Loco-Regional Treatments for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in People Living with HIV

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for approximately 75–90% of primary liver cancers and is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In the HIV-positive population, the risk of HCC is approximately four times higher than in the general population, with higher cancer-specific mortality than in HIV-negative patients. In most cases, HCC diagnosis is made in patients younger than the HIV-negative population and in the intermediate-advanced stage, thus limiting the therapeutic possibilities. Treatment choice in HIV-positive patients with HCC is subject to cancer staging, liver function and health status, as for HIV-negative and non-HIV-negative HCC patients. There are relatively few studies on the efficacy and safety in HIV-positive patients to date in loco-regional treatments for HCC. So far, literature shows that curative treatments such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) have no significant differences in overall survival between HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients, as opposed to palliative treatments such as TACE, where there is a significant difference in overall survival. Although it can be assumed that the most recently discovered loco-regional therapies are applicable to HIV-positive patients with HCC in the same way as HIV-negative patients, further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis. The purpose of our review is to evaluate these treatments, their efficacy, effectiveness, safety and their applicability to HIV-positive patients.

Construction and validation of the prognostic model for patients with neuroendocrine cervical carcinoma: a competing risk nomogram analysis

Purpose Neuroendocrine cervical carcinoma (NECC) is an uncommon malignancy of the female reproductive system. This study aimed to evaluate cancer-specific mortality and to construct prognostic nomograms for predicting the survival of patients with NECC. Methods we assembled the patients with NECC diagnosed between 2004 to 2015 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Meanwhile, we identified other patients with NECC from the Wenling Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital between 2002 to 2017. Fine and Gray’s test and Kaplan–Meier methods were used to evaluate cancer-specific mortality and overall survival (OS) rates, respectively. Nomograms were constructed for predicting cancer-specific survival (CSS) and OS for patients with NECC. The developed nomograms were validated both internally and externally. Results a total of 894 patients with NECC were extracted from the SEER database, then classified into the training cohort (n = 628) and the internal validation cohort (n = 266). Besides, 106 patients from the Wenling Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital served as an external validation cohort. Nomograms for predicting CSS and OS were constructed on clinical predictors. The validation of nomograms was calculated by calibration curves and concordance indexes (C-indexes). Furthermore, the developed nomograms presented higher areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves when compared to the FIGO staging system. Conclusions we established the first competing risk nomograms to predict the survival of patients with NECC. Such a model with high predictive accuracy could be a practical tool for clinicians.

Mortality Risk factors and SOX2 and mTOR expression in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Causes of mortality in EC patients are not confined to cancer-specific mortality but include various protein expressions of SOX2 and mTOR in Esophageal Cancer patients and their correlation with the clinical stage. Data about the risk factors and involvement of cancer-specific protein are still lacking. This study aimed to define the risk factors and association of SOX2 and mTOR expression in mortality in patients with EC. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the risk factors for cancer-specific mortality and cardiovascular mortality in patients with esophageal cancer (EC). The expression rates of SOX2, as well as MTO, were checked in patients. The multivariate analysis revealed a high-risk EC mortality with age ≥ 65 years, black race, grade, stage, and sequence of treatment; radiation after surgery; radiation before and after surgery; Surgery both before and after radiation. While the cardiovascular mortality increased with age ≥ 65 years, adenocarcinoma type, grade, stage, and sequence of treatment. The expression rates of SOX2, as well as mTOR, were 75.5 percent and 86.8 percent in Esophageal Cancer, while were 10.7 percent and 7.5 percent in osteochondroma, respectively, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Risk factors for cancer-specific mortality and cardiovascular mortality in EC patients include older age at diagnosis, male sex, non-married status, grade III of the tumor, the regional or distant spread of the tumor, no cancer-directed therapy. The expression levels of SOX2, mTOR, and the total survival time were related to the different stages. It shows an upward trend for the expression levels of mTOR and SOX2 in Esophageal Cancer tissues. The expression levels of SOX2 and mTOR are related to the clinical stage, metastasis, and prognosis.

