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Topic Review
Extensive-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive subtype of lung cancer characterized by a rapid initial response and early development of resistance to systemic therapy and radiation. The management of SCLC significantly changed for the first time in decades with the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors.
  • 961
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
DNA Methylation in Low-Grade Gliomas
Gliomas, the most common type of malignant primary brain tumor, were conventionally classified through WHO Grades I–IV (now 1–4), with low-grade gliomas being entities belonging to Grades 1 or 2. While the focus of the WHO Classification for Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors had historically been on histopathological attributes, the recently released fifth edition of the classification (WHO CNS5) characterizes brain tumors, including gliomas, using an integration of histological and molecular features, including their epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation which are increasingly being used for the classification of low-grade gliomas. 
  • 961
  • 01 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Multidrug Resistance Mechanisms and Nano-Treatments
The cellular mechanisms of drug resistance prevent the correct efficacy of the therapies used in various types of cancer and nanotechnology has been postulated as a possible alternative to avoid them. This entry focuses on describing the different mechanisms of drug resistance and dis-covering which nanotechnology-based therapies have been used in recent years to evade them in colon (CRC) and pancreatic cancer (PAC). Here we summarize the use of different types of nanotechnology (mainly nanoparticles) that have shown efficacy in vitro and in vivo in preclinical phases, allowing future in-depth research in CRC and PAC and its translation to future clinical trials.
  • 961
  • 02 May 2021
Topic Review
LRS for Surgical Breast Cancer
Laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS) is a highly specific biomolecular technique which has been shown to have the ability to distinguish malignant and normal breast tissue. This paper discusses significant advancements in the use of LRS in surgical breast cancer diagnosis, with an emphasis on statistical and machine learning strategies employed for precise, transparent and real-time analysis of Raman spectra. When combined with a variety of “machine learning” techniques LRS has been increasingly employed in oncogenic diagnostics. This paper proposes that the majority of these algorithms fail to provide the two most critical pieces of information required by the practicing surgeon: a probability that the classification of a tissue is correct, and, more importantly, the expected error in that probability. Stochastic backpropagation artificial neural networks inherently provide both pieces of information for each and every tissue site examined by LRS. If the networks are trained using both human experts and an unsupervised classification algorithm as gold standards, rapid progress can be made understanding what additional contextual data is needed to improve network classification performance. Our patients expect us to not simply have an opinion about their tumor, but to know how certain we are that we are correct. Stochastic networks can provide that information.
  • 960
  • 25 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Repurposing Nelfinavir for Cancer Therapy
Nelfinavir is an anti-infective agent that has extensively been used to treat acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in adult and pediatric patients. In addition to its anti-infective properties, nelfinavir has demonstrated potent off-target anti-cancer effects, suggesting that it could be a suitable candidate for drug repurposing for cancer.
  • 959
  • 07 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Mycobacteria and Cancer
Although the therapeutic effect of mycobacteria as antitumor agents has been known for decades, recent epidemiological and experimental studies have revealed that mycobacterium-related chronic inflammation may be a possible mechanism of cancer pathogenesis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous Mycobacterium avium complex infections have been implicated as potentially contributing to the etiology of lung cancer, whereas Mycobacterium ulcerans has been correlated with skin carcinogenesis. The risk of tumor development with chronic mycobacterial infections is thought to be a result of many host effector mechanisms acting at different stages of oncogenesis.
  • 959
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
STAT3 in Cell Cycle Arrest and Regulation
There are seven STATs (STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5a, STAT5b, and STAT6) that are intracellular proteins which function as signal messengers and transcription factors. They transmit signals from cytokines, growth factors, intracellular kinases, mutated oncoproteins, and other signaling pathways to the nucleus. STAT3 play critical roles within neoplastic cells, immune cells, and other stromal cells, such as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs).
  • 959
  • 09 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Solitary Fibrous Tumor
Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a malignant condition that exhibits different clinical behaviors ranging from low to high aggressive SFT. Even when surgery alone provides curation rates above 60%, recurrences do occur in a fraction of patients where surgery is unable to provide disease control. Among the systemic therapeutic options, antiangiogenic compounds have shown higher efficacy than chemotherapy by indirect comparisons. 
