Tumor Primary Location May Affect Metastasis Pattern for Patients with Stage IV NSCLC: A Population-Based Study

Differences in Genomic Alterations and Accumulations of Heavy Metals Between Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients with and without Bone Metastasis

Purpose: Bone metastasis (BoM) has been closely associated with increased morbidity and poor survival outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Given its significant implications, this study aimed to systematically compare the biological characteristics between advanced NSCLC patients with and without BoM. Methods: In this study, the genomic alterations from the tumor tissue DNA of 42 advanced NSCLC patients without BoM and 67 patients with BoM and were analyzed by a next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel. The serum concentrations of 18 heavy metals were detected by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results: A total of 157 somatic mutations across 18 mutated genes and 105 somatic mutations spanning 16 mutant genes were identified in 61 out of 67 (91.05%) patients with BoM and 37 of 42 (88.10%) patients without BoM, respectively. Among these mutated genes, NTRK1, FGFR1, ERBB4, NTRK3, and FGFR2 stood out exclusively in patients with BoM, whereas BRAF, GNAS, and AKT1 manifested solely in those without BoM. Moreover, both co-occurring sets of genes and mutually exclusive sets of genes in patients with BoM were different from those in patients without BoM. In addition, the serum concentrations of Cu and Sr in patients with BoM were significantly higher than in patients without BoM. One of our aims was to explore how these heavy metals associated with BoM interacted with other heavy metals, and significant positive correlations were observed between Cu and Co, between Cu and Cr, between Sr and Ba, and between Sr and Ni in patients with BoM. Given the significant impacts of molecular characteristics on patients' prognosis, we also observed a noteworthy negative correlation between EGFR mutations and Co, alongside a significant positive correlation between TP53 mutations and Cd. Conclusions: The genomic alterations, somatic interactions, key signaling pathways, functional biological information, and accumulations of serum heavy metals were markedly different between advanced NSCLC patients with and without BoM, and certain heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Sr) might have potentials to identify high-risk patients with BoM.

Imaging signs and the qualitative diagnosis of solitary rib lesions using 99mtechnetium-methylene diphosphonate whole-body bone imaging in patients with a malignant tumor

Background

The aim of this study was to summarize the valuable information for qualitative diagnosis by investigating the imaging signs from the whole-body bone imaging of solitary rib lesions.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted of the data from 313 patients with malignant tumors and solitary rib lesions identified using whole-body bone imaging in Department of Nuclear Medicine of Central South University Xiangya School Affiliated Haikou Hospital between January 2015 and December 2017. Based on the final comprehensive diagnosis of the rib lesions, the patients were divided into a bone metastasis group, fracture group, other benign lesions group, and an uncertain group, and the characteristic imaging changes in rib lesions in each group were explored.

Results

(I) Significant differences were identified among the 4 groups (P<0.001) in the distribution of lesions in the anterior, posterior, and lateral ribs and proximal costal cartilage. The fracture group had the highest proportion of lesions in the anterior ribs (99/121, 81.8%) and proximal costal cartilage (74.4%, 90/121). (II) Significant differences were detected in morphology, concentration, boundaries, and radioactivity distribution among the 4 groups of patients (P<0.001). The bone metastasis group had the highest proportion of lesions appearing as stripes (35/67, 52.2%), and the fracture group had the highest proportion of lesions appearing as spots (94.2%, 114/121) and the lowest proportion appearing as stripes (3/121, 2.5%). (III) Significant differences were found in the longitudinal diameter, transverse diameter, aspect ratio, and tumor-to-normal tissue ratio between the 4 groups (P<0.001). The longitudinal diameter (27.8±16.0 mm) and aspect ratio (1.9±1.0) of the bone metastasis group were the highest, whereas the longitudinal diameter (15.2±3.9 mm) and aspect ratio (1.0±0.2) of the fracture group were the smallest.

Conclusions

This study revealed that different types of solitary rib lesions had relatively characteristic imaging signs in whole-body bone imaging.

