Uterine sarcomas

A case report of uterine leiomyosarcoma: unusual clinical presentation with unilateral hydronephrosis and importance of an appropriate diagnosis

Uterine leiomyosarcoma is a rare malignant gynecologic tumor that arises from the myometrial or endometrial stromal precursor cells. This tumor has the highest prevalence in the pre- and post-is more frequent between 40 and 60 years old. It has a very unfavorable prognosis: only early-stage tumors have an acceptable prognosis; unfortunately, it is often diagnosed accidentally, typically on an advanced stage, when hematological metastases have already spread. Surgery is the main treatment strategy, while systemic treatment and radiotherapy are not recommended due to the lack of results. Since metastatization is mainly hematological, lymphadenectomy is not recommended. Recent progresses have been achieved in advanced and recurrent disease, often inoperable, thanks to new chemotherapies, target therapies and immunotherapies. We reported the case of a 51-year-old woman evaluated for lumbar pain in the right region compatible with renal colic. The ultrasound evaluation revealed right hydronephrosis and the presence of a paraovarian or intraligamentary mass compatible with fibroma. The abdominal CT confirmed the presence of a mass with heterogeneous vascularization. Therefore, the patient underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove the lesion which resulted to be a leiomyosarcoma G2. During the following week the patient underwent a laparoscopic hysterectomy. The first step for differential diagnosis consists in the evaluation of clinicopathological features, followed by the analysis of preoperative imaging. Pelvic MRI represents the gold standard, while CT is used to detect metastases. The main issue is that imaging shows limited ability in differential diagnosis between benign and malign smooth muscle tumor. The definitive diagnosis is confirmed by histological analysis; this implies the necessity of improved attentions on the surgical procedure, which is often performed by steps with prolongation of the treatment pathway. To distinguish which fibroids presents a major risk to be misdiagnosed, some risk scores were developed (rPRESS in 2014 and pLMS in 2019), though actually they are not applied in clinical practice. Uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS) is rare but causes several deaths in perimenopausal women due to lack of effective treatments, although target therapies represent a future hope. Furthermore, clinical practice needs support through the development and improvement of diagnostic risk scores and their integration into guidelines.

Prognostic factors of patients with recurrent uterine malignancies undergoing secondary cytoreductive surgery

BACKGROUND

Several studies have demonstrated that secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCS) for patients with recurrent uterine malignancies may improve the survival. However, the selection criteria for SCS remain to be defined. This study aimed to assess the outcome of SCS and to explore factors that may influence the prognosis.

METHODS

Data of patients with recurrent uterine malignancies who received SCS in our hospital between January 2005 and January 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were assigned into endometrial carcinoma (EC) group and uterine sarcoma (US) group.

RESULTS

84 cases in total were involved in the study, including 47 cases with recurrent EC and 37 cases with recurrent US. The 5-year survival of cases with recurrent EC and recurrent US was 59.6% and 33.3%, respectively. Recurrent EC cases with a lower tumor grade (G1/G1-G2/G2), size of the largest tumor ≤ 6 cm, single recurrent tumor, a history of adjuvant therapy, as well as recurrent US cases with younger age, a longer disease-free interval (DFI) before SCS (≥ 12 months), no peritoneal dissemination, and a history of complete cytoreduction were associated with a longer survival. The number of recurrent tumors was found as an independent prognostic factor of SCS.

CONCLUSION

Recurrent EC cases with a lower tumor grade, smaller tumor size, single tumor, a history of adjuvant therapy, as well as recurrent US cases with younger age, a longer DFI before SCS, no peritoneal dissemination, and a history of complete cytoreduction were more likely to benefit from SCS.

A nomogram-based overall survival stratification to identify uterine sarcoma patients without distant metastases who may benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy

OBJECTIVE

Adjuvant radiotherapy has been commonly performed in uterine sarcoma patients, but its role in overall survival (OS) remains controversial. Therefore, our study aimed to build a nomogram-based prognostic stratification to identify uterine sarcoma patients who might benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy.

METHODS

Uterine sarcoma patients without distant metastases between 2004 and 2015 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The LASSO Cox regression was performed to identify essential prognostic predictors and a nomogram was built to predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC), calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to validate the nomogram. Finally, prognostic stratification was performed by decision tree analysis based on the total points of the nomogram.

