Oxaliplatin is a highly neurotoxic chemotherapeutic agent routinely used for the treatment of colorectal cancer. Recent data suggest that oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy may be ...long-lasting; however, the effects of persistent neuropathy on colorectal cancer survivors’ physical and emotional well-being are not well understood. This cross sectional, descriptive study included persons who had received oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy for treatment of colorectal cancer at Moffitt Cancer Center between 2003 and 2010. Questionnaires including the Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Assessment Tool, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Insomnia Severity Index, Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36, and a demographic survey were administered. Pearson’s correlations and linear regression analyses were used to examine relationships between neuropathy and depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Eighty-nine percent of participants reported at least one symptom of peripheral neuropathy with a mean of 3.8 (±2.4) neuropathic symptoms. Depressive symptoms on the CES-D were significantly associated with more severe peripheral neuropathy(
r
= 0.38,
p
= 0.0001) and interference with activities (
r
= 0.59,
p
< 0.0001). Higher degrees of sleep disturbance on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were significantly associated with more severe peripheral neuropathy (
r
= 0.35,
p
= 0.0004) and interference with activities(
r
= 0.52,
p
< 0.0001). HRQOL was significantly associated with peripheral neuropathy and interference with activities.
Background The association between body mass index as a measure of obesity and rectal cancer outcomes has been inconsistent. Radiologic measures of visceral adiposity using CT scans have not been ...well characterized among rectal cancer patients. The objective of this study was to examine quantitative radiologic measures of visceral obesity compared with body mass index in predicting patient outcomes among patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiation and resection for locally advanced rectal cancers. Study Design We identified 99 rectal adenocarcinoma patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgical resection. Visceral and subcutaneous fat areas, as well as perinephric fat thickness (PNF), were recorded and categorized as obese (body mass index ≥30, visceral fat area to subcutaneous fat area ratio V/S ≥0.4, or median PNF). The Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards models evaluated overall and disease-free survival differences by adiposity. Results Viscerally obese rectal cancer patients (V/S >0.4 or PNF) were more likely to be older, male, and have pre-existing obesity-related conditions (eg, diabetes, hypertension, and/or hypercholesterolemia). Elevated V/S or PNF was associated with shorter disease-free survival (p = 0.02) or overall survival time (p = 0.047), respectively. Among patients with well to moderately differentiated tumors, visceral obesity was associated with poorer disease-free survival (V/S >0.4: adjusted hazard ratio = 5.0; 95% CI, 1.2–22.0). Conclusions Visceral fat area to subcutaneous fat area ratio and PNF were strongly associated with key preoperative metabolic comorbidities, and body mass index was not. Findings suggests that elevated visceral adiposity was associated with an increased risk of recurrence, which was most evident among patients with well to moderately differentiated tumors and those with incomplete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment. Quantitative measures of visceral adiposity warrant large-scale prospective evaluation.
Background
Quantitative computed tomography (CT) assessment of visceral adiposity may be superior to body mass index (BMI) as a predictor of surgical morbidity. We sought to examine the association ...of CT measures of obesity and BMI with short-term postoperative outcomes in colon cancer patients.
Methods
In this retrospective study, 110 patients treated with colectomy for stage I–III colon cancer were classified as obese or non-obese by preoperative CT-based measures of adiposity or BMI obese: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m
2
, visceral fat area (VFA) to subcutaneous fat area ratio (
V
/
S
) ≥0.4, and VFA > 100 cm
2
. Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were compared.
Results
Obese patients, by
V
/
S
and VFA but not BMI, were more likely to be male and have preexisting hypertension and diabetes. The overall complication rate was 25.5%, and there were no mortalities. Obese patients by VFA (with a trend for
V
/
S
but not BMI) were more likely to develop postoperative complications as compared to patients classified as non-obese: VFA (30.5 vs.10.7%,
p =
0.03),
V
/
S
(29.2 vs. 9.5%,
p
= 0.05), and BMI (32.4 vs. 21.9%,
p
= 0.23).
Conclusions
Elevated visceral obesity quantified by CT is associated with the presence of key metabolic comorbidities and increased postoperative morbidity and may be superior to BMI for risk stratification.