  • 959
  • 22 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Oral Mucositis in Cancer
Oral mucositis (OM) is a pathological condition with several oral manifestations, originate from cytotoxic effects of non-surgical cancer therapies. The clinical manifestation ranges from diffuse erythematous areas to necrotic ulcers lesions in the mucosa. The oral mucosa presents confluent, deep, and devastatingly painful ulcerations in the most advanced clinical form. Almost all oral or oropharyngeal mucosa areas undergoing radiation will develop this side effect, however, the patients undergoing chemotherapy regiment develop the condition depending on the dose and cytotoxicity of the drug used. Usually, incidence goes around 20 to 40% for solid tumors, while in the therapies with a high dose of cytotoxic drugs, like hematopoietic stem cell transplant, the incidence is around 80%. The patients that develop OM during the cancer treatment can manifest alterations in physical, mental, emotional, and social health factors, proving an unhealthy state. Patients present diet modifications and weight loss, necessitate opioid analgesics, require supplemental nutrition, increase the risk of bacteremia and sepsis, disrupt optimal cancer therapy, and increase healthcare costs. It is common the association of head and neck cancer and OM in medical care however, the frequency in other cancers has long been overlooked and underreported.  For this reason, a multidisciplinary team composed of other health professionals, as dentists, can identify and treat pathologies in advance during oncological treatment. The OM development is described in a five-step pathogenesis model with several biological factors’ combinations. The lesion occurs with the damage of basal epithelial cells due to the radio-chemotherapy. The cascade of events starts with severe alterations in the environment that involves the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), activation of transcription factors (NF-kB) and inflammatory pathways (COX), and up-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-a, IL1b, and IL-6). The clinical diagnosis can be made in the early stages. The mucosa presents erythema, the patients complain of burning and intolerance of some specific foods. After two weeks, the ulcerated lesions can be detected in one or more areas of the oral cavity. The patient refers to slight discomfort and inconvenience to severe pain, dysphagia, and difficulty in eating that lead to the opioid intervention. As a result of the cancer treatment, it is common to occur salivary alterations in composition and quantity, leading to the exasperation of OM development and impairment in the patient’s quality of life. The lesions recover depending on the patient's immune compromise, however, heal spontaneously for at least 2 weeks following the completion of the therapeutic regimen. Medical and scientific community discourse about effective management of OM in cancer patients due to its high incidence and clinical significance in patient prognosis. Several scientific studies are carried out to discover a well-defined strategy that provides improved management of OM that may allow more aggressive therapeutic doses and more effective cancer treatment, improved patient survival, and wellbeing. All guidelines for the management of OM agree OM management can be divided into three basic components: general oral care, prevention, and palliative cares. The oral care purpose is to reduce some host-related risk factors for stomatitis, including lowering the impact of oral microbial flora. Therefore, a simple care protocol must be suggested, as brushing teeth, daily flossing, and mouth rinsing. In addition, spicy food, alcoholic beverages, and alcohol-based mouthwashes must be avoided. Prevention is the second most important factor in addressing oral mucositis. The combination of agents and physical strategies can provide anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-microbial more effective effects in OM management. The preventive use of oral cryotherapy and photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy showed a reduction in the impact of the treatment toxicity in the oral mucosa. The OM treatment effectivity increase can be noted with the use of several pharmacological agents (pentoxifylline, benzydamine hydrochloride, thalidomide, and simvastatin) and natural products such as Omega-3 FFA, essential oils from manuka (Leptospermum scoparium), vitamins, glutamine, chamomile, aloe vera, and curcumin. The OM palliative care has focused on symptom control using topical or systemic analgesics and the application of barrier agents to cover injured mucosa. In conclusion, OM is a painful and wasting consequence of anticancer chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.  The occurrence of this pathology increases the risk of treatment interruption and a decrease in quality of life. A multidisciplinary team can provide global attention during the treatment, detecting early necessary interventions to manage the side effects of the cytotoxic therapeutic and providing wellbeing for cancer patients.
  • 959
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Extracellular Vesicles in Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is among the most devastating digestive tract cancers worldwide. This cancer is characterized by poor diagnostic detection, lack of therapy, and difficulty in predicting tumorigenesis progression. In recent years, the attention of many researchers has been concentrated on the role of extracellular vesicles and of a particular subset of extracellular vesicles, known as exosomes. These nanovesicles are able to deliver their cargos to recipient cells playing key roles in the pathogenesis and progression of many pancreatic precancerous conditions. 
  • 958
  • 29 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Alcohol and Cancer
Approximately 4% of cases of cancer worldwide are caused by alcohol consumption. Drinking alcohol increases the risk of several cancer types, including cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, liver, colorectum, and breast.
  • 958
  • 25 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Ferrocifen Loaded Lipid Nanocapsules
Resistance of cancer cells to current chemotherapeutic drugs has obliged the scientific community to seek innovative compounds. Ferrocifens, lipophilic organometallic compounds composed of a tamoxifen scaffold covalently bound to a ferrocene moiety, have shown very interesting antiproliferative, cytotoxic and immunologic effects. The formation of ferrocenyl quinone methide plays a crucial role in the multifaceted activity of ferrocifens. Lipid nanocapsules (LNCs), meanwhile, are nanoparticles obtained by a free organic solvent process. LNCs consist of an oily core surrounded by amphiphilic surfactants and are perfectly adapted to encapsulate these hydrophobic compounds. The different in vitro and in vivo experiments performed with this ferrocifen-loaded nanocarrier have revealed promising results in several multidrug-resistant cancer cell lines such as glioblastoma, breast cancer and metastatic melanoma, alone or in combination with other therapies. 
