Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are a highly heterogeneous class of tumors arising from neuroendocrine cells and peptidergic neurons. After failure of first-line treatment, patients have poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may be a powerful means of increasing therapeutic efficacy for such patients, but ICIs alone have low response rates and short disease control durations in most NENs and may be effective for only a portion of the population. ICIs combined with other immunotherapies, targeted therapies, or cytotoxic drugs have achieved some efficacy in patients with NENs and are worthy of further exploration to assess their benefits to the population. In addition, accumulating experimental and clinical evidence supports that the interaction between neuroendocrine and immune systems is essential to maintain homeostasis, and assessment of this broad neuroendocrine-immune correlation is essential for NEN treatment. In this review, we summarize the immune microenvironment characteristics, advances in immunotherapy, predictive biomarkers of ICI efficacy for NENs, and the effects of common endocrine hormones on the immune system, highlighting possible new application areas for this promising treatment in neglected NENs.
In recent years, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been recommended by many guidelines as first-line drugs for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR gene mutations and no resistance. However, with the prolongation of medication time, most appear acquired resistance. In recent years, breakthroughs in inhibitors of programmed death-1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD1 ligand, PD-L1) have rapidly changed the therapeutic model of NSCLC. Recent studies have shown that the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients is not satisfactory, which might be caused by low PD-L1 expression, inhibitory immune microenvironment and low tumor mutation load. This review will elaborate the immune microenvironment of NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation, the latest study progression of immune checkpoint inhibitors and its combined with TKI, expecting to bring new hopes for the treatment of EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients. .【中文题目：免疫检查点抑制剂治疗EGFR突变非小细胞 肺癌的研究进展】 【中文摘要：近年来，表皮生长因子受体酪氨酸激酶抑制剂（epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, EGFR-TKI）已被多项指南推荐作为表皮生长因子受体（epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR）基因敏感突变且不存在耐药的晚期非小细胞肺癌（non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC）的一线治疗药物，但随着用药时间的延长，大多数患者出现获得性耐药。近几年，针对免疫检查点程序死亡受体（programmed death-1, PD-1）及其配体（PD-1 ligand, PD-L1）的抑制剂取得突破性进展，迅速改变着NSCLC的治疗模式。而近期研究显示，EGFR突变NSCLC患者免疫检查点抑制剂疗效尚不理想，可能机制主要包括PD-L1低表达、抑制性免疫微环境及低肿瘤突变负荷等。通过对EGFR突变NSCLC患者免疫微环境的变化情况，免疫检查点抑制剂及其与TKI联合应用的研究进展的系列分析，有望为EGFR突变NSCLC患者的治疗带来新希望。 】 【中文关键词：免疫检查点抑制剂；肺肿瘤；表皮生长因子受体基因突变；程序性死亡配体-1】.
Transient ST-T elevation (STE) is a rare complication that occurs during transseptal catheterization. This study aims to delineate the incidence and characteristics of transient STE during transseptal catheterization for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. Consecutive patients who underwent fluoroscopy-guided transseptal catheterization for circumferential pulmonary vein radiofrequency ablation in Beijing An Zhen Hospital from January 2006 to January 2013 were enrolled in this study. Out of 2965 patients with a total of 3452 transseptal catheterization procedures, 13 patients (0.38%, mean age 57 ± 8, 6 female, 12 paroxysmal AF, mean left atrial diameter 35.4 ± 3.8 mm) had STE. ST-T elevation occurred after transseptal puncture in 10 patients and after pulmonary vein venography in three patients. Systolic blood pressure (129 ± 10 vs. 104 ± 20 mmHg, P < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (78 ± 6 vs. 64 ± 11 mmHg, P < 0.001), and heart rate (83 ± 19 bpm vs. 64 ± 23 b.p.m., P = 0.022) significantly decreased when STE occurred. Eleven patients complained of chest pain, one patient complained of dizziness, and one patient had no symptoms. Patients recovered in about 4.6 min (2–10 min) with dopamine or fast saline drip. Catheter ablation of AF was completed in all the 13 patients without sequelae or other complications. Four of the 13 patients (30.8%) had recurrence of AF after a mean follow-up of 21.7 months. ST-T elevation is a rare complication associated with transseptal catheterization without sequelae. Catheter ablation of AF could be safely completed in these patients.
This study investigates the prognostic value of serum biomarkers PD-L1 and IGFBP-2 in patients with esophageal carcinoma. It finds a significant positive correlation between these biomarkers and established tumor markers CEA and CYFRA21-1. The 3-year survival rate for the patient cohort was 45.10%, with deceased patients showing significantly higher levels of PD-L1 and IGFBP-2. ROC analysis indicates a strong predictive value for these biomarkers, with combined use potentially enhancing diagnostic accuracy. Kaplan-Meier curves reveal lower survival rates for patients with high biomarker expression. The study suggests that PD-L1 and IGFBP-2 could be valuable for clinical management and prognostic evaluation of esophageal carcinoma patients.
