| 1. |
- Kanerva, Anna, et al.
(författare)
-
Case-control estimation of the impact of oncolytic adenovirus on the survival of patients with refractory solid tumors.
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Molecular Therapy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1525-0024 .- 1525-0016. ; 23:2, s. 321-329
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oncolytic immunotherapy with cytokine armed replication competent viruses is an emerging approach in cancer treatment. In a recent randomized trial an increase in response rate was seen but the effect on overall survival is not known with any virus. To facilitate randomized trials, we performed a case-control study assessing the survival of 270 patients treated in an Advanced Therapy Access Program (ATAP), in comparison to matched concurrent controls from the same hospital. The overall survival of all virus treated patients was not increased over controls. However, when analysis was restricted to GMCSF-sensitive tumor types treated with GMSCF-coding viruses, a significant improvement in median survival was present (From 170 to 208 days, P = 0.0012, N=148). An even larger difference was seen when analysis was restricted to good performance score patients (193 versus 292 days, P = 0.034, N=90). The survival of ovarian cancer patients was especially promising as median survival nearly quadrupled (P = 0.0003, N=37). These preliminary data lend support to initiation of randomized clinical trials with GMCSF-coding oncolytic adenoviruses.Molecular Therapy (2014); doi:10.1038/mt.2014.218.
|
|
| 2. |
- Hosen, Ismail, et al.
(författare)
-
Mutations in TERT promoter and FGFR3 and telomere length in bladder cancer
- 2015
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Cancer. - : Wiley. - 0020-7136 .- 1097-0215. ; 137:7, s. 1621-1629
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mutations in the promoter of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) genes constitute the most recurrent somatic alterations in urothelial carcinoma of bladder. In this study, we screened DNA from 327 urothelial bladder carcinomas from well-documented patients, with different stages and grades and known TERT promoter mutational status, for FGFR3 alterations and measured relative telomere length (RTL). Although, the frequency of the TERT promoter mutations was higher than those in FGFR3; however, the alterations at the two loci occurred together more frequently than per chance [Odds ratio (OR)=4.93, 95% CI=2.72-8.92, p<0.0001]. While tumors with TERT promoter and FGFR3 mutations had shorter RTL than those without mutations (p<0.0001), the TERT promoter mutations in conjunction with the common allele of the rs2853669 polymorphism defined sub-group of patients with an observed decreased overall survival (OR=2.15, 95% CI=1.00-4.61) and increased recurrence in patients with TaG1+TaG2 disease categories (OR=3.68, 95%CI=1.12-12.05). The finding of shorter telomeres in tumors with TERT promoter and/or FGFR3 mutations than without mutations implies mechanistic relevance of telomere biology in cancer progression. The observed association with recurrence and survival shows that the TERT promoter mutations can potentially be used as markers to refine selection of patients for different treatments. The overwhelming frequency of the TERT promoter mutations also represents a case for development of an eventual therapeutic target. What's New? The identification of recurrent somatic mutations in bladder cancer opens the door to the development of new prognostic and therapeutic tools. Here, the TERT promoter mutations in conjunction with a common variant, rs2853669, define a subset of patients with increased risk of recurrence and poor survival. Mutations in FGFR3, in contrast, were not independently associated with either disease recurrence or overall survival. Tumors with mutations in FGFR3 or the TERT promoter carried shorter telomeres than those without mutations. The findings highlight the prognostic potential of TERT mutations and reveal a possible etiological role for telomere biology in bladder cancer.
|
|
| 3. |
- Pearce, Neil E, et al.
(författare)
-
IARC Monographs : 40 Years of Evaluating Carcinogenic Hazards to Humans
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. - : Environmental Health Perspectives. - 0091-6765 .- 1552-9924. ; 123:6, s. 507-514
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Recently the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Programme for the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans has been criticized for several of its evaluations, and also the approach used to perform these evaluations. Some critics have claimed that IARC Working Groups' failures to recognize study weaknesses and biases of Working Group members have led to inappropriate classification of a number of agents as carcinogenic to humans.OBJECTIVES: The authors of this paper are scientists from various disciplines relevant to the identification and hazard evaluation of human carcinogens. We have examined here criticisms of the IARC classification process to determine the validity of these concerns. We review the history of IARC evaluations and describe how the IARC evaluations are performed.DISCUSSION: We conclude that these recent criticisms are unconvincing. The procedures employed by IARC to assemble Working Groups of scientists from the various discipline and the techniques followed to review the literature and perform hazard assessment of various agents provide a balanced evaluation and an appropriate indication of the weight of the evidence. Some disagreement by individual scientists to some evaluations is not evidence of process failure. The review process has been modified over time and will undoubtedly be altered in the future to improve the process. Any process can in theory be improved, and we would support continued review and improvement of the IARC processes. This does not mean, however, that the current procedures are flawed.CONCLUSIONS: The IARC Monographs have made, and continue to make, major contributions to the scientific underpinning for societal actions to improve the public's health.
|
|
