Loneliness, spiritual well-being, and death perception, as well as their risk factors in urological cancer patients

Cancer patients commonly suffer from loneliness, poor spiritual status, and fear of death; however, these evaluations are rarely revealed in urological cancer patients. Thus, this study aimed to assess the loneliness, spiritual well-being, and death perception, as well as their risk factors in urological cancer patients. A total of 324 urological (including renal, bladder, and prostate) cancer patients and 100 healthy controls were included. The University of California and Los Angeles loneliness scale (UCLA-LS), functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-spiritual well-being (FACIT-Sp), and death attitude profile-revised (DAP-R) scores were evaluated. The results showed that the UCLA-LS score was higher, but the FACIT-Sp score was lower in urological cancer patients than in healthy controls. According to the DAP-R score, fear of death, death avoidance, and approaching death acceptance were elevated, but neutral acceptance was lower in urological cancer patients than in healthy controls. Among urological cancer patients, the UCLA-LS score was highest but the FACIT-Sp score was lowest in bladder cancer patients; regarding the DAP-R score, fear of death and death avoidance were highest, but approaching death acceptance was lowest in bladder cancer patients. Interestingly, single/divorced/widowed status, bladder cancer diagnosis, higher pathological grade, surgery, systemic treatment, and local treatment were independent factors for higher UCLA-LS score or lower FACIT-Sp score. In conclusion, urological cancer (especially bladder cancer) patients bear increased loneliness and reduced spiritual well-being; they also carry higher fear of death, death avoidance, and approaching death acceptance but lower neutral acceptance of death.

Research progress in the relationship between deubiquitinase OTUB1 and urological cancer / 国际生物医学工程杂志

Ovarian tumor-associated protease B1(OTUB1) is a member of the deubiquitinase family. Its highly specific recognition and cleavage function of polyubiquitinated chains has attracted widespread attention, and it can regulate a variety of important signaling pathways, such as the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway, the MAPK signaling pathway, and the p53-related signaling pathway. In recent years, it has gradually become a new direction of oncology research. More and more studies have proved that OTUB1 is closely related to various tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. It regulates the occurrence, development, and prognosis of tumors. OTUB1 could be a potential treatment for tumors. Urinary tract tumors mainly include prostate cancer, bladder cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. In this review, the research progress on the correlation between OTUB1 and urological tumors was reviewed, including its important role in the occurrence and development of urological tumors and the possibility of treating urological tumors with OTUB1.

The Systematic Review of the Efficacy and Safety of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor in Urological Cancers

To systematically review relevant literature on efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with advanced and metastatic urothelial cell cancer (UCC), renal cell cancer (RCC), and prostate cancer. In platinum pretreated UCC, efficacy of pembrolizumab was superior to chemotherapy, with longer median overall survival (OS; 10.3 months vs. 7.4 months), a higher objective response rate (ORR; 21.1% vs. 11.4%, p=0.001), and a lower adverse event rate (60.9% vs. 90.2%). Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessed the safety and efficacy of nivolumab in advanced RCC. The median OS (25.0 months vs. 19.6 months) and the ORR (25% vs. 5%) were higher in patients treated with nivolumab compared with second-line everolimus. In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, 2 RCTs were identified, which did not show significant benefits for ipilimumab over placebo. In UCC and RCC, there was no conclusive association between programmed cell death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor tissue and clinical outcome during pembrolizumab and nivolumab treatment, respectively. Therefore, in metastatic UCC and RCC, pembrolizumab and nivolumab have superior efficacy and safety to second-line chemotherapy and everolimus, respectively. No beneficial effect of ipilimumab was observed in prostate cancer patients. PD-L1 expression status is currently not suitable as a predictive marker for treatment outcome.

