Anti-cancer drugs
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Interferon-α versus interleukin-2 in Chinese patients with malignant melanoma: a randomized, controlled, trial.
The US Food and Drug Association has approved interferon-α (IFN-α) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) as adjuvant therapy in malignant melanoma. The objective of the study was to compare efficacy and safety of subcutaneous interferon-α with continuous intravenous IL-2 in Chinese patients with malignant melanoma. A total of 250 patients with unresectable malignant melanoma were subjected to randomized in 1 : 1 ratio. ⋯ Healthcare management and expert charges lead to increase in the cost of treatment for IL-2 group patients than IFN-α group (P<0.0001). Continuous intravenous IL-2 should be recommended in relapse-free Chinese patients with malignant melanoma. Level of Evidence: I.
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Comparative Study
The outcome to axitinib or everolimus after sunitinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
We aimed to investigate the different outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with second-line axitinib or everolimus after sunitinib. Patients treated in 16 oncological centres in Italy were included, and those receiving axitinib or everolimus from January 2013 onwards were analysed for outcomes. Descriptive statistical tests were used to highlight differences between groups. ⋯ Major limitations are the retrospective nature of the study and the lack of a prospective evaluation of the progression. This study reports no significantly differences between everolimus and axitinib in terms of both PFS and OS. Furthermore, the length of first-line treatment cannot be used as such a predictive factor and cannot suggest the use of a molecule compared with another.
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Forkhead box protein M1 (FoxM1) has been associated with cancer progression and metastasis. However, the function of FoxM1 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of FoxM1 in regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and migration of TSCC cells. ⋯ Furthermore, the expression levels of FoxM1, pAKT, and c-Met were found to significantly increase in TSCC tissues compared with normal tissues, and these three biomarkers were concomitantly expressed in TSCC tissues. Clinical association analyses indicated that the expression of FoxM1, c-Met, and pAKT was associated with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with TSCC including tumor stage, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. Taken together, our findings suggest that FoxM1 promotes the EMT, invasion and migration of TSCC cells, and cross-talks with c-Met/AKT signaling to form a positive feedback loop to promote TSCC development.
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Apatinib has been proven to be effective and safe among patients in the third-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer in phase II and III trials. We aimed to evaluate its efficacy and safety in second-line practice, and to explore the factors associated with efficacy. Between April 2015 and May 2017, a total of 23 patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma or adenocarcinoma of gastroesophageal junction were enrolled and followed up retrospectively after failing the first line of systemic therapy. ⋯ The most common adverse events over grade 3 were hypertension (8.7%) and thrombocytopenia (8.7%). No treatment-related death was documented during the drug administration. Apatinib is an effective regimen for the second-line treatment of advanced gastric and gastroesophageal cancer with manageable toxicity.
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Trifluridine/tipiracil, an oral treatment combining trifluridine (an antineoplastic thymidine-based nucleoside analog) and tipiracil hydrochloride (a thymidine phosphorylase inhibitor), led to significant improvement in overall survival in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients refractory to standard therapy in the phase III RECOURSE trial. Here, we report an integrated summary of the safety of trifluridine/tipiracil. The main safety analysis includes integrated data from the RECOURSE and J003 studies (safety data group 2) of patients with refractory mCRC receiving trifluridine/tipiracil at the recommended starting dose: 35 mg/m twice daily for 5 days with 2 days' rest for 2 weeks, followed by a 14-day rest (one cycle). ⋯ Trifluridine/tipiracil was generally well tolerated, but over 50% of patients required interruptions/delays/reductions. There was a low rate of discontinuations, SAEs, and fatal AEs. This analysis confirms the safety profile observed in RECOURSE.