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This paper proposes the utilisation of twin studies as a novel and powerful methodological approach to investigate critical research questions pertaining to cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship within primary care contexts. The inherent genetic similarity between monozygotic (MZ) (identical) twins provides a unique opportunity to disentangle genetic and environmental influences on cancer-related outcomes. MZ twins share virtually identical genetic makeup, offering a unique opportunity to discern the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to cancer-related outcomes. In contrast, dizygotic (DZ) twins, also known as fraternal twins, develop from two separate eggs fertilised by two different sperm and share on average 50% of their genetic material, the same level of genetic similarity found in non-twin siblings. Comparisons between MZ and DZ twins enable researchers to disentangle hereditary factors from shared environmental influences. This methodology has the potential to advance our understanding of the multifaceted interplay between genetic predisposition, lifestyle factors and healthcare interventions in the context of cancer care. This paper outlines the rationale, design considerations and potential applications of twin studies in primary care-based cancer research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA methylation is widespread in nature. Abnormal expression of proteins associated with RNA methylation is strongly associated with a number of human diseases including cancer. Increasing evidence suggests that targeting RNA methylation holds promise for cancer treatment. This review specifically describes several common RNA modifications, such as the relatively well‐studied N6‐methyladenosine, as well as 5‐methylcytosine and pseudouridine (Ψ). The regulatory factors involved in these modifications and their roles in RNA are also comprehensively discussed. We summarise the diverse regulatory functions of these modifications across different types of RNAs. Furthermore, we elucidate the structural characteristics of these modifications along with the development of specific inhibitors targeting them. Additionally, recent advancements in small molecule inhibitors targeting RNA modifications are presented to underscore their immense potential and clinical significance in enhancing therapeutic efficacy against cancer. Key Points: In this paper, several important types of RNA modifications and their related regulatory factors are systematically summarised.Several regulatory factors related to RNA modification types were associated with cancer progression, and their relationships with cancer cell migration, invasion, drug resistance and immune environment were summarised.In this paper, the inhibitors targeting different regulators that have been proposed in recent studies are summarised in detail, which is of great significance for the development of RNA modification regulators and cancer treatment in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Metformin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world, since its first use in the second part of the 1950s in France (Aron, 1957) and in the United Kingdom (Rona, 1958), and is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Traditionally, metformin is used in diabetes mellitus, mainly in overweight and obese subjects, but also in other conditions of impaired glucose metabolism, such as insulin resistance. In recent years, in vitro and in vivo data on this molecule as an antiproliferative modulator have suggested a series of clinical trials in several tumors that—at the moment—have not confirmed the expected positive results. The aim of this paper is to offer a double vision of this molecule, with a very light side about the metabolic aspects and a darker side concerning its antineoplastic activity, focusing on molecular and subcellular pathways involved in both fields and discussing the contrast between preliminary cellular data and real clinical outcomes in different neoplasms. The ancient Roman god Ianus was a mysterious divinity with two opposite faces, one looking at the past and the other looking to the future. Likewise, metformin is an "old" drug, with one side looking at the metabolic role and the other looking at the anti-proliferative mechanism; therefore, it represents a typical and ideal bridge between diabetes and cancer. Metformin (1,1-dimethylbiguanidine hydrochloride) is a drug that has long been in use for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, but recently evidence is growing about its potential use in other metabolic conditions and in proliferative-associated diseases. The aim of this paper is to retrace, from a historical perspective, the knowledge of this molecule, shedding light on the subcellular mechanisms of action involved in metabolism as well as cellular and tissue growth. The intra-tumoral pharmacodynamic effects of metformin and its possible role in the management of different neoplasms are evaluated and debated. The etymology of the name Ianus is probably from the Latin term ianua, which means door. How many new doors will this old drug be able to open? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inuit face worse cancer survival rates and outcomes than the general Canadian population. Persistent health disparities cannot be understood without examining the structural factors that create inequities and continue to impact the health and well-being of Inuit. This scoping review aims to synthesise the available published and grey literature on the structural factors that influence cancer care experienced by Inuit in Canada. Guided by Inuit input from Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada as well as the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology, a comprehensive electronic search along with hand-searching of grey literature and relevant journals was conducted. A total of 30 papers were included for analysis and assessment of relevance. Findings were organised into five categories as defined in the a priori framework related to colonisation, as well as health systems, social, economic, and political structures. The study results highlight interconnections between racism and colonialism, the lack of health service information on urban Inuit, as well as the need for system-wide efforts to address the structural barriers in cancer care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy worldwide. The treatment of PTC has attracted extensive attention and discussion from the public and scholars. However, no article has systematically assessed the related literature. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric and knowledge map analysis to reveal the dynamic scientific developments in the PTC therapy field. Methods: We retrieved publications related to PTC therapy from the Web of Scientific Core Collection (WoSCC) on May 1, 2023. The bibliometric package in R software, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software were used to analyze countries/ regions, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. Then, we systematized and summarized the research landscape, global trends and hot topics of research. Results: This bibliometric analysis spanned from 2012 to 2022 and involved 18,501 authors affiliated with 3,426 institutions across 87 countries/regions, resulting in the publication of 3,954 papers in 860 academic journals. Notably, the number of publications and citations related to PTC therapy research has exhibited a steady increase over the past decade. China and the United States have emerged as leading contributors in terms of publication count, with the United States also being the most cited country. Furthermore, among the top 10 institutions with the highest number of published papers, half were located in China. Among the journals, Thyroid is ranked first in terms of total publications and citations. The most productive individual author was Miyauchi Akira. While previous research primarily focused on surgery and radioactive iodine therapy, the increasing emphasis on health awareness and advancements in medical technology have led to the emergence of active surveillance, thermal ablation, and genomic analysis as prominent areas of research. Conclusion: In conclusion, this comprehensive and quantitative bibliometric analysis elucidates the research trends and hotspots within PTC therapy, drawing rom a substantial body of publications. This study provides valuable insights into the historical and current landscape of PTC therapy research