子宫浆液性癌的分子学特征及靶向治疗研究进展

子宫浆液性癌（uterine serous carcinoma,USC）是一种特殊类型的子宫内膜癌。有别于常见的子宫内膜样腺癌,USC较为少见,且恶性程度高,侵袭转移风险高,临床上预后较差。随着子宫内膜癌分子学研究的不断深入,分子学特征被应用于子宫内膜癌的病理分型诊断、治疗和预后评价中。研究发现USC中存在多种基因的突变,这些相关基因的突变对该病的诊断和预后具有重要的指导意义。同时,特异性的分子学改变为USC的靶向治疗提供了潜在的治疗靶点。目前,多种靶向治疗手段包括人表皮生长因子受体2（human epidermal growth factor receptor 2,HER2）抑制剂、免疫检查点抑制剂、抗血管生成治疗、磷脂酰肌醇3激酶（phosphoinositide 3-kinases,PI3K）通路抑制剂和多腺苷二磷酸核糖聚合酶[poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase,PARP]抑制剂等被应用于USC的临床治疗研究中,针对性的靶向治疗有望成为USC治疗的新突破。     

Functional estrogen receptor signal transduction pathway activity and antihormonal therapy response in low-grade ovarian carcinoma

Background

Advanced low-grade ovarian carcinoma (LGOC) is difficult to treat. In several studies, high estrogen receptor (ER) protein expression was observed in patients with LGOC, which suggests that antihormonal therapy (AHT) is a treatment option. However, only a subgroup of patients respond to AHT, and this response cannot be adequately predicted by currently used immunohistochemistry (IHC). A possible explanation is that IHC only takes the ligand, but not the activity, of the whole signal transduction pathway (STP) into account. Therefore, in this study, the authors assessed whether functional STP activity can be an alternative tool to predict response to AHT in LGOC.

Methods

Tumor tissue samples were obtained from patients with primary or recurrent LGOC who subsequently received AHT. Histoscores of ER and progesterone receptor (PR) were determined. In addition, STP activity of the ER STP and of six other STPs known to play a role in ovarian cancer was assessed and compared with the STP activity of healthy postmenopausal fallopian tube epithelium.

Results

Patients who had normal ER STP activity had a progression-free survival (PFS) of 16.1 months. This was significantly shorter in patients who had low and very high ER STP activity, with a median PFS of 6.0 and 2.1 months, respectively (p < .001). Unlike ER histoscores, PR histoscores were strongly correlated to the ER STP activity and thus to PFS.

Conclusions

Aberrant low and very high functional ER STP activity and low PR histoscores in patients with LGOC indicate decreased response to AHT. ER IHC is not representative of functional ER STP activity and is not related to PFS.     

RNA sequencing steps toward the first line

• DNA is the sequence that codes for proteins.
• Messenger RNA is transcribed from the DNA sequence of genes and translated into protein.
• It can be difficult to predict how a change in the DNA sequence will affect messenger RNA and protein quantity and quality.
• DNA translocation changes can cause the joining of sequences from two different genes or different parts of the same gene.
• DNA sequencing is often used clinically to predict how DNA changes might affect proteins.
• Alternatively, RNA sequencing can be used as a more direct measure of the effect of DNA changes on the protein products.
• This sequencing is important for identifying changes in cancer that may indicate response to targeted therapy, prognosis, or diagnosis.

     

Limited clinical activity of palbociclib and ribociclib monotherapy in advanced cancers with cyclin D-CDK4/6 pathway alterations in the Dutch DRUP and Australian MoST trials

The Dutch Drug Rediscovery Protocol (DRUP) and the Australian Cancer Molecular Screening and Therapeutic (MoST) Program are similar nonrandomized, multidrug, pan-cancer trial platforms that aim to identify signals of clinical activity of molecularly matched targeted therapies or immunotherapies outside their approved indications. Here, we report results for advanced or metastatic cancer patients with tumors harboring cyclin D-CDK4/6 pathway alterations treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors palbociclib or ribociclib. We included adult patients that had therapy-refractory solid malignancies with the following alterations: amplifications of CDK4, CDK6, CCND1, CCND2 or CCND3, or complete loss of CDKN2A or SMARCA4. Within MoST, all patients were treated with palbociclib, whereas in DRUP, palbociclib and ribociclib were assigned to different cohorts (defined by tumor type and alteration). The primary endpoint for this combined analysis was clinical benefit, defined as confirmed objective response or stable disease ≥16 weeks. We treated 139 patients with a broad variety of tumor types; 116 with palbociclib and 23 with ribociclib. In 112 evaluable patients, the objective response rate was 0% and clinical benefit rate at 16 weeks was 15%. Median progression-free survival was 4 months (95% CI: 3-5 months), and median overall survival 5 months (95% CI: 4-6 months). In conclusion, only limited clinical activity of palbociclib and ribociclib monotherapy in patients with pretreated cancers harboring cyclin D-CDK4/6 pathway alterations was observed. Our findings indicate that monotherapy use of palbociclib or ribociclib is not recommended and that merging data of two similar precision oncology trials is feasible.     

高迁移率族蛋白A2与肿瘤关系的研究进展

高迁移率族蛋白A2(HMGA2)是一种非组蛋白,本身不具有转录活性,但它可通过与染色质结合改变其结构,继而调节其他基因的转录,从而促进肿瘤的侵袭和转移。相关RNA基因能够调控HMGA2在肿瘤中的作用,同时肿瘤的侵袭性与上皮间质转化密切相关,可以通过靶向HMGA2基因治疗相关肿瘤。文章主要介绍HMGA2与肿瘤之间关系的研究进展。     

Treating acute myeloid leukemia in the modern era: A primer

Recent years have seen tremendous advances in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), largely because of progress in understanding the genetic basis of the disease. The US Food and Drug Administration approved 7 agents for AML in the last 2 years: the first new drugs in decades. In this review, the authors discuss these new approvals in the backdrop of an overall strategy for treating AML today. Treating AML in the modern era requires: 1) access to and use of upfront genetic and cytogenetic testing, not only to describe prognosis but also to help identify the best available therapy; 2) effectively working new therapies into a conventional backbone of treatment, including transplantation; and 3) continued commitment to clinical trials designed to capitalize on advances in genetics and immunology to foster the next wave of drug approvals.     

EGFR敏感突变晚期非小细胞肺癌一线治疗研究进展

分子靶向治疗是在驱动基因指导下的治疗，开启了非小细胞肺癌“个体化”与“精准”治疗时代。非小细胞肺癌驱动基因包括表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）、间变淋巴瘤激酶（ALK）和原癌基因-1（Ros-1）等。EGFR 突变是非小细胞肺癌最常见的靶点，表皮生长因子受体-酪氨酸激酶抑制剂（EGFR-TKI）是治疗EGFR 突变晚期非小细胞肺癌的最有效药物，已广泛用于临床治疗，但后期耐药问题不可避免。近年来，为优化TKI 治疗，EGFR-TKI 联合治疗应运而生，不断探索有效的EGFR-TKI 联合治疗的方案。如EGFR-TKI 联合抗血管生成药物、化疗和免疫治疗等。本文就一线EGFR-TKI 药物及EGFR-TKI 联合治疗在一线探索的有关临床研究进展进行综述。