Tumor, Patient, and Social Determinants of Health Affecting Survival in Patients With Anal Cancer Treated By Chemoradiation.

PURPOSE: Anal cancer (AC) is a rare disease with scarce evidence from developing countries. We performed a population-based cohort study to investigate the relationship between tumor, patient, and social determinants of health with treatment outcomes of AC treated by chemoradiation (CRT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients who received a diagnosis of AC from 1999 to 2020 were identified from the Fundação Oncocentro de São Paulo database. Only patients with AC stage I-III treated by CRT were included. Age, sex, tumor category (T), nodal category (N), education level, practice setting, time to radiation therapy, histology, and treatment local data were extracted. With the Cox proportional hazard model, the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to test the relationship between tumor, patient, and social factors with overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). RESULTS: With 1462 patients assessed, the median follow-up was 72 months, and the OS and CSS at 5/10 years were 61%/46% and 67%/60%, respectively. In the univariate analysis, T category, N category, sex, practice setting, and education level were associated with OS and CSS (P < .05). In the multivariate analysis, female sex, T1/2 category, N0 category, and private service were independently associated with OS (P < .05). For CSS, female sex, T1/2 category, private service, and N0 category remained significant (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: CRT produced satisfactory rates of OS and CSS in patients with AC, with tumor, patient, and social determinants of health influencing the outcomes. These data could help mitigate the effects of social distortions on the survival of AC.

Brazilian Group of Gastrointestinal Tumours' consensus guidelines for the management of oesophageal cancer.

Oesophageal cancer is among the ten most common types of cancer worldwide. More than 80% of the cases and deaths related to the disease occur in developing countries. Local socio-economic, epidemiologic and healthcare particularities led us to create a Brazilian guideline for the management of oesophageal and oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) carcinomas. The Brazilian Group of Gastrointestinal Tumours invited 50 physicians with different backgrounds, including radiology, pathology, endoscopy, nuclear medicine, genetics, oncological surgery, radiotherapy and clinical oncology, to collaborate. This document was prepared based on an extensive review of topics related to heredity, diagnosis, staging, pathology, endoscopy, surgery, radiation, systemic therapy (including checkpoint inhibitors) and follow-up, which was followed by presentation, discussion and voting by the panel members. It provides updated evidence-based recommendations to guide clinical management of oesophageal and OGJ carcinomas in several scenarios and clinical settings.

Trametinib and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) Combination Treatment in KRAS-Mutated Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Detailed Description of Two Cases.

PURPOSE: Over the last decades, cytotoxic chemotherapy has been the cornerstone of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma treatment. In late-stage disease, a range of treatment regimens still offers minor benefits. Molecular profiling studies have shown that pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a mutation-driven tumor type, with KRAS mutations found in approximately 90% of cases, which could partially explain the resistance to chemotherapy. Preclinical data on selective targeting of a downstream point of the RAF-MEK-ERK pathway with a MEK inhibitor along with the concurrent use of an autophagy inhibitor such as hydroxychloroquine appears to be one alternative approach to overcome resistance and inhibit cell proliferation. METHODS: We herein aim to investigate the rationale of autophagy inhibitors use and describe the outcomes of patients who received this experimental treatment. RESULTS: Two patients have received this experimental regimen from January 2020 to the present date, achieving disease stabilization that is clinically meaningful, considering the chemoresistance scenario of the included patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our real-life data regarding KRAS-mutated PDAC patients who received treatment with the MEK inhibitor trametinib combined with hydroxychloroquine after experiencing disease progression are consistent with the preclinical data, pointing to the clinical benefits of this regimen.

Brazilian Group of Gastrointestinal Tumours' consensus guidelines for the management of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is among the ten most common types of cancer worldwide. Most cases and deaths related to the disease occur in developing countries. Local socio-economic, epidemiologic and healthcare particularities led us to create a Brazilian guideline for the management of gastric carcinomas. The Brazilian Group of Gastrointestinal Tumors (GTG) invited 50 physicians with different backgrounds, including radiology, pathology, endoscopy, nuclear medicine, genetics, oncological surgery, radiotherapy and clinical oncology, to collaborate. This document was prepared based on an extensive review of topics related to heredity, diagnosis, staging, pathology, endoscopy, surgery, radiation, systemic therapy and follow-up, which was followed by presentation, discussion, and voting by the panel members. It provides updated evidence-based recommendations to guide clinical management of gastric carcinomas in several scenarios and clinical settings.

Second-Line Treatment for Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Is There a Role for Gemcitabine?

