Brachytherapy: An emblematic example of extreme hypofractionated regimen

In order to provide more convenient irradiation regimens for patient comfort, radiation facility organization and health expenses, new hypofractionated protocols have been evaluated. Moderately (dose/fraction: 2.3 to 3 Gy), then ultra (dose/fraction: 5.2 to 6.1 Gy) hypofractionated irradiations were first validated. The current question is: is it possible to go forward using extreme hypofractionated regimens (EHR) based on 1 to 3 fractions. Different irradiation techniques are under investigation. However, brachytherapy remains the smartest way to deliver a high dose in a small volume. We report prospective and retrospective study results which evaluated EHR for breast and prostate brachytherapy. While oncological outcome and toxicity profile appear extremely encouraging for low-risk breast cancer after a 1 to 4 fractions (6.25 to 20 Gy/fraction), the use of a single fraction of 19 to 23 Gy appears debatable for prostate cancer. Brachytherapy represents an emblematic example of EHR but longer follow-up and more mature results are awaited in order to specify the right indications and refine the EQD2 calculation method including new biological and technical factors.     

乳腺癌随访和药物副作用管理策略的研究进展

乳腺癌是全球女性发病率最高的恶性肿瘤,随着诊断技术及治疗手段的不断提高,乳腺癌患者接受系统治疗后生存期明显延长。乳腺癌患者需要长时间的随访以便及早监测到局部复发和远处转移。此外,激素敏感性乳腺癌患者还需要给予5~10年的内分泌治疗,针对其副作用的全程管理也需要随访,进而提高患者的生活质量,减轻患者疾病负担。本文就近年来乳腺癌随访相关方面进行简要综述。     

健脾消癌方通过PI3K/Akt信号通路抑制结肠癌血管生成的研究＊

目的 观察结肠癌HCT116细胞健脾消癌方的条件培养液对HUVEC细胞管腔形成的影响，从PI3K/Akt生物轴调控角度探讨其作用机制。方法 培养HCT116细胞，细胞设3组：对照组，健脾消癌方组（加入15%健脾消癌方含药血清）及人参皂苷Rg3组；制备HCT116细胞健脾消癌方条件培养液（分组及制备方法见实验方法），用条件培养液干预HUVEC（脐静脉内皮细胞，Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells），Matrigel基质胶法检测HCT116细胞健脾消癌方条件培养液对HUVEC小管形成的影响。随后采用蛋白免疫印迹法（Western blot）检测各组HCT116细胞磷脂酰肌醇3-激酶（PI3K）、蛋白激酶B（Akt）、p-Akt、VEGF（血管内皮生长因子，Vascular endothelial growth factor）蛋白表达。最后在结肠癌HCT116荷瘤小鼠中验证健脾消癌方对肿瘤生长速度的影响，并经瘤组织VEGF蛋白表达、CD31免疫组化染色检测肿瘤内血管生成情况。结果 模型组HUVEC细胞管腔形成较空白血清组显著增加（P<0.05）；健脾消癌方组及人参皂苷Rg3组较模型组HUVEC细胞管腔形成显著减少（P<0.01）。p-Akt和VEGF蛋白表达水平模型组高于空白血清组（P<0.05），健脾消癌方组及人参皂苷Rg3组显著低于模型组（P<0.01）；PI3K、Akt蛋白表达量组间差异无统计学意义。与对照组比较，模型组荷瘤小鼠肿瘤体积显著性增大，瘤组织内VEGF表达、CD31阳性面积显著性增加，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）；与模型组比较，健脾消癌方组及人参皂苷Rg3组荷瘤小鼠肿瘤体积显著减小，瘤组织内VEGF表达、CD31阳性面积降低，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论 健脾消癌方可抑制肿瘤的血管生成和生长，其作用机制可能与PI3K/Akt生物轴调控VEGF表达有关。     

Study on the Value of Ultrasound Elastography Combined with Plasma miRNA Expression in the Early Detection of Breast Cancer

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women, and its morbidity and mortality are increasing each year, due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms in the early stage of BC, and the lack of diagnostic methods for early breast cancer. Therefore, identifying an effective diagnostic method for early BC has become urgent. Materials and Methods: Breast lesions with a histological diagnosis that were examined by ultrasonic elastography (UE) in our department from June 2020 to December 2021 were reviewed. qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expression levels of miR-144-5p and miR-26b-5p in the plasma of patients with BC. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to investigate the potential diagnostic value of miR- 144-5p, miR-26b-5p and the elastographic score in BC. Results: The ultrasonic elastography score(UES) was found to be significantly upregulated in BC compared with that in benign breast lesions, and the AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.809, 0.717 and 0.806 for distinguishing BC from benign breast lesions, respectively. miR-144-5p and miR-26b- 5p were found to be upregulated in the plasma of BC patients, and miR-144-5p+miR-26b-5p had 0.781 sensitivity and 0.780 specificity for the diagnosis of BC. Furthermore, we found that the diagnostic performance of miR-144-5p and miR-26b-5p combined with UES for BC had 0.913 sensitivity and 0.890 specificity. Conclusions: The combination of plasma miR-144-5p, miR-26b-5p and UES has a very high clinical application value for the early detection of BC.     

Tumor-associated high endothelial venules mediate lymphocyte entry into tumors and predict response to PD-1 plus CTLA-4 combination immunotherapy

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Multiscale quantification of morphological heterogeneity with creation of a predictor of longer survival in glioblastoma

Intratumor heterogeneity is a main cause of the dismal prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM). Yet, there remains a lack of a uniform assessment of the degree of heterogeneity. With a multiscale approach, we addressed the hypothesis that intratumor heterogeneity exists on different levels comprising traditional regional analyses, but also innovative methods including computer-assisted analysis of tumor morphology combined with epigenomic data. With this aim, 157 biopsies of 37 patients with therapy-naive IDH-wildtype GBM were analyzed regarding the intratumor variance of protein expression of glial marker GFAP, microglia marker Iba1 and proliferation marker Mib1. Hematoxylin and eosin stained slides were evaluated for tumor vascularization. For the estimation of pixel intensity and nuclear profiling, automated analysis was used. Additionally, DNA methylation profiling was conducted separately for the single biopsies. Scoring systems were established to integrate several parameters into one score for the four examined modalities of heterogeneity (regional, cellular, pixel-level and epigenomic). As a result, we could show that heterogeneity was detected in all four modalities. Furthermore, for the regional, cellular and epigenomic level, we confirmed the results of earlier studies stating that a higher degree of heterogeneity is associated with poorer overall survival. To integrate all modalities into one score, we designed a predictor of longer survival, which showed a highly significant separation regarding the OS. In conclusion, multiscale intratumor heterogeneity exists in glioblastoma and its degree has an impact on overall survival. In future studies, the implementation of a broadly feasible heterogeneity index should be considered.