Blood-based biomarkers reflect systemic inflammation status and have prognostic and predictive value in solid malignancies. As a recently defined biomarker, Pan-Immune-Inflammation-Value (PIV) integrates different peripheral blood cell subpopulations. This retrospective study of collected data aimed to assess whether PIV may predict the pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in Turkish women with breast cancer. The study consisted of 743 patients with breast cancer who were scheduled to undergo NAC before attempting cytoreductive surgery. A pre-treatment complete blood count was obtained in the two weeks preceding NAC, and blood-based biomarkers were calculated from absolute counts of relevant cell populations. The pCR was defined as the absence of tumor cells in both the mastectomy specimen and lymph nodes. Secondary outcome measures included disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). One hundred seven patients (14.4%) had pCR. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, optimal cut-off values for the neutrophile-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte (PLR), PIV, and Ki-67 index were determined as ≥ 2.34, ≥ 0.22, ≥ 131.8, ≥ 306.4, and  ≥ 27, respectively. The clinical tumor (T) stage, NLR, MLR, PLR, PIV, estrogen receptor (ER) status, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) status, and Ki-67 index were significantly associated with NAC response in univariate analyses. However, multivariate analysis revealed that the clinical T stage, PIV, ER status, HER-2 status, and Ki-67 index were independent predictors for pCR. Moreover, the low PIV group patients had significantly better DFS and OS than those in the high PIV group (p = 0.034, p = 0.028, respectively). Based on our results, pre-treatment PIV seems as a predictor for pCR and survival, outperforming NLR, MLR, PLR in predicting pCR in Turkish women with breast cancer who received NAC. However, further studies are needed to confirm our findings.

Objectives: Endometrial endometrioid carcinoma (EEC) is the most encountered subtype of endometrial cancer (EC). Our study aimed to investigate the factors affecting recurrence in patients with stage 1A and 1B EEC. Material and methods:Our study included 284 patients diagnosed with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage 1A/1B EEC in our center from 2010 to 2018.The clinicopathological characteristics of the patients were obtained retrospectively from their electronic files. Results:The median age of the patients was 60 years (range 31-89). The median follow-up time of the patients was 63.6 months (range 3.3-185.6). Twenty-two (7.74%) patients relapsed during follow-up. Among the relapsed patients, 59.1% were at stage 1A ECC, and 40.9% were at stage 1B. In our study, the one-, three-, and five-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were 98.9%, 95.4%, and 92.9%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, grade and tumor size were found to be independent parameters of RFS in all stage 1 EEC patients.Furthermore, the Ki-67 index was found to affect RFS in stage 1A EEC patients, and tumor grade affected RFS in stage 1B EEC patients. In the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the statistically significant cut-off values were determined for tumor size and Ki-67 index in stage 1 EEC patients.Conclusions: Stage 1-EEC patients in the higher risk group in terms of tumor size, Ki-67, and grade should be closely monitored for recurrence. Defining the prognostic factors for recurrence in stage 1 EEC patients may lead to changes in follow-up algorithms.

Endometrial endometrioid carcinoma (EEC) represents approximately 75–80% of endometrial carcinoma cases. Three hundred thirty-six patients with EEC followed-up in the authors’ medical center between and 2010–2018 were included in our study. Two hundred seventy-two low- and intermediate- EEC patients were identified using the European Society for Medical Oncology criteria and confirmed by histopathological examination. Recurrence was reported in 17 of these patients. The study group consisted of patients with relapse. A control group of 51 patients was formed at a ratio of 3:1 according to age, stage, and grade, similar to that in the study group. Of the 17 patients with recurrent disease, 13 patients (76.5%) were stage 1A, and 4 patients (23.5%) were stage 1B. No significant difference was found in age, stage, and grade between the case and control groups (p>0.05). Body mass index, parity, tumor size, lower uterine segment involvement, SqD, and Ki-67 index with p<0.25 in the univariate logistic regression analysis were included in the multivariate analysis. Ki-67 was statistically significant in multivariate analysis (p=0.018); however, there was no statistical significance in SqD and other parameters. Our data suggest that the Ki-67 index rather than SqD needs to be assessed for recurrence in patients with low- and intermediate-risk EEC.

