In Situ Overexpression of Matricellular Mechanical Proteins Demands Functional Immune Signature and Mitigates Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression

Recent advances in lung cancer research: unravelling the future of treatment

Lung cancer, a multifaceted disease, demands tailored therapeutic approaches due to its diverse subtypes and stages. This comprehensive review explores the intricate landscape of lung cancer research, delving into recent breakthroughs and their implications for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention. Genomic profiling and biomarker identification have ushered in the era of personalised medicine, enabling targeted therapies that minimise harm to healthy tissues while effectively combating cancer cells. The relationship between pulmonary tuberculosis and lung cancer is examined, shedding light on potential mechanisms linking these two conditions. Early detection methods, notably low-dose computed tomography scans, have significantly improved patient outcomes, emphasising the importance of timely interventions. There has been a growing interest in segmentectomy as a surgical intervention for early-stage lung cancer in recent years. Immunotherapy has emerged as a transformative approach, harnessing the body's immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells. Combining immunotherapy with traditional treatments, such as chemotherapy and targeted therapies, has shown enhanced efficacy, addressing the disease's heterogeneity and overcoming drug resistance. Precision medicine, guided by genomic profiling, has enabled the development of targeted therapies like tyrosine kinase inhibitors, offering personalised treatments tailored to individual patients. Challenges such as drug resistance and limited accessibility to advanced therapies persist, emphasising the need for collaborative efforts and innovative technologies like artificial intelligence. Despite challenges, ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations and technological advancements offer hope for a future where lung cancer is treatable and preventable, reducing the burden on patients and healthcare systems worldwide.

The entanglement of extracellular matrix molecules and immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer: a systematic review of the literature

Introduction

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have emerged as a core pillar of cancer therapy as single agents or in combination regimens both in adults and children. Unfortunately, ICIs provide a long-lasting therapeutic effect in only one third of the patients. Thus, the search for predictive biomarkers of responsiveness to ICIs remains an urgent clinical need. The efficacy of ICIs treatments is strongly affected not only by the specific characteristics of cancer cells and the levels of immune checkpoint ligands, but also by other components of the tumor microenvironment, among which the extracellular matrix (ECM) is emerging as key player. With the aim to comprehensively describe the relation between ECM and ICIs' efficacy in cancer patients, the present review systematically evaluated the current literature regarding ECM remodeling in association with immunotherapeutic approaches.

Methods

This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO, CRD42022351180). PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were comprehensively searched from inception to January 2023. Titles, abstracts and full text screening was performed to exclude non eligible articles. The risk of bias was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool.

Results

After employing relevant MeSH and key terms, we identified a total of 5070 studies. Among them, 2540 duplicates, 1521 reviews or commentaries were found and excluded. Following title and abstract screening, the full text was analyzed, and 47 studies meeting the eligibility criteria were retained. The studies included in this systematic review comprehensively recapitulate the latest observations associating changes of the ECM composition following remodeling with the traits of the tumor immune cell infiltration. The present study provides for the first time a broad view of the tight association between ECM molecules and ICIs efficacy in different tumor types, highlighting the importance of ECM-derived proteolytic products as promising liquid biopsy-based biomarkers to predict the efficacy of ICIs.

Conclusion

ECM remodeling has an important impact on the immune traits of different tumor types. Increasing evidence pinpoint at ECM-derived molecules as putative biomarkers to identify the patients that would most likely benefit from ICIs treatments.

Systematic review registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022351180, identifier CRD42022351180.

Clinical Application Perspectives of Lung Cancers 3D Tumor Microenvironment Models for In Vitro Cultures

Despite the enormous progress and development of modern therapies, lung cancer remains one of the most common causes of death among men and women. The key element in the development of new anti-cancer drugs is proper planning of the preclinical research phase. The most adequate basic research exemplary for cancer study are 3D tumor microenvironment in vitro models, which allow us to avoid the use of animal models and ensure replicable culture condition. However, the question tormenting the scientist is how to choose the best tool for tumor microenvironment research, especially for extremely heterogenous lung cancer cases. In the presented review we are focused to explain the key factors of lung cancer biology, its microenvironment, and clinical gaps related to different therapies. The review summarized the most important strategies for in vitro culture models mimicking the tumor–tumor microenvironmental interaction, as well as all advantages and disadvantages were depicted. This knowledge could facilitate the right decision to designate proper pre-clinical in vitro study, based on available analytical tools and technical capabilities, to obtain more reliable and personalized results for faster introduction them into the future clinical trials.