1,721,053 research outputs found
Molecular targets in malignant pleural mesothelioma treatment
No full textMalignant mesothelioma is an aggressive tumour of the serosal surfaces with poor prognosis and increasing incidence due to widespread previous asbestos exposure. Relative chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic resistance makes malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) difficult to manage, even though encouraging results were achieved with multimodality treatment. Better knowledge of angiogenesis and molecular pathways involved in MPM seems to be the right way to define new targets for systemic treatment. Neoangiogenesis may be considered as a critical step in the development of mesothelioma. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) are autocrine growth factors in MPM and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) appears highly expressed in this tumour. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting growth factors like vandetanib, dasatinib, and angiogenesis inhibitors like bevacizumab, are among the most promising agents under evaluation in clinical trials. Mesothelioma is a malignancy which owes its chemoresistance to an apoptotic defect. Thus the introduction of new biologic drugs like vorinostat, bortezomib, everolimus and temsirolimus, in the treatment of MPM finds a strong rationale. This review focuses on the current target therapies and evaluates future biologic approaches for the systemic management of MPM. © 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd
An overview of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the multimodality treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma
No full textMalignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumour with poor prognosis and increasing incidence in industrialized countries because of the previous widespread exposure to asbestos fibres and to the long lag period from time of exposure and the diagnosis of the disease. MPM shows high refractoriety to systemic treatment, single-modality treatment was generally ineffective and did not achieve higher results than supportive care. The incidence of local and distant recurrences after surgery remains high and that was the reason for many centres to perform combined treatments. In the attempt of reducing the incidence of local recurrences, a multimodality approach with surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy was explored. Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) allows higher doses of radiotherapy to the whole hemithorax by avoiding pulmonary toxicity and the results of this approach is a significant reduction of loco-regional relapses; although, extrathoracic metastasis represent a major problem in the management of the disease because of the impact on overall survival. The success with surgical resection after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage IIIA lung cancer has been the impetus for several groups to apply this strategy in MPM aiming at reducing the incidence of distant relapse after surgery. Platinum-based chemotherapy plus gemcitabine or pemetrexed for 3-4 cycles followed by surgery and postoperative high-dose radiotherapy showed the best results in terms of overall and progression free survival. This review will focus on the main clinical studies and overview the results of different chemotherapy regimens in the neoadjuvant treatment of MPM. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd
Liquid biopsy in malignant pleural mesothelioma: State of the art, pitfalls, and perspectives
No full textMalignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor linked to asbestos exposure. Although the risk factors for MPM are well-known, the majority of MPM patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and have a very poor prognosis. Circulating biomarkers for early diagnosis remain to be identified, and the current standard for MPM diagnosis relies on pleural biopsies. Robust non-invasive tests for the screening of asbestos-exposed subjects are therefore an important unmet clinical need. This review provides a critical summary of recent liquid biopsy-based studies aimed at discovering novel blood-based circulating biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognostic stratification of MPM patients
Immunotherapy in SCLC: Exceptional Clinical Benefit and Abscopal Pneumonitis After Radiotherapy
No full textSecond and third line treatment in non-small cell lung cancer
No full textNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and the advances in second and third line treatment have led to prognostic improvements in the latest years. Besides the two cytotoxic agents, docetaxel and pemetrexed, approved in NSCLC second line treatment, a new class of drugs against specific molecular targets seems to be an alternative to conventional treatment. Many trials are ongoing to assess the activity of new drugs, alone or in association, and new combinations of third-generation chemotherapeutic agents. © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
A pathological complete response after preoperative chemotherapy with carboplatin and pemetrexed in malignant pleural mesothelioma: A case report.
No full textMalignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive tumour with poor prognosis and short duration of response probably due to the high chemo-refractoriness. Multimodality treatment based on preoperative chemotherapy, surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy seems to be a feasible and effective therapeutic option in selected patients.We report on a case of pathological complete response in a patient affected by malignant pleural mesothelioma who was treated with four cycles of preoperative chemotherapy based on carboplatin plus pemetrexed followed by parietal pleurectomy and lung decortication. Carboplatin plus pemetrexed was a well tolerated regimen without grade 3-4 haematological toxicity, and this confirm the feasibility of such a treatment as an alternative to the current golden standard based on cisplatin plus pemetrexed.Complete resection allows the pathologist to better describe biological markers of mesothelioma cells, in order to select patients with different treatment outcome and prognosis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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