No abstract

The comparable efficacy, favorable safety profile, and convenient dosing support the role of PLD as a valuable treatment option in this patient population.

Gemcitabine plus carboplatin significantly improves PFS and response rate without worsening quality of life for patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer.

All three investigated regimens demonstrate modest clinical efficacy and should not be regarded as standard treatment for advanced gastric cancer. New strategies should be considered to achieve a better clinical efficacy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.

Topotecan in a daily-times-five schedule is an effective regimen as second-line treatment in ovarian cancer. Further investigations of topotecan in ovarian cancer, including first-line use and combination with other active agents, are indicated.

No abstract

Debulking surgery significantly lengthened progression-free and overall survival. The risk of death was reduced by one third, after adjustment for a variety of prognostic factors.

Purpose: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are a distinctive group of mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. The oncogene KIT has a central role in the pathogenesis of GIST, with c-kit receptor tyrosine kinase (KIT) protein expression being the gold standard in its diagnosis. The identification of GIST patients has become crucial, because the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Imatinib is effective in the treatment of this malignancy. However, a small set of GISTs remain unrecognized, because KIT protein expression is not always evident. The aim of this study was the identification of new markers for the differential diagnosis of GIST.Experimental Design: By analyzing publicly available data from transcriptional profiling of sarcomas, we found that protein kinase C (PKC-), a novel PKC isotype involved in T-cell activation, is highly and specifically expressed in GIST. PKC-expression in GIST was confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot. PKC-was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in a panel of 26 GIST, 12 non-GIST soft-tissue sarcomas, and 35 tumors from other histologies.Results: We found that all of the GISTs expressed PKC-, whereas this protein was undetectable in other mesenchymal or epithelial tumors, including non-GIST KITpositive tumors. PKC-immunoreactivity was also observed in interstitial cells of Cajal.Conclusions: Our results show that PKC-is easily detected by immunohistochemistry in GIST specimens and that it could be a sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of this malignancy.