Advances in Immunotherapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. More than half of patients with HCC present with advanced stage, and highly active systemic therapies are crucial for improving outcomes. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based therapies have emerged as novel therapy options for advanced HCC. Only one third of patients achieve an objective response with ICI-based therapies due to primary resistance or acquired resistance. The liver tumor microenvironment is naturally immunosuppressive, and specific mutations in cell signaling pathways allow the tumor to evade the immune response. Next, gene sequencing of the tumor tissue or circulating tumor DNA may delineate resistance mechanisms to ICI-based therapy and provide a rationale for novel combination therapies. In this review, we discuss the results of key clinical trials that have led to approval of ICI-based therapy options in advanced HCC and summarize the ongoing clinical trials. We review resistance mechanisms to ICIs and discuss how immunotherapies may be optimized based on the emerging research of tumor biomarkers and genomic alterations.

Pazopanib: a novel treatment option for aggressive fibromatosis.

BACKGROUND: Aggressive fibromatosis (AF), also known as desmoid tumor, is an uncommon soft tissue neoplasm. AF does not metastasize, but it is locally invasive and its propensity for recurrence after conservative resection is well documented. No effective cytotoxic treatment has been reported, hence there is a need for novel treatment strategies. CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of an AF successfully treated with an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, pazopanib, with mild side effects. As far as we know, this is the first case of AF with complete response to pazopanib. CONCLUSION: Pazopanib might be an effective treatment option for AF.

S100A8 and S100A9 Positive Cells in Colorectal Carcinoma: Clinicopathological Analysis.

Introduction. In colorectal carcinoma, tumoral tissues infiltrate with various immune/inflammatory cells along their invasive margins and the increased S100A8/A9 expression in these immune cells infiltrating the tumor has recently been demonstrated. We examined S100A8/A9 as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of colorectal carcinoma. Materials and Methods. The current study included a sample of 80 patients diagnosed with CRC (30 cases with distant metastasis, 30 cases with lymph node metastasis, and 20 cases with no metastasis). Peritumoral and intratumoral S100A8 and S100A9 expressing inflammatory cells were counted in primary tumors and their metastasis and correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Results. The peritumoral and intratumoral S100A8/A9 positive cells showed no correlation with age, gender, or depth of tumor invasion. However higher counts of peritumoral and intratumoral S100A8/A9 positive cells were associated with larger tumor size, higher grade, and the presence of metastasis (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Our study also found significantly higher number of S100A8/A9 positive cells in the tumor microenvironment among patients with large tumor size, high grade, and metastatic disease. Moreover, in our study, we observed that the expression in the tumor metastasis appeared similar to that of primary tumor.