Three- versus six-month adjuvant FOLFOX or CAPOX for high-risk stage II and stage III colon cancer patients: the efficacy results of Hellenic Oncology Research Group (HORG) participation to the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy (IDEA) project.

BACKGROUND: The International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy (IDEA) aimed to investigate whether a 3 months (3M) of oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine-based adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) is non-inferior to the 6-month (6M) administration in 3-year disease-free survival (3yDFS) in high-risk (HR) stage II or stage III colon cancer (CC). METHODS: Hellenic Oncology Research Group (HORG)-IDEA randomized patients between 3M and 6M of CT with FOLFOX4 or CAPOX. RESULTS: In total 1115 patients, 413 with HR stage II and 702 with stage III CC, were randomized. The median follow-up was 67.0 (38.3-126.0) months. Overall, 394 DFS events (202 in 3M arm and 192 in 6M arm) where recorded. The 3yDFS rate was 77.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 72.1% to 82.3%] for 3M and 77.9% (72.6% to 82.5%) for 6M of treatment [hazard ratio (HR) 1.05 (95% CI 0.61-1.55); P = 0.647]. Eighty DFS events (3M N = 41; 6M N = 39) were observed in HR stage II patients for a 3yDFS rate of 82.7% and 83.4%, respectively (HR 1.05; 95% CI 0.68-1.63, P = 0.829). For stage III patients, 314 DFS events (3M N = 161 and 6M N = 153) were observed, for a 3yDFS rate of 72.9% for 3M versus 74.1% for 6M (HR 1.06; 95% CI 0.81-1.42, P = 0.622). For HR stage II patients receiving FOLFOX4, 3yDFS rate was 76.7% for 3M and 79.3% for 6M (HR 1.21; 95% CI 0.54-2.70). For HR stage II patients receiving CAPOX the 3yDFS rate was 85.4% for 3M and 83.8% for 6M (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.59-1.67). For stage III patients receiving FOLFOX4, the 3yDFS rate was 71.5% for 3M and 77.3% for 6M (HR 1.18; 95% CI 0.74-1.86). For stage III patients receiving CAPOX, the 3yDFS rate was 74.5% for 3M and 74.7% for 6M (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.70-1.44). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the HORG-IDEA study are in line with those of the global IDEA project, indicating that the 3yDFS is dependent on the administered adjuvant regimen and the choice and duration of regimen should be personalized. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01308086.

SPNsim: A database of simulated solitary pulmonary nodule PET/CT images facilitating computer aided diagnosis.

The aim of the present work was to design and develop a database of simulated solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) in pairs of computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) images, using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation methods. We have developed an SPN image modeling pipeline to feed the database entitled SPNsim. The database is web-accessible and it is contains two subsets of simulated PET/CT SPN images. The first subset is currently composed of 1000 cases containing pairs of the transaxial CT and the corresponding PET slice with various types of simulated SPNs, presented as individual records. The second subset contains pairs of the transaxial CT and the corresponding PET slice of simulated SPNs, presenting cases of graded difficulty in diagnosis. The users of the database will have the ability to set queries in order to retrieve cases with certain characteristics, as well as characterized image sets. All images are freely available and may be downloaded from the website. SPNsim provides a useful reference data set for training and evaluation of computer aided detection (CAD) and diagnosis (CADx) systems focusing on SPN.

Aberrant microRNA expression in tumor mycosis fungoides.

Herein, miRNA candidates relevant to mycosis fungoides were investigated to provide data on the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of the disease. The miRNA expression profile of skin biopsies from patients with tumor stage MF (tMF) and normal donors was compared using miRNA microarrays. Overall, 154 miRNAs were found differentially expressed between tMF and the control cohort with the majority of them being up-regulated (57 %). Among the upregulated miRNAs, miR-3177, miR-514b-3p, miR-1267, and miR-1282 were exclusively detected in 70 % of tMF. Additional upregulated miRNAs included miR-34a, miR-29a, let-7a*, and miR-210, while miR-200c* was identified among the downregulated ones. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to further investigate the expression profiles of miR-34a and miR-29a and validated the overexpression of miR-34a. Enrichment studies revealed that the target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs were important in several cancer-related signaling pathways. The overlapping relationship of the target genes among tMF, Sezary syndrome, and atopic dermatitis revealed several common and disease-specific genes. Collectively, our study modulated miR-34a as a candidate oncogenic molecule and miR-29a as a putative tumor suppressor highlighting their promising potential in the molecular pathogenesis of tMF.