Female Colon Cancer Metastasis Pattern and Prognosis: A SEER-Based Study

The purpose of this study was to compare the metastatic pattern and prognosis of female colon cancer (FCC) to that of male colon cancer (MCC) to ascertain the independent factors impacting the prognosis of patients with FCC. The data of the present study population were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Descriptive analysis, the Kaplan-Meier method, and the Cox regression were used to evaluated FCC characteristics and factors associated with prognosis. There were 56,442 patients diagnosed with FCC, of whom 8,817 had distant metastases. Compared to patients with nonmetastatic FCC, a greater proportion of metastatic FCC patients was less than 60 years of age, black race, and grade III-IV. The primary sites were mainly located on the left side and have more possibility to receive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Compared to metastatic MCC, a higher proportion of metastatic FCC patients ranged over 60 years of age, black race, treated without chemotherapy, and insurance, while the primary site was located on the right side. Liver and lung were the two most common sites of solitary metastases in CC, and among patients with solitary metastases in CC, patients who had lung metastases had a better prognosis than those who developed other types of metastasizes. Patients with FCC with metastases of the liver had a worse prognosis than their MCC counterparts. Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that the risk ratio was higher in metastatic FCC patients compared to those without metastases. We report the survival comparison of metastatic FCC with nonmetastatic FCC through the SEER database. Our results suggest that it has unique clinicopathological features and differs from metastatic MCC. Furthermore, patients with liver metastatic FCC have a worse prognosis than those with MCC. Emphasis on screening for colon cancer in women and additional clinical care should be paid for, especially for patients with FCC with metastatic liver cancer.

Development and validation a radiomics nomogram for diagnosing occult brain metastases in patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma

Background

To develop and validate a radiomics model using computed tomography (CT) images acquired from the first diagnosis to estimate the status of occult brain metastases (BM) in patients with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma (LADC).

Methods

One hundred and ninety-three patients who were first diagnosed with stage IV LADC were enrolled and divided into a training cohort (n=135) and a validation cohort (n=58). Then, 725 radiomic features were extracted from contoured primary tumor volumes of LADCs. Intra- and interobserver reliabilities were calculated, and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was applied for feature selection. Subsequently, a radiomics signature (Rad-Score) was built. To improve performance, a nomogram incorporating a radiomics signature and an independent clinical predictor was developed. Finally, the established signature and nomogram were assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and precision-recall curves (PRC). Both empirical and α-binomial model-based ROCs and PRCs were plotted, and the area under the curve (AUC) and average precision (AP) of ROCs and PRCs were calculated and compared.

Results

A radiomics signature and Rad-Score were constructed using eight radiomic features, and these had significant correlations with occult BM status. A nomogram was developed by incorporating a Rad-Score and the primary tumor location. The nomogram yielded an optimal AUC of 0.911 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.903–0.919] and an AP of 0.885 (95% CI: 0.876–0.894) in the training cohort, and an AUC of 0.873 (95% CI: 0.866–0.80) and an AP of 0.827 (95% CI: 0.820–0.834) in the validation cohort using α-binomial model-based method. The calibration curve demonstrated that the nomogram showed high agreement between the actual occult BM probability and predicted by the nomogram (P=0.427).

Conclusions

The nomogram incorporating a radiomics signature and a clinical risk factor achieved optimal performance after holistic assessment using unbiased indexes for diagnosing occult BM of patients who were first diagnosed with stage IV LADC.

Construction and Validation of Two Novel Nomograms for Predicting the Overall Survival and Cancer-Specific Survival of NSCLC Patients with Bone Metastasis

Background

Bone metastasis (BM) is the most common site of metastasis in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). We aimed to construct and validate 2 novel nomograms predicting the 3-, 6-, and 12-months overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS).

Methods

The clinical data of 7480 patients between 2010 and 2016 were enrolled from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER). The patients were allocated randomly to training and validation cohorts in a 7:3 ratio. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to identify prognostic risk factors and establish 2 nomograms. The prediction accuracy of nomograms was assessed by C-index, the area under the ROC curve (AUC), and calibration curves.

Results

A total of 244998 NSCLC patients were identified between 2010 and 2016, with 7480 found with BM, accounting for 3.1%. Overall, 7480 patients were enrolled in the OS nomogram construction and were randomized to the training set (n = 5236) and the validation set (n = 2244). Age, sex, race, marital status, histology, grade, primary site, T stage, N stage, liver metastasis, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy were found to correlate with OS. A total of 7422 samples were included in the CSS nomogram construction, randomly grouped into training set (n = 5195) and the validation set (n = 2227). Age, sex, race, histology, grade, primary site, T stage, N stage, brain metastasis, liver metastasis, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy were associated with CSS. Two nomograms were conducted to predict the 3-, 6-, and 12-months OS and CSS. The ROC curves and exhibited good performance for predicting OS and CSS.

