Current microbiology of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG tube) insertion site infections in patients with cancer

Purpose  

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is frequently used to provide enteral access in cancer patients who are unable to swallow. Infection is an important complication in this setting. Current microbiological data are needed to guide infection prevention and treatment strategies.     

Arguments in favor of and against the HPV vaccine school-entry requirement in Puerto Rico: a content analysis of newspaper media

Cancer Causes & Control - Vaccine requirements are effective population-based strategies to increase vaccination rates. In 2018, Puerto Rico’s DOH announced that the HPV vaccine would be...     

New therapeutic options opened by the molecular classification of gastric cancer

Gastric cancer(GC) is one of the most lethal and aggressive cancers, being the third cause of cancer related death worldwide. Even with radical gastrectomy and the latest generation of molecular chemotherapeutics, the numbers of recurrence and mortality remains high. This is due to its biological heterogeneity based on the interaction between multiple factors, from genomic to environmental factors, diet or infections with various pathogens. Therefore, understanding the molecular characteristics at a genomic level is critical to develop new treatment strategies. Recent advances in GC molecular classification provide the unique opportunity to improve GC therapy by exploiting the biomarkers and developing novel targeted therapy specific to each subtype. This article highlights the molecular characteristics of each subtype of gastric cancer that could be considered in shaping a therapeutic decision, and also presents the completed and ongoing clinical trials addressed to those targets. The implementation of the novel molecular classification system will allow a preliminary patient selection for clinical trials, a mandatory issue if it is desired to test the efficacy of a certain inhibitor to the given target. This will represent a substantial advance as well as a powerful tool for targeted therapy. Nevertheless, translating the scientific results into new personalized treatment opportunities is needed in order to improve clinical care, the survival and quality of life of patients with GC.     

Gastrointestinal cancer stem cells as targets for innovative immunotherapy

The role of cancer stem cells in gastrointestinal cancer-associated death has been widely recognized. Gastrointestinal cancer stem cells(GCSCs) are considered to be responsible for tumor initiation, growth, resistance to cytotoxic therapies,recurrence and metastasis due to their unique properties. These properties make the current therapeutic trials against GCSCs ineffective. Moreover, recent studies have shown that targeting stem cell surface markers or stemness associated pathways might have an additional off-target effect on the immune system.Recent advances in oncology and precision medicine have opened alternative therapeutic strategies in the form of cancer immunotherapy. This approach differs from classical anti-cancer therapy through its mechanism of action involving the activation and use of a functional immune system against tumor cells, instead of aiming physically destruction of cancer cells through radio-or chemotherapy. New immunological approaches for GCSCs targeting involve the use of different immune cells and various immune mechanisms like targeting specific surface antigens, using innate immune cells like the natural killer and T cells, T-cell chimeric antigen receptor technology, dendritic cell vaccine, or immune checkpoint inhibitors. In this respect, better understandings of immune regulatory mechanisms that govern anti-tumor response bring new hope in obtaining long-term remission for cancer therapy.     

Evaluation of TV cell line viral susceptibility using conventional cell culture techniques

Despite the fact that a lot of methods have been developed for rapid virus detection, classic cell culture is still “the golden standard”. The range of viruses that can be isolated and cultured in cell line systems is often limited by the susceptibility of cells to support viral replication. Since the primary cell culture, the best cellular system available to support replication of a large number of viruses, is very expensive and diffcult to obtain, cell lines, which are easier to manipulate, are commonly used for virus growth and isolation. In two previous papers we described the TV cell line initiated by our team from a laryngeal tumor, which harbors human papillomavirus (HPV) gene sequences. In this paper we analyze its capacity to support virus replication. Depending on the virus, different cytopathic effects were produced. Comparison of viral effect observed on this cell line with the effect obtained on other cell lines has been performed. This cell line might be used in the clinical virology laboratory for virus isolation.