A doctor shows medical records to cancer patient in hospital ward (iStock)
Israeli researchers have found previously unknown amino acids on tumors, which could be exploited in the future to boost the effectiveness of cancer treatments.
Short chains of amino acids known as peptides are essential to the success of immunotherapy; they work by activating T cells, which fight the cancer.
But many patients don’t have enough of these peptides, which are derived from mutated cancer genes, to make immunotherapy successful.
The shortage of peptides is seen as one of the reasons that many people fail to respond to checkpoint inhibitor drugs, which block the cancer from suppressing the immune response and send the peptides into action.
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A treatment regimen of short-course radiotherapy and organ-preserving transanal endoscopic microsurgery for early rectal cancer (TREC) was associated with fewer acute and late patient-reported side-effects than total mesorectal excision, a small randomized British feasibility study found.
The randomized multicenter open-label TREC feasibility study showed high levels of compliance, low toxicity and morbidity, significant downstaging and high rates of organ preservation, and better overall quality of life (QOL), reported Simon P. Bach, FRCS, of the University of Birmingham, and colleagues.
As shown in their study online in
The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, eight of 27 patients (30%) assigned to organ preservation achieved a complete response to radiation therapy.
GSRGT 2020: Penile Cancer: Conservative N-strategies - Minimally Invasive Staging of the Groin
(Urotoday.com) The penile cancer session at the inaugural virtual summit of the Global Society of Rare Genitourinary Tumors (GSRGT) included a presentation of conservative strategies for lymph node management, including minimally invasive staging of the groin, by Dr. Oscar Brouwer from The Netherlands Cancer Institute. Dr. Brouwer notes that penile cancer survival is highly dependent on lymph node status and that appropriate management of the regional lymph nodes is crucial for patient survival. Older studies suggest that early resection of occult metastasis versus resection after the disease is palpable during surveillance significantly improves cancer-specific survival (84% vs 35% at 3 years). As such, detecting lymphatic spread as early as possible is crucial. Dr. Brouwer notes that if there are palpable abnormalities of the groin, there is no place for a trial of antibiotics and clin