Incidence Differences Between First Primary Cancers and Second Primary Cancers Following Skin Squamous Cell Carcinoma as Etiological Clues

How Can Spatial Transcriptomic Profiling Advance Our Understanding of Skin Diseases?

Spatial transcriptomic (ST) profiling is the mapping of gene expression within cell populations with preservation of positional context and represents an exciting new approach to develop our understanding of local and regional influences upon skin biology in health and disease. With the ability to probe from a few hundred transcripts to the entire transcriptome, multiple ST approaches are now widely available. In this paper, we review the ST field and discuss its application to dermatology. Its potential to advance our understanding of skin biology in health and disease is highlighted through the illustrative examples of 3 research areas: cutaneous aging, tumorigenesis, and psoriasis.

Interventions After First Post-Transplant Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Proposed Decision Framework

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after organ transplant. Many patients subsequently develop multiple CSCC following a first CSCC, and the risk of metastasis and death is significantly increased compared to the general population. Post-transplant CSCC represents a disease at the interface of dermatology and transplant medicine. Both systemic chemoprevention and modulation of immunosuppression are frequently employed in patients with multiple CSCC, yet there is little consensus on their use after first CSCC to reduce risk of subsequent tumors. While relatively few controlled trials have been undertaken, extrapolation of observational data suggests the most effective interventions may be at the time of first CSCC. We review the need for intervention after a first post-transplant CSCC and evidence for use of various approaches as secondary prevention, before discussing barriers preventing engagement with this approach and finally highlight areas for future research. Close collaboration between specialties to ensure prompt deployment of these interventions after a first CSCC may improve patient outcomes.

Incidence and survival in oral and pharyngeal cancers in Finland and Sweden through half century

Background

Cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx encompass a heterogeneous group of cancers for which known risk factors include smoking, alcohol consumption and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection but their influence is site-specific with HPV mainly influencing oropharyngeal cancer. Their incidence and survival rates are not well known over extended periods of time.

Patients/methods

Data were obtained for Finnish (FI) and Swedish (SE) patients from the Nordcan database recently updated through 2019. Age-adjusted incidence trends (FI from 1953, SE from 1960) and relative survival rates for years 1970 through 2019 were calculated.

Results

We observed a prominent increase in oral and oropharyngeal cancers in FI and SE men and women but the trend for oral cancer was interrupted for SE men in 1985 and possibly also for FI and SE women in 2015. The trend changes in male and female oral cancer was confirmed in data for Denmark and Norway. Relative survival for these cancers has improved overall but they differed for one cluster of oral, oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal cancers with 60–70% 5-year survival in the last period and hypopharyngeal cancer with 25% male survival. In all these cancers, survival for old patients was unfavorable.

Discussion/conclusion

We hypothesize that reduction in smoking prevalence helped to stop the increase in oral cancer especially in men. As the prevalence of smoking is decreasing, HPV is becoming a dominant risk factor, particularly for the increasing oropharyngeal cancer. Prevention needs to emphasize sexual hygiene and HPV vaccination.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09337-2.

Family History of Head and Neck Cancers

Simple Summary

Head and neck cancers are cancers that arise between the mouth and larynx. Risk factors for these include smoking, alcohol, human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and family history. Because families can be identified for the whole Swedish population, we wanted to analyzed familial risks for HNC with same and different cancers among first-degree relatives. When a parent or sibling was diagnosed with HNC, other family members had a two-fold risk of being diagnosed with HNC, but the risk was higher when specific types of HNC, such as oral or nasopharyngeal cancers, were analyzed. Husbands of wives with cervical cancer had an increased risk of oropharyngeal cancer which may be related to shared HPV infection. In the Swedish population with low smoking levels, HPV is becoming a dominant risk factor, emphasizing the need for sexual hygiene and HPV vaccination.

Abstract

Background: Head and neck cancers (HNCs) encompass a heterogeneous group of cancers between the mouth and larynx. Familial clustering in HNCs has been described, but how it influences individual sites and to which extent known risk factors, such as human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, may contribute is not well established. Patients/methods: We employed standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) to estimate familial risks for HNC with same (concordant) and different (discordant) cancers among first-degree relatives using data from the Swedish Cancer Registry from 1958 to 2018. Results: Incidence for male and female oropharyngeal cancer increased close to four-fold in the past 39 years. Familial HNC was found in 3.4% of the study population, with an overall familial SIR of 1.78. Patients with concordant nasopharyngeal cancer showed a high risk of 23.97, followed by hypopharyngeal cancer (5.43). The husbands of wives with cervical cancer had an increased risk of oropharyngeal cancer. Discussion/Conclusion: Nasopharyngeal cancers lacked associations with lifestyle or HPV associated cancers, suggesting a role for germline genetics, which was also true for the high-risk families of three HNC patients. In the Swedish population with low smoking levels, HPV is becoming a dominant risk factor, emphasizing the need for sexual hygiene and HPV vaccination.

Second Primary Cancers After Liver, Gallbladder and Bile Duct Cancers, and These Cancers as Second Primary Cancers

Background

Second primary cancers (SPCs) are important clinically as they may negatively influence patient survival and they may tell about therapeutic side effects and general causes of cancer. Population-based literature concerning SPCs after hepatobiliary cancers is limited and here we assess risks of SPCs after hepatocellular cancer (HCC), and cancers of the gallbladder, bile ducts and ampulla of Vater. In reverse order, we consider the risk of hepatobiliary cancers as SPCs after any cancer.

Methods

We used standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) to estimate bidirectional relative risks of subsequent cancers associated with hepatobiliary cancers. Cancer diagnoses were obtained from the Swedish Cancer Registry from years 1990 through 2015.

Results

We identified 9997 primary HCCs, 1365 gallbladder cancers and 4721 bile duct cancers. After HCC, risks of four SPCs were increased: gallbladder (SIR = 4.38; 95% confidence interval 1.87-8.67), thyroid (4.13; 1.30-9.70), kidney (2.92; 1.66-4.47) and squamous cell skin (1.55; 1.02-2.26) cancers. In reverse order, HCC as SPC, in addition to the above cancers, associations included upper aerodigestive tract, esophageal, small intestinal and bladder cancers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For gallbladder and bile duct cancers, associations were found with small intestinal and pancreatic cancers.

Conclusion

The results suggested that HCC is associated with two types of SPC, one related to shared environmental risk factors, such as alcohol, exemplified by upper aerodigestive tract and esophageal cancer, and the other related to immune dysfunction, exemplified by squamous cell skin cancer. SPCs associated with gallbladder and bile duct cancers suggest predisposition to mutations in the mismatch repair gene MLH1.