Squamous-cell carcinoma of the lungs: is it really so different?

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the predominant histological type in men, and adenocarcinoma is the most common subtype in women in the world. The incidence of SCC is decreasing in men, while the incidence of adenocarcinoma (AC) is stable or slightly increasing in western countries. There is active research on the AC subtype but SCC remains poorly studied. CONCLUSIONS: In this review, we have studied different aspects of the SCC subtype, including epidemiology, clinical features, pathology, molecular biology markers, and new therapeutic targets, treatments and prognosis implications.

Complete and rapid response to FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab in a patient presenting with impaired liver function and poor performance status from colon cancer liver metastases.

Impaired liver function is a final complication of hepatic metastases from colon cancer. This disease status is of critical importance at first clinical presentation because of the tight therapeutic window for chemotherapy. A rapid response to treatment is required as other means of supportive care for hepatic function are limited. New targeted therapies including monoclonal antibodies directed against several proteins with key roles in colon cancer biology are now available, allowing new treatment options for this group of patients. Here, we present a patient with highly impaired liver function secondary to hepatic metastases from colon cancer that showed clinical and radiological improvement after systemic treatment including bevacizumab.

Bevacizumab: a safe and effective treatment in a patient with advanced colorectal cancer and repeated removal of metastases.

Bevacizumab has been shown to be effective combined with chemotherapy for first-line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer, but little information is available about its efficacy and safety in patients who may be candidates for surgery at any time during the disease. The case history of a female patient with colorectal cancer, undergoing surgery for liver metastases and bilateral surgery for lung metastases at different time-points during her disease, is reported. Perioperative bevacizumab administration caused no complications either associated with surgery, in the early postoperative period, or in the subsequent months.

Long term responses with cetuximab therapy in glioblastoma multiforme.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is responsible for most of the deaths associated with primary brain tumors. Standard treatment includes maximal surgical resection followed by chemotherapy and concomitant radiotherapy. Most patients, however, recur shortly after treatment. Second line treatment has little efficacy and the majority of patients die soon from the disease. Recent advances in molecular biology have implicated the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathways in the progression and resistance to standard therapies for GBM. This has prompted the evaluation of EGFR tyrosine- kinase inhibitors with encouraging results. Cetuximab is a monoclonal antibody targeted against the extra cellular domain of the EGFR with activity against different tumor types, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Here we describe three patients with recurrent, heavily pretreated, EGFR expressing GBM who responded to treatment with single agent cetuximab.