Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are putative markers of tumor prognosis and may serve to evaluate patient’s response to chemotherapy. CTCs are often detected as single cells but infrequently as clusters and are indicative of worse prognosis. In this study, we developed a short-term culture of nucleated blood cells which was applied to blood samples from breast, lung, esophageal and bladder cancer patients. Clusters of different degrees of compactness, classified as very tight, tight and loose were observed across various cancer types. These clusters show variable expression of cytokeratins. Cluster formation from blood samples obtained during the course of chemotherapy was found to be associated with disease progression and shorter overall survival. The short-term cultures offer a robust and highly reliable method for early prediction of treatment response in different cancer types.

Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the oral region is rare. Oral manifestations are present in 3-5% of cases of NHL and oral lesions are rarely the initial manifestation. We describe a 40 year old male who presented with a mass lesion primarily involving the tongue and was diagnosed as diffuse large B cell lymphoma. The patient was treated with CHOP chemotherapy with complete disappearance of lesion after first cycle. Pertinent literature is being reviewed.

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Background:Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) is a rare tumor arising from the diffuse neuroendocrine system. Most of these present in the advanced stage and palliative chemotherapy remains the only option. The prognosis remains poor with the standard chemotherapy regimen of platinum and etoposide (EP) providing modest survival benefit.Methods:The study was done for 3 years at a tertiary cancer center in South India. Patients with a diagnosis of metastatic NEC were analyzed for clinical and pathological characteristics. The treatment outcomes and prognostic factors were evaluated using appropriate statistical test.Results:A total of 114 patients of metastatic NEC satisfied the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Gastrointestinal including hepatobiliary tract (33%) was the most common site of primary disease followed by lung (26%), genitourinary (15%), head and neck (14%), and unknown primary (9%). On analysis of pattern of metastasis, liver (65%) was the most common site followed by bone (54%) and lung (42%). The median overall survival was 11 months with a statistically significant difference between pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease (8 vs. 13 months; P = 0.003). Ki67% value was strongly associated with prognosis (hazard ratio 0.517, 95% confidence interval; 0.318–0.840, P = 0.008) whereas age, sex, and lactate dehydrogenase level did not show any relation with survival.Conclusion:The outcome of advanced NEC with standard chemotherapy remains poor. Larger studies with other therapeutic and novel agents are warranted to improve the treatment outcomes.

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common female cancer seen globally. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a special subtype without any obvious target and optimum treatment remains challenging. The aim was to study the clinical, pathological profile and treatment outcome of TNBC patients.MethodsThis was a retrospective observational study of TNBC patients diagnosed from January 2010 to June 2012 at a tertiary cancer center in South India. Patient’s clinical and pathological characteristics were studied. The 5-year estimate of survival for non-metastatic TNBC was done using the Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsOut of 804 patients of breast cancer, 237 were diagnosed as TNBC. The median age was 45 years and 58% were premenopausal. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for non-metastatic TNBC patients were 59% and 74%, respectively. The addition of a taxane to anthracycline-based regimen did not show a significant difference in DFS (P = 0.885) as well as OS (P = 0.856).ConclusionThe role of adding taxanes to anthracycline-based chemotherapy in adjuvant setting for TNBC remains controversial and larger prospective studies are warranted.

Background: Patients with chronic or resolved hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection have a risk of reactivation after chemotherapy. Japanese guidelines recommend that all patients on chemotherapy should be screened for HBV infection. Although Asian peoples are considered to be a high risk population of HBV infection, little is known about the screening rate in Japan. Methods: We analyzed health insurance claims data linked with hospital-based cancer registry. Patients diagnosed with cancer in 2014, 20 years and older, who received at least one dose of systemic anticancer therapy in 2014-15 entered the analyses. We assessed the HBV screening rates by HBsAg or anti-HBc test ordered around initial treatment, HBV-DNA test and entecavir prescription. A multiple logistic regression model was used to identify factors related to the receipt of screening. Results: Of 177636 patients (mean [SD] age, 65.6 [12.2] years), 82.6%, 12.9%, 4.5% patients had solid tumor other than hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hematologic malignancy and HCC, respectively. Among them, 88.5%, 8.8%, 2.6% patients received cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted therapy and anti-CD20 antibody, respectively. Overall, 70.6% of patients were screened but 34.5% were tested HBsAg only. The positive predictors of the HBV screening were hematologic malignancy (OR 2.45; 95%CI, 2.35-2.55) and negative predictors were age 85 (OR 0.75 compared to age <65, 95%CI, 0.71-0.80), age 75-84 (OR 0.77; 95%CI, 0.75-0.79), targeted therapy (OR 0.79; 95%CI, 0.76-0.82). Among the screened patients, 13.2% were tested HBV-DNA and 1.49% were prescribed prophylactic entecavir. Conclusions: This is the largest study to evaluate the HBV screening rate before systemic anticancer therapy in Japan. Although the screening rate is higher than previous reports from other countries (13-19%), half of the screened patients were tested HBsAg only. The elderly patients and patients who received targeted therapy were less screened. Legal entity responsible for the study: Takahiro Higashi. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest. 421O Assessment and comparison of CISNE model versus MASCC model in clinically stable febrile neutropenia patients

Due to a small number of this malignancy randomized studies are difficult to perform and optimum treatment strategy still need to be defined.

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