Search

Background: Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) has a poor prognosis. For the last 30 years, first-line systemic treatment has remained unaltered. After the integration of ımmunotherapy, a new first-line gold standard, atezolizumab in combination with carboplatin plus etoposide, was approved in extensive-disease SCLC (ED-SCLC) in 2019., Materials and Methods: First-line randomized controlled studies that investigated anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/PD-1 ligand-1 (PD-L1) and anti-T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) agents in combination with platinum plus etoposide (EP) were scoured. A total of six studies (two - anti-CTLA-4 and four - anti-PD1/PD-L1) were included and classic and network meta-analyses (NMAs) were performed., Results: Fixed model for overall survival (OAS) in the PD-1- or PD-L1-treated subgroup yielded a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.746 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) =0.662-0.840 and in the CTLA-4-treated subgroup a HR of 0.941 with a 95% CI = 0.816-1.084 for the immune therapy + chemotherapy versus chemotherapy comparison (CTLA-4-based versus PD-1- or PD-L1-based groups' comparison of OAS effect Q = 6.05, df = 1, P = 0.014). NMA showed that all chemotherapy + immunotherapy combinations were equally potent and more efficient than PE in terms of OAS and progression-free survival (PFS). Rank probability plots demonstrated nivolumab + EP as the most probable effective treatment modality in terms of OAS and PFS., Conclusion: The usage of anti-PD1/PD-L1 immunotherapy agents results in significant OAS advantage, and anti-PD1/PD-L1 agents are superior to anti-CTLA-4 approach in combination with platinum plus etoposide regimen in ED-SCLC., Competing Interests: None

Background: Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common cancer types in men. In addition to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), new generation agents have provided survival advantages to patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive PC (mHSPC). In this analysis, we aimed to determine the most effective approach for treating and suppressing mHSPC using network meta-analysis (NMA)., Materials and Methods: A total of 10 trials investigating different treatment modalities were conducted using NMA. The analysis was performed for all mHSPC cases as well as for low- and high-volume and docetaxel-naive subgroups., Results: In combination with ADT, abiraterone acetate (AA) in the general-population and high-volume-disease subgroups, and enzalutamide in docetaxel-naive and low-volume-disease subgroups have the highest probability of being the best treatment modalities in terms of overall survival. In addition, in the low-volume and docetaxel-naive settings, enzalutamide was superior to ADT (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.429, 95% CrI: 0.258-0.714 and HR = 0.533, 95% CrI: 0.375-0.756, respectively). In addition, in the high-volume and general-population settings (all trials and cases), AA was superior to ADT (HR = 1.568, 95% CrI: 1.378-1.773 and HR = 1.164, 95%CrI: 1.348-1.924, respectively)., Conclusion: The volume status based on the CHAARTED trial should be taken into account to determine an appropriate treatment strategy for mHSPC. AA plus prednisone in high-risk and high-volume-mHSPC patients and enzalutamide in low-volume-mHSPC patients could be favorable options in combination with ADT. Depending on the patient's tolerance, in high-volume mHSPC, docetaxel, or apalutamide in combination with ADT could be alternatives for AA, whereas in the low-volume mHSPC, local radiotherapy plus ADT or ADT alone could be utilized in place of enzalutamide., Competing Interests: None

Background: Checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) have improved survival compared to chemotherapy alone in advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This article aims to compare indirect evidence and rank the effect of different CPIs in this setting., Materials and Methods: In this network meta-analysis, we searched for trials comparing CPIs in advanced NSCLC. Figures for survival endpoints were extracted. In addition, a network meta-regression analysis was carried out., Results: A total of 9220 patients from 16 trials were included in the analysis. In the first-line setting, for the overall survival endpoint, the chemotherapy + Pembrolizumab combination had the highest effectivity rank probability as compared to chemotherapy (hazard ratio = 0.788, 95% credential interval = 0.728-0.855). For the second-line setting, and also for the efficacy in terms of progression-free survival, various CPIs and their combinations were ranked., Conclusion: Some degree of differences in terms of efficacy exists between different types, dosages, settings, and combinations of CPI. We quantify these differences to guide clinical practice., Competing Interests: None