while also offering guidance for future research directions. This study serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking new avenues of exploration in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost-effectiveness analyses of new cancer treatments in real-world settings (e.g., post-clinical trials) inform healthcare decision makers about their healthcare investments for patient populations. The results of these analyses are often, though not always, presented with statistical uncertainty. This paper identifies five ways to characterize statistical uncertainty: (1) a 95% confidence interval (CI) for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER); (2) a 95% CI for the incremental net benefit (INB); (3) an INB by willingness-to-pay (WTP) plot; (4) a cost-effectiveness acceptability curve (CEAC); and (5) a cost-effectiveness scatterplot. It also explores their usage in 22 articles previously identified by a rapid review of real-world cost effectiveness of novel cancer treatments. Seventy-seven percent of these articles presented uncertainty results. The majority those papers (59%) used administrative data to inform their analyses while the remaining were conducted using models. Cost-effectiveness scatterplots were the most commonly used method (34.3%), with 40% indicating high levels of statistical uncertainty, suggesting the possibility of a qualitatively different result from the estimate given. Understanding the necessity for and the meaning of uncertainty in real-world cost-effectiveness analysis will strengthen knowledge translation efforts to improve patient outcomes in an efficient manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this White Paper, we discuss the current state of microbial cancer therapy. This paper resulted from a meeting ('Microbial Based Cancer Therapy') at the US National Cancer Institute in the summer of 2017. Here, we define 'Microbial Therapy' to include both oncolytic viral therapy and bacterial anticancer therapy. Both of these fields exploit tumor-specific infectious microbes to treat cancer, have similar mechanisms of action, and are facing similar challenges to commercialization. We designed this paper to nucleate this growing field of microbial therapeutics and increase interactions between researchers in it and related fields. The authors of this paper include many primary researchers in this field. In this paper, we discuss the potential, status and opportunities for microbial therapy as well as strategies attempted to date and important questions that need to be addressed. The main areas that we think will have the greatest impact are immune stimulation, control of efficacy, control of delivery, and safety. There is much excitement about the potential of this field to treat currently intractable cancer. Much of the potential exists because these therapies utilize unique mechanisms of action, difficult to achieve with other biological or small molecule drugs. By better understanding and controlling these mechanisms, we will create new therapies that will become integral components of cancer care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: With the shift in the majority of oncology clinical care in the United States from paper records to electronic health records, researchers need efficient and validated processes to obtain accurate data about the entire treatment history of patients diagnosed with cancer. The objective of this study was to develop and validate an algorithm that is agnostic to the source of data but that can identify specific regimens in the entire course of systemic therapy treatment for patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal, or lung cancer. Methods: A cohort of patients with incident breast, colorectal, and lung cancer were randomly distributed into six groups. The algorithm was iteratively modified, and the performance was assessed until no additional modifications could be identified in the first three groups. The performance of the algorithm was confirmed in the three groups that remained. Results: The final model produced ranges of sensitivity between 97.2% and 100% for first-course systemic therapy across all cancers, with a false-positive rate of 0%. The algorithm matched the exact number of courses and the exact regimens of systemic therapy agents as captured by infusion, pharmacy, and procedure electronic medical record data for all courses of therapy 88% to 100% of the time. Conclusion: Use of our validated algorithm that characterizes entire courses of systemic therapy treatment in patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal, and lung cancer will allow researchers in a variety of settings to conduct comparative effectiveness studies related to the uptake, safety, outcomes, and costs associated with the use of both novel and standard regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present review was to assess the impact of DNA damage repair (DDR) mutations on response and outcome of patients (pts) affected by advanced prostate cancer (PCa) submitted to radionuclide therapies with [223Ra]RaCl2 (223Ra-therapy) or prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) ligands. A systematic literature search according to PRISMA criteria was made by using two main databases. Only studies published up until to October 2022 in the English language with ≥10 enrolled patients were selected. Seven studies including 326 pts, of whom 201 (61.6%) harboring DDR defects, were selected. The majority of selected papers were retrospective and four out of seven (57.1%) had small sample size (<50 pts). Three out of seven (42.8%) studies reported a more favorable outcome (overall or progression free survival) after therapy with alpha emitters (223Ra-therapy or [225Ac]Ac-PSMA-617) in subjects with DDR defects with respect to those without mutations. In two studies employing alpha or beta emitters ([177Lu]/[225Ac]-PMSA), no significant benefit was registered in pts harboring DDR defects. In all but one paper, no significant difference in response rate was reported among pts with or without DDR mutations. Although preliminary and biased by the retrospective design, preliminary data suggest a trend towards a longer survival in PCa pts harboring DDR defects submitted to radionuclide targeted therapy with alpha emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We aimed to take a snapshot of breast units in the European Union 9 years after the publication of the European Society of Mastology (EUSOMA) position paper. Methods: In order to obtain information on breast units throughout the European Union, we designed a questionnaire comprising 5 questions on certification, audit frequency and number of breast units in each country. Our primary contacts were national cancer societies, breast cancer study groups, breast cancer organizations, national associations and societies of breast treatment, as well as experts in the field of breast cancer. Results: Information on characteristics of the certification process and number of breast units was obtained for 9 countries of the European Union. 7 of the 9 countries (78%) have a certification process of the breast units. Certification is carried out by public authorities in 4 (57%) countries and by private companies in 3 (43%) countries. Information on frequency of auditing was reported in 4 countries and varied between annual audits (Austria, Ireland and Germany) and audits once every 3 years (United Kingdom). Conclusions: The current study suggests that the European breast unit landscape is a heterogeneous field. 9 years after the EUSOMA position paper, we do not have any standard European guidelines, neither for the development nor for the mandatory prerequisites of a breast unit. The development and operation of breast units are still country specific. Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents abstracts of some research papers related to women's health. According to the paper "Breast Cancer Treatment in Older Women: Does Getting What You Want Improve Your Long-Term Body Image and Mental Health?," little is known about the impact of surgical treatment on body image and health outcomes in older breast cancer patients. According to the article "Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial of an Educational Intervention," recognizing that an expectant father may influence a mother's decision to breast, or formula-feed, researchers tested the effectiveness of a simple, educational intervention that was designed to encourage fathers to advocate for breastfeeding and to assist his partner if she chooses to breast-feed.