PURPOSE: Advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) is an aggressive disease that has poor prognosis and frequently interferes with patient's quality of life. There has been progress in first-line regimens; however, there is no standard second-line regimen. The aim of this study is to analyze second-line gemcitabine after first-line fluorouracil (FU) + leucovorin (LV) + irinotecan + oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) regimen. METHODS: This study included consecutive patients with advanced PA treated at Hospital Sirio-Libanês from 2011 to 2016. The patients received FOLFIRINOX as first-line treatment and upon progression, received gemcitabine alone. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: A total of 54 patients were evaluated. Most patients were male (61.1%) and most had an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 prior to the beginning of second-line treatment (66.6%). The mean number of gemcitabine cycles was 3.4. Most patients had disease progression as the best response to treatment (75.9%), 11.1% had stable disease, and 9.3% experienced a partial response. The median progression-free survival was 1.7 months, and the median overall survival was 6.8 months. CONCLUSIONS: Gemcitabine alone did not show meaningful clinical benefit as second-line treatment after FOLFIRINOX.

Clinical benefit and radiological response with BRAF inhibitor in a patient with recurrent ameloblastoma harboring V600E mutation.

BACKGROUND: Ameloblastoma is a slow-growing neoplasm of the jaw, for which the standard treatment is surgical removal of the lesion with high recurrence rates and elevated morbidity. Systemic therapy is not established in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of a 29-year-old woman diagnosed with an ameloblastoma of the left mandible who had been subjected to several surgical procedures over twenty years due to multiple local recurrences. Molecular testing revealed a BRAF V600E mutation, and vemurafenib was started. She experienced complete resolution of symptoms related to the disease, and image scans evidenced continuous shrinkage of the neoplastic lesion after eleven months of therapy. CONCLUSION: This is the first report showing clinical benefit and radiological response with vemrafenib for recurrent ameloblastoma. Targeted therapy addressing BRAF V600E mutation has the potential to change clinical practice of this rare disease.

Treatment of advanced melanoma - A changing landscape.

Following decades of relative ostracism, advances in the treatment of melanoma have brought a new reality for patients, physicians and researchers. While antibodies targeting molecules involved in the modulation of the interaction between melanoma and immune cells changed the meaning of the term "cancer immunotherapy," a better characterization of the molecular aberrations involved in melanoma carcinogenesis prompted the development of inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) that also led to significant improvements both in response rates and survival. As a result, new drugs have been approved for clinical use in the United States and Europe, including the immune-checkpoint blockers ipilmumab, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, the oncolytic herpesvirus talimogene laherparepvec, and the targeted-agents vemurafenib, dabrafenib, cobimetinib and trametinib. In this article, we review the results of studies that brought new approaches to the bedside and discuss how these developments are being incorporated into the care of patients in Brazil.

Next-generation Sequencing-based genomic profiling: Fostering innovation in cancer care?

OBJECTIVES: With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, DNA sequencing has been increasingly utilized in clinical practice. Our goal was to investigate the impact of genomic evaluation on treatment decisions for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic cancer. METHODS: We analyzed metastatic cancer patients from a single institution whose cancers had progressed after all available standard-of-care therapies and whose tumors underwent next-generation sequencing analysis. We determined the percentage of patients who received any therapy directed by the test, and its efficacy. RESULTS: From July 2013 to December 2015, 185 consecutive patients were tested using a commercially available next-generation sequencing-based test, and 157 patients were eligible. Sixty-six patients (42.0%) were female, and 91 (58.0%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 52.2 years, and the mean number of pre-test lines of systemic treatment was 2.7. One hundred and seventy-seven patients (95.6%) had at least one identified gene alteration. Twenty-four patients (15.2%) underwent systemic treatment directed by the test result. Of these, one patient had a complete response, four (16.7%) had partial responses, two (8.3%) had stable disease, and 17 (70.8%) had disease progression as the best result. The median progression-free survival time with matched therapy was 1.6 months, and the median overall survival was 10 months. CONCLUSION: We identified a high prevalence of gene alterations using an next-generation sequencing test. Although some benefit was associated with the matched therapy, most of the patients had disease progression as the best response, indicating the limited biological potential and unclear clinical relevance of this practice.

Next-generation Sequencing-based genomic profiling: Fostering innovation in cancer care?