Conclusion

We established and validated 2 high-performance nomograms to assist clinical doctors in making personalized treatment decisions.

Survival rates of patients with tumors originating in different segments of the left upper lung in stage I to III non-small cell lung cancer

Background

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of spatial location of tumors on the prognosis of patients with left upper lung non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with a focus on the S1+2+3 and lingual segment.

Methods

A total of 486 patients who underwent lobectomy and systematic lymph node dissection were collected retrospectively in this study (354 S1+2+3 and 132 lingual segment patients). Factors impacting survival were assessed via univariate analyses, multivariate analyses, and log-rank tests.

Results

Compared with tumor location in S1+2+3, lingual segment tumor location of stage II to III left upper lung NSCLC patients was significantly associated with a better 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) (P=0.041). Multivariate analysis results showed that tumor location in the lingual segment was a good independent prognostic factor of stage II to III left upper lung NSCLC patients [hazard ratio (HR) =0.602, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.149-0.865, P=0.006). However, in stage I left upper lung NSCLC, tumor location (HR =1.069, 95% CI: 0.571-2.000, P=0.835) was not an independent prognostic factor, and only T2 (HR =2.422, 95% CI: 1.271-4.620, P=0.007) was an independent worse prognosis factor.

Conclusions

Tumor location in the lingual segment of left upper lung stage II to stage III NSCLC is a good independent prognostic factor compared with S1+2+3. Nevertheless, tumor location does not impact the prognosis of patients with stage I NSCLC in the left upper lung.

Primary tumor location in lung cancer: the evaluation and administration

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, which is classically subgrouped into two major histological types: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (85% of patients) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) (15%). Tumor location has been reported to be associated with the prognosis of various solid tumors. Several types of cancer often occur in a specific region and are more prone to spread to predilection locations, including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, lung tumor, and so on. Besides, tumor location is also considered as a risk factor for lung neoplasm with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema. Additionally, the primary lung cancer location is associated with specific lymph node metastasis. And the recent analysis has shown that the primary location may affect metastasis pattern in metastatic NSCLC based on a large population. Numerous studies have enrolled the "location" factor in the risk model. Anatomy location and lobe-specific location are both important in prognosis. Therefore, it is important for us to clarify the characteristics about tumor location according to various definitions. However, the inconsistent definitions about tumor location among different articles are controversial. It is also a significant guidance in multimode therapy in the present time. In this review, we mainly aim to provide a new insight about tumor location, including anatomy, clinicopathology, and prognosis in patients with lung neoplasm.

The Prognostic Value of Baseline Distant Metastasis in Icotinib-Treated Patients with EGFR-Mutated Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose

Several studies have revealed the prognostic value distant metastasis in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving first-line epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors. However, the question of whether the specific metastatic site could predict survival outcomes remain elusive. This study evaluated the prognostic value of specific metastatic site at diagnosis in first-line icotinib-treated patients with EGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC.

Methods

A total of 216 patients with EGFR-mutated stage IV NSCLC who received first-line icotinib treatment were retrospectively enrolled. The associations between the presence of distant metastasis to certain organs at diagnosis and survival outcomes were analyzed.

Patients and methods

The presence of distant metastases was not associated with progression-free survival. Patients with liver metastasis showed a significantly shorter OS than those without liver metastasis (14.6m vs 33.0m, p=0.024). Patients with brain metastasis showed a marginally shorter OS than those without brain metastasis (26.5m vs 33.8m, p=0.051). Patients with lung metastasis showed a significantly longer OS than those without lung metastasis (36.0m vs 28.6m, p=0.038). Multivariable Cox regression analysis showed the presence of liver metastasis (HR [hazard ratio]: 2.265, 95% CI [confidence interval]: 1.239-4.139, p=0.008) and brain metastasis (HR: 1.493, 95% CI: 1.012-2.202, p=0.043) were independent predictors for unfavorable OS, while lung metastasis (HR: 0.669, 95% CI: 0.460-0.971, p=0.034) was an independent predictor for favorable OS.

Conclusion

The presence of liver and brain metastasis predicted unfavorable OS, while the presence of lung metastasis predicted favorable OS in first-line icotinib-treated patients with EGFR-mutated stage IV NSCLC.