Introduction: Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a rapidly evolving field. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) allow patients to report the impact of treatment on their quality of life during and after treatment. The systematic review aims to characterise the breadth of PROs utilised in ACT cancer care and provide guidance for the use of PROs in this patient population in the future. Methods: A systematic search was conducted (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase and CINAHL) in August 2021 by two reviewers. Search terms covered the following: "adoptive cell therapy", "patient-reported outcomes" and "cancer". Studies were included if they used a PRO measure to report the impact of ACT. The methodological quality of PROs was assessed. Forward and backward reference searching was conducted of any relevant papers. A quality grading scale was applied based on Cochrane and Revenson criteria for classification of high-quality studies. Key data from the studies and the included PROs was extracted by two researchers and tabulated. Results: One-hundred nine papers were identified; 11 papers were included. The majority of studies were single-arm trials or observational studies. Twenty-two different PROs were identified; none was ACT specific. The PROMIS-29 and EQ-5D were most commonly used. Few studies collected PRO data in the first 1–2 weeks. Four studies followed patients up for over a year, and a further four studies followed patients for approximately 3 months. Discussion: None of the PROs identified have been designed specifically for ACT. Appropriateness of existing instruments should be considered. It should be considered whether it is appropriate to collect data more frequently in the acute stage and then less frequently during follow-up. It should be considered if one tool is suitable at all time points or if the tool should be adapted depending on time since treatment. More research is needed to identify the exact timings of PRO assessments, and qualitative work with patients is needed to determine the most important issues for them throughout the treatment and follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely access to guideline-recommended cancer treatment is known to be an indicator of the quality and accessibility of a cancer care system. Yet people who are socially disadvantaged experience inequities in access to cancer treatment that have significant impacts on cancer outcomes and quality of life. Among people experiencing the intersecting impacts of poor access to the social determinants of health and personal identities typically marginalized from society ('social disadvantage'), there are significant barriers to accessing cancer, many of which compound one another, making cancer treatment extremely difficult to access. Although some research has focused on barriers to accessing cancer treatment among people who are socially disadvantaged, it is not entirely clear what, if anything, is being done to mitigate these barriers and improve access to care. Increasingly, there is a need to design cancer treatment services and models of care that are flexible, tailored to meet the needs of patients, and innovative in reaching out to socially disadvantaged groups. In this paper, we report the protocol for a planned scoping review which aims to answer the following question: What services, models of care, or interventions have been developed to improve access to or receipt of cancer treatment for adults who are socially disadvantaged? Based on the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley, this scoping review is planned in six iterative stages. A comprehensive search strategy will be developed by an academic librarian. OVID Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL (using EBSCOhost) and Scopus will be searched for peer-reviewed published literature; advanced searches in Google will be done to identify relevant online grey literature reports. Descriptive and thematic analysis methods will be used to analyze extracted data. Findings will provide a better understanding of the range and nature of strategies developed to mitigate barriers to accessing cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a severe disease that, in 2022, caused more than 9.89 million deaths worldwide. One worrisome type of cancer is bone cancer, such as osteosarcoma and Ewing tumors, which occur more frequently in infants. This study shows an active interest in the use of graphene oxide and its derivatives in therapy against bone cancer. We present a systematic review analyzing the current state of the art related to the use of GO in treating osteosarcoma, through evaluating the existing literature. In this sense, studies focused on GO-based nanomaterials for potential applications against osteosarcoma were reviewed, which has revealed that there is an excellent trend toward the use of GO-based nanomaterials, based on their thermal and anti-cancer activities, for the treatment of osteosarcoma through various therapeutic approaches. However, more research is needed to develop highly efficient localized therapies. It is suggested, therefore, that photodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, and the use of nanocarriers should be considered as non-invasive, more specific, and efficient alternatives in the treatment of osteosarcoma. These options present promising approaches to enhance the effectiveness of therapy while also seeking to reduce side effects and minimize the damage to surrounding healthy tissues. The bibliometric analysis of photothermal and photochemical treatments of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide from January 2004 to December 2022 extracted 948 documents with its search strategy, mainly related to research papers, review papers, and conference papers, demonstrating a high-impact field supported by the need for more selective and efficient bone cancer therapies. The central countries leading the research are the United States, Iran, Italy, Germany, China, South Korea, and Australia, with strong collaborations worldwide. At the same time, the most-cited papers were published in journals with impact factors of more than 6.0 (2021), with more than 290 citations. Additionally, the journals that published the most on the topic are high impact factor journals, according to the analysis performed, demonstrating the high impact of the research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral fluid intake decreases in advanced cancer in the dying phase of illness. There is inadequate evidence to support the assessment, and management, of hydration in the dying. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a body composition assessment tool. BIA has the potential to inform clinal management in advanced cancer, by examining the relationships between hydration status and clinical variables. Aim: BIA was used to determine the association between hydration status, symptoms, clinical signs, quality-of-life and survival in advanced cancer, including those who are dying (i.e. in the last week of life). Materials and methods: We conducted a prospective observational study of people with advanced cancer in three centres. Advance consent methodology was used to conduct hydration assessments in the dying. Total body water was estimated using the BIA Impedance index (Height – H (m)2 /Resistance – R (Ohms)). Backward regression was used to identify factors (physical signs, symptoms, quality of life) that predicted H2/R. Participants in the last 7 days of life were further assessed with BIA to assess hydration changes, and its relationship with clinical outcomes. Results: One hundred and twenty-five people participated (males n = 74 (59.2%), females, n = 51 (40.8%)). We used backward regression analysis to describe a statistical model to predict hydration status in advanced cancer. The model demonstrated that 'less hydration' (lower H2/R) was associated with female sex (Beta = -0.39, p < 0.001), increased appetite (Beta = -0.12, p = 0.09), increased dehydration assessment scale score (dry mouth, dry axilla, sunken eyes - Beta = -0.19, p = 0.006), and increased breathlessness (Beta = -0.15, p = 0.03). 'More hydration' (higher H2/R) was associated with oedema (Beta = 0.49, p < 0.001). In dying participants (n = 18, 14.4%), hydration status (H2/R) was not significantly different compared to their baseline measurements (n = 18, M = 49.6, SD = 16.0 vs. M = 51.0, SD = 12.1; t(17) = 0.64, p = 0.53) and was not significantly associated with agitation (rs = -0.85, p = 0.74), pain (rs = 0.31, p = 0.23) or respiratory tract secretions (rs = -0.34, p = 0.19). Conclusions: This is the first study to use bioimpedance to report a model (using clinical factors) to predict hydration status in advanced cancer. Our data demonstrates the feasibility of using an advance consent method to conduct research in dying people. This method can potentially improve the evidence base (and hence, quality of care) for the dying. Future BIA research can involve hydration assessment of cancers (according to type and stage) and associated variables (e.g., stage of illness, ethnicity and gender). Further work can use BIA to identify clinically relevant outcomes for hydration studies and establish a core outcome set to evaluate how hydration affects symptoms and quality-of-life in cancer. Key message: What is already known about this topic? - Oral fluid intake decreases in people with advanced cancer, especially when they approach the dying phase of their illness. - There is inadequate evidence to support hydration assessment and decision making in the dying phase of illness. - It is important to understand which clinical factors are associated with hydration status in advanced cancer, to enable healthcare professionals, to evaluate hydration status and support clinical decision making. - Bioimpedance is a non-invasive technology, which has potential to identify clinically relevant variables for cancer hydration assessment. What this paper adds. - This is the first study to use bioimpedance to report a model (using clinical factors) to predict hydration status in advanced cancer. - The variables with combined significance for predicting hydration status were biological sex, appetite, dry mouth, dry axilla, sunken eyes, breathlessness and oedema. In the dying phase, hydration status did not significantly change compared to baseline, and hydration status was not significantly associated with survival. Implications for practice, theory or policy. - Further work can use bioimpedance to identify clinically relevant outcomes for hydration studies, to establish a core outcome set to evaluate how hydration affects symptoms and quality-of-life in cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multidrug chemotherapy for Ewing sarcoma can lead to severe myelosuppression. We proposed two clinical questions (CQ): CQ #1, "Does primary prophylaxis with G-CSF benefit chemotherapy for Ewing sarcoma?" and CQ #2, "Does G-CSF-based intensified chemotherapy improve Ewing sarcoma treatment outcomes?". Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Ichushi web databases, including English and Japanese articles published from 1990 to 2019. Two reviewers assessed the extracted papers and analyzed overall survival (OS), febrile neutropenia (FN) incidence, infection-related mortality, quality of life (QOL), and pain. Results: Twenty-five English and five Japanese articles were identified for CQ #1. After screening, a cohort study of vincristine, ifosfamide, doxorubicin, and etoposide chemotherapy with 851 patients was selected. Incidence of FN was 60.8% with G-CSF and 65.8% without; statistical tests were not conducted. Data on OS, infection-related mortality, QOL, or pain was unavailable. Consequently, CQ #1 was redefined as a future research question. As for CQ #2, we found two English and five Japanese papers, of which one high-quality randomized controlled trial on G-CSF use in intensified chemotherapy was included. This trial showed trends toward lower mortality and a significant increase in event-free survival for 2-week interval regimen with the G-CSF primary prophylactic use compared with 3-week interval. Conclusion: This review indicated that G-CSF's efficacy as primary prophylaxis in Ewing sarcoma, except in children, is uncertain despite its common use. This review tentatively endorses intensified chemotherapy with G-CSF primary prophylaxis for Ewing sarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • This article focuses on immunotherapy, a new treatment for tumors with low side effects, and suggests the direction of improvement. • Programmed cell death (apoptosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis and autophagy) induced by nanomedicine was reviewed in this paper. • This paper focuses on the role of nanomedicine-induced programmed cell death in cancer therapy. • This article reviews the improvement of the limitations of immunotherapy with nanomedicine-induced PCD. • In this paper, the development prospect of tumor therapy and immunotherapy of PCD mediated by nanomedical drugs is prospected. There has been widespread concern about the high cancer mortality rate and the shortcomings of conventional cancer treatments. Immunotherapy is a novel oncology therapy with high efficiency and low side effects, which is a revolutionary direction for clinical oncology treatment. However, its clinical effectiveness is uneven. Based on the redefinition and reclassification of programmed cell death (PCD) (divided into necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and autophagy), the role of nanomedicine-induced PCD in cancer therapy has also received significant attention. Clinical and preclinical