Considering the limited progress of chemotherapy and targeted therapy in improving the generally disappointing outcomes of advanced GC/GEJC, immunotherapies have been gradually developed and advanced into novel frontiers of treatment for advanced GC/GEJC. Nevertheless, the response to immunotherapy was not always satisfactory, and the emergence of resistance was unavoidable. These factors prompt the development of different combination therapies and predictive and prognostic biomarkers of efficacy to improve the outcomes of patients with advanced GC/GEJC, and to overcome drug resistance. This article discusses the advances of immune monotherapy, multiple current and ongoing clinical trials of immune combination therapy, immune-related adverse events, and various biomarkers in GC/GEJC.
In recent years, precision medical detection techniques experienced a rapid transformation from low-throughput to high-throughput genomic sequencing, from multicell promiscuous detection to single-cell precision sequencing. The emergence of liquid biopsy technology has compensated for the many limitations of tissue biopsy, leading to a tremendous transformation in precision detection. Precision detection techniques contribute to monitoring disease development more closely, evaluating therapeutic effects more scientifically, and developing new targets and new drugs. In the future, the role of precision detection and the joint detection in epigenetics, rare gene detection, individualized targeted therapy, and multigene targeted drug combination therapy should be extensively explored. This article reviews the changes in precision medical detection technology in the era of precision medicine, as well as the development, clinical application, and future challenges of liquid biopsy.
Currently, there is no standard context that conforms to the Chinese national framework for evaluating medical decisions regarding the treatment of lung cancer.This draft was formulated after a systematic review and a focus group discussion among 20 experts, who were senior physicians with extensive clinical experience from the Chinese Thoracic Oncology Group (CTONG) task force. Subsequently, a draft and a five-point Likert scale were sent to 300 CTONG working group members. These were modified according to feedback from a four-round modified Delphi approach. Hence, the first version of the 'Therapeutic option of lung cancer: CTONG scoring system' was formulated. Afterward, a corresponding questionnaire was designed to collect opinions on the weight allocation of various indicators. This was issued through the WeChat platform, "Oncology News" application and e-mails from October 23, 2020, to November 25, 2020. Participants from numerous occupations in cancer-related fields from various regions of China were included in the study. Overall and subgroup analyses regarding weight allocations were performed. The differences between participant-allocated and reference weights were considered to adjust the framework.The framework contained four aspects and six indicators, including efficacy [progression-free survival (PFS)/overall survival (OS) and subsequent treatment], safety [treatment-related severe adverse event (SAE), dose adjustment], quality of life (Qol), and compensation. The reference weights were 50%, 5%, 10%, 5%, 10%, and 20% for each indicator. By November 25, 2020, 1,043 valid questionnaires had been obtained. The majority of the questionnaires were completed by physicians (86.5%). Subgroup analysis among the various groups showed an overall consistent trend. Besides, significant differences between the participant-allocated and reference weights were found among PFS/OS (difference: -11.5%), compensation (difference: -10.1%), and subsequent treatment (difference: 9.7%) indicators. After discussion, the final weight allocations were set at 45%, 10%, 15%, 5%, 10%, and 15% for PFS/OS, subsequent treatment, treatment-related SAE, dose adjustment, Qol, and compensation, respectively.The CTONG scoring system, as an objective evaluation model that involves multiple parameters, is a breakthrough method for evaluating the therapeutic value of lung cancer treatment options in China, which is worthy of further verification in future clinical practice.
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a high-grade neuroendocrine (NE) cancer characterized by high circulating tumor-cell burden and early extensive metastasis. Considering the complexity of SCLC genes and the immune microenvironment, their unique molecular heterogeneity profiles have been continuously explored. The understanding of SCLC subtypes has recently changed from traditional "classical" and "variant" types to "NE" and "non-NE" phenotypes and to the subtypes defined by major transcriptional regulators, which indicates the gradual revelation of high intratumoral heterogeneity and plasticity characteristics of SCLCs. Advances in genomics as well as the development of single-cell sequencing analysis and new preclinical models have helped investigators gain many new insights into SCLCs and the development of targeted therapy and immunotherapy strategies. This article provides an overview of changes in molecular typing, tumor heterogeneity, and plasticity and that of advances in the precise treatment of different subtypes of SCLC.
e20556 Background: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases had a poor prognosis. Despite the traditional methods including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) might benefit patients on survival and quality of life. We investigated the cost-effectiveness of icotinib compared with WBI with or without chemotherapy for NSCLC patients with brain metastases. Methods: A markov model was conducted based on the data of BRAIN trial. We compared the economic benefit between icotinib and the combination of WBI and WBI plus chemotherapy group. We considered disease progression as intracranial progression and overall progression separately. Sensitivity analyses were performed to observe the stability of the model. The willingness-to-pay (WTP) was set as 3× per capita gross domestic product ($25929/quality-adjusted life year [QALY]). Results: When considering progression as intracranial progression and overall progression respectively, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was $930.17/QALY and $842.76/QALY between icotinib and WBI/WBI-chemotherapy. Besides, both of the average cost-effective ratio (average CE) and net benefit showed advantage of icotinib (average CE: $2157.59/QALY for intracranial progression, $2285.16/QALY for overall progression; net benefit: $372153.35 for intracranial progression, $349938.32 for overall progression). One-way sensitivity analyses demonstrated the impact of the utilities of icotinib group. The probabilistic sensitivity analyses showed even at a WTP under $6000/QALY, icotinib could be cost-effective. Conclusions: Icotinib was cost-effective compared with WBI with or without chemotherapy. [Table: see text]
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