RESULTS

2871 patients with uterine sarcoma were included. Preliminary analysis suggested that adjuvant radiotherapy failed to provide an OS benefit for the total population without our nomogram. The built nomogram showed good discrimination and calibration abilities to predict the OS in uterine sarcoma patients and the patients were stratified into three risk groups based on the nomogram. For patients in the high-risk group, adjuvant radiotherapy significantly improved the 5-year OS and median survival time by 26.4% and 17 months, respectively (P < 0.001); while radiotherapy failed to improve the survival outcomes of patients in the low- and intermediate-risk groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The nomogram-based prognostic stratification provides preliminary characterization of uterine sarcoma patients who may benefit from radiotherapy. The newly defined high-risk patients may gain significant OS benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy.

The role of postoperative radiotherapy in patients with uterine sarcomas: A PSM-IPTW analysis based on SEER database

Objective

The optimal adjuvant therapy for uterine sarcomas remains poorly determined due to its rarity and histological diversity. The purpose of the study is to explore and characterize the association between utilization of radiotherapy and survival outcome in patients with surgically resected uterine sarcomas.

Methods

We collected data regarding uterine sarcomas which were confirmed after total hysterectomy between 2010 and 2018 period from the latest version of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Initially, 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rate were calculated to predict potential risk factors and possible role of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) technique were employed to balance confounding factors in the utilization of additional therapy. Multivariate and exploratory subgroup analyses were respectively conducted to evaluate the impact of adjuvant therapy on overall survival (OS) and cause-specific survival (CSS).

Results

A total of 2897 patients were enrolled in the analysis. Survival benefit at 1-, 3-and 5-year after initial treatment was observed in the group of radiotherapy given, however, poorer prognosis in the group of chemotherapy administration. Accordingly, chemotherapy was enrolled as a confounding factor when stratifying and matching patients by receipt of radiotherapy. Prior to and after PSM-IPTW adjustment, radiotherapy both demonstrated beneficial effect on OS and CSS based on multivariate analysis. Further subgroup analysis indicated radiotherapy improved OS and CSS among a subset of patients in stage II-IV, particularly with uterine leiomyosarcoma, tumor grade IV, bigger tumor size than 100 mm and even with chemotherapy administration.

Conclusions

Adjuvant radiotherapy in uterine sarcomas after hysterectomy might be underutilized, and proper use of adjuvant radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy after surgery in advanced-stage and high-risk patients might improve survival.

A novel nomogram for predicting cancer-specific survival in women with uterine sarcoma: a large population-based study

Background

Uterine sarcoma (US) is a rare malignant uterine tumor with aggressive behavior and rapid progression. The purpose of this study was to constructa comprehensive nomogram to predict cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients with US-based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

Methods

A retrospective population-based study was conducted using data from patients with US between 2010 and 2015 from the SEER database. They were randomly divided into a training cohort and a validation cohort ata 7-to-3 ratio. Multivariate Cox analysis was performed to identify independent prognostic factors. Subsequently, a nomogram was established to predict patient CSS. The discrimination and calibration of the nomogram were evaluated by the concordance index (C-index) and the area under the curve (AUC). Finally, net reclassification improvement (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), calibration plotting, and decision-curve analysis (DCA) were used to evaluate the benefits of the new prediction model.

Results

A total of 3861 patients with US were included in our study. As revealed in multivariate Cox analysis, age at diagnosis, race, marital status, insurance record, tumor size, pathology grade, histological type, SEER stage, AJCC stage, surgery status, radiotherapy status, and chemotherapy status were found to be independent prognostic factors. In our nomogram, pathology grade had strongest correlation with CSS, followed by age at diagnosis and surgery status. Compared to the AJCC staging system, the new nomogram showed better predictive discrimination with a higher C-index in the training and validation cohorts (0.796 and 0.767 vs. 0.706 and 0.713, respectively). Furthermore, the AUC value, calibration plotting, NRI, IDI, and DCA also demonstrated better performance than the traditional system.

Conclusion

Our study validated the first comprehensive nomogram for US, which could provide more accurate and individualized survival predictions for US patients in clinical practice.

Adjuvant radiotherapy shows benefit in selected stage I uterine sarcoma: A risk scoring system based on a population analysis

Background

The potential therapeutic benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy for patients with stage I uterine sarcoma has not been clear. In this study, we aimed to develop a risk scoring model to select the subgroup of patients with stage I uterine sarcoma who might benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy.

