What's new?

Premenopausal women with colorectal cancer have a higher 5-year survival rate than men of the same age, suggesting that female hormones may boost survival. In this prospective study, the authors compared the levels of various sex hormones to mortality rates among 609 CRC patients. In men, they found a beneficial relationship between higher levels of circulating testosterone and lower mortality. In women, though it was not statistically significant, they found a suggestive positive association between higher levels of circulating estrogens and mortality. This is the first study to investigate prediagnostic sex hormone levels as they correlate with CRC mortality.

What's new?

Alcohol consumption and physical inactivity are known breast cancer risk factors but it is currently unclear whether all women would benefit equally from drinking less alcohol and being more physically active. The authors found no difference in association between these lifestyle factors and breast cancer in women with below average, average or above average risk of developing breast cancer. They conclude that general preventative lifestyle recommendations about alcohol intake and physical activity apply to all women regardless of their breast cancer risk.

What's new?

About half of individuals who have a positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) will have one or more adenomas, potentially increasing their risk of later developing colorectal cancer (CRC). While surveillance is recommended to detect and remove these precursor lesions, evidence of surveillance effectiveness on CRC incidence is scarce. This study shows that in persons with high-risk adenomas detected following positive FOBT screening, long-term risk of CRC is nearly doubled, relative to the general population. This risk could be controlled, however, if high-risk patients were identified via European guidelines for CRC screening and diagnosis and underwent follow-up colonoscopic surveillance.

What's new?

Risk of Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) is associated with various environmental and familial factors. These factors, however, remain understudied, resulting in significant gaps in knowledge of MPN pathogenesis. In this investigation, drawing on data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the authors elaborate on specific factors linked to MPN risk in men and women. In particular, coffee consumption and caffeine intake were found to be inversely associated with the development of polycythemia vera, one of three major MPN types. MPN risk was elevated among women who smoked and among men with a familial cancer history in first-degree relatives.

What's new?

Impaired fasting blood glucose (IFG) is associated with an increased risk of cancer. In China, lifestyle changes have significantly increased the prevalence of IFG. But are high fasting blood-glucose (FBG) levels the only culprit in increased cancer risk? In this study, the authors found that people with initially low FBG that rose over time (the “FBG trajectory”) also had an increased risk both for overall cancer and especially for gastrointestinal cancer. BMI may modify these associations. A deeper understanding of these phenomena may improve future prevention strategies.

What's new?

Small bowel adenocarcinoma is a rare disease but incidences are increasing in Europe and the US because of increases in duodenal cancers. This study from France found that Crohn's disease and Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition associated with colorectal cancers, combined with younger age and poor differentiation predisposed for the disease. The authors also linked poor differentiation and advanced tumor staging with short overall survival in patients with locally resected tumors, underscoring that the prognosis for advanced adenocarcinomas remains poor.

What's new?

While mortality rates from biliary tract cancers have declined over the last decade, trends in mortality and incidence of these cancers vary geographically. Included among biliary tract cancers are gallbladder carcinoma and extrahepatic bile duct cancer, which according to the present study remain important causes of disease particularly in South America. Analyses show that within the Americas, the burden of biliary tract cancers was notably high in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Geographical patterns of mortality rates from these malignancies mirrored incidence trends in these countries. Slight increases in mortality were also identified in Colombia and Canada, warranting further investigation.

What's new?

Borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) proliferate faster than benign tumors, but don't grow invasively. Prognosis for these tumors is good, but women who develop BOT may be at increased risk of ovarian cancer. Here, the authors compared the rate of ovarian cancer in women with a previous BOT. They found that women with a serous BOT developed serous ovarian cancer nine times more often than would be expected, but their rate of mucinous ovarian cancer was not elevated. Conversely, women who had mucinous BOT had 18 times the rate of mucinous ovarian cancer, but virtually no serous ovarian cancer.

What's new?

Period analysis, the ‘gold standard’ for the assessment of long-term survival of cancer patients based on data from population-based cancer registries, has been widely used. However, its applications in China are scarce. Here, the authors provided, for the first time in the Chinese population, a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of the performance of period analysis compared to the cohort and complete methods. Period analysis provided more up-to-date precise estimates of long-term overall survival and stratifications by sex, region, age at diagnosis, and cancer sites, compared to the traditional methods. The findings may promote widespread use of period analysis across China.

