Effect of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha expression on survival in patients with metastatic cervical squamous cell carcinoma treated with first-line chemotherapy and bevacizumab.

This study addresses the gap in understanding the prognostic relevance of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) expression in metastatic cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients undergoing anti-vascular endothelial growth factor-based therapy. A retrospective multicenter study (n = 34) explored HIF-1 alpha expression via immunohistochemistry in patients treated with platinum chemotherapy and bevacizumab. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly lower in the HIF-1 alpha low score group compared to the high score group (4.9 vs 12.9 months, P = 0.014). Similarly, the median overall survival (OS) was significantly reduced in the HIF-1 alpha low score group (8.3 vs 20.4 months, P = 0.006). This study, the first of its kind, highlights the prognostic significance of HIF-1 alpha expression in metastatic cervical SCC patients treated with bevacizumab-based therapy.

The Effectiveness of Adjuvant PD-1 Inhibitors in Patients With Surgically Resected Stage III/IV Acral Melanoma.

Our aim was to assess the efficacy of adjuvant programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors and compare the other adjuvant treatments in patients with surgically resected stage III or IV acral melanoma. This study is a multicenter, retrospective analysis. We included 114 patients with stage III or IV acral malignant melanoma who underwent surgery within the past 10 years. We analyzed the effect of adjuvant programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitors on disease-free survival (DFS). The mean follow-up was 40 months, during which 69 (59.5%) patients experienced recurrence. Among the participants, 64 (56.1%) received systemic adjuvant therapy. Specifically, 48.4% received anti-PD-1 therapy, 29.7% received interferon, 14.1% received tezozolomide, and 7.8% received B-Raf proto-oncogene/mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors. Patients who received adjuvant therapy had a median DFS of 24 (10.9-37.2) months, whereas those who did not receive adjuvant therapy had a median DFS of 15 (9.8-20.2) months. Multivariate analysis for DFS revealed that the receipt of adjuvant therapy and lymph node metastasis stage were independent significant parameters ( P = 0.021, P = 0.018, respectively). No statistically significant difference was observed for DFS between programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitor treatment and other adjuvant treatments. Regarding overall survival (OS), patients who received adjuvant treatment had a median OS of 71 (30.4-111.7) months, whereas those who did not receive adjuvant treatment had a median OS of 38 (16.7-59.3; P = 0.023) months. In addition, there were no significant differences in OS observed between various adjuvant treatment agents ( P = 0.122). In our study, we have shown that adjuvant therapy had a positive effect on both DFS and OS in patients with stages III-IV acral melanoma who underwent curative intent surgery. Notably, we found no significant differences between anti-PD-1 therapy and other adjuvant therapies.