Chemosensitivity of lung cancer: Differences between the primary lesion and lymph node metastasis

Modeling lung adenocarcinoma metastases using patient-derived organoids

Approximately 50% of patients with surgically resected early-stage lung cancer develop distant metastasis. At present, there is no in vivo metastasis model to investigate the biology of human lung cancer metastases. Using well-characterized lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patient-derived organoids (PDOs), we establish an in vivo metastasis model that preserves the biologic features of human metastases. Results of whole-genome and RNA sequencing establish that our in vivo PDO metastasis model can be used to study clonality and tumor evolution and to identify biomarkers related to organotropism. Investigation of the response of KRASG12C PDOs to sotorasib demonstrates that the model can examine the efficacy of treatments to suppress metastasis and identify mechanisms of drug resistance. Finally, our PDO model cocultured with autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells can potentially be used to determine the optimal immune-priming strategy for individual patients with LUAD.

Gemcitabine Versus Docetaxel Plus Cisplatin as Induction Chemotherapy in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

OBJECTIVES

To compare tumor volume reduction after induction chemotherapy (IC) with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP) and docetaxel plus cisplatin (DP) and to evaluate the influence on subsequent radiotherapy in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective clinical study.

METHODS

Patients who received GP or DP IC followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were retrospectively enrolled. Propensity score matching (PSM) was adopted to control the balance between the GP and DP groups.

RESULTS

A total of 41 patients treated with GP and 53 patients treated with DP were enrolled. After matching, 33 sub-pairs of 66 patients were generated in the post-PSM cohort. As compared with DP, GP was superior in its gross tumor volume of the nasopharynx (GTVnx) reduction (28.88% vs. 18.73%; P = .014) but equivalent in its gross tumor volume of the lymph nodes (GTVnd) reduction (37.58% vs. 29.79%; P = .229). Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed that the chemotherapy regimen was an independent factor associated with the reduction in GTVnx (P = .011). The GP group exhibited advantages in the dosimetric parameters of the planning target volume of high-risk volume and low-risk volume (PTV1 and PTV2), lenses, temporal lobes, and parotid glands. Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed that chemotherapy regimen was an independent factor associated with the dosimetric parameters of PTV1, PTV2, lenses, temporal lobes, and parotid glands.

CONCLUSION

GP regimen achieves a greater GTVnx reduction than DP regimen and has an advantage in the dosimetry of subsequent CCRT.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

3 Laryngoscope, 132:2379-2387, 2022.

Construction of a Diagnostic Model for Lymph Node Metastasis of the Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Using Preoperative Ultrasound Features and Imaging Omics

In this paper, we mainly adopted 337 patients who had undergone the surgery on lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) as the sample population. In order to provide clinical reference for the intelligent decision-making in treatment plan and improvement of prognosis, we utilized ultrasound features and imaging features to construct five early diagnosis models for patients based on the ultrasound features, imaging features, and combined features. The model integrated with broad learning system (BLS) showed the best performance, with the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.857 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.811–0.902)) and the accuracy of 0.805 (95% CI: 0.759–0.850). For demographic and clinical features, the prediction effect was also good, with the AUC more than 0.700.

Benefits of functional assays in personalized cancer medicine: more than just a proof-of-concept

As complex and heterogeneous diseases, cancers require a more tailored therapeutic management than most pathologies. Recent advances in anticancer drug development, including the immuno-oncology revolution, have been too often plagued by unsatisfying patient response rates and survivals. In reaction to this, cancer care has fully transitioned to the “personalized medicine” concept. Numerous tools are now available tools to better adapt treatments to the profile of each patient. They encompass a large array of diagnostic assays, based on biomarkers relevant to targetable molecular pathways. As a subfamily of such so-called companion diagnostics, chemosensitivity and resistance assays represent an attractive, yet insufficiently understood, approach to individualize treatments. They rely on the assessment of a composite biomarker, the ex vivo functional response of cancer cells to drugs, to predict a patient's outcome. Systemic treatments, such as chemotherapies, as well as targeted treatments, whose efficacy cannot be fully predicted yet by other diagnostic tests, may be assessed through these means. The results can provide helpful information to assist clinicians in their decision-making process. We explore here the most advanced functional assays across oncology indications, with an emphasis on tests already displaying a convincing clinical demonstration. We then recapitulate the main technical obstacles faced by researchers and clinicians to produce more accurate, and thus more predictive, models and the recent advances that have been developed to circumvent them. Finally, we summarize the regulatory and quality frameworks surrounding functional assays to ensure their safe and performant clinical implementation. Functional assays are valuable in vitro diagnostic tools that already stand beyond the “proof-of-concept” stage. Clinical studies show they have a major role to play by themselves but also in conjunction with molecular diagnostics. They now need a final lift to fully integrate the common armament used against cancers, and thus make their way into the clinical routine.