Tumores urológicos no Brasil / Urologic tumor in Brazil

Tumores urológicos pertencem a um grupo heterogêneo de doenças, com ênfase de incidência no Brasil, em câncer de próstata e bexiga urinária.Triagem para câncer de próstata é assunto controverso de numerosos estudos e melhor compreensão do diagnóstico e inovações no tratamento visam a melhores resultados e, especialmente, com menos efeitos adversos.Apesar da menor incidência de câncer de rim, é notável por sua agressividade e revelam a importância do diagnóstico precoce com a abordagem cirúrgica predominante.Reconhecemos o importante fator de risco do tabagismo sobre o câncer da bexiga urinária que quadruplica a sua presença em relação à população de não fumantes que justificam o atual aumento da incidência em mulheres.O câncer de testículo representa apenas 1,5% das neoplasias malignas em homens e é caracterizado pela possibilidade de afetar adultos jovens com altas taxas de cura quando realizado o tratamento precoce.Câncer de pênis é uma doença rara que afeta os homens principalmente no Norte e Nordeste do Brasil, relacionando com fatores de risco de fimose e infectados com o papilomavírus humano (HPV).

Esfingosina-1-fosfato y cánceres urológicos: identificando potenciales blancos terapéuticos en su etabolismo y señalización / Sphingosine-1-phosphate and urological cancers: identifying potential therapeutic targets in its metabolism and signalling

Los lípidos no sólo son moléculas estructurales de las membranas. Hay numerosos ejemplos de lípidos que median acciones fisiológicas dentro de las células. Específicamente, esfingolípidos como ceramida, esfingosina y esfingosina-1-fosfato (S1P) han sido involucrados en el control del crecimiento celular, la proliferación y la migración, todo lo cual se ha relacionado con el cáncer.Los efectos pro-apoptóticos de la ceramida y la esfingosina son revertidos por S1P. Por lo tanto, el destino de la célula puede ser modulada mediante el cambio de la proporción de estos esfingolípidos (el modelo reóstato). S1P promueve la proliferación celular, el crecimiento, la supervivencia, la migración, invasión y resistencia fármacos y radiación, en parte a través de receptores de membrana (S1PR1-5). La sobreexpresión de enzimas productoras de S1P y el aumento de los niveles de S1P se ha descrito en muchos tipos de cáncer, incluyendo cánceres urológicos. Por lo tanto, se pueden identificar posibles objetivos terapéuticos en el metabolismo y las vías de señalización de los esfingolípidos, cuya relevancia clínica debe ser determinada en futuros estudios.

Lipids are not only structural molecules of the membranes. There are numerous examples of lipids mediating physiologic actions within the cells. Specifically, sphingolipids like ceramide, sphingosine and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) have been described to be involved in the control of cell growth, proliferation and migration, all of which has been linked to cancer. The pro-apoptotic effects of ceramide and sphingosine are opposed by S1P. Therefore, the fate of the cell can be modulated by changing the ratio of these sphingolipids (the rheostat model). S1P promotes cell proliferation, growth, survival, migration, invasion and resistance to drugs and radiation, in part mediated by S1P membrane receptors (S1PR1-5). Overexpression of S1P producing enzymes and increased S1P levels has been described in many cancers, including urological cancers. Therefore, potential therapeutic targets can be recognized in the metabolism and signaling pathways of sphingolipids and their clinical relevance have to be determined in future studies.

Telomerase and urological cancer

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme. Which is responsible for catalyst for increasing chains of telomere and limitation of shortening the chromosome terminal head. Telomerase has activity for the primary cells but inhibited differentiate cells. Telomerase was considered most significantly as a marker of cancer because 90% of cancer cells in human had positive telomerase. The telomerase was used to early diagnose and monitor as well as predict outcome. The antitelomerase therapy was a proper method to prevent relapsed cancer after the traditional treatments

Telomerase and urological cancer

Currently, the telomerase is being considered as a marker of cancer because 90% of cancer cells in human have positive telomerase. The telomarase used to early diagnose, monitor and predict after the treatment. In addition to, telomerase also is objective of many researches to treat the cancer. It had better combine the anti telomerase and chemotherapy