully reflect the real world situation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in the real world, as well as possible prognostic factors.@*METHODS@#Patients with advanced NSCLC receiving immunotherapy in Beijing Chest Hospital from January 2017 to July 2019 were retrospectively collected, and the following information were collected: curative effect, progression-free surival (PFS) and adverse reactions. The occurrence of adverse reactions and clinical curative effect and prognosis factors that may be relevant were explored.@*RESULTS@#34 patients were enrolled in this study, median PFS was 5.66 months (95%CI: 4.48-6.84), grade 1-2 and 3-4 incidence of adverse events was 61.71% (22/34) and 14.71% (5/34), there were 3 patients (8.82%) experienced fatal immune related adverse events (irAE), 2 cases were immune associated pneumonia, 1 case was immune related myocarditis. Univariate analysis showed that tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and metastatic site were correlated with median PFS (P<0.05), and multivariate analysis showed that patients with extrapulmonary metastasis (OR=6.42, P=0.029) and pleural metastasis (OR=14.14, P=0.006) had shorter median PFS.@*CONCLUSIONS@#In the real world, immunotherapy has good efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC, but the incidence of severe irAE is also higher. Distant metastasis and pleural metastasis are poor prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC patients receiving immunotherapy.
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Objective: To observe the efficacy and safety of analgesic drugs in the standardized treatment of cancer pain patients at the pain clinic. Methods: The data of 787 cancer pain patients and their corresponding prescriptions for cancer pain were collected from April, 2012 to April, 2013 at the pain clinic. The obtained information comprise of diseases that lead to cancer pain, cause of pain, pain intensity, and efficacy and side effects of medications. Diseases that caused cancer pain include 658 cases with primary malignant lung cancer. Results: Pain was mainly caused by primary lung cancer in 787 cancer-related patients. An analgesic drug, namely, oxycodone hydrochloride, was administered in 54.6% via single drug therapy. The daily dosage range of this drug was 20 to 90 mg/d in 280 cases. About 35.6% of the studied patients with a daily dosage of 90 mg/d or lower had their pain effectively managed. After the treatment, the number of cases with moderate to severe pain was reduced from 437 (55.5%) to 248 (31.5%). The oral administration of opioid oxycodone hydrochloride tablets ranked first among the prescribed drugs for cancer pain, and single-drug therapy was the choice of medication. The majority of patients had satisfactory pain-relief with a daily dosage of less than 90 mg/d upon the administration of oxycodone hydrochloride sustained-release tablets and morphine sulfate controlled-release tablets. Side effects included mild constipation, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, urinary retention, somnolence, and so on. Intervention treatment was needed in most of the patients. Conclusion: Pain clinic is critical in the administration of standardized treatment for cancer pain in hospitals. The establishment of pain clinic ensures the standardized treatment of cancer pain.
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<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Topotecan is one of active agents for relapsed small cell lung can-cer (SCLC), some studies have shown that it is effective against SCLC as the first-line drug. This study is to assess the efficacy, toxicity and survival rate of topotecan plus cisplatin (TP) versus etoposide plus carboplatin (CE) in patients with previously untreated SCLC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-four patients with previously untreated SCLC were randomly assigned to receive either TP or CE. Topotecan 0.75 mg/(m²×d) via a 30-min intravenous infusion on days 1 to 5 and cisplatin 25 mg/(m²×d) on days 1 to 3 with hydration were given to patients in TP group. Carboplatin 300 mg/m² on day 1 and etoposide 100 mg/d on days 1 to 5 were given to patients in CE group. Treatment was repeated every 21 days. Responses and toxicities were evaluated in patients who received two cycles of chemotherapy. Patients with limited disease SCLC received thoracic irradiation or operation after the completion of chemotherapy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Overall response rate was 75.0% in TP group and 68.8% in CE group. The median survival time was 10.5 months in TP group and 9.6 months in CE group. 1-, 2- and 3-year survival rate were 40.6%, 18.8% and 9.4% in TP group and 34.4%, 15.6% and 9.4% in CE group respectively. There were no significant differences in response rate, median survival time and survival rate between two groups (P > 0.05). Myelosuppression, nausea and vomiting, and alopecia were the most common toxicities, there was no significant difference in grade III and IV toxicities between two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>TP has similar response rate and survivals with CE, and its toxicities are acceptable. TP regimen is an effective first-line treatment for SCLC.</p>
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<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of combined chemotherapy of domestic paclitaxel and vinorelbine plus cisplatin and carboplatin in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 181 initially treated patients with advanced NSCLC were enrolled in this study and treated by NP (vinorelbine plus cisplatin), TC (domestic paclitaxel plus carboplatin) and TP (domestic paclitaxel plus cisplatin). The efficacy and side effects were analysed after at least two cycles of chemotherapy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The overall response rates (CR+PR) were 42.4% in the NP arm, 40.3% in the TC arm and 43.3% in the TP arm respectively. No significant statistical difference was found among the three groups ( Chi-square= 0.108 6 , P > 0.05). The median survival times were 8.4 months, 9.4 months and 8.9 months respectively in the NP, TC and TP groups ( P > 0.05). The 1-, 2-, 3-year survival rates were 39.0%, 16.9%, 5.1% in the NP group and 41.9%, 21.0%, 6.5% in the TC group and 40.0%, 18.3%, 5.0% in the TP group respectively. No significant statistical difference was found among the three groups ( Chi-square=0.140 4, P > 0.05). The major side effects were myelosuppression, alopecia and nausea/vomiting in the three groups. There were no chemotherapy-related death among the three groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The combined regimens of NP, TC and TP are effective and well-tolerated regimens for advanced NSCLC.</p>