c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) has not been extensively studied in malignant pleural mesothelioma

No difference was seen in palliation of dysphagia between the two stents. Significantly more complications, especially late stent migration, were observed in the Polyflex group.

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Purpose: High levels of serum-soluble mesothelin family proteins (SMRP) have been found to be associated with malignant mesothelioma (MM), but not lung cancer (LC).To verify the clinical role of this marker for both these tumors, we tested serum SMRP in the largest population of thoracic cancers ever assembled. Experimental Design: SMRP blood concentrations were measured in 107 patients with MM, 215 patients with LC, 130 patients with benign respiratory diseases (BRD), and 262 controls. Statistical comparison between mean serum SMRP levels in all groups was done and receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to evaluate the performance of this marker. Results: SMRP levels were significantly higher in patients with MM and LC than in patients with benign respiratory diseases and controls (P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for serum SMRP discriminating MM and controls was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.83), with a best cutoff of 1.00 nmol/L (sensitivity, 68.2%; specificity, 80.5%). In both MM and LC, serum SMRP levels did not differ significantly between early and late stages. High SMRP levels proved to be an independent negative prognostic factor in patients with MM. Conclusions: Our data confirm that serum SMRP is a promising marker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical monitoring of MM.We found that serum SMRP dosage may prove helpful in LC diagnosis as well.These data may also have positive repercussions on secondary preventive medical strategies for workers previously exposed to asbestos.

Background CEA, CYFRA21-1 and NSE are tumor markers used for monitoring the response to chemotherapy in advanced adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and small-cell lung cancer, respectively. Their role in cancer immunotherapy needs to be elucidated. Methods Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were treated with nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks within the Italian Nivolumab Expanded Access Program. Blood samples were collected at baseline, at each cycle up to cycle 5 and then every two cycles until patient’s withdrawn from the study. All patients underwent a CT-scan after every 4 cycles of treatment and responses were classified according to RECIST 1.1. The biomarkers serum levels were measured with a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay for CEA and with an immuno radiometric assay for CYFRA21-1 and NSE. The markers values at baseline and after 4 cycles were used to analyze the relationship between their variation over baseline and the tumor response, evaluated as disease control rate (DCR: CR + PR + SD), and survival (PFS and OS). Results A total of 70 patients were evaluable for the analysis. Overall, a disease control was obtained in 24 patients (35.8%, 4 PR + 20 SD). After 4 cycles of nivolumab a CEA or CYFRA21-1 reduction ≥ 20% over the baseline was significantly associated with DCR (CEA, p = 0.021; CYFRA21-1, p < 0.001), PFS (CEA, p = 0.028; CYFRA21-1, p < 0.001) and OS (CEA, p = 0.026; CYFRA21-1, p = 0.019). Multivariate analysis confirmed the ability of CYFRA21-1 reduction ≥ 20% to predict DCR (p = 0.002) and PFS (p < 0.001). Conclusion The reduction in serum level of CYFRA21-1 or CEA might be a reliable biomarker to predict immunotherapy efficacy in NSCLC patients. NSE was not significant for monitoring the efficacy of nivolumab.

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is an acquired disorder due to chronic gastroesophageal reflux. Environmental factors seem to play an important role in the pathogenesis of BE, especially in Western society. A multicenter case-control study was carried out between February 1995 and April 1999 in 8 Italian Departments of Gastroenterology gathered in a study group (GOSPE), in order to analyze the influence of some individual characteristics and life-style habits on the occurrence of BE. Three groups of patients were studied: 149 patients with BE, 143 patients with esophagitis (E) and 308 hospital controls (C) with acute, non-neoplastic, non-gastroenterological conditions. The diagnosis of BE was based on endoscopy and histology. E was defined by the Savary classification (grade I-III). Data collection was performed by using a questionnaire that focused on smoking, coffee and alcohol consumption, medical history, drugs history, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms (heartburn, regurgitation) and socio-economic status. Multivariate analysis showed that the frequency of weekly GERD symptoms was significantly associated with both BE and E (p<0.0001), such as the presence of hiatal hernia (p<0.001). Ulcer was significantly associated with BE (p‫.)100.0؍‬ Among patients with E, the risk was directly related to spirits consumption (p‫.)30.0؍‬ Patients with GERD symptoms that lasted more than 13 years were more likely to have BE than E (p‫.)10.0؍‬ In conclusion, results from our study point out that long-standing GERD symptoms, hiatal hernia and possibly alcohol consumption are risk factors in the development of the BE and E.

Objectives: The body adiposity index (BAI) is a proposed alternative to the body mass index (BMI) that has shown good cross‐sectional agreement with percent body fat (%BF) in validation studies. The objective of this study was to examine the ability of BAI to track adiposity change over time in a biracial sample of midlife women. Methods: African‐American (n = 159) and Caucasian (n = 206) women, aged 42–60 years, at the Chicago site of the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation were followed from 2002 to 2008. BAI and BMI were calculated from measurements taken at annual assessments. %BF was quantified using whole‐body dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. Difference scores (BAIΔ, BMIΔ, and %BFΔ) quantified adiposity change over a mean of 1.6 (SD = 0.7) years. Lin's concordance correlation (ρc) and Bland–Altman limits‐of‐agreement assessed agreement between BAI and %BF. Results: In examining adiposity change, BAIΔ showed poor agreement with %BFΔ in the overall sample (ρc = 0.41), African‐American women (ρc = 0.36), and Caucasian women (ρc = 0.43). BAIΔ estimated %BFΔ with minimal bias (+0.4%) but low precision (±6.3%BF limits‐of‐agreement). %BFΔ had weaker correlations with BAIΔ (rs = 0.38–0.48) than with BMIΔ (rs = 0.48–0.59). BAI and BMI showed similar cross‐sectional associations with %BF in the overall sample and within each race (rs > 0.74). Conclusions: We conclude that BAI is less accurate than BMI in tracking adiposity change in midlife women, and would not be a suitable replacement for BMI in most research applications involving adiposity change. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The incidence of AC in BE is low, confirming recent data from the literature reporting an overestimation of cancer risk in these patients. In our patient cohort, surveillance involved a large expenditure of effort but did not prevent any cancer deaths. The benefit of surveillance remains uncertain.