studies have begun to combine PCD with immunotherapy. In this article, we present recent research in tumor immunotherapy, provide an overview of how nanomedicine-induced PCD is involved in tumor therapy, and review how nanomedicine-induced PCD can improve the limitations of immunotherapy to enhance tumor immunotherapy. The future development of nanomedicine-mediated PCD tumor therapy and tumor immunotherapy is also proposed Key scientific concepts of overview Nanomedicine-induced PCD is a prospective method of tumor immunotherapy. Nanomedicines increase tumor site penetration and targeting ability, and nanomedicine-mediated PCD activation can stimulate powerful anti-tumor immune effects, which has a good contribution to immunotherapy of tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Leukemia is a global health concern that requires alternative treatments due to the limitations of the FDA-approved drugs. Our focus is on p53, a crucial tumor suppressor that regulates cell division. It appears possible to stabilize p53 without causing damage to DNA by investigating dual-acting inhibitors that target both ligases. The paper aims to identify small molecule modulators of Mdm2 and Pirh2 by using 3D structural models of p53 residues and to further carry out the synthesis and evaluation of hit candidates for anti-cancer potency by in vitro and in silico studies. Methods: We synthesized structural analogues of MMs02943764 and MMs03738126 using a 4,5-(substituted) 1,2,4-triazole-3-thiols with 2-chloro N-phenylacetamide in acetone with derivatives of PAA and PCA were followed. Cytotoxicity assays, including MTT, Trypan Blue Exclusion, and MTS assays, were performed on cancer cell lines. Anti-proliferation activity was evaluated using K562 cells. Cell cycle analysis and protein expression studies of p53, Mdm2, and Pirh2 were conducted using flow cytometry. Results: As for results obtained from our previous studies MMs02943764, and MMs03738126 were selected among the best-fit hit molecules whose structural analogues were further subjected to molecular docking and dynamic simulation. Synthesized compounds exhibited potent anti-proliferative effects, with PAC showing significant cytotoxicity against leukemia cells. PAC induced cell cycle arrest and modulated p53, Mdm2, and Pirh2 protein expressions in K562 cells. Molecular docking revealed strong binding affinity of PAC to p53 protein, further confirmed by molecular dynamics simulation. Discussion: The study presents novel anticancer compounds targeting the p53 ubiquitination pathway, exemplified by PAC. Future perspectives involve further optimization and preclinical studies to validate PAC's potential as an effective anticancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ovarian cancer represents a significant threat to women's health globally, with particularly high recurrence and mortality rates in China's context of gynecological malignancies. The effectiveness of traditional therapeutic approaches for advanced and recurrent ovarian cancer remains quite limited. However, recent studies have highlighted the substantial success of targeted therapies in managing ovarian cancer. This paper delves into both national and international research on ovarian cancer's targeted treatments, examining their mechanisms, applications, current landscape, and the challenges they face. It aims to offer innovative perspectives and directions for ovarian cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Neurosurgical ablative procedures, such as cordotomy and cingulotomy, are often considered irreversible and destructive but can provide an effective and individualized solution for cancer-related refractory pain, when all other approaches have been unsuccessful. This paper provides an in-depth exploration of a novel approach to managing refractory cancer pain. It involves an interdisciplinary team led by a neurosurgeon at a renowned national referral center. Methods: a retrospective analysis of the medical records of all sequential patients who underwent their initial evaluation at our interdisciplinary refractory cancer pain clinic from February 2017 to January 2023. Results: A total of 207 patients were examined in the clinic for a first visit during the study period. All patients were referred to the clinic due to severe pain that was deemed refractory by the referring physician. The mean age was 61 ± 12.3 years, with no significant sex difference (P = 0.58). The mean ECOG Performance Status score was 2.35. Conservative measures had not yet been exhausted in 28 patients (14%) and 9 patients were well controlled (4%). Neurosurgical ablative procedures were recommended for 151 (73%) of the patients. Sixty-six patients (32%) eventually underwent the procedure. 91 patients (44%) received a negative recommendation for surgery. Thirty-five patients (17%) were referred for further invasive procedures at the pain clinic. Conclusion: An Interdisciplinary cooperation between palliative care specialists, pain specialists, and neurosurgeons ensures optimal patient selection and provides safe and effective neurosurgery for the treatment of refractory cancer-related pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer, due to resistance to standard therapies such as endocrine therapy, anti-HER2 therapy and chemotherapy, continues to pose a major health challenge. A growing body of research emphasizes the heterogeneity and plasticity of metabolism in breast cancer. Because differences in subtypes exhibit a bias toward metabolic pathways, targeting mitochondrial inhibitors shows great potential as stand-alone or adjuvant cancer therapies. Multiple therapeutic candidates are currently in various stages of preclinical studies and clinical openings. However, specific inhibitors have been shown to face multiple challenges (e.g., single metabolic therapies, mitochondrial structure and enzymes, etc.), and combining with standard therapies or targeting multiple metabolic pathways may be necessary. In this paper, we review the critical role of mitochondrial metabolic functions, including oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and fatty acid and amino acid metabolism, in metabolic reprogramming of breast cancer cells. In addition, we outline the impact of mitochondrial dysfunction on metabolic pathways in different subtypes of breast cancer and mitochondrial inhibitors targeting different metabolic pathways, aiming to provide additional ideas for the development of mitochondrial inhibitors and to improve the efficacy of existing therapies for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunotherapy has emerged as promising treatment in sarcomas, but the high variability in terms of histology, clinical behavior and response to treatments determines a particular challenge for its role in these neoplasms. Tumor immune microenvironment (TiME) of sarcomas