Effect of Intravesical Chemotherapy on the Survival of Patients with Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Undergoing Transurethral Resection: A Retrospective Cohort Study Among Older Adults

Background: The average age of diagnosis for bladder cancer is 73 and about 75 percent of all bladder cancers are non-muscle invasive at initial diagnosis. It is recommended that non-muscle invasive bladder cancers (NMIBC) should be treated with transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) followed by chemotherapy. However, there is no large-scale study from real-world databases to show the effectiveness of chemotherapy on the survival of older adults with NMIBC that have undergone TURBT. This study aimed to investigate the effects of chemotherapy on survival among older NMIBC patients with TURBT. Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2010-2015), we performed analyses of cancer-specific mortality and overall mortality comparing chemotherapy versus no chemotherapy after TURBT. Coarsened exact matching was performed to balance the baseline patient characteristics. Cox proportional hazards and Kaplan-Meir analyses were used to evaluate survival outcomes. Results: A total of 3,222 matched patients with 1,611 in each arm (chemotherapy and no chemotherapy) were included in our study. After adjusting for covariates, multivariable Cox regression analyses show chemotherapy was associated with lower cancer-specific mortality (HR 0.63; 95% CI 0.42-0.94; p value 0.024). However, chemotherapy did not have any effect on overall mortality (HR 0.84; 95% CI 0.65-1.07; p value 0.159). The Kaplan-Meier curves show the protective effects of chemotherapy on cancer specific survival (p=0.032), but not on overall survival (p=0.34). Conclusion: Chemotherapy improved cancer specific survival among older patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer undergoing TURBT surgery, but it had no effect on overall survival. There is a need for more granular level real-world data on chemotherapy regimens and dosage to effectively investigate the effects of chemotherapy on the survival of older patients with NMIBC that have undergone TURBT.

Trends in Cardiometabolic and Cancer Multimorbidity Prevalence and Its Risk With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in U.S. Adults: Prospective Cohort Study

Several prospective cohort studies have assessed the association between multimorbidity and all-cause mortality, but the findings have been inconsistent. In addition, limited studies have assessed the association between multimorbidity and cause-specific mortality. In this study, we used the population based cohort study of National Health Interview Survey (1997–2014) with linkage to the National Death Index records to 31 December 2015 to examine the trends in prevalence of multimorbidity from 1997 to 2014, and its association with the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the U.S. population. A total of 372,566 adults aged 30–84 years were included in this study. From 1997 to 2014, the age-standardized prevalence of specific chronic condition and multimorbidity increased significantly (P &lt; 0.0001). During a median follow-up of 9.0 years, 50,309 of 372,566 participants died from all causes, of which 11,132 (22.1%) died from CVD and 13,170 (26.2%) died from cancer. Compared with participants without the above-mentioned chronic conditions, those with 1, 2, 3, and ≥4 of chronic conditions had 1.41 (1.37–1.45), 1.94 (1.88–2.00), 2.64 (2.54–2.75), and 3.68 (3.46–3.91) higher risk of all-cause mortality after adjustment for important covariates. Similarly, a higher risk of CVD-specific and cancer-specific mortality was observed as the number of chronic conditions increased, with the observed risk stronger for CVD-mortality compared with cancer-specific mortality. Given the prevalence of multimorbidity tended to increase from 1997 to 2014, our data suggest effective prevention and intervention programs are necessary to limit the increased mortality risk associated with multimorbidity.

Post-Diagnostic Beta Blocker Use and Breast Cancer-Specific Mortality: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Purpose Beta blockers (BB) have been associated with improved, worsened, or unchanged breast cancer outcomes in previous studies. This study examines the association between the post-diagnostic use of BBs and death from breast cancer in a large, representative sample of New Zealand (NZ) women with breast cancer. Methods Women diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer between 2007 and 2016 were identified from four population-based regional NZ breast cancer registries and linked to national pharmaceutical data, hospital discharges, and death records. The median follow up time was 4.51 years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard of breast cancer-specific death (BCD) associated with post-diagnostic BB use. Results Of the 14,976 women included in analyses, 21% used a BB after diagnosis. BB use (vs non-use) was associated with a small and non-statistically significant increased risk of BCD ( adjusted hazard ratio: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.95-1.29). A statistically significant increased risk confined to short-term use (0-3 months) was seen (HR=1.40; 1.14-1.73), and this risk steadily decreased with increasing duration of use and became a statistically significant protective effect at 3+ years of use (HR=0.54; 0.34-0.87). Conclusion Our findings suggest that any increased risk associated with BB use may be driven by risk in the initial few months of use. Long-term BB use may be associated with a reduction in BCD.