Methods

Patients with stage I uterine sarcoma from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program from 2010 to 2014 were retrospectively included in this analysis. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to identify risk factors.

Results

A total of 947 stage I uterine sarcoma patients were included. The 5‐year disease‐specific survival (DSS) of the overall cohort was 75.81%. Multivariate analysis identified stage (p = 0.013), tumor grade (p <0.001) and histology (p = 0.043) as independent prognostic factors for DSS, and these factors were used to generate the risk scoring model. The low‐risk group presented a better DSS than the high‐risk group (95.51% vs. 49.88%, p < 0.001). The addition of radiotherapy to surgery significantly increased the DSS in the high‐risk group compared with surgery alone (78.06% vs. 46.88%, p = 0.022), but no significant survival benefit was observed in the low‐risk group (98.36% vs. 100%, p = 0.766).

Conclusions

Our risk scoring model based on stage, tumor grade, and histology predicted the outcome of patients with stage I uterine sarcoma cancer. This system may help to select stage I uterine sarcoma cancer patients who might benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy.

Identification of uterine leiomyosarcoma-associated hub genes and immune cell infiltration pattern using weighted co-expression network analysis and CIBERSORT algorithm

BACKGROUND

While large-scale genomic analyses symbolize a precious attempt to decipher the molecular foundation of uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS), bioinformatics results associated with the occurrence of ULMS based totally on WGCNA and CIBERSORT have not yet been reported. This study aimed to screen the hub genes and the immune cell infiltration pattern in ULMS by bioinformatics methods.

METHODS

Firstly, the GSE67463 dataset, including 25 ULMS tissues and 29 normal myometrium (NL) tissues, was downloaded from the public database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by the 'limma' package and hub modules were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Subsequently, gene function annotations were performed to investigate the biological role of the genes from the intersection of two groups (hub module and DEGs). The above genes were calculated in the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network to select the hub genes further. The hub genes were validated using external data (GSE764 and GSE68295). In addition, the differential immune cell infiltration between UL and ULMS tissues was investigated using the CIBERSORT algorithm. Finally, we used western blot to preliminarily detect the hub genes in cell lines.

RESULTS

WGCNA analysis revealed a green-yellow module possessed the highest correlation with ULMS, including 1063 genes. A total of 172 DEGs were selected by thresholds set in the 'limma' package. The above two groups of genes were intersected to obtain 72 genes for functional annotation analysis. Interestingly, it indicated that 72 genes were mainly involved in immune processes and the Neddylation pathway. We found a higher infiltration of five types of cells (memory B cells, M0-type macrophages, mast cells activated, M1-type macrophages, and T cells follicular helper) in ULMS tissues than NL tissues, while the infiltration of two types of cells (NK cells activated and mast cells resting) was lower than in NL tissues. In addition, a total of five genes (KDR, CCL21, SELP, DPT, and DCN) were identified as the hub genes. Internal and external validation demonstrated that the five genes were over-expressed in NL tissues compared with USML tissues. Finally, the correlation analysis results indicate that NK cells activated and mast cells activated positively correlated with the hub genes. However, M1-type macrophages had a negative correlation with the hub genes. Moreover, only the DCN may be associated with the Neddylation pathway.

CONCLUSION

A series of evidence confirm that the five hub genes and the infiltration of seven types of immune cells are related to USML occurrence. These hub genes may affect the occurrence of USML through immune-related and Neddylation pathways, providing molecular evidence for the treatment of USML in the future.

Proposing the 3-tier staging system for improving prognostication in Stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

To examine the utility of a 3-tier schema (≤5 cm, 5.1-10 cm, and > 10 cm) in determining characteristics and survival in Stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma.

METHODS

This retrospective observational study queried the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result Program from 1988 to 2016. Surgically treated stage I uterine leiomyosarcomas with known tumor size were examined (N = 2217). Trends, characteristics, and survival were assessed based on tumor size.

RESULTS

The most common tumor size was 5.1-10 cm (45.7%) followed by >10 cm (35.0%) and ≤5 cm (19.4%). Tumor size-shift occurred during the study period; the percentage of tumor size >10 cm increased from 12.9% to 44.5% and the groups with smaller tumor sizes decreased (p < .001). In weighted models, 5-year overall survival rates ranged from 49.9% to 71.6% in the 3-tier system and 55.2%-70.6% in the 2-tier system: the absolute difference was larger in the 3-tier system (21.7% vs. 15.4%). In the 3-tier system, all-cause mortality risk of tumor size >10 cm versus ≤5 cm nearly doubled (hazard ratio 1.96, 95% confidence interval 1.78-2.16).

