ABSTRACT
Currently, data that supports the clinical benefit of agents targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in the therapy of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histologic version of the lung cancer (LC) is insufficient. In the following report we present the case of a patient treated with erlotinib for SCC NSCLC. At the time of initiation, there were no available guidelines recommendations regarding the EGFR status in for initiation of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) therapy for NSCLC, thus the sample was never tested for the EGFR mutational status. Not widely used in the treatment of SCC, EGFR-TKIs remain a valid therapeutic option in selected groups of patients.
ABSTRACT
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) belong to a group of cancers called soft-tissue sarcomas. Soft-tissue sarcomas develop in the tissues that support and connect the body, including muscles, nerves, tendons and joints. In this paper we report a case of 67-years old man with unresectable GIST and associated liver metastasis who experienced a very good response to Imatinib mesylate (Glivec®) therapy in first line for over 10 years. Even after progression and discovery of liver metastasis, increasing the Glivec® dose proved to be an efficient strategy with no added toxicity and an overall satisfactory quality of life.
ABSTRACT
The best known functions of ß-arrestins (ß-arr) are to regulate G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) signaling through receptor desensitization and internalization. Many reports also suggest that ß-arrs play important role in immune regulation and inflammatory responses, under physiological and pathological conditions. Recent studies have shown that ß-arr 1 silencing halts proliferation and increases temozolomide (TMZ) response in glioblastoma (GBM) cells. The focus of this paper is to analyze the role of ß-arr 1 overexpression in the 18 high grade glioma (HGG) cell line in terms of viability and their response to TMZ treatment. For this reason, the cell line was transfected with ß-arr 1 and the effect was analyzed after 24 h, 48 h and 72 h in terms of proliferation and treatment response. We observed that ß-arr 1 overexpression induced a time and dose dependant inhibition in the HGG cells. Unexpectedly, ß-arr transfection resulted in a very mild increase in TMZ toxicity after 24 h, becoming non-statistically significant at 72 h. In conclusion, we showed that ß-arr 1 overexpression inhibits cell proliferation in the 18 cell line but only has a very modest effect on treatment response with the alkylating agent TMZ.
Subject(s)
Cell Death/genetics , Glioma/therapy , Transfection , beta-Arrestin 1/genetics , beta-Arrestin 1/metabolism , Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating/pharmacology , Cell Death/drug effects , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Cell Survival/drug effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor , Glioma/metabolism , Glioma/pathology , Humans , Structure-Activity Relationship , Temozolomide/pharmacology , Tumor Cells, CulturedABSTRACT
In recent years, immunotherapy has raised the interest of many studies and provided different perspectives for the therapeutic management of high grade glioma. Our meta-analysis focused on the effectiveness of dendritic cell (DC) therapy and viral therapy (VT) in clinical trials. Fourteen eligible studies have been evaluated and the results suggest the improvement of both OS (HR = 0.65) (p < 0.0001) and PFS (HR = 0.59) (p = 0.01) for patients receiving DC therapy. The data for VT showed a slight improvement in terms of OS (HR = 0.81), while PFS was similar to the control arms (HR = 1.06) (p = 0.41).
