271. Effectiveness of electrochemotherapy after IFN-[alpha] adjuvant therapy of melanoma patientsAndrejc Hribernik, Maja Čemažar, Gregor Serša, Maša Omerzel, Marko Snoj, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: The combination of electrochemotherapy with immuno-modulatory treatments has already been explored and proven effective. However, the role of interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) adjuvant therapy of melanoma patients and implication on electrochemotherapy effectiveness has not been explored yet. Therefore, the aim of the study was to retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of electrochemotherapy after the previous adjuvant treatment with IFN-alpha in melanoma patients. Patients and methods. The study was a retrospective single-center observational analysis of the patients with advanced melanoma, treated with electrochemotherapy after previous IFN-alpha adjuvant therapy. Five patients, treated between January 2008 and December 2014, were included into the study, regardless of the time point of IFN-alpha adjuvant therapy. Results. Electrochemotherapy of recurrent melanoma after the IFN-alpha adjuvant therapy proved to be a safe and effective treatment. Patients with one or two metastases responded completely. Among patients with multiple metastases, there was a variable response rate. In one patient all 23 metastases responded completely, in second patient more than 85% of all together 80 metastases responded completely and in third patient all 5 metastases had partial response. Taking into account all metastases from all patients together there was an 85% complete response rate. Conclusions. The study showed that electrochemotherapy of recurrent melanoma after the IFN-alpha adjuvant therapy is a safe and effective treatment modality, which results in a high complete response rate, not only in single metastasis, but also in multiple metastases. The high complete response rate might be due to an IFN-alpha immune-editing effect, however, further studies with a larger number of patients are needed to support this presumption.
Keywords: electrochemotherapy, IFN-alpha, melanoma
Published in DiRROS: 30.04.2024; Views: 161; Downloads: 51
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274. Long-term survival in glioblastoma : methyl guanine methyl transferase (MGMT) promoter methylation as independent favourable prognostic factorUroš Smrdel, Mara Popović, Matjaž Zwitter, Emanuela Boštjančič, Andrej Zupan, Viljem Kovač, Damjan Glavač, Drago Bokal, Janja Jerebic, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: In spite of significant improvement after multi-modality treatment, prognosis of most patients with glioblastoma remains poor. Standard clinical prognostic factors (age, gender, extent of surgery and performance status) do not clearly predict long-term survival. The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate immuno-histochemical and genetic characteristics of the tumour as additional prognostic factors in glioblastoma. Long-term survivor group were 40 patients with glioblastoma with survival longer than 30 months. Control group were 40 patients with shorter survival and matched to the long-term survivor group according to the clinical prognostic factors. All patients underwent multimodality treatment with surgery, postoperative conformal radiotherapy and temozolomide during and after radiotherapy. Biopsy samples were tested for the methylation of MGMT promoter (with methylation specific polymerase chain reaction), IDH1 (with immunohistochemistry), IDH2, CDKN2A and CDKN2B (with multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification), and 1p and 19q mutations (with fluorescent in situ hybridization). Methylation of MGMT promoter was found in 95% and in 36% in the long-term survivor and control groups, respectively (p < 0.001). IDH1 R132H mutated patients had a non-significant lower risk of dying from glioblastoma (p= 0.437), in comparison to patients without this mutation. Other mutations were rare, with no significant difference between the two groups. Molecular and genetic testing offers additional prognostic and predictive information for patients with glioblastoma. The most important finding of our analysis is that in the absence of MGMT promoter methylation, longterm survival is very rare. For patients without this mutation, alternative treatments should be explored.
Keywords: glioblastoma, long-term survival, methyl guanine methyl transferase, MGMT, prognostic factor
Published in DiRROS: 30.04.2024; Views: 163; Downloads: 153
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275. The prognostic value of whole blood SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression in advanced small-cell lung cancerEva Sodja, Matija Rijavec, Ana Koren, Aleksander Sadikov, Peter Korošec, Tanja Čufer, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: The data on expression and clinical impact of cancer stem cell markers SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 in lung cancer is still lacking. The aim of our study was to compare SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression levels in whole blood between advanced small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients and healthy controls, and to correlate mRNA expression with progression-free survival (PFS) after first-line chemotherapy and overall survival (OS) in advanced SCLC patients. Patients and methods. 50 advanced SCLC patients treated with standard chemotherapy and followed at University Clinic Golnik, Slovenia, between 2009 and 2013 were prospectively included. SOX2, NANOG and OCT4 mRNA expression levels were determined using TaqMan qPCR in whole blood collected prior to chemotherapy. Whole blood of 34 matched healthy individuals with no cancerous disease was also tested. Results. SOX2 mRNA expression was significantly higher in whole blood of SCLC patients compared to healthy controls (p = 0.006). Significant correlation between SOX2 mRNA expression levels and the number of distant metastatic sites was established (p = 0.027). In survival analysis, patients with high SOX2 expression had shorter OS (p = 0.017) and PFS (p = 0.046). In multivariate Cox analysis, an independent value of high SOX2 expression for shorter OS (p = 0.002), but not PFS was confirmed. No significant differences were observed for NANOG or OCT4 expression levels when comparing SCLC patients and healthy controls neither when analysing survival outcomes in SCLC patients. Conclusions. SOX2 mRNA expression in whole blood might be a promising non-invasive marker for molecular screening of SCLC and important prognostic marker in advanced chemotherapy-treated SCLC patients, altogether indicating important role of cancer stem-like cell (CSC) regulators in cancer spread. Further evaluation of SOX2 as a possible screening/prognostic marker and a therapeutic target of SCLC is warranted.
Keywords: small-cell lung cancer, cancer stem cell markers, prognosis
Published in DiRROS: 30.04.2024; Views: 171; Downloads: 62
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276. Granulomatosis after autologous stem cell transplantation in nonHodgkin lymphoma : experience of single institution and a review of literatureLučka Boltežar, Ivana Žagar, Barbara Jezeršek Novaković, 2016, review article Abstract: Sarcoidosis before and after treatment of malignancy is an important differential diagnosis that has to be distinguished from lymphoma. Patients and methods. Hodgkin lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and aggressive follicular lymphoma are being staged and treatment effect is evaluated with PET-CT. We report three cases of aggressive lymphoma after high dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation with positive lymph nodes on PET-CT, which were histologically diagnosed as sarcoidosis/granulomatosis. In the literature, we found that false positive lymph nodes were more common after allogeneic than after autologous transplantation. Conclusions. Post-treatment PET-CT positive lymph nodes should always be examined histologically prior to any further treatment decision to avoid unnecessary toxic procedures.
Keywords: granulomatosis, nonHodgin lymphoma, PET-CT, differential diagnosis
Published in DiRROS: 30.04.2024; Views: 170; Downloads: 59
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