OBJECTIVES: With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, DNA sequencing has been increasingly utilized in clinical practice. Our goal was to investigate the impact of genomic evaluation on treatment decisions for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic cancer. METHODS: We analyzed metastatic cancer patients from a single institution whose cancers had progressed after all available standard-of-care therapies and whose tumors underwent next-generation sequencing analysis. We determined the percentage of patients who received any therapy directed by the test, and its efficacy. RESULTS: From July 2013 to December 2015, 185 consecutive patients were tested using a commercially available next-generation sequencing-based test, and 157 patients were eligible. Sixty-six patients (42.0%) were female, and 91 (58.0%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 52.2 years, and the mean number of pre-test lines of systemic treatment was 2.7. One hundred and seventy-seven patients (95.6%) had at least one identified gene alteration. Twenty-four patients (15.2%) underwent systemic treatment directed by the test result. Of these, one patient had a complete response, four (16.7%) had partial responses, two (8.3%) had stable disease, and 17 (70.8%) had disease progression as the best result. The median progression-free survival time with matched therapy was 1.6 months, and the median overall survival was 10 months. CONCLUSION: We identified a high prevalence of gene alterations using an next-generation sequencing test. Although some benefit was associated with the matched therapy, most of the patients had disease progression as the best response, indicating the limited biological potential and unclear clinical relevance of this practice.

Treatment of advanced melanoma - A changing landscape / Tratamento de melanoma avançado - Um panorama em transformação

Summary Following decades of relative ostracism, advances in the treatment of melanoma have brought a new reality for patients, physicians and researchers. While antibodies targeting molecules involved in the modulation of the interaction between melanoma and immune cells changed the meaning of the term "cancer immunotherapy," a better characterization of the molecular aberrations involved in melanoma carcinogenesis prompted the development of inhibitors of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) that also led to significant improvements both in response rates and survival. As a result, new drugs have been approved for clinical use in the United States and Europe, including the immune-checkpoint blockers ipilmumab, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, the oncolytic herpesvirus talimogene laherparepvec, and the targeted-agents vemurafenib, dabrafenib, cobimetinib and trametinib. In this article, we review the results of studies that brought new approaches to the bedside and discuss how these developments are being incorporated into the care of patients in Brazil.

Resumo Após décadas de ostracismo, os recentes avanços no tratamento do melanoma trouxeram uma nova realidade para pacientes, médicos e pesquisadores. Enquanto anticorpos monoclonais voltados a moléculas envolvidas na modulação da interação entre células do melanoma e do sistema imune consolidaram o uso da "imunoterapia", um melhor conhecimento acerca das aberrações genômicas envolvidas na carcinogênese do melanoma viabilizaram o desenvolvimento de inibidores da via mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK), o que também resultou em ganhos significativos em taxas de resposta e sobrevida. Consequentemente, novas modalidades de tratamento foram aprovadas para uso clínico nos Estados Unidos e na Europa, incluindo os bloqueadores de correceptores imunes ipilimumabe, nivolumabe e pembrolizumabe, o herpesvírus oncolítico talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), e os agentes-alvo vemurafenibe, dabrafenibe, cobimetinibe e trametinibe. Nesse artigo, revisamos os resultados que trouxeram novas alternativas para a prática clínica e discutimos a incorporação desses avanços ao cuidado de pacientes no Brasil.

Dilatação idiopática do átrio direito: relato de caso e revisão de literatura / Idiopathic enlargement of the right atrium: case report and literature review

Relatamos caso de paciente, apresentando dilatação aneurismática do átrio direito sem a presença de outras cardiopatias estruturais. Essa é uma entidade clínica rara, cujo prognóstico depende do diagnóstico precoce da doença.

Ácaros da poeira domiciliar: correlação entre as espécies e a doença alérgica / Mites in the house dust: correlation between species and allergic disease

Os ácaros são considerados a maior fonte de alérgenos inalantes envolvidos em doenças alérgicas respiratórias. Com o objetivo de correlacionar os ácaros mais prevalentes na poeira domiciliar aos agentes etiológicos mais comuns da população atópica, realizamos um estudo randomizado, prospectivo e pioneiro no município de Bragança Paulista, entre abril de 1998 e setembro de 1999. Nas amostras de poeira encontramos as espécies D. pteronyssinus (55,36 por cento), família Tarsonemidae (16,96 por cento) e B. tropicalis (12,80 por cento). Dos 90 voluntários testados com o prick teste encontramos 71 por cento de positividade aos alérgenos poeira doméstica (60 por cento), D. pteronyssinus (56,70 por cento) e B. tropicalis (51,10 por cento). A família Tarsonemidae assume um lugar de destaque entre as espécies encontradas, fato incomum na bibliografia pesquisada