What's new?

Childhood cancer significantly impacts children and their families emotionally and socioeconomically. Parents often struggle to fulfill work obligations while caring for their children and shouldering emotional burdens. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of support interventions along a child's cancer trajectory in preventing adverse socioeconomic outcomes. Analyses of data from nationwide registries shows that adverse socioeconomic effects were most pronounced among families with children diagnosed with cancer between 1982 and 1999. Mothers suffered the greatest socioeconomic loss. Adverse effects declined from 2000-2014, likely owing to improvements in Denmark's welfare system to support families with severely ill children.

What's new?

Evidence suggests that among women, risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) may be reduced by hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Little is known, however, about the impact of HRT on the risk of specific CRC molecular subtypes. In this analysis of female study participants in Germany, postmenopausal use of HRT was associated with a reduction in risk of major molecular subtypes of CRC, namely those characterized by microsatellite instability, CpG island methylator phenotype, or BRAF or KRAS mutations. Risk reductions were strongest for CRC subtypes diagnosed at older ages. The findings expand upon current knowledge of HRT mechanisms in CRC prevention.

What's new?

Chronic inflammation has been implicated in colorectal cancer (CRC), and diet plays an important role in modulating systemic inflammation. Two additional factors that contribute to chronic inflammation and also increase CRC risk are adiposity and lack of physical activity. In this large prospective study, the authors gained further insight into these relationships. They found that pro-inflammatory diets and a higher Inflammatory Profile Score (IPS, based on diet, physical activity, and abdominal obesity) are strong predictors of CRC, but principally of colon cancer and especially in men.

What's new?

Trends in oral and pharyngeal cancer incidence and mortality historically have been associated with patterns in alcohol and tobacco use. This study, based on global incidence and death data, shows that specifically in men, over the last few decades, death rates for oral and pharyngeal cancer have continued to decline, mirroring favourable patterns in tobacco and alcohol consumption in various populations. Recent increases in oropharyngeal cancer incidence, however, particularly in Australia and the United States, parallel the rise of human papillomavirus infection in those regions.

What's new?

Chronic inflammation can be influenced by dietary habits. It also appears to play an important role in the etiology of primary liver cancer (PLC). Does a pro-inflammatory diet therefore increase the risk of PLC? In this study, the authors used the “dietary inflammatory index” (DII) and found that the answer is yes, in terms of both PLC incidence and mortality. These results suggest that encouraging the consumption of more anti-inflammatory dietary components and reducing consumption of pro-inflammatory components represents an attractive strategy to reduce PLC risk and improve prognosis.

What's new?

Treatment options and outcomes for osteosarcoma have changed very little in decades. New treatment strategies are thus urgently needed. In this study, the authors found that the checkpoint inhibitor ‘prexasertib’ increased apoptosis and DNA damage in patient-derived osteosarcoma cells, at very low concentrations. In addition, when combined with cisplatin and talazoparib, prexasertib acted in a synergistic fashion. This drug thus represents a promising therapeutic candidate for further preclinical and clinical development in osteosarcoma.

What's new?

Central nervous system leukemia relapse is relatively common and has a dismal prognosis in patients with Philadelphia chromosome positive leukemia who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Here the authors report the successful treatment of this relapse using ponatinib, a potent third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The treatment was combined with conventional therapy and was successful in tumors with a mutated BCR-ABL oncoprotein (T315I), providing some hope for patients with this condition, despite a very small sample size.

What's new?

Ovarian cancer patients need an effective maintenance therapy with minimal toxicity to prevent deadly recurrence of the disease. In this paper, the authors focused on reactivating missense mutant p53. Most high grade serous ovarian cancer contains mutations in p53, which can confer resistance to therapy. The authors tested SHetA2, a drug that frees p53 from sequestration by the protein mortalin, combined with a p53 activating drug, PRIMA-1^MET. The two drugs combined achieved a 67% tumor-free rate in mice, higher than either alone. This success fuels further testing of the two agents as combination therapy for ovarian cancer.