reflects the heterogeneity of these tumors originating from mesenchymal cells and encompassing more than 100 histologies. Advances in the understanding of the complexity of TiME have led to an improvement of the immunotherapeutic responsiveness in sarcomas, that at first showed disappointing results. The proposed immune-classification of sarcomas based on the interaction between immune cell populations and tumor cells showed to have a prognostic and potential predictive role for immunotherapies. Several studies have explored the clinical impact of immune therapies in the management of these histotypes leading to controversial results. The presence of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) seems to correlate with an improvement in the survival of patients and with a higher responsiveness to immunotherapy. In this context, it is important to consider that also immunerelated genes (IRGs) have been demonstrated to have a key role in tumorigenesis and in the building of tumor immune microenvironment. The IRGs landscape in soft tissue and bone sarcomas is characterized by the connection between several tumor-related genes that can assume a potential prognostic and predictive therapeutic role. In this paper, we reviewed the state of art of the principal immune strategies in the management of sarcomas including their clinical and translational relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of comprehensive genomic profiling using next-generation sequencing (NGS) has unveiled an abundance of potentially actionable genetic aberrations that have shaped our understanding of the cancer biology landscape. Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) is an enzyme present in the cytosol (IDH1) and mitochondria (IDH2 and IDH3). In the mitochondrion, it catalyzes the irreversible oxidative decarboxylation of isocitrate, yielding the production of α-ketoglutarate and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) as well as carbon dioxide (CO2). In the cytosol, IDH catalyzes the decarboxylation of isocitrate to α-ketoglutarate as well as the reverse reductive carboxylation of α-ketoglutarate to isocitrate. These rate-limiting steps in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, as well as the cytoplasmic response to oxidative stress, play key roles in gene regulation, cell differentiation, and tissue homeostasis. Mutations in the genes encoding IDH1 and IDH2 and, less commonly, IDH3 have been found in a variety of cancers, most commonly glioma, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chondrosarcoma, and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. In this paper, we intend to elucidate the theorized pathophysiology behind IDH isomer mutation, its implication in cancer manifestation, and discuss some of the available clinical data regarding the use of novel IDH inhibitors and their role in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Healthy cancer survivorship involves patients' active engagement with preventative health behaviors and follow‐up care. While clinicians and patients have typically held dual responsibility for activating these behaviors, transitioning some clinician effort to technology and health coaches may enhance guideline implementation. This paper reports on the acceptability of the Shared Healthcare Actions & Reflections Electronic systems in survivorship (SHARE‐S) program, an entirely virtual multicomponent intervention incorporating e‐referrals, remotely‐delivered health coaching, and automated text messages to enhance patient self‐management and promote healthy survivorship. Methods: SHARE‐S was evaluated in single group hybrid implementation‐effectiveness pilot study. Patients were e‐referred from the clinical team to health coaches for three health self‐management coaching calls and received text messages to enhance coaching. Semi‐structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 patient participants, 2 referring clinicians, and 2 health coaches to determine intervention acceptability (attitudes, appropriateness, suitability, convenience, and perceived effectiveness) and to identify important elements of the program and potential mechanisms of action to guide future implementation. Results: SHARE‐S was described as impactful and convenient. The nondirective, patient‐centered health coaching and mindfulness exercises were deemed most acceptable; text messages were less acceptable. Stakeholders suggested increased flexibility in format, frequency, timing, and length of participation, and additional tailored educational materials. Patients reported tangible health behavior changes, improved mood, and increased accountability and self‐efficacy. Conclusions: SHARE‐S is overall an acceptable and potentially effective intervention that may enhance survivors' self‐management and well‐being. Alterations to tailored content, timing, and dose should be tested to determine impact on acceptability and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant tumors are complex systemic chronic diseases and one of the major causes of human mortality. Targeted therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy are examples of mainstream allopathic medicine treatments that effective for intermediate and advanced malignant tumors. The ongoing use of conventional allopathic medicine has resulted in adverse responses and drug resistance, which have hampered its efficacy. As an important component of complementary and alternative medicine, Chinese medicine has been found to have antitumor effects and has played an important role in enhancing the therapeutic sensitivity of mainstream allopathic medicine, reducing the incidence of adverse events and improving immune-related functions. The combined application of adjuvant Chinese medicine and mainstream allopathic medicine has begun to gain acceptance and is gradually used in the field of antitumor therapy. Traditional natural medicines and their active ingredients, as well as Chinese patent medicines, have been proven to have excellent therapeutic efficacy and good safety in the treatment of variousmalignant tumors. This paper focuses on the mechanism of action and research progress of combining the above drugs with mainstream allopathic medicine to increase therapeutic sensitivity, alleviate drug resistance, reduce adverse reactions, and improve the body's immune function. To encourage the clinical development and use of Chinese herb adjuvant therapy as well as to provide ideas and information for creating safer and more effective anticancer medication combinations, the significant functions of Chinese herb therapies as adjuvant therapies for cancer treatment are described in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Institute of Medicine recommends Survivorship Care Plans (SCPs) for all cancer survivors. However, it is unclear whether certain patient groups