Background: The most commonly used chemotherapeutic regimens in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) include anthracyclines and taxanes. In our study, we investigated the efficacy and tolerability of cisplatin plus gemcitabine combination chemotherapy regimen in patients with MBC, who exhibited disease progression after anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy. Methods: Thirty-three patients with taxane/anthracycline-resistant MBC have been treated with gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 intravenously and cisplatin 30 mg/m2 intravenously on days 1 and 8 of a 3-week treatment cycle. Results: Thirty-one patients were assessable for response. One of the 31 patients (3.2%) showed complete response, while 7 patients (22.6%) showed partial response; the objective response rate was 25.8%. Stable and progressive disease was observed in 6 (19.4%) and 17 patients (54.8%), respectively. The median time to progression was 4 months (95% CI 2.15–5.85). The median survival time of all patients was 9.5 months (95% CI 7.86–11.14). Conclusion: Gemcitabine and cisplatin combination therapy is moderately active and safe in patients with MBC previously treated with anthracycline and taxanes.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of the combination of irradiation and AZD0156 on apoptosis, cell cycle progression, and clonogenic survival in human breast cancer and fibroblast cells. Methods and Material: Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and healthy lung fibroblast cell line WI-38 were obtained. Following employing proliferation analysis, cytotoxicity analysis was done to calculate the IC50 values of AZD0156 in MCF-7 and WI-38 cell lines. Following the application of AZD0156 and irradiation, flow cytometry analysis was performed for evaluating cell cycle distribution and the extent of apoptosis. Plating efficiency and surviving fraction were calculated for the clonogenic assay. Statistical Analysis Used: SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 17.0. (SPSS Inc. Chicago) and GraphPad Prism Version 6.0 for Windows (GraphPad Software, San Diego, California USA) softwares were used to analyze data. Results: AZD0156 and irradiation dose of 2–10 Gy had no effect on apoptosis on MCF-7 cells. The combination treatment of AZD0156 and 2 Gy, 4 Gy, 6 Gy, 8 Gy, and 10 Gy irradiation induced G₀/G₁ phase arrest by 1.79, 1.79, 1.50, 1.25, and 1.52-fold compared to the control group, respectively on MCF-7 cell lines. Combination treatment of AZD0156 and each different irradiation dose affected clonogenic survival owing to increased radiosensitivity (p: 0.02). AZD0156 and irradiation dose of 2 Gy, 4 Gy, 6 Gy, 8 Gy, and 10 Gy decreased the cell viability rate of WI-38 cells by 1.05, 1.18, 1.22, 1.04, and 1.05-fold compared to the control group, respectively. No efficacy was detected on cell cycle analysis, and clonogenic survival was not significantly decreased in WI-38 cells. Conclusion: The combination use of irradiation and AZD0156 has improved efficacy of tumor cell-specific cell cycle arrest and decreasing clonogenic survival.

Aim: To assess oncological outcomes and adverse events of patients receiving single or multi-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for spine metastases. Material and Method: Patients with any pathologically proven solid tumor histology who had SBRT to the spine for recurrent or metastatic disease between the years 2010 and 2021 at our department were identified from institutional database. Patient, tumor and treatment characteristics, and follow-up medical records were retrospectively reviewed. Local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) rates were calculated, and adverse events were evaluated. Results: A total of 47 patients were treated to 50 spine metastases. Median age was 53 years for all patients. Histologies included breast cancer (45%), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; 21%), prostate cancer (15%) and other types (19%). Median follow-up was 16 months for all patients. Of 47 patients, six (13%) developed local failure and 15 (32%) died without local failure. One and two-year actuarial LC rates were 90.1% and 83.6%, respectively. One and two-year OS rates were 75.1% and 62.7%, respectively. Twenty-two (47%) patients had pain before SBRT. Fifteen (68%) of them had complete or partial pain response at 3 months after SBRT. Vertebral compression fracture, which was grade 1 in severity according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE [v.4.03]), was observed in only one (2%) patient and it occurred 46 months after SBRT. No cases of treatment-related radiation myelopathy or any≥grade 3 RT induced acute or late toxicities occurred. Conclusion: This study supports that SBRT to the spine results in high LC without any significant toxicity. The results of ongoing phase 3 trials will highlight whether this high LC benefit reflects to survival in oligometastatic disease.