In the past few years, the number of clinical trials has increased rapidly in East Asia, especially for gastric and hepatobiliary cancer that are prevalent in Asian populations. However, the actual degree of understanding or perceptions of clinical trials by cancer patients in East Asian countries have seldom been studied.

Objectives: To report the long-term follow-up data including computed tomography (CT) findings of oxaliplatin-induced liver damage in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: Three hundred and fifty-six patients who underwent surgery followed by oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (OBC) for colorectal cancer between January 2013 and December 2014 were included. Abdominal CT images and laboratory results (serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, total bilirubin, and platelet counts) were reviewed immediately before (as baseline), during, and after adjuvant OBC. Abdominal CT images were reviewed to assess the heterogeneous liver parenchyma, increase in size of the spleen, development of acute portosystemic shunts during OBC, and imaging findings of chronic portal hypertension. Results: During OBC, 90.2% (321/356) of the patients developed parenchymal heterogeneity. Increase in the spleen size during the OBC period was seen in 62.4% (225/356) of patients. The overall rate of development of acute portosystemic shunts during OBC was 23.9% (85/356). These findings were resolved after cessation of OBC except in 1.4% (5/356) of the patients in whom chronic portal hypertension persisted even after completion of OBC. Serum AST, ALT, and total bilirubin levels increased and platelet counts decreased during OBC and returned to normal after completion of OBC; however, they did not reach the pre-OBC levels. Conclusion: Although most changes associated with liver damage reversed to normal range after completion of OBC, some parameters did not reverse to the pretreatment level, and chronic portal hypertension developed in a small number of patients. Advances in knowledge: Chronic, persistent oxaliplatin-induced liver damage was not an infrequent complication after oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy for patients with colorectal cancer. It may cause non-cirrhotic portal hypertension and associated complications such as variceal bleeding.

We investigated the incidence of renal function impairment after adjuvant treatment for gastric cancer and analyzed the impact of radiotherapy on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) five years after gastric surgery. We reviewed the medical records of 1490 patients with stomach cancer who underwent curative surgery and adjuvant treatment for gastric cancer. Finally, we included 663 patients who were followed up for ≥5 years without disease recurrence and whose baseline eGFR was ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m². Logistic and linear regression analyses were performed to determine independent factors associated with the five-year eGFR. A total of 13 (2.0%) patients developed renal function impairment (five-year eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m²). In logistic regression analysis, the baseline eGFR was identified as a prognostic factor for renal function impairment (odds ratio (OR), 0.878; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.831–0.927; p < 0.001), but radiotherapy was not (OR, 1.130; 95% CI, 0.366–3.491; p = 0.832). In linear regression analysis, age (B = −0.350, p < 0.001), baseline eGFR (B = 0.576, p < 0.001), cisplatin (B = −2.056, p = 0.010), and radiotherapy (B = −2.628, p < 0.001) were predictive variables for the five-year eGFR. Among patients who received adjuvant radiotherapy, age (B = −0.277, p < 0.001), hypertension (B = −4.986, p = 0.004), baseline eGFR (B = 0.665, p < 0.001), and volume of the kidneys receiving ≥20 Gy (B = −0.209, p = 0.012) were predictive variables for the five-year eGFR. Development of renal function impairment after adjuvant treatment for gastric cancer was rare among patients with normal baseline kidney function. While radiotherapy was negatively associated with the five-year eGFR, its impact would have been minimal if the kidneys were properly shielded. Further studies are needed to confirm the impact of radiotherapy in patients with poor kidney function.

Introduction: We assessed the performance of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET)-based radiomics for the prediction of tumor mutational burden (TMB) and prognosis using a machine learning (ML) approach in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Ninety-one CRC patients who underwent pretreatment FDG PET/computed tomography (CT) and palliative chemotherapy were retrospectively included. PET-based radiomics were extracted from the primary tumor on PET imaging using the software LIFEx. For feature selection, PET-based radiomics associated with TMB were selected by logistic regression analysis. The performances of seven ML algorithms to predict high TMB were compared by the area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curves (AUCs) and validated by five-fold cross-validation. A PET radiomic score was calculated by averaging the z-score of each radiomic feature. The prognostic power of the PET radiomic score was assessed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Results: Ten significant radiomic features associated with TMB were selected: surface-to-volume ratio, total lesion glycolysis, tumor volume, area, compacity, complexity, entropy, correlation, coarseness, and zone size non-uniformity. The k-nearest neighbors model obtained the good performance for prediction of high TMB (AUC: 0.791, accuracy: 0.814, sensitivity: 0.619, specificity: 0.871). On multivariable Cox regression analysis, the PET radiomic score (Hazard ratio = 4.498, 95% confidential interval = 1.024–19.759; p = 0.046) was a significant independent prognostic factor for OS. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that PET-based radiomics are useful image biomarkers for the prediction of TMB status in stage IV CRC. PET radiomic score, which integrates significant radiomic features, has the potential to predict survival in stage IV CRC patients.

Purpose: Therapeutic targeting of RAF1 is a promising cancer treatment, but the relationship between clinical features and RAF1 aberrations in terms of the MAPK signaling pathway is poorly understood in various solid tumors. Methods: Between October 2019 and June 2023 at Samsung Medical Center, 3895 patients with metastatic solid cancers underwent next-generation sequencing (NGS) using TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO500) assays as routine clinical practice. We surveyed the incidence of RAF1 aberrations including mutations (single-nucleotide variants [SNVs]), amplifications (copy number variation), and fusions. Results: Among the 3895 metastatic cancer patients, 77 (2.0%) exhibited RAF1 aberrations. Of these 77 patients, 44 (1.1%) had RAF1 mutations (SNV), 25 (0.6%) had RAF1 amplifications, and 10 (0.3%) had RAF1 fusions. Among the 10 patients with RAF1 fusions, concurrent RAF1 amplifications and RAF1 mutations were detected in one patient each. The most common tumor types were bladder cancer (11.5%), followed by ampulla of Vater (AoV) cancer (5.3%), melanoma (3.0%), gallbladder (GB) cancer (2.6%), and gastric (2.3%) cancer. Microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) tumors were observed in five of 76 patients (6.6%) with RAF1 aberrations, while MSI-H tumors were found in only 2.1% of patients with wild-type RAF1 cancers (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: We demonstrated that approximately 2.0% of patients with metastatic solid cancers have RAF1 aberrations according to NGS of tumor specimens.

Purpose: Antibiotic use preceding immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment has been associated with a decreased efficacy of ICI in solid tumors. In this study, we evaluated the effect of antibiotic use before ICI therapy on oncological outcomes. Methods: We examined patients with recurrent gynecologic malignancies at two academic institutions. The clinical data, including antibiotic use within 60 days of ICI initiation, type of antibiotics, reasons for antibiotic use, body mass index, tumor site, chemotherapy-free interval, prior history of radiotherapy, disease control rate (DCR), and overall survival (OS), were assessed. Results: Of 215 patients, 22.9% (n = 47) received antibiotics before ICI treatment. The most common cancer was ovarian (52.1%, n = 112), followed by cervical (24.7%, n = 53) and endometrial (16.7%, n = 36). When we divided the cohort based on antibiotic use before ICIs, there were no significant differences in the DCR and baseline characteristics between the two groups. On multivariate analyses, the variables associated with poor OS were previous use of antibiotics for a cumulative duration of >14 days (HR 2.286, 95% CI 1.210–4.318; p = 0.011); Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 2 or 3 (HR 4.677, 95% CI 2.497–8.762; p < 0.001); and chemotherapy-free interval of 14 days was associated with reduced survival in recurrent gynecologic malignancies.