Adjuvant chemotherapy in average-risk adult medulloblastoma patients improves survival: a long term study.

BACKGROUND: Medulloblastoma is extremely rare in adults. The role of chemotherapy for average-risk adult patients remains controversial. Surgery and radiotherapy provide a significant disease control and a good prognosis, but about 25% of average-risk patients have a relapse and die because of disease progression. No data in average-risk adult patients are available to compareradiotherapy alone and radiotherapyfollowed byadjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: We analyzed 48 average-risk patients according to Chang classification diagnosed from 1988 to 2016. RESULTS: Median age was 29 years (range 16-61). Based on histological subtypes, 15 patients (31.3%) had classic, 15 patients (31.3%) had desmoplastic, 5 patients (10.4%) had extensive nodularity and 2 patients (4.2%) had large cells/anaplastic medulloblastoma. Twenty-four patients (50%) received adjuvant radiotherapy alone and 24 (50%) received radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After a median follow-up of 12.5 years, we found that chemotherapyincreases progression-free survival (PFS-15 82.3 ± 8.0% in patients treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapyvs. 38.5% ± 13.0% in patients treated with radiotherapy alone p = 0.05) and overall survival (OS-15 89.3% ± 7.2% vs. 52.0% ± 13.1%, p = 0.02). Among patients receiving chemotherapy, the reported grade ≥ 3 adverse events were: 9 cases of neutropenia (6 cases of G3 neutropenia [25%] and 3 cases of G4 neutropenia [13%]), 1 case of G3 thrombocytopenia (4%) and 2 cases of G3 nausea (8%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study with a long follow up period suggests that adding adjuvant chemotherapy to radiotherapy might improve PFS and OS in average-risk adult medulloblastoma patients.

Androgen receptor in triple negative breast cancer: A potential target for the targetless subtype.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents the 15-20% of all breast cancers (BC) and is characterized by a very aggressive behavior. Recent data suggest that TNBC is not a single disease, but it is rather an umbrella for different ontology-profiles such as basal like 1 and 2, mesenchymal, and the luminal androgen receptor (LAR). The LAR subtype is characterized by the expression of the Androgen Receptor (AR) and its downstream effects. Notwithstanding the role of the AR in several signaling pathways, its impact on a biological and clinical standpoint is still controversial. The LAR subtype has been associated with better prognosis, less chemotherapy responsiveness and lower pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant treatment. Clinical evidence suggests a role for anti-androgen therapies such as bicalutamide, enzalutamide and abiraterone, offering an interesting chemo-free alternative for chemo-unresponsive patients, and therefore potentially shifting current treatment strategies.