HPV infection results in changes in host gene methylation which, in turn, are thought to contribute to the neoplastic progression of HPV-associated cancers. The objective of this study was to ...identify joint and disease-specific genome-wide methylation changes in anal and cervical cancer as well as changes in high-grade pre-neoplastic lesions. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) anal tissues (n = 143; 99% HPV+) and fresh frozen cervical tissues (n = 28; 100% HPV+) underwent microdissection, DNA extraction, HPV genotyping, bisulfite modification, DNA restoration (FFPE) and analysis by the Illumina HumanMethylation450 Array. Differentially methylated regions (DMR; t test q<0.01, 3 consecutive significant CpG probes and mean Δβ methylation value>0.3) were compared between normal and cancer specimens in partial least squares (PLS) models and then used to classify anal or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia-3 (AIN3/CIN3). In AC, an 84-gene PLS signature (355 significant probes) differentiated normal anal mucosa (NM; n = 9) from AC (n = 121) while a 36-gene PLS signature (173 significant probes) differentiated normal cervical epithelium (n = 10) from CC (n = 9). The CC progression signature was validated using three independent publicly available datasets (n = 424 cases). The AC and CC progression PLS signatures were interchangeable in segregating normal, AIN3/CIN3 and AC and CC and were found to include 17 common overlapping hypermethylated genes. Moreover, these signatures segregated AIN3/CIN3 lesions similarly into cancer-like and normal-like categories. Distinct methylation changes occur across the genome during the progression of AC and CC with overall similar profiles and add to the evidence suggesting that HPV-driven oncogenesis may result in similar non-random methylomic events. Our findings may lead to identification of potential epigenetic drivers of HPV-associated cancers and also, of potential markers to identify higher risk pre-cancerous lesions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Physical activity and BMI have been individually associated with cancer survivorship but have not yet been studied in combinations in colorectal cancer patients. Here, we investigate individual and ...combined associations of physical activity and BMI groups with colorectal cancer survival outcomes.
Self-reported physical activity levels (MET hrs/wk) were assessed using an adapted version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) at baseline in 931 patients with stage I-III colorectal cancer and classified into 'highly active' and'not-highly active'(≥ / < 18 MET hrs/wk). BMI (kg/m
) was categorized into 'normal weight', 'overweight', and 'obese'. Patients were further classified into combined physical activity and BMI groups. Cox-proportional hazard models with Firth correction were computed to assess associations hazard ratio (HR), 95% profile HR likelihood confidence interval (95% CI) between individual and combined physical activity and BMI groups with overall and disease-free survival in colorectal cancer patients.
'Not-highly active' compared to 'highly active' and 'overweight'/ 'obese' compared to 'normal weight' patients had a 40-50% increased risk of death or recurrence (HR: 1.41 (95% CI: 0.99-2.06), p = 0.03; HR: 1.49 (95% CI: 1.02-2.21) and HR: 1.51 (95% CI: 1.02-2.26), p = 0.04, respectively). 'Not-highly active' patients had worse disease-free survival outcomes, regardless of their BMI, compared to 'highly active/normal weight' patients. 'Not-highly active/obese' patients had a 3.66 times increased risk of death or recurrence compared to 'highly active/normal weight' patients (HR: 4.66 (95% CI: 1.75-9.10), p = 0.002). Lower activity thresholds yielded smaller effect sizes.
Physical activity and BMI were individually associated with disease-free survival among colorectal cancer patients. Physical activity seems to improve survival outcomes in patients regardless of their BMI.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Based on KRAS testing, the subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) that could benefit from anti-EGFR therapy can be better delineated. Though KRAS testing has become significantly ...more prevalent over the last few years, methods for testing remain heterogeneous and discordance has been reported between methods.
In this study, we examined a CRC patient population and compared KRAS testing done in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) approved laboratories as part of standard clinical care and by next-generation sequencing (NGS) using the Illumina platform. Discordances were further evaluated with manual review of the NGS testing.
Out of 468 CRC patient samples, 77 had KRAS testing done by both CLIA assay and NGS. There were concordant results between testing methodologies in 74 out of 77 patients, or 96% (95% CI 89% to 99%). There were three patient samples that showed discordant results between the two methods of testing. Upon further investigation of the NGS results for the three discordant cases, one sample showed a low level of the mutation seen in the standard testing, one sample showed low tumour fraction and a third did not show any evidence of the mutation that was found with the standard assay. Five patients had KRAS mutations not typically tested with standard testing.
Overall there was a high concordance rate between NGS and standard testing for KRAS. However, NGS revealed mutations that are not tested for with standard KRAS assays that might have clinical impact with regards to the role for anti-EGFR therapy.
The precise role of tumor associated macrophages remains unclear in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) while TGF-ß has an unclear role in metastases formation. In order to understand the role of ...IL23, an interleukin associated with macrophage polarization, we investigated IL23 in the context of TGF-ß expression in PDAC. We hypothesized that IL23 expression is associated with metastatic development and survival in PDAC. We investigated IL23 and TGF-ß protein expression on resected PDAC patient tumor sections who were divided into short-term (<12 months) survivors and long-term (>30 months) survivors. Panc-1 cells treated with IL23, TGF-ß, macrophages, or combinations thereof, were orthotopically implanted into NSG mice. Patients in the long-term survivor group had higher IL23 protein expression (P = 0.01). IL23 expression was linearly correlated with TGF-ß expression in patients in the short-term survivor group (P = 0.038). Macrophages induce a higher rate of PDAC metastasis in the mouse model (P = 0.02), which is abrogated by IL23 and TGF-ß treatment (P < 0.001). Macrophages serve a critical role in PDAC tumor growth and metastasis. TGF-ß contributes to a less tumorigenic TME through regulation of macrophages. Macrophages increases PDAC primary tumor growth and metastases formation while combined IL23 and TGF-ß pre-treatment diminishes these processes.