Scientific data provide the evidence that secondary K-RAS mutations do not occur during anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapy in colorectal cancer patients. This multicenter phase II prospective study aims to investigate the activity of a retreatment with a cetuximab-based therapy. We enrolled 39 irinotecan-refractory patients who had a clinical benefit after a line of cetuximab- plus irinotecan-based therapy and then a progression of disease for which underwent a new line chemotherapy and finally, after a clear new progression of disease, were retreated with the same cetuximab- plus irinotecan-based therapy. Median number of therapeutic lines before accrual was 4. Median interval time between last cycle of first cetuximab-based therapy and first cycle of the retreatment was 6 months. Overall response rate was 53.8% with 19 partial responses (48.7%) and 2 complete responses (5.1%). Disease stabilization was obtained in 35.9% of patients and progression in four patients (10.2%). Median progression-free survival was 6.6 months. The correlation between skin toxicity during first cetuximab therapy and during cetuximab rechallenge was significant (P = 0.01). Rechallenge with the same cetuximab-based therapy may achieve a new important clinical benefit further delaying the progression of disease and improving the therapeutic options.

PD-L1 expression as predictive biomarker in patients with NSCLC: a pooled analysis PD-L1 expression as predictive biomarker in patients with NSCLC: a pooled analysis

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) criteria and the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) are currently adopted to evaluate radiological response in patients affected by HCC and treated with loco-regional procedures. Several studies explored the validity of these measurements in predicting survival but definitive data are still lacking. To conduct a systematic review of studies exploring mRECIST and EASL criteria usefulness in predictive radiological response in HCC undergoing loco-regional therapies and their validity in predicting survival. A comprehensive search of the literature was performed in electronic databases EMBASE, MEDLINE, COCHRANE LIBRARY, ASCO conferences and EASL conferences up to June 10, 2014. Our overall search strategy included terms for HCC, mRECIST, and EASL. Loco-regional procedures included transarterial embolization (TAE), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and cryoablation. Inter-method agreement between EASL and mRECIST was assessed using the k coefficient. For each criteria, overall survival was described in responders vs. non-responders patients, considering all target lesions response. Among 18 initially found publications, 7 reports including 1357 patients were considered eligible. All studies were published as full-text articles. Proportion of responders according to mRECIST and EASL criteria was 62.4% and 61.3%, respectively. In the pooled population, 1286 agreements were observed between the two methods (kappa statistics 0.928, 95% confidence interval 0.912–0.944). HR for overall survival (responders versus non responders) according to mRECIST and EASL was 0.39 (95% confidence interval 0.26–0.61, p<0.0001) and 0.38 (95% confidence interval 0.24–0.61, p<0.0001), respectively. In this literature-based meta-analysis, mRECIST and EASL criteria showed very good concordance in HCC patients undergoing loco-regional treatments. Objective response according to both criteria confirms a strong prognostic value in terms of overall survival. This prognostic value appears to be very similar between the two criteria.

MiRNAs are noncoding RNAs that target specific mRNA with subsequent regulation of particular genes, implicated in various biological processes. In cancer, miRNAs could show a different expression from normal tissues. miRNAs have a role as oncogenes when they target tumor suppressor genes and similarly they are tumor suppressors when they target oncogenes. In this review, areas covered include the role of miRNAs in cancer diagnosis, prognosis and research for achievement of therapeutic strategies implicating miRNAs in oncology. As biogenesis of miRNAs is fundamental to understand their usefulness, this has also been discussed. Both miRNA expression profiles in cancer tissues and miRNA levels in peripheral blood were studied for improvement in the management of cancer patients. miRNAs have the potential for better understanding of tumor biology, but could also provide clinical advancement in management and therapy of various malignancies. The possibility of miRNA detection in peripheral blood would allow an eager expansion of their application in various clinical settings for cancer. The applicability of miRNA expression profiles still needs to be defined.