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Renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer and the 8th most common cancer overall in the US. RCC survival rates drop precipitously with regional and distant spread and recent studies have demonstrated that RCC presents an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype linked to increased recurrence and decreased survival. EMT is a key characteristic of tumor stem cells (TSCs) along with chemo-resistance and radio-resistance, which are also phenotypic of RCC. Targeting these factors is key to increasing the survival of RCC patients. Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) marks TSCs in pancreatic and colorectal cancer and regulates EMT and stemness. Analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas' RCC dataset revealed that DCLK1 is overexpressed and dysregulated on the mRNA and epigenetic level in more than 93% of RCC tumors relative to adjacent normal tissue. Immunohistochemistry using α-DCLK1 antibody confirmed overexpression and demonstrated a major increase in immunoreactivity in stage II-III tumors compared to normal kidney and stage I tumors. Small-interfering RNA (siRNA) mediated knockdown of DCLK1 resulted in decreased expression of EMT and pluripotency factors and significantly reduced invasion, migration, focal adhesion, drug-resistance, and clonogenic capacity. These findings suggest that DCLK1 is a novel, overexpressed factor in RCC progression that may be targeted to suppress EMT, metastasis, and stemness in early-stage and advanced RCC to increase patient survival. Moreover, the possibility that DCLK1 may mark a population of tumor stem-like cells in RCC should be further investigated in light of these findings.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the acute toxicity of postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with and without chemotherapy in patients with endometrial cancer., Materials and Methods: A total of 19 patients with stages IB-IVB endometrial cancer who underwent surgery and postoperative IMRT were reviewed. The treatment planning goal was to cover the tissue at risk and minimize the dose to the bladder, bowel, and bone marrow. Median dose was 50.4 Gy (range 49.6-51.2 Gy). Altogether, 14 patients underwent chemotherapy; most were given carboplatin and paclitaxel. Toxicity was scored according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0 (CTCAE)., Results: The prescribed radiation treatment was completed in all patients. The prescribed cycles of chemotherapy were completed in all 14 patients, except one who received five of six cycles limited by prolonged thrombocytopenia. Chemotherapy was delayed in two patients (14%). Three patients required growth factor support during chemotherapy, and one patient required a blood transfusion. Acute grades 3-4 hematological toxicity occurred in 9 of the 14 patients (64%) who underwent chemotherapy. None experienced acute grade 3 or 4 genitourinary or gastrointestinal toxicity., Conclusion: Adjuvant IMRT and chemotherapy following surgery in patients with endometrial cancer is well tolerated and did not lead to treatment modification in most patients.

Purpose: As a foundation for a dose escalation trial, we sought to characterize duodenal and non-duodenal small bowel organ motion between fractions of pancreatic radiation therapy., Patients and Methods: Nine patients (4 women, 5 men) undergoing radiation therapy were enrolled in this prospective study. The patients had up to four weekly CT scans performed during their course of radiation therapy. Pancreas, duodenum and non-duodenal small bowel were then contoured for each CT scan. On the initial scan, a four-field plan was generated to fully cover the pancreas. This plan was registered to each subsequent CT scan. Dose-volume histogram (DVH) analyses were performed for the duodenum, non-duodenal small bowel, large bowel, and pancreas., Results: With significant individual variation, the volume of duodenum receiving at least 80% of the prescribed dose was consistently greater than the remaining small bowel. In the patient with the largest inter-fraction variation, the fractional volume of non-duodenal small bowel irradiated to at least the 80% isodose line ranged from 1% to 20%. In the patient with the largest inter-fraction variation, the fractional volume of duodenum irradiated to at least the 80% isodose line ranged from 30% to 100%., Conclusion: The volume of small bowel irradiated during four-field pancreatic radiation therapy changes substantially between fractions. This suggests dose escalation may be possible. However, dose limits to the duodenum should be stricter than for other segments of small bowel.

