Rapid symptomatic relief of HER2-positive gastric cancer leptomeningeal carcinomatosis with lapatinib, trastuzumab and capecitabine: a case report

Intrathecal methotrexate injection combined treatment of gastric cancer with leptomeningeal metastasis: case report

Background

Leptomeningeal metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma (LM-GC) is a rare and severe complication with a poor prognosis, its prognosis is significantly poorer than liver, lung, and peritoneal metastases. Studies on LM-GC have been limited to clinical case reports. Despite advances in systemic therapies, there is a lack of standardized treatment protocols for LM-GC due to its rarity and the challenges it presents.

Methods

This case series reports on six patients diagnosed with LM-GC who received intrathecal methotrexate (MTX) injection from June 2018 to November 2023. Treatment efficacy, safety, and prognostic factors were analyzed by comparing symptoms and laboratory test results before and after treatment.

Results

The average OS for the cohort was 7.5 months, exceeding previous reports for LM-GC patients, which has a median survival time of 4-6 weeks. No significant changes were observed in cerebrospinal fluid glucose and chloride levels post-MTX treatment. However, a statistically significant decrease in cerebrospinal fluid protein levels was noted after treatment (P < 0.05). Adverse reactions were mild, with the most common being bone marrow suppression and oral mucosal ulcers.

Conclusion

Intrathecal MTX injection combined treatment offers a potential therapeutic strategy for LM-GC, improving clinical symptoms and extending survival. Further research is warranted to validate these findings and explore the molecular mechanisms of LM-GC for targeted therapies.

Genomic alterations of cerebrospinal fluid cell-free DNA in leptomeningeal metastases of gastric cancer

BACKGROUND

Leptomeningeal metastases (LM) were rare in gastric cancer (GC), and GC patients with LM (GCLM) generally suffer from poor prognosis. Nevertheless, the clinical utility of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) was underinvestigated in GCLM.

METHODS

We retrospectively studied 15 GCLM patients, and all patients had paired primary tumor tissue samples and post-LM CSF samples while 5 patients also had post-LM plasma samples. All samples were analyzed using next-generation sequencing (NGS), and the molecular and clinical features were correlated with clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

CSF had higher mutation allele frequency (P = 0.015), more somatic mutations (P = 0.032), and more copy-number variations (P < 0.001) than tumor or plasma samples. Multiple genetic alterations and aberrant signal pathways were enriched in post-LM CSF, including CCNE1 amplification and cell cycle-related genes, and CCNE1 amplification was significantly associated with patients' overall survival (P = 0.0062). More potential LM progression-related markers were detected in CSF samples than in tumor samples, including PREX2 mutation (P = 0.014), IGF1R mutation (P = 0.034), AR mutation (P = 0.038), SMARCB1 deletion (P < 0.001), SMAD4 deletion (P = 0.0034), and TGF-beta pathway aberration (P = 0.0038). Additionally, improvement in intracranial pressure (P < 0.001), improvement in CSF cytology (P = 0.0038), and relatively low levels of CSF ctDNA (P = 0.0098) were significantly associated with better PFS. Lastly, we reported a GCLM case whose CSF ctDNA dynamic changes were well correlated with his clinical assessment.

CONCLUSIONS

CSF ctDNA could more sensitively detect molecular markers and metastasis-related mechanisms than tumor tissues in GCLM patients, and our study sheds light on utilizing CSF ctDNA in prognostic estimation and clinical assessment in GCLM.

From Anti-HER-2 to Anti-HER-2-CAR-T Cells: An Evolutionary Immunotherapy Approach for Gastric Cancer

Current Therapeutic modalities provide no survival advantage to gastric cancer (GC) patients. Targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) is a viable therapeutic strategy against advanced HER-2 positive GC. Antibody-drug conjugates, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and bispecific antibodies are emerging as novel drug forms that may abrogate the resistance to HER-2-specific drugs and monoclonal antibodies. Chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells (CAR-T) targeting HER-2 have shown considerable therapeutic potential in GC and other solid tumors. However, due to the high heterogeneity along with the complex tumor microenvironment (TME) of GC that often leads to immune escape, the immunological treatment of GC still faces many challenges. Here, we reviewed and discussed the current progress in the research of anti-HER-2-CAR-T cell immunotherapy against GC.

Ophthalmoplegia in a Her2+ and β-hCG+ Patient With Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis Secondary to Gastric Adenocarcinoma

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) is an uncommon and devastating late complication of metastatic malignancy that carries a poor prognosis, typically faring worse when secondary to solid tumors. Diagnosis of LMC can be challenging, especially if the underlying cancer is undiagnosed, as presenting symptoms can be nonspecific or involve focal deficits such as cranial nerve palsies. Typically, LMC can be recognized due to new central neurological findings with concomitant peripheral nerve involvement, but there has not been a case of LMC with isolated peripheral nerve findings to our knowledge. In this report, we present a case of LMC secondary to metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma in a patient whose only manifestation was cranial nerve palsies, and whose cancer was also found to be Her2+ and β-hCG positive, two markers not widely recognized in gastric cancer.

Garcin Syndrome Due to Meningeal Carcinomatosis from Gastric Cancer

A 58-year-old woman presented to our hospital with complaints of dysphagia. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed an esophagogastric junction tumor with multiple duodenal intramural metastases, and computed tomography showed peritoneal metastasis. In the middle of her fourth cycle of chemotherapy, she displayed symptoms of a left-sided multi-cranial nerve palsy. She was diagnosed with Garcin syndrome caused by meningeal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer based on the results of gadolinium-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging and cytology of the cerebrospinal fluid. It is important not to overlook meningeal irritation symptoms or paralysis of cranial nerves and to consider the possibility of Garcin syndrome caused by meningeal carcinomatosis.

New Frontiers in Diagnosis and Therapy of Circulating Tumor Markers in Cerebrospinal Fluid In Vitro and In Vivo

One of the greatest challenges in neuro-oncology is diagnosis and therapy (theranostics) of leptomeningeal metastasis (LM), brain metastasis (BM) and brain tumors (BT), which are associated with poor prognosis in patients. Retrospective analyses suggest that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is one of the promising diagnostic targets because CSF passes through central nervous system, harvests tumor-related markers from brain tissue and, then, delivers them into peripheral parts of the human body where CSF can be sampled using minimally invasive and routine clinical procedure. However, limited sensitivity of the established clinical diagnostic cytology in vitro and MRI in vivo together with minimal therapeutic options do not provide patient care at early, potentially treatable, stages of LM, BM and BT. Novel technologies are in demand. This review outlines the advantages, limitations and clinical utility of emerging liquid biopsy in vitro and photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) in vivo for assessment of CSF markers including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), microRNA (miRNA), proteins, exosomes and emboli. The integration of in vitro and in vivo methods, PAFC-guided theranostics of single CTCs and targeted drug delivery are discussed as future perspectives.

Potential Regulatory Roles of MicroRNAs and Long Noncoding RNAs in Anticancer Therapies

MicroRNAs and long noncoding RNAs have long been investigated due to their roles as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of cancers and regulators of tumorigenesis, and the potential regulatory roles of these molecules in anticancer therapies are attracting increasing interest as more in-depth studies are performed. The major clinical therapies for cancer include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted molecular therapy. MicroRNAs and long noncoding RNAs function through various mechanisms in these approaches, and the mechanisms involve direct targeting of immune checkpoints, cooperation with exosomes in the tumor microenvironment, and alteration of drug resistance through regulation of different signaling pathways. Herein we review the regulatory functions and significance of microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs in three anticancer therapies, especially in targeted molecular therapy, and their mechanisms.