Latest Research
All publications from the Cancer3.AI database, newest first.
Oral etoposide as a single agent in childhood and young adult cancer in England: Still a poorly evaluated palliative treatment.
Fraser J, et al
Researchers conducted a national study examining the use of oral etoposide as a single-agent palliative treatment in children and young adults (under 25 years) diagnosed with cancer in England between 1995 and 2017, using population-level data from the national Systemic AntiCancer Dataset. A total of 115 patients were identified, with a mean age of 15.5 years at the time of treatment, and overall survival was analyzed across different tumor types. The median overall survival from the start of etoposide treatment was just 5.5 months, with outcomes varying significantly by tumor type — from 3.6 months in osteosarcoma to 15.5 months in CNS embryonal tumors — and only 13 patients survived beyond two years. Despite oral etoposide having been used in pediatric oncology for decades, this largest-ever real-world series found no robust evidence that the drug provides a clear survival benefit. The findings highlight a significant gap in evidence-based palliative care for young cancer patients and call for better clinical evaluation of this widely used treatment.
Pediatric blood & cancer
Source →PAX6 is frequently expressed in ependymal tumours and associated with prognostic relevant subgroups.
Tabasaran J, et al
Researchers investigated the expression of the PAX6 transcription factor protein in ependymal brain and spinal cord tumors, a group of cancers whose behavior varies significantly depending on tumor location and molecular characteristics. Using immunohistochemistry, the team analyzed 172 ependymoma tissue samples and correlated PAX6 protein levels with tumor grade, anatomical location, and molecular subgroups. The study found that PAX6 is broadly expressed across ependymoma subtypes, with notably higher levels in anaplastic (aggressive) tumors and spinal cord tumors compared to supratentorial (brain) tumors, and higher expression in YAP1-fusion positive tumors compared to RELA-fusion positive tumors. Crucially, in both RELA-fusion positive ependymomas and posterior fossa group B tumors, patients whose tumors expressed PAX6 at or above a threshold of 19.45% had significantly better survival outcomes. These findings suggest that routine immunohistochemical testing for PAX6 could help clinicians better classify ependymomas into prognostically relevant subgroups and guide treatment decisions.
Journal of clinical pathology
Source →Male Breast Cancer-Immunohistochemical Patterns and Clinical Relevance of FASN, ATF3, and Collagen IV.
André S, et al
A new study published in Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research examined male breast cancer, a rare and poorly understood disease that currently lacks tailored diagnostic or treatment strategies. Researchers analyzed tumor tissue from 40 male breast cancer patients using immunohistochemistry to assess a panel of 12 biomarkers, including fatty acid synthase (FASN), activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), collagen IV, and several integrins. The study found that homogeneous staining patterns of p16, ATF3, β6 integrin, FASN, and fatty acid transport protein 1 were significantly intercorrelated and linked to high tumor cell proliferation, suggesting these markers may reflect shared biological pathways driving tumor aggressiveness. Crucially, survival analysis revealed that FASN expression was significantly associated with both disease-free survival and overall survival, ATF3 with overall survival, and collagen IV with disease-free survival. These findings identify FASN, ATF3, and collagen IV as promising prognostic biomarkers that could help clinicians better stratify male breast cancer patients and guide the development of more targeted combination therapies.
Breast cancer : basic and clinical research
Source →Molecular Diagnostics of Adult Gliomas in Neuropathological Practice.
Brandner S
A new review published in Acta Medica Academica examines how modern molecular diagnostics are transforming the classification and treatment planning of adult brain tumors known as gliomas. The review highlights key genetic biomarkers that have reshaped neuropathology over the past decade, including mutations in the IDH1 and IDH2 genes found in astrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas, histone H3 K27M mutations in midline gliomas, and BRAF mutations in various low- and high-grade tumors. Additional important markers include TERT promoter mutations, ATRX gene alterations, 1p/19q codeletion, EGFR amplification, and specific chromosomal gains and losses that help distinguish tumor types and predict patient outcomes. The review also underscores the growing role of DNA methylation profiling, a technology that analyzes chemical modifications across the genome to classify tumors more precisely, particularly when tissue samples are small or histological findings are ambiguous. This integrated diagnostic approach combining traditional pathology with advanced molecular techniques is now considered essential for accurate risk stratification of gliomas and related brain tumors such as ependymomas, medulloblastomas, and meningiomas. For patients, these advances mean more accurate diagnoses and better-tailored treatment strategies, while for clinicians they provide a clearer roadmap for navigating complex brain tumor cases.
Acta medica academica
Source →Trends in paediatric central nervous system tumour incidence by global region from 1988 to 2012.
Williams LA, et al
A large international study examined trends in brain and spinal cord (central nervous system, CNS) tumour incidence among children and adolescents aged 0–19 years across multiple global regions from 1988 to 2012, using data from the Cancer in Five Continents registry covering 56,468 cases. Researchers found that astrocytic tumours had the highest incidence rates globally, while medulloblastoma was the only tumour type consistently more common in males across regions, with boys affected 1.4 to 2.2 times more often than girls. Over the study period, incidence of astrocytic tumours declined slightly worldwide, whereas rates of medulloblastoma, ependymal tumours, glioma of uncertain origin, and other embryonal tumours all increased significantly. Improvements in a country's Human Development Index over time did not appear to explain these rising trends, suggesting that better detection alone is not the full answer. These findings highlight substantial regional variation in childhood CNS tumour patterns and underscore the urgent need for epidemiological and molecular research to understand what is driving these changes, with direct implications for public health planning and clinical resource allocation worldwide.
International journal of epidemiology
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