Purpose: Cancer patients with concurrent comorbid conditions have worse outcomes than patients with no comorbidities. We hypothesized that the prognostic impact of comorbidities would be greatest for patients with cancers associated with a long natural history and least in patients with aggressive cancers., Patients and Methods: Using the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Oncology Data Services cancer registry, we grouped 11,558 patients with breast, lung, colon, or prostate cancer by morphologic stage at diagnosis and then determined the 1-year overall survival rate for each group. Overall, severity of comorbidity was assessed from chart review and classified into one of four groups: none, mild, moderate, or severe. The relative prognostic impact of comorbidity was measured by the hazard ratio and adjusted for the prognostic impact of age, race, and sex., Results: One-year overall survival rate ranged from 20% for 1,005 patients with distant spread of lung cancer to 98% for 3,325 patients with localized prostate cancer. Adjusted hazard ratio of moderate/severe comorbidity (relative to none/mild) ranged from 1.04 to 4.48. The correlation between overall survival rate and severity of comorbidity was statistically significant (r2 = 0.56; P < .001). The proportion of variance in outcome explained by comorbidity ranged from less than 1% to almost 9%, depending on tumor site and stage., Conclusion: Concurrent comorbidities had the greatest prognostic impact among groups with the highest survival rate and the least impact in groups with the lowest survival rate. These findings can be used to help determine the role comorbidity information should play in studies of cancer outcomes., (Copyright 2004 American Society of Clinical Onocology)

Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma of the lung (BAC) is a subtype of adenocarcinoma of the lung. Although traditionally grouped with other non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC), BAC has unique morphological features and clinical behavior such as bilateral lung involvement, indolent course and lack of association with smoking. Some epidemiologic studies report a significant increase in the incidence of BAC. We used the SEER database to compare the incidence, demographics, and overall survival of BAC patients as compared to other NSCLC types over the past two decades (1979-1998). Although the incidence of BAC has increased over the past two decades, BAC represents less than 4% of all NSCLC in every time period evaluated. The 1 year survival rate is significantly better for BAC patients relative to other histological subtypes of NSCLC. There has not been a marked increase in the incidence of BAC reported to SEER over the past 20 years.

Context: Patients with cancer often have other medical ailments, referred to as comorbidity. Comorbidity may impact treatment decision-making, prognosis, and quality of care assessment., Objective: To assess whether comorbidity information can provide important prognostic information in a hospital-based cancer registry., Design, Setting, and Participants: An observational prospective cohort study using comorbidity data collected by trained hospital-based cancer registrars. Comorbidity was obtained through medical record review using the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation 27, a validated chart-based comorbidity instrument. A total of 17,712 patients receiving care between January 1, 1995, and January 31, 2001, for the primary diagnosis of new cancer of the prostate, lung (nonsmall cell), breast, digestive system, gynecological, urinary system, or head and neck were included., Main Outcome Measure: Duration in months of overall survival., Results: A total of 19,268 patients were included in the study; median duration of follow-up was 31 months. Of these patients, 1556 (8.0%) were excluded due to missing or unknown data. Severity of comorbidity strongly influenced survival in a dose-dependent fashion and the impact of comorbidity was independent of cancer stage. Compared with patients without comorbidity, the adjusted hazard ratio associated with mild comorbidity was 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.30), moderate comorbidity was 1.86 (95% CI, 1.73-2.00), and severe comorbidity was 2.56 (95% CI, 2.35-2.81). Adjusted Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that at any point in time the patients with more severe levels of comorbidity had worse survival (partial chi2(3) due to comorbidity, 523.54; P<.001). Model discrimination ranged from 0.71 for head and neck to 0.86 for prostate cancers., Conclusions: Comorbidity is an important independent prognostic factor for patients with cancer. The inclusion of comorbidity in hospital-based cancer registries will increase the value and use of observational research.

Hospices were founded to alleviate suffering at the end of life. Quality improvement in hospices should, therefore, target patients' subjective assessments of their care and its outcomes. However, little is known about the relationships among subjective measures of care among hospice patients. The aim was to assess the relationships between hospice patients' physical and psychological symptoms, quality of life, and satisfaction with inpatient care. This was achieved with a prospective cohort study of 42 patients admitted to an Australian hospice's inpatient service during a two-month study period. The Edmonton symptom assessment system, McGill quality of life questionnaire, and a new measure of patients satisfaction with hospice inpatient care were used. It was shown that while there were marked variations in symptoms and quality of life scores, most patients were satisfied with their care. Satisfaction on the day after admission was lower among patients with worse quality of life scores (r = -0.40, P = 0.008), but there was no correlation with symptoms (r = -0.12, P = 0.43). Among the 26 patients (62%) with at least one subsequent inpatient interview, satisfaction was correlated with both worse quality of life (r = -0.51, P = 0.01) and symptoms (r = -0.41, P = 0.05). The symptom, quality of life, and satisfaction scales all had sufficient precision to identify patients with significant changes between the two interviews. It can be concluded that satisfaction with hospice care was associated with quality of life more than symptoms, although symptoms became important later during inpatient stays. Patients can assess their care and can provide valuable information for improving palliative care.