Kaposi sarcoma is a rare disease and there is a gap in the literature about which chemotherapeutics should be applied, especially for the classical type. We aimed to present our institutional data on the demographic characteristics, treatment, and treatment efficacy in 16 Kaposi sarcoma (KS) patients treated with chemotherapy. We retrospectively analyzed the demographic and clinical characteristics, and the chemotherapeutic agents administered to the 16 KS patients diagnosed in our center and treated with chemotherapy, based on the medical records obtained. The median age, gender, type of KS, site of involvement, cytotoxic agents administered, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and safety profiles of the patients were evaluated. The median age at disease onset was 61.07 years (range, 39.4–85.8 years). Among the patients, 1 had immunosuppression-related KS, 4 had AIDS-related KS, and 11 had classical KS. In the first-line cytotoxic therapy, 7 patients received pegylated-liposomal doxorubicin (PLD), 6 patients received paclitaxel, 2 patients received oral etoposide, and 1 patient received the adriamycin, bleomycin, and vincristine regimen. In the Kaplan–Meier analysis, the PFS was 39.9 months (95% CI, 7.7–72.0). In the first-line setting, a significant difference in terms of PFS was observed between the PLD- and paclitaxel-treated groups (not reached vs. 12.8 months, p = 0.033). The OS was 66.1 months (95% CI, 30.2–102.0). The ORR of the 16 patients was 43.8%, and their DCR was 81.3%. No grade 3 or 4 toxicity was observed. This retrospective study showed that PLD seems better than paclitaxel in terms of PFS and response rates and it has shown to have a good safety profile in KS patients.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical and laboratory outcomes of solid cancer patients who were reinfected with COVID-19. Methods: Patients who were tested negative on the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) PCR test and those with improved clinical conditions after infection with COVID-19 were enrolled in this study. Patients who received a positive COVID-19 PCR test 28 days after the initial positive PCR test were considered as reinfected. Results: A total of 1024 patients with the diagnosis of solid malignancy and COVID-19 PCR positivity were examined. The reinfection rate was 3.1%. Mortality rate of reinfection was 34.3%. The serum ferritin and creatinine values in reinfection were found to be significantly higher than the first infection (respectively; p = 0.015, p = 0.014). Conclusion: This study has demonstrated one of the first preliminary clinical results of COVID-19 reinfection in solid cancer patients.

BackgroundIn non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy is a treatment option in patients without targetable mutations in second and later lines. Nevertheless, there is no validated test that can predict immunotherapy response. Material and MethodsOur study aimed to investigate the effect of radiotherapy (RT) on survival in patients with NSCLC receiving immunotherapy after first-line chemotherapy. Twenty-five patients diagnosed with NSCLC and received immunotherapy after at least one previous chemotherapy line were included in our study. ResultsThe median age of the patients was 61.7 (26.6-81.2) years. 19 (76%) patients were male. 11 (44%) of the patients had received immunotherapy in the second-line and 14 (66%) in ≥3 lines. Patients had received a median of 5 cycles (1-27) of immunotherapy. RT to immunotherapy interval was 6.4 months (1.0-11.8). Partial response was observed in 12 patients, stable disease in 8 patients, progression in 1 patient, and hyperprogression in 4 patients. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.4 months (95% CI; 3.2-5.6), and median overall survival (OS) was 16.4 months (95% CI; 5.6-27.3). 14 (56%) of the patients had received RT. RT was administered to 12 patients before immunotherapy, and two patients received RT to bones during immunotherapy. The patients who received RT had statistically longer PFS (4.9 vs 3.9 months, p=0.012) and OS (18.7 vs 7.3 months, p=0.023) comparing those without RT. Conclusions Our findings showed that RT significantly improved the survival in patients who received immunotherapy, pointing that RT may have an influential role in immunotherapy response.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is an uncommon soft tissue sarcoma that originates from the dermis or subcutaneous tissue in the skin. While its prognosis is generally favorable, disease recurrence is relatively frequent. Because morbidity after repeated surgery may be significant, an optimized prediction of recurrence-free survival (RFS) has the potential to improve current management strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of the Ki-67 proliferation index with respect to RFS in patients with DFSP. We retrospectively analyzed data from 45 patients with DFSP. We calculated the Ki-67 proliferation index as the percentage of immunostained nuclei among the total number of tumor cell nuclei regardless of the intensity of immunostaining. We constructed univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models to identify predictors of RFS. Among the 45 patients included in the study, 8 developed local recurrences and 2 had lung metastases (median follow-up: 95.0 months; range: 5.2−412.4 months). The RFS rates at 60, 120, and 240 months of follow-up were 83.8%, 76.2%, and 65.3%, respectively. The median Ki-67 proliferation index was 14%. Notably, we identified the Ki-67 proliferation index as the only independent predictor for RFS in multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis (hazard ratio = 1.106, 95% confidence interval = 1.019−1.200, p = 0.016). In summary, our results highlight the potential usefulness of the Ki-67 proliferation index for facilitating the identification of patients with DFSP at higher risk of developing disease recurrences.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of body mass index (BMI) on the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in Turkish patients with local and locally advanced breast cancer. Methods: The pathological responses for the breast and axilla were assessed according to the Miller-Payne grading (MPG) system. Tumors were grouped into molecular phenotypes and classified as response rates according to the MPG system after completion of NACT. A 90% or greater reduction in tumor cellularity was considered as good response to treatment. Additionally, patients were grouped according to BMI into <25 (group A) and ≥25 (group B). Results: In total, 647 Turkish women with breast cancer were included in the study. In the univariate analysis, age, menopause status, tumor diameter, stage, histological grade, Ki-67, estrogen receptor (ER) status, progesterone receptor (PR) status, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, and BMI were assessed to determine which of these factors were associated with a ≥90% response rate. Stage, HER2 positivity, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC; ER-negative, PR-negative, and HER2 negative breast cancer), grade, Ki67 levels, and BMI were found to be the statistically significant factors for a ≥90% response rate. In the multivariate analysis, grade III disease, HER2 positivity, and TNBC were found to be the factors associated with a high pathological response. Meanwhile, hormone receptor (HR) positivity and a higher BMI were associated with a decreased pathologic response in patients receiving NACT for breast cancer. Conclusion: Our results show that a high BMI and HR positivity are associated with a poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in Turkish patients with breast cancer. The findings presented in this study may guide novel studies to examine the NACT response in obese patients with and without insulin resistance.