Assessment of quality of life among advanced ovarian cancer patients in a tertiary care hospital in India.

PURPOSE: The study aims to record the quality of life (Qol) and its changes while ovarian cancer (OC) patients undergo debulking surgeries and chemotherapy in a tertiary care hospital of Eastern India. METHODS: Patients with advanced epithelial OC (FIGO stages III-IV) were recruited. They underwent primary/interval debulking surgeries with classical chemotherapy (adjuvant/neoadjuvant) of intravenous tri-weekly doses of paclitaxel + carboplatin. QoL was assessed using Fact- O + FACIT-Sp-12 questionnaire with a set of 51 questions in different domains (spiritual, physical, social, emotional, and functional factors) and a special set for OC patients under the heading "Additional concerns." The responses from patients were recorded at baseline (diagnosis/study entry), 2, 4, and 6 months during the treatment visits. Overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan Meier curve. RESULTS: A majority of patients were 49.15±10.8 years of age, school-educated (54%), unemployed/homemakers (73.5%), belonging from rural setup (64.6%) with a monthly income of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 5000/-. There was no statistically significant (p>0.05) improvement found in Qol from the baseline till the end of the study, neither overall nor in subsets (responders (Rs)/partial responders (PRs)/non-responder (NRs) groups or the adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy groups). The common toxicities like anemia, constipation, and weight loss were significantly (p<0.05) correlated with the patients' physical, functional, emotional, and social well-being. CONCLUSION: Ovarian cancer patients represent a poor functional, social, and disease-specific quality of life that needs to be addressed, identified, and improved by the growing nexus of healthcare providers and researchers.

PIM1/STAT3 axis: a potential co-targeted therapeutic approach in triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer lacks an expression of ER, PR, and Her-2, has a poor prognosis, and there are no target therapies available. Therapeutic options to treat TNBC are limited and urgently needed. Strong evidence indicates that molecular signaling pathways have a significant function to regulate biological mechanisms and their abnormal expression endows with the development of cancer. PIM kinase is overexpressed in various human cancers including TNBC which is regulated by various signaling pathways that are crucial for cancer cell proliferation and survival and also make PIM kinase as an attractive drug target. One of the targets of the STAT3 signaling pathway is PIM1 that plays a key role in tumor progression and transformation. In this review, we accumulate the current scenario of the PIM-STAT3 axis that provides insights into the PIM1 and STAT3 inhibitors which can be developed as potential co-inhibitors as prospective anticancer agents.

Evaluation of numerical rating scale and neuropathic pain symptom inventory pain scores in advanced ovarian carcinoma patients undergoing surgery and first-line chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (OC) has a high disease manifestation with difficult-to-manage symptoms that limit the patients' functionality. Abdominal pain, persistent back pain, and neuropathic pain are among the common discomforts associated with OC and its treatment. Our study aims to determine pain scores in advanced OC patients undergoing surgery and chemotherapeutic treatment with carboplatin and paclitaxel. METHODS: One hundred and ten patients with advanced epithelial OC were enrolled and treated with surgery and an adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen of carboplatin-paclitaxel for six cycles (triweekly). Pain intensity was analyzed using the validated numerical rating scale for resting, movement, sleep interference-associated pain, and neuropathic pain scores were evaluated using the neuropathic pain symptom inventory scale. Pain was correlated with Qol according to Fact-O questionnaires. Chemo-response was evaluated using the CA125 blood biomarker and CT scan of the abdomen and thorax. Data were recorded at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 months of the six chemotherapy cycles. RESULTS: Of the 110 patients, no statistically significant differences were found in pain at baseline and after treatment (P > 0.05) and between the responder and non-responder categories (P > 0.05). However, movement-associated pain had a significant correlation with chemo-response and a strong positive correlation with the patients' physical and functional wellbeing. There were more chemo-induced neuropathy occurrences (P = 0.001) in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group. CONCLUSION: Patients in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy arm experienced more chemo-induced neuropathy that was persistent and did not improve with the treatment. RELEVANCE FOR PATIENTS: Peripheral neuropathy is a common adverse effect of platinum and taxane chemotherapeutic drugs that persists throughout cancer treatment and in survivorship. This research provides evidence that chemotherapy-associated neuropathy affects Qol of patients and it will be helpful to improve pain and palliative care management policies.