Clinical significance of microRNA-200 and let-7 families expression assessment in patients with ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer (OC) represents the most lethal malignancy in gynaecologic oncology practice and shows a high recurrence rate due to its early chemoresistance to first-line chemotherapy. Yet, timely selection of the correct treatment strategy is likely to prolong a patient's survival. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short non-coding RNAs responsible for the expression of 30%-60% of human genes. In numerous studies, miRNAs have been used to provide the overall prognosis for patients and analyse the process's prevalence and responses to chemotherapy. In particular, miRNAs as markers for predicting the sensitivity of OC to platinum- and taxane-based chemotherapeutics can significantly improve the treatment efficacy. This article highlights two families of miRNAs: miR-200 and let-7, which are promising for further research on OC and its chemosensitivity.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in combined treatment of locally advanced and intraperitonealy disseminated gastric cancer: A retrospective cooperative Central-Eastern European study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Clinical experience in Western Europe suggests that cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) are promising methods in the management of gastric cancer (GC) with peritoneal metastases. However, there are almost no data on such treatment results in patient from Central-Eastern European population. METHODS: A retrospective cooperative study was performed at 6 Central-Eastern European HIPEC centers. HIPEC was used in 117 patients for the following indications: treatment of GC with limited overt peritoneal metastases (n = 70), adjuvant setting after radical gastrectomy (n = 37) and palliative approach for elimination of severe ascites without gastrectomy (n = 10). RESULTS: Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were 29.1% and 5.1%, respectively. Median overall survival in the groups with therapeutic, adjuvant, and palliative indications was 12.6, 34, and 3.5 months. The only long-term survivors occurred in the group with peritoneal cancer index (PCI) of 0-6 points without survival difference in groups with PCI 7-12 vs PCI 13 or more points. CONCLUSIONS: GC patients with limited peritoneal metastases can benefit from CRS + HIPEC. Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy could be an effective method of adjuvant treatment of GC with a high risk of intraperitoneal progression. No long-term survival may be expected after palliative approach to HIPEC.

Evaluation of the peritoneal surface disease severity score (PSDSS) in ovarian cancer patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC: Two pathogenetic types based study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Clinical experience suggests that cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) play an important role in the management of ovarian cancer. In order to improve patient selection, the peritoneal surface disease severity score (PSDSS) was previously introduced for use in colorectal cancer patients. However, almost no data exist regarding the utility of the PSDSS index in ovarian cancer patients. METHODS: A retrospective study of the effectiveness of CRS and HIPEC was carried out in 59 patients with ovarian cancer. The PSDSS was based on three criteria: symptoms, extent of peritoneal dissemination, and primary tumor structure as assessed by histology and biomarker expression. RESULTS: The overall survival time for patients with ovarian cancer in PSDSS Stage I was 48 ± 25.3 months. For PSDSS Stage II, the survival time was 26.5 ± 4.7 months. For PSDSS Stage III, it was 15.5 ± 4 months, and for PSDSS Stage IV, it was 6 ± 4.3 months. A multivariate analysis showed that the PSDSS stage was the only independent survival predictor. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that a PSDSS based on two pathogenetic types may be useful for predicting survival outcomes in ovarian cancer patients treated with CRS/HIPEC.

On the road to standardization of D2 lymph node dissection in a European population of patients with gastric cancer.

The amount of lymph node dissection (LD) required during surgical treatment of gastric cancer surgery has been quite controversial. In the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese surgeons developed a doctrine of aggressive preventive gastric cancer surgery that was based on extended (D2) LD volumes. The West has relatively lower incidence rates of gastric cancer, and in Europe and the United States the most common LD volume was D0-1. This eventually caused a scientific conflict between the Eastern and Western schools of surgical thought: Japanese surgeons determinedly used D2 LD in surgical practice, whereas European surgeons insisted on repetitive clinical trials in the European patient population. Today, however, one can observe the results of this complex evolution of views. The D2 LD is regarded as an unambiguous standard of gastric cancer surgical treatment in specialized European centers. Such a consensus of the Eastern and Western surgical schools became possible due to the longstanding scientific and practical search for methods that would help improve the results of gastric cancer surgeries using evidence-based medicine. Today, we can claim that D2 LD could improve the prognosis in European populations of patients with gastric cancer, but only when the surgical quality of LD execution is adequate.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion in combined treatment of locally advanced and disseminated gastric cancer: results of a single-centre retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (GC) and/or peritoneal metastases have a poor prognosis despite systemic chemotherapy or palliative surgery. The aim of this retrospective comparative non-randomised study was to evaluate aggressive cytoreduction in combination with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC) as a novel treatment strategy for patients with intraperitoneal disseminated and locally advanced GC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-nine GC patients with serosal invasion (n = 19), limited peritoneal metastases (n = 20), or disseminated peritoneal metastases and tense ascites (n = 10) underwent combination therapy with HIPEC. Three matched control groups undergoing standard therapies were retrospectively identified. RESULTS: Combination therapy for serosa-invasive GC reduced the level of metachronous peritoneal carcinomatosis and increased median survival from 12 months to 22.5 months (p = 0.001). The median and 1-year survival rates for intraperitoneal disseminated GC patients undergoing therapy with the use of HIPEC were 12 months and 68.8% compared with 8 months and 25%, respectively (p = 0.004) for control subgroup patients (palliative chemotherapy). The symptomatic use of HIPEC allows effective elimination of recurrent ascites in GC patients. CONCLUSION: HIPEC is a well-tolerated and effective method of adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer with high risk of intraperitoneal progression. Cytoreduction followed by HIPEC improves survival in patients with limited peritoneal carcinomatosis of gastric origin.