What's new?

In 2014, the Netherlands implemented colorectal cancer (CRC) screening based on non-invasive fecal immunochemical testing (FIT), which offers a practical approach for population-based CRC detection. In the Dutch program's first round, to match local resources, FIT cut-off was increased, resulting in reduced positivity rates and reduced colonoscopy referrals, at the cost of missing advanced neoplasias. The current study shows that many of these missed advanced neoplasias were detected in subsequent screening, suggesting that increased FIT cut-off had marginal impact on screening outcome. The findings could benefit other CRC screening programs in establishing effective FIT cut-offs.

What's new?

Patients in clinical trials have to meet specific criteria, but in the real world, doctors treat patients with a wide variety of age, comorbidities, and disease severity. In this paper, the authors sought to clarify criteria for selecting an EGFR-TKI for lung cancer patients by collecting data from a real-world patient cohort. They studied 5,940 patients who received either gefitinib, erlotinib, or afatinib between 2011 and 2015. The patients receiving afatinib showed longer survival than those receiving gefitinib. However, it is noted that physicians tend to prescribe afatinib to younger or healthier patients, which may contribute to improved outcomes.

What's new?

Targeting death receptors like those bound by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is an attractive alternative to cytotoxic chemotherapy but death receptor agonists, applied as single agents, are therapeutically ineffective. The authors developed a fusion protein, AD-O51.4, combining TRAIL with positively charged peptides derived from vascular endothelial growth factor A, the major mediator of angiogenesis. AD-O51.4 exerted both cytotoxic and antiangiogenic effects in various cancer models while bypassing resistance to TRAIL-induced cell death, encouraging a similar approach with other death receptor ligands.

What's new?

While human papillomavirus (HPV)-based testing is effective for cervical cancer detection, trade-offs between benefits and harms, particularly overtreatment associated with HPV testing, remain poorly defined. This study, using model simulations, suggests that over the same screening interval, HPV testing is more effective than conventional Pap cytology and p16/Ki-67 staining but carries a risk of overtreatment, particularly in settings with short screening intervals. Relative to annual cytology, HPV and Pap cotesting results in similar benefit but fewer unnecessary treatments. The findings indicate that harm-benefit ratios for different screening methods vary depending on screening setting, interval, adherence, and HPV-vaccination status.

What's new?

The ALSYMCA phase III trial reported a survival benefit from Radium-223 treatment in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). These patients, however, were not treated previously with newer life-prolonging drugs, raising questions about whether the ALSYMCA population reflects current populations of mCRPC patients. In this prospective study, men with mCRPC who were pretreated with newer generation drugs prior to receiving Radium-223 experienced improvements in disease-free and overall survival that were comparable to those reported in the ALSYMPCA study. Prior treatment with cabazitaxel independently predicted shorter progression-free survival. The findings suggest that, overall, Radium-233 is effective in men with mCRPC.

What's new?

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing can reduce the likelihood of detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or above (CIN3+) in subsequent rounds of cervical screening, lowering the risk of cervical cancer. The present study shows that co-testing with HPV testing and liquid-based cytology (LBC) may be even more effective in reducing CIN3+ risk than cytology alone. In a randomized controlled study in a Chinese population in which two rounds of cervical screening were carried out, HPV plus LBC co-testing resulted in earlier detection of clinically significant pre-malignant lesions. Fewer high-grade lesions were detected in later screening rounds, while colposcopy rate increased.

What's new?

Non-small cell lung carcinoma is a common lung cancer with poor prognosis due to late diagnosis and frequent drug resistance of the tumor. Here the authors examined the cytotoxic effect of ABTL0812, a new AKT/mTOR inhibitor currently under clinical development, in combination with common chemotherapy regimens in lung squamous carcinoma cell lines. They demonstrate non-apoptotic cell death mediated by activation of the Tribbles-3 pseudokinase (TRIB3) and autophagy induction in response to ABTL0812 co-treatment, proposingTRIB3 as a potential new biomarker to monitor the activity of ABTL0812 treatment in human clinical trials.