Modeling of Nanotherapy Response as a Function of the Tumor Microenvironment: Focus on Liver Metastasis

The tumor microenvironment (TME) presents a challenging barrier for effective nanotherapy-mediated drug delivery to solid tumors. In particular for tumors less vascularized than the surrounding normal tissue, as in liver metastases, the structure of the organ itself conjures with cancer-specific behavior to impair drug transport and uptake by cancer cells. Cells and elements in the TME of hypovascularized tumors play a key role in the process of delivery and retention of anti-cancer therapeutics by nanocarriers. This brief review describes the drug transport challenges and how they are being addressed with advanced in vitro 3D tissue models as well as with in silico mathematical modeling. This modeling complements network-oriented techniques, which seek to interpret intra-cellular relevant pathways and signal transduction within cells and with their surrounding microenvironment. With a concerted effort integrating experimental observations with computational analyses spanning from the molecular- to the tissue-scale, the goal of effective nanotherapy customized to patient tumor-specific conditions may be finally realized.

Impact of in vitro chemosensitivity test-guided platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy on the surgical outcomes of patients with p-stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer that underwent complete resection

The impact of in vitro chemosensitivity test-guided platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy on the surgical outcomes of patients undergoing complete resection for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has yet to be elucidated. In the present study, the utility of adjuvant chemotherapy based on the collagen gel droplet embedded culture drug sensitivity test (CD-DST) in patients with p (pathology)-stage IIIA NSCLC was retrospectively analyzed. A series of 39 patients that had received platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy following complete resection between 2007 and 2012 were enrolled. Their surgical specimens were subjected to the CD-DST. The patients were subsequently classified into two groups on the basis of in vitro anti-cancer drug sensitivity data obtained using the CD-DST: The sensitive group (25 patients) were treated with regimens including one or two of the anti-cancer drug(s) that were indicated to be effective by the CD-DST, whereas the non-sensitive group (14 patients) were treated with chemotherapy regimens that did not include any CD-DST-selected anti-cancer drugs. There were no significant differences in the background characteristics of the two groups [including in respect of the pathological TN (tumor-lymph node) stage, tumor histology, epidermal growth factor receptor mutation status, the frequency of each chemotherapy regimen, and the number of administered cycles]. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate of the sensitive group was 32.3%, whereas that of the non-sensitive group was 14.3% (P=0.037). In contrast, no difference in overall survival (OS) was observed (P=0.76). Multivariate analysis revealed that adjuvant chemotherapy based on the CD-DST had a significant favorable effect on the DFS (P=0.01). Therefore, the present study has demonstrated that CD-DST data obtained from surgical specimens aid the selection of effective platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for patients undergoing complete resection for p-stage IIIA NSCLC. The use of CD-DST-guided platinum-based regimens may have a beneficial impact on the DFS of such patients.

Culture and Drug Profiling of Patient Derived Malignant Pleural Effusions for Personalized Cancer Medicine

INTRODUCTION

The use of patients' own cancer cells for in vitro selection of the most promising treatment is an attractive concept in personalized medicine. Human carcinoma cells from malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) are suited for this purpose since they have already adapted to the liquid environment in the patient and do not depend on a stromal cell compartment. Aim of this study was to develop a systematic approach for the in-vitro culture of MPEs to analyze the effect of chemotherapeutic as well as targeted drugs.

METHODS

MPEs from patients with solid tumors were selected for this study. After morphological and molecular characterization, they were cultured in medium supplemented with patient-derived sterile-filtered effusion supernatant. Growth characteristics were monitored in real-time using the xCELLigence system. MPEs were treated with a targeted therapeutic (erlotinib) according to the mutational status or chemotherapeutics based on the recommendation of the oncologists.

RESULTS

We have established a robust system for the ex-vivo culture of MPEs and the application of drug tests in-vitro. The use of an antibody based magnetic cell separation system for epithelial cells before culture allowed treatment of effusions with only moderate tumor cell proportion. Experiments using drugs and drug-combinations revealed dose-dependent and specific growth inhibitory effects of targeted drugs.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a new approach for the ex-vivo culture of MPEs and the application of drug tests in-vitro using real-time measuring of cell growth, which precisely reproduced the effect of clinically established treatments by standard chemotherapy and targeted drugs. This sets the stage for future studies testing agents against specific targets from genomic profiling of metastatic tumor cells and multiple drug-combinations in a personalized manner.