NOTCH Signaling in Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Biological and Clinical Implications.

Despite major progress in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) therapeutics, MCL remains a deadly disease with a median survival not exceeding four years. No single driver genetic lesion has been described to solely give rise to MCL. The hallmark translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) requires additional genetic alterations for the malignant transformation. A short list of recurrently mutated genes including ATM, CCND1, UBR5, TP53, BIRC3, NOTCH1, NOTCH2, and TRAF2 recently emerged as contributors to the pathogenesis of MCL. Notably, NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 were found to be mutated in multiple B cell lymphomas, including 5-10% of MCL, with most of these mutations occurring within the PEST domain of the protein. The NOTCH genes play a critical role in the early and late phases of normal B cell differentiation. In MCL, mutations in the PEST domain stabilize NOTCH proteins, rendering them resistant to degradation, which subsequently results in the upregulation of genes involved in angiogenesis, cell cycle progression, and cell migration and adhesion. At the clinical level, mutated NOTCH genes are associated with aggressive features in MCL, such as the blastoid and pleomorphic variants, a shorter response to treatment, and inferior survival. In this article, we explore in detail the role of NOTCH signaling in MCL biology and the ongoing efforts toward targeted therapeutic interventions.

Difference of environment behind research and clinical practice between USA and Japan.

Recent studies have demonstrated that there are differences among races in efficacy, tolerance and other outcomes in oncologic care. Some of these differences may be explained by different pharmacogenetics; however, social and environmental factors that can affect oncology practice are relatively underestimated. In this review we will focus on differences in environment, education and research between Japan and the US when it comes to lung cancer clinical practice. Such social differences seem to derive from historical reasons and continue to influence clinicians and researchers who manage lung cancer. Understanding the differences might help us conduct collaborative research in the future.

An Overview of Lung and Breast Cancer Using the National Cancer Database.

INTRODUCTION: The National Cancer Database (NCDB) is a clinical oncology database utilized by many researchers and clinicians internationally. We sought to investigate the various trends in data of two of the most common cancers, breast and lung, published using the NCDB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected a multitude of pre-determined variables for analysis. We then performed two separate literature searches using an advanced PubMed search builder, and the data was combined to determine each variables' association with journal impact factor (IF) using both univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: A total of 191 published studies were identified. We found that a journal IF > 5 was associated with a publication year prior to 2017 (univariate analysis OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.38-5.21, p-value 0.004 and multivariate analysis OR 3.47, 95% CI 1.62-7.42, p-value 0.001) and a sample size > 10,000 (univariate analysis OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.43-7.50, p-value 0.005 and multivariate analysis OR 4.68, 95% CI 1.89-11.6, p-value 0.0008). Variables such as number of authors, region, cancer type, stage, treatment outcome and treatment incidence were not significant for an association with an IF >5. CONCLUSION: Based on our data, studies published after 2017 using the NCDB were associated with a lower IF. This could suggest that the quality of the NCDB data may be declining over time, or NCDB is becoming more widely used.
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