Histology as a potential clinical predictor of outcome in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer treated with vinorelbine and mitomycin combination chemotherapy

Effect of mitomycin C on X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 expression and consequent cytotoxicity regulation in human gastric cancer cells

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer and ranks as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the world. The combination therapy of surgery with chemotherapeutic drugs, that is, mitomycin C (MMC), is becoming a major strategy for patients with advanced gastric cancer. However, drug resistance is a major factor that limits the effectiveness of chemotherapy, which ultimately leads to the failure of cancer chemotherapy. X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 (XRCC1), a scaffold protein of the base excision repair process, has been implicated in the development of tumor chemoresistance. Thus, this study aimed to explore whether XRCC1 expression could be regulated, its role in gastric AGS cancer cells treated with MMC, and the underlying mechanism. The results of this study demonstrate that XRCC1 expression could be upregulated in AGS cells treated with MMC, and this upregulation could subsequently reduce the cytotoxicity of MMC in AGS cells. Furthermore, MMC-upregulated XRCC1 expression was regulated by MAPK signaling through activating the transcription factor Sp1. These results indicate the role of XRCC1 in the development of drug resistance to MMC in gastric AGS cells. Elucidating the mechanism concerning the MAPKs and transcription factor Sp1 may provide another notion for the development of a clinical chemotherapy strategy for gastric cancers in the future.

A new tool predicting survival after radiosurgery alone for one or two cerebral metastases from lung cancer

Radiosurgery is frequently used for patients with few cerebral metastases. Decisions regarding personalized treatment should include the patient's survival prognosis. Prognostic tools should be available for estimating the remaining lifetime for each primary tumor and treatment. We designed such a tool for patients receiving radiosurgery alone for cerebral metastases from lung cancer. Ten variables were analyzed in 98 patients. On multivariate analysis, extra-cranial spread was significantly associated with worse survival (p < 0.001). A trend was observed for poorer performance status (p = 0.08) and greater diameter of cerebral lesions (p = 0.07). Points for the tool were derived from 12-month survival rates of these variables and added, resulting in sum scores of 10-16 points. Three groups were built, 10-12, 14-15, and 16 points with 12-month survival rates of 22, 52, and 79% (p < 0.001). This new tool enables physicians to estimate the survival of lung cancer patients with few cerebral metastases which should impact individualized treatment choices.