may or may not benefit from SCPs.Objective: The aim was to assess whether the effects of an automatically generated paper SCP on patients' satisfaction with information provision and care, illness perceptions, and health care utilization were moderated by disease-related Internet use.Methods: Twelve hospitals were randomized to either SCP care or usual care in the pragmatic cluster randomized Registrationsystem Oncological GYnecology (ROGY) Care trial. Newly diagnosed endometrial cancer patients completed questionnaires after diagnosis (N=221; response: 74.7%, 221/296), 6 months (n=158), and 12 months (n=147), including patients' satisfaction with information provision and care, illness perceptions, health care utilization (how many times patients visited a medical specialist or primary care physician about their cancer in the past 6 months), and disease-related Internet use (whether patients used the Internet to look for information about cancer).Results: In total, 80 of 221 (36.2%) patients used the Internet to obtain disease-related information. Disease-related Internet use moderated the SCP care effect on the amount of information received about the disease (P=.03) and medical tests (P=.01), helpfulness of the information (P=.01), and how well patients understood their illness (P=.04). All stratified analyses were not statistically significant. However, it appeared that patients who did not seek disease-related information on the Internet in the SCP care arm reported receiving more information about their disease (mean 63.9, SD 20.1 vs mean 58.3, SD 23.7) and medical tests (mean 70.6, SD 23.5 vs mean 64.7, SD 24.9), finding the information more helpful (76.7, SD 22.9 vs mean 67.8, SD 27.2; scale 0-100), and understanding their illness better (mean 6.6, SD 3.0 vs mean 6.1, SD 3.2; scale 1-10) than patients in the usual care arm did. In addition, although all stratified analyses were not significant, patients who did seek disease-related information on the Internet in the SCP care arm appeared to receive less information about their disease (mean 65.7, SD 23.4 vs mean 67.1, SD 20.7) and medical tests (mean 72.4, SD 23.5 vs mean 75.3, SD 21.6), did not find the information more helpful (mean 78.6, SD 21.2 vs mean 76.0, SD 22.0), and reported less understanding of their illness (mean 6.3, SD 2.8 vs mean 7.1, SD 2.7) than patients in the usual care arm did.Conclusions: Paper SCPs appear to improve the amount of information received about the disease and medical tests, the helpfulness of the information, and understanding of the illness for patients who do not search for disease-related information on the Internet. In contrast, paper SCPs do not seem beneficial for patients who do seek disease-related information on the Internet.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01185626; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01185626 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6fpaMXsDn). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer-related neuropathic pain is a common adverse effect in the process of cancer development and treatment and has gradually attracted the attention of researchers. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the articles on cancer-related neuropathic pain published between 2012 and 2021 and visualize the data through CiteSpace and R software. The results show that in the past 10 years, a total of 5715 articles have been published, involving 118 categories, of which the most is Clinical Neurology, followed by Neurosciences, Pharmacology Pharmacy. The country with the most published articles is the United States, followed by China and Italy. A total of 22,228 authors were involved in the study of cancer-related neuropathic pain. These historical opinions about cancer-related neuropathic pain could be an important practical basis for further research into potential development trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the psychosocial issues that emerge in the patients and their spouses upon cancer diagnosis and during its treatment. Furthermore, to search the immigrant specific supportive approaches when providing cancer care. Study Design: Systematic Literature Review. Period: 2008 to 2020. Material & Methods: Thirty-three articles, which met the pre-set criteria, were analyzed, and employed as a reference in this paper. Results: The analysis of the literature reported that depression, anxiety and low quality of life are prevalent among cancer patients and their spouses. The well-established evidence strengthened that culturally competent care, social, as well as linguistic support, are the immigrant tailored strategies that can help satisfy the need of this vulnerable population. Conclusion: The key research findings presented in the paper concludes that immigrants experiencing cancer and their spouses are more prone to acquire psychosocial issues due to their unprecedented circumstances that demand specific immigrants' tailored approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotherapy scheduling at cancer treatment centres is a complex problem due to high and growing demand, diversity of treatment protocols, limitations on resources and the need to coordinate treatment session times with laboratory preparation of medication. Over a given planning horizon, treatment centres assign patients first to specific days (interday scheduling) and then to specific times within each day (intraday scheduling), the latter process including the definition of medication preparation time. This paper addresses the intraday scheduling problem using an integer programming model that attempts to schedule all patients assigned to the horizon, and the preparation of the medication to be administered, simultaneously. The linear relaxation of the model formulation, which is based on treatment patterns, is solved using column generation. The proposed approach allows for medication preparation on the day of treatment or a previous day subject to time slot availability. A case study is conducted using actual data from a Chilean cancer centre to compare through simulation the schedules generated by the proposed approach and the centre's manual method. The results show that the proposed approach performs better on makespan, treatment chair occupancy, number of overtime hours and finding solutions at high demand levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents trainees' proffered paper session abstracts to be presented at the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA) and Private Cancer Physicians of Australia (PCPA) Joint Scientific Meeting which include "Adjuvant Lipiodol I-131 in Resected Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Retrospective Review of 22 Patients" and "Mortality Within 30 and 60 Days of Receiving Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy at a Regional Oncology Unit."