CONCLUSION

In the past decades, tumors of stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma have become larger. Our study suggests that a tumor size-based 3-tier staging system may be useful to differentiate survival in stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Significance of Malignant Peritoneal Cytology on Survival of Women with Uterine Sarcoma

PURPOSE

This study was designed to examine the association between malignant peritoneal cytology and survival of women with uterine sarcoma.

METHODS

This retrospective, observational study queried the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result Program. Uterine sarcoma cases diagnosed from 2010 to 2016 with known peritoneal cytology results were examined. Propensity score inverse probability of treatment weighting was fitted to balance the measured covariates. Overall survival (OS) was compared between malignant and negative cytology cases.

RESULTS

A total of 1481 uterine sarcomas were examined. Malignant peritoneal cytology was seen in 146 (9.9%) cases. Women who had T3 disease and distant metastases had the highest incidence of malignant peritoneal cytology (43.1%). In multivariable analysis, higher T stage, nodal involvement, distant metastasis, poorer tumor differentiation, and rhabdomyosarcoma/endometrial stromal sarcoma were significantly associated with an increased risk of malignant peritoneal cytology (all, P < 0.05). In the weighted model, malignant peritoneal cytology was associated with a nearly twofold increased risk of all-cause mortality compared with negative peritoneal cytology (3-year OS rate 34.7% versus 60.2%; hazard ratio 2.26; 95% confidence interval 1.88-2.71; P < 0.001). The absolute difference in the 3-year survival rate was particularly large in leiomyosarcoma (3-year OS rate 2.8% versus 51.9%; hazard ratio 2.64; 95% confidence interval 1.94-3.59; P < 0.001). Malignant peritoneal cytology was also associated with an increased all-cause mortality risk in early and advanced stages (both, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that malignant peritoneal cytology may be a prognostic factor for increased mortality in uterine sarcoma, particularly in uterine leiomyosarcoma.

A nomogram for predicting overall survival in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma: a SEER population-based study

Aim: To establish and validate a nomogram for the estimation of overall survival of patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS). Methods: Information on patients diagnosed as uLMS was retrospectively retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The patients were randomly assigned into the training and the validation cohorts. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the independent prognostic factors for building a nomogram for predicting overall survival. The predictive accuracy was evaluated based on the concordance indices and the calibration plots. Results: A nomogram that combined age, marital status, tumor size, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result stage, surgery and radiation was established. The internal and external concordance indices were 0.748 and 0.745, respectively. The calibration plots approached 45 degrees. Conclusion: The nomogram might be an effective tool for predicting the survival of patients with uLMS.

EP4 and Class III β-Tubulin Expression in Uterine Smooth Muscle Tumors: Implications for Prognosis and Treatment

The microtubule-stabilizing agent docetaxel in combination with gemcitabine represents one of the most effective regimens against the aggressive gynecologic tumor leiomyosarcoma (LMS). Upregulation of class III β-tubulin has previously been shown to confer taxane resistance in a variety of human cancers. Prostaglandin E₂ receptor EP4 is linked to progression of a variety of human cancers and may represent a novel target for tumor inhibition in LMS. We evaluated the hypotheses that EP4 and class III β-tubulin have increased expression in LMS in comparison to normal myometrium or benign tumors and that expression of class III β-tubulin correlates with resistance to taxanes and poor clinical outcome. Gene expression was examined using TCGA data and correlated with clinicopathologic outcome which demonstrated that class III β-tubulin is more highly expressed in more aggressive sarcomas with EP4 being widely expressed in all subtypes of sarcoma. Immunohistochemistry for EP4 and class III β-tubulin was performed on patients with LMS, leiomyomatosis/STUMP, leiomyoma, and normal myometrium. Expression of EP4 and class III β-tubulin were characterized for cell lines SK-UT-1, SK-UT-1B, and PHM-41 and these cell lines were treated with docetaxel alone and in combination with EP4 inhibitors. In taxane-resistant cell lines that overexpress class III β-tubulin and EP4, treatment with EP4 inhibitor resulted in at least 2-fold sensitization to docetaxel. Expression of class III β-tubulin and EP4 in LMS may identify patients at risk of resistance to standard chemotherapies and candidates for augmentation of therapy through EP4 inhibition.