Renal pelvis squamous cell carcinoma (RSCC) is a rare tumor. It starts with nonspecific symptoms and it is usually at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis at the time of diagnosis. SCC-associated hypercalcemia is a well-known paraneoplastic syndrome; however RSCC-associated hypercalcemia is a rare condition. Our patient is a 57-year-old-male patient with no bone metastases. Based on the literature screening on PubMed Database for paraneoplastic malignant hypercalcemia-associated RSCC, we found a few cases., Competing Interests: None

Objective: Increased tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast carcinoma tissues is an independent predictive factor for pathologic complete response (pCR). The increased intratumoral and stromal TILs (sTILs) in breast cancer (BC) have significant prognostic effects. In this study, we evaluated whether pCR rates to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) are higher in tumors with increased number of TILs in the pretreatment biopsy., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the number of TILs in intratumoral TILs (iTILs) and sTILs compartments from pretreatment full-face hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of 62 patients with locally advanced BC (LABC) who received NACT. The capacity of sTILs and iTILs in predicting pCR to NACT in LABC analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis., Results: According to ROC curve analysis, the optimum sTILs and iTILs cut-off points (the number of positive cells per square millimeter of tissue) for patients with LABC patients with pCR (+) were 19 (area under the curve (AUC): 0.668, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.501-0.835],P = 0.064) and 4 (AUC: 0.786, 95%CI [0.666-0.907],P = 0.002), respectively. Of the 62 patients, 26 had sTILs >19 and 25 had iTILs >4. The patients were divided into two according to percent of sTILs (sTILs >19 and sTILs ≤19 groups) and iTILs (iTILs >4 and iTILs ≤4 groups). Both sTILs >19 and iTILs >4 patients were associated with development higher pCR. While pCR was significantly higher in iTILs >4 patients (P = 0.002), it was not significantly in sTILs >19 patients (P = 0.107)., Conclusions: There is significantly an association between pCR and increased number of intratumoral TILs (>4 cells/mm 2 of tissue) in BC who received NACT., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest

Background: The prognosis of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) is very poor. In the present retrospective study, we compared the impact of docetaxel plus cisplatin plus fluorouracil (TCF), and cisplatin plus fluorouracil plus cetuximab (CF-Ctx) regimens on the prognosis of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC in first-line., Materials and Methods: A total of 70 patients were evaluated as two groups, according to treatment protocol: TCF (n: 47) and CF-Ctx (n: 23). The groups were compared regarding survival., Results: The median progression-free survival was 7.3 and 8.3 months, TCF and CF-Ctx groups, respectively, (P = 0.280). The median overall survival (OS) was 15.6 and 9.3 months for TCF and CF-Ctx groups, respectively, (P = 0.029). The dose reduction and using of granulocyte colony stimulating factor were significantly higher in TCF group (P = 0.048 and P = 0.018, respectively)., Conclusion: In first-line setting, TCF regimen is superior to CF-Ctx regimen in terms of OS in patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC, who did not previously receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: We aimed to assess the efficacy of a metronomic regimen with cyclophosphamide and etoposide in heavily treated patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC)., Materials and Methods: A total of 77 patients with MBC used continuous oral cyclophosphamide 50 mg/day and oral etoposide given as 2 × 50 mg/day for 2 days per week, were analyzed retrospectively from Akdeniz University and Selcuk University. The patients with MBC are predominantly refractory to antracyclines, taxanes, and antimetabolites., Results: The patients were treated and followed between May 2005 and June 2014. The median progression-free and overall survival (PFS and OS) were 7.03 (5.06-8.99) and 32.5 (22.5-42.4) months, respectively. No prognostic factor was found for OS., Conclusions: Metronomic treatment regimen with cyclophosphamide and etoposide is a novel and effective strategy in heavily pretreated MBC patients. This regimen can be used in early or late steps as independently from prognostic factors. Moreover, it has very low toxicity and is cheap. Impressive survival data and low cost may make this regimen a highly preferable option.