  • 958
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Tissue- and Blood-Based mRNA Tests in Breast Cancer
Molecular diagnostic tests help clinicians understand the underlying biological mechanisms of their patients’ breast cancer (BC) and facilitate clinical management. Several tissue-based mRNA tests are used routinely in clinical practice, particularly for assessing the BC recurrence risk, which can guide treatment decisions. Blood-based mRNA assays have only recently started to emerge.
  • 957
  • 15 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Microenvironment
Despite progress in clinical research and therapy, Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of one of the most frequent liver cancers and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The hallmark of Immunotherapy as a novel treatment approach represent effective and promising option against several types of cancers including HCC which has led to encouraging results in terms of both safety and efficacy. This entry demonstrates and highlights the importance of tumor microenvironment as a predictive and prognostic marker and its clinical implications in immunotherapy response.
  • 954
  • 14 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Bone Metastasis and Microenvironment in NSCLC
Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) develop bone metastasis (BoM) in more than 50% of cases during the course of the disease. This metastatic site can lead to the development of skeletal related events (SREs), such as severe pain, pathological fractures, spinal compression, and hypercalcemia, which reduce the patient’s quality of life. Recently, the treatment of advanced NSCLC has radically changed due to the advent of immunotherapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) alone or in combination with chemotherapy have become the main therapeutic strategy for advanced or metastatic NSCLC without driver gene mutations. Since survival has increased, it has become even more important to treat bone metastasis to prevent SRE. The lower efficacy of immunotherapy treatments in BoM+ patients could be induced by the presence of a particular immunosuppressive tumor and bone microenvironment. 
  • 954
  • 27 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Copper/Disulfiram Nanomedicines and Drug Delivery Systems
Disulfiram (DSF) is a thiocarbamate based drug. Preclinical studies have shown that DSF has anticancer efficacy, and its supplementation with copper (CuII) significantly potentiates the efficacy of DSF. However, the results of clinical trials have not yielded promising results. The elucidation of the anticancer mechanisms of DSF/Cu (II) will be beneficial in repurposing DSF as a new treatment for certain types of cancer. DSF’s anticancer mechanism is primarily due to its generating reactive oxygen species, inhibiting aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity inhibition, and decreasing the levels of transcriptional proteins. DSF also shows inhibitory effects in cancer cell proliferation, the self-renewal of cancer stem cells (CSCs), angiogenesis, drug resistance, and suppresses cancer cell metastasis. 
  • 954
  • 09 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Transforming Growth Factor-Beta Signaling Activation in Cancer-Induced Cachexia
Cachexia is a metabolic syndrome consisting of massive loss of muscle mass and function that has a severe impact on the quality of life and survival of cancer patients. Up to 20% of lung cancer patients and up to 80% of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed with cachexia, leading to death in 20% of them. The main drivers of cachexia are cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1 (MIC-1/GDF15) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). Besides its double-edged role as a tumor suppressor and activator, TGF-β causes muscle loss through myostatin-based signaling, involved in the reduction in protein synthesis and enhanced protein degradation.
  • 953
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Extracellular Vesicles Surfaces for Cancer Immunotherapy
Extracellular vesicles are small membranous particles secreted by cells. Extracellular vesicles facilitate the transportation of biomolecules, such as protein, RNA, and DNA fragments, to communicate with neighboring and distant cells. Cancer cells use extracellular vesicles to hijack the immune system and induce cancer-promoting signals. Modifying extracellular vesicles using surface engineering tools allows the addition of biomolecules for targeted delivery, thus modulating the hijacked tumor immune microenvironment to improve therapeutic efficacy.
  • 953
  • 31 May 2023
Topic Review
Breast carcinoma eukaryotic initiation factors
Breast cancer is the most frequent neoplasm in females. It is a heterogenous entity, classified into intrinsic subtypes based on gene expression data and in corresponding clinical subtypes based on the determination of hormone receptor expression and proliferative activity estimated from ki67 by immunohistochemistry. As for other tumors, the metabolism of breast tumors depends on aerobic glycolysis ("Warburg-effect") and the capability for effective biosynthesis of proteins. Quantity and quality of protein biosynthesis is mainly controlled in the initiation phase of translation, which is characterized by a complex interaction of eucaryotic initiation factors with the mRNA and ribosomal proteins to form a translationally active ribosome. Thus the eIF subunit composition varies from cancer to cancer and is a key factor for determining the cancer cell´s proteome. eIFs can therefore become a suitable anti-cancer drug target. We here summarize the current knowledge on eIF expression and prognostic impact in breast cancer.
  • 952
  • 11 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Immune Checkpoints in Endometrial Cancer
Endometrial cancer (EC) occurs when cancer cells proliferate in the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. This disease primarily occurs in post-menopausal women and often shows symptoms such as abnormal vaginal bleeding and discharge or severe pelvic pain. Due to poor outcome with conventional therapy, novel treatment options such as immune checkpoint inhibitors are urgently needed for advanced/ recurrent disease EC. 
  • 952
  • 24 Nov 2020
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