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been broadly applied in biomedical and other fields. MOFs have high porosity, a large comparative area, and good biostability and have attracted significant attention, especially in cancer therapies. This paper presents the latest applications of MOFs in chemodynamic therapy (CDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), immunotherapy (IT), and combination therapy for breast cancer. A combination therapy is the combination of two different treatment modalities, such as CDT and PDT combination therapy, and is considered more effective than separate therapies. Herein, we have also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of combination therapy in the treatment of breast cancer. This paper aims to illustrate the potential of MOFs in new cancer therapeutic approaches, discuss their potential advantages, and provide some reflections on the latest research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the International Journal of Molecular Sciences discussing the advances in targeted cancer therapy and mechanisms of resistance. The article highlights that drug resistance is a significant clinical challenge in cancer treatment and is caused by the genetic heterogeneity of cancer cells. The tumor microenvironment and immune response also play a critical role in cancer progression and resistance to immunotherapy. The editorial presents a special issue featuring 13 papers that cover various aspects of clinical discovery, resistance mechanisms, and novel therapeutics in cancer treatment. The aim is to inspire researchers to develop effective solutions to overcome drug resistance and improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients. [Extracted from the article]

The paper presents a review of models that can be used to describe dynamics of lung cancer growth and its response to treatment at both cell population and intracellular processes levels. To address the latter, models of signaling pathways associated with cellular responses to treatment are overviewed. First, treatment options for lung cancer are discussed, and main signaling pathways and regulatory networks are briefly reviewed. Then, approaches used to model specific therapies are discussed. Following that, models of intracellular processes that are crucial in responses to therapies are presented. The paper is concluded with a discussion of the applicability of the presented approaches in the context of lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth review paper, by Manuela Curcio and colleagues, reports the possibilities offered by self-assembling nanoparticles based on hyaluronic acid in cancer therapy [[4]]. In recent decades, the interest in nanomaterials has grown rapidly for their applications in many research fields, including drug delivery and cancer therapy. In the third review article, Shei Li Chung et al. describe the recent advancements in nanotechnology to develop novel co-delivery systems, which involve short-interfering RNA (siRNA) and small-molecule drugs for synergistic cancer therapy [[3]]. [Extracted from the article]

Background: The number of publications on acupuncture for cancer pain is increasing rapidly with an upward tendency. Considering that no bibliometric articles related to this topic have been published yet. It is necessary to evaluate the global scientific output of research in this field, and shed light on the direction of clinical cancer pain management in the future. Methods: Research publications regarding acupuncture on cancer pain from inception to 2022 were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric analyses were performed using CiteSpace software, the bibliometrix R package, and VOSviewer software. Network maps were generated to assess the collaborations between different countries, institutions, authors, and keywords. And clusters map was generated to evaluate reference. Results: A total of 790 articles related to acupuncture therapy for cancer pain were identified. We observe that the number of publications is gradually increasing over time. China and the United States were the main contributors. Mem Sloan Kettering Canc Ctr (38 papers) and Beijing Univ Chinese Med (28 papers) contributed the most publications, becoming the leading contributors in this field. Although J Clin Oncol (28 articles) ranked ninth in terms of publication volume, it was the journal with the most citations and the highest number of IF (50.717) and H-index (494) at the same time. MAO J from Mem Sloan Kettering Canc Ctr was the most prolific author (23 articles). The main hot topics included matters related to acupuncture (239 times), pain (199 times), management (139 times), quality of life (107 times), electroacupuncture (100 times), and breast cancer (82 times). Conclusion: Our bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the development of acupuncture for cancer pain, enabling relevant authors and research teams to identify the current research status in this field. At the same time, acupuncture for breast cancer (BC) pain, aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgia (AIA), and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) may soon become prospective focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) hyperthermia is a promising emerging therapy for cancer treatment that is minimally invasive and has been successfully used to treat different types of tumors. The power dissipation of MNPs, which is one of the most important factors during a hyperthermia treatment, is determined by the properties of MNPs and characteristics of the magnetic field. This paper proposes a method based on the finite element analysis for determining the value of the power dissipation of particles (PDP) that can maximize the average temperature of the tumor during treatment and at the same time guarantee that the maximum temperature is within the therapeutic range. The application of the critical PDP value can improve the effectiveness of the treatment since it increases the average temperature in the tumor region while limiting the damage to the healthy tissue that surrounds it. After the critical PDP is determined for a specific model, it is shown how the properties of the MNPs can be chosen to achieve the desired PDP value. The transient behavior of the temperature distribution for two different models considering blood vessels is analyzed as a case study, showing that the presence of a blood vessel inside the tumor region can significantly decrease the uniformity of the temperature field and also increase the treatment duration given its cooling effects. To present a solution that does not depend upon a good model of the tumor region, an alternative method that uses MNPs with low Curie temperature is proposed, given the temperature self-regulating properties of such MNPs. The results demonstrate that the uniformity of the temperature field can be significantly increased by combining the optimization procedure proposed in this paper with the use of low-Curie-temperature MNPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are increasingly being used in the development of new therapeutic drugs in areas such as cancer therapy and hypertension. Additionally, they are seen as an alternative to antibiotics due to the increasing occurrence of bacterial resistance. Wet-laboratory experimental identification, however, is both time-consuming and costly, so in silico models are now commonly used in order to screen new AMP candidates. Results This paper proposes a novel approach for creating model inputs; using pre-trained language models to produce contextualized embeddings, representing the amino acids within each peptide sequence, before a convolutional neural network is trained as the classifier. The results were validated on two datasets—one previously used in AMP prediction research, and a larger independent dataset created by this paper. Predictive accuracies of 93.33% and 88.26% were achieved, respectively, outperforming previous state-of-the-art classification models. Availability and implementation All codes are available and can be accessed here: https://github.com/williamdee1/LMPred%5fAMP%5fPrediction. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics Advances online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ginsenosides, the primary bioactive ingredients derived from the root of Panax ginseng, are eagerly in demand for tumor patients as a complementary and alternative drug. Ginsenosides have increasingly become a "hot topic" in recent years due to their multifunctional role in treating colorectal cancer (CRC) and regulating tumor microenvironment (TME). Emerging experimental research on ginsenosides in the treatment and immune regulation of CRC has been published, while no review sums up its specific role in the CRC microenvironment. Therefore, this paper systematically introduces how ginsenosides affect the TME, specifically by enhancing immune response, inhibiting the activation of stromal cells, and altering the hallmarks of CRC cells. In addition, we discuss their impact on the physicochemical properties of the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, we discuss the application of ginsenosides in clinical treatment as their efficacy in enhancing tumor patient immunity and prolonging survival. The future perspectives of ginsenoside as a complementary and alternative drug of CRC are also provided. This review hopes to open up a new horizon for the cancer treatment of Traditional Chinese Medicine monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining the structural integrity of genomic chromosomal DNA is an essential role of cellular life and requires two important biological mechanisms: the DNA damage response (DDR) mechanism and telomere protection mechanism at chromosome ends. Because abnormalities in telomeres and cellular DDR regulation are strongly associated with human aging and cancer, there is a reciprocal regulation of telomeres and cellular DDR. Moreover, several drug treatments for DDR are currently available. This paper reviews the progress in research on the interaction between telomeres and cellular DNA damage repair pathways. The research on the crosstalk between telomere damage and DDR is important for improving the efficacy of tumor treatment. However, further studies are required to confirm this hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]