PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Oncotarget: Treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

In CTP class A patients, IGF/CTP score B was associated with shorter PFS and OS

Oncotarget: Treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma
2021-06-28
(Press-News.org) Oncotarget published "Insulin-like growth factor 1/Child-Turcotte-Pugh composite score as a predictor of treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib" which reported that this study investigated the association of the IGF/CTP score with overall survival and progression-free survival of HCC patients treated with sorafenib.

The authors calculated the IGF/CTP score and used the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test to estimate and compare the time-to-event outcomes between patient subgroups.

171 patients were included, 116 of whom were CTP class A. Median PFS for IGF/CTP score AA and AB patients were 6.88 and 4.28 months, respectively.

Median OS for IGF/CTP score AA and AB patients were 14.54 and 7.60 months, respectively.

In CTP class A patients, IGF/CTP score B was associated with shorter PFS and OS, however, study was underpowered to reach statistical significance.

In CTP class A patients, IGF/CTP score B was associated with shorter PFS and OS

Dr. Ahmed O. Kaseb from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center said, "Accurate assessment of the functional hepatic reserve is important to the prognostic and treatment prediction for patients with liver disease."

Several prospective and retrospective studies have confirmed that HCC patients in CTP classes B and C showed worse prognoses and accelerated decline in liver function as compared with CTP A patients.

However, it is known now that the clinical outcomes for patients can vary even within those in the same CTP class, including class A. In addition, subjective variables, ascites and encephalopathy of the CTP scoring system have been considered its major shortcoming because they are difficult to grade, vary daily, and could be affected by symptomatic management.

Subsequently, the authors prospectively validated a revised CTP scoring system by replacing the subjective clinical assessment of ascites and encephalopathy in the CTP score with objectively quantified plasma IGF-1 levels to create new IGF/CTP score classes.

In addition, these results showed that a significant number of patients in the old CTP class A were reassigned as IGF/CTP-B or -C and had significantly poorer survival than did those in IGF/CTP-A, proving the usefulness of the IGF/CTP composite score to refine the CTP scoring system's prognostic accuracy.

Sorafenib, the first drug approved for the treatment of HCC, was approved after randomized, placebo-controlled trials demonstrated that it improved the overall survival of CTP class A patients with advanced HCC; the purpose of our current study was to investigate the usefulness of the IGF/CTP score in predicting overall survival and progression-free survival in CTP class A patients with advanced HCC who were treated with sorafenib.

The Kaseb Research Team concluded in their Oncotarget Research Output, "our results demonstrate that, in CTP class A patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib, the IGF/CTP scoring system provides more accurate associations with survival than the CTP score. This finding should be validated in studies with larger sample sizes. If our results are validated in independent future studies, our approach of computing CTP scores using IGF-1 levels and other laboratory-based parameters that are less subjective than the clinical assessments currently used may lead to a paradigm shift in predicting the efficacy and toxicity of systemic HCC therapies and in stratifying patients in HCC clinical trials. Our approach could also help differentiate between CTP class A patients who may benefit from active therapy and those in whom active therapy should be deferred to avoid unnecessary harm and save health care resources."

INFORMATION:

DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27924

Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27924/text/

Correspondence to - Ahmed O. Kaseb - akaseb@mdanderson.org

Keywords - IGF-1, Child-Pugh, sorafenib, liver reserve, hepatocellular carcinoma

About Oncotarget

Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology.

To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with:

SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/
Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/

Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Oncotarget: Treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Anti-cancer immunotherapy drug with reduced side effects and increased therapeutic effects

Anti-cancer immunotherapy drug with reduced side effects and increased therapeutic effects
2021-06-28
Unlike conventional cancer drugs that attack and kill cancer cells directly, anti-cancer immunotherapy, which kills cancer cells by strengthening the body's immunity, is a novel type of cancer treatment currently attracting increased attention. Unfortunately, a minority of cancer patients who have some degree of pre-existing immunity only benefit from anti-cancer immunotherapy. Recently, 'doxorubicin', a cancer treatment drug, has been shown to boost patients' immune response by releasing various components when cancer cells are killed. However, as the toxicity and inflammatory responses induced by doxorubicin can affect normal cells in addition to cancer cells, it can lower ...

Oncotarget: Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism promotes apoptosis in solid tumor cells

Oncotarget: Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism promotes apoptosis in solid tumor cells
2021-06-28
Oncotarget published "Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism promotes apoptosis in solid tumor cells" which reported that to guide studies in cancer patients, relacorilant, an investigational selective GR modulator that antagonizes cortisol activity, was assessed in various tumor types, with multiple cytotoxic combination partners, and in the presence of physiological cortisol concentrations. In the MIA PaCa-2 cell line, paclitaxel-driven apoptosis was blunted by cortisol and restored by relacorilant. A screen to identify optimal combination partners for relacorilant showed that microtubule-targeted agents consistently ...

Trauma patients with COVID-19 face greater risk of complications and death

2021-06-28
PHILADELPHIA-- In addition to sickening and taking the lives of millions across the globe, COVID-19 complicated patient care in a range of less-direct ways, from increased incidence of END ...

Researchers engineer cells to destroy malignant tumor cells but leave the rest alone

Researchers engineer cells to destroy malignant tumor cells but leave the rest alone
2021-06-28
HAMILTON, ON June 28, 2021 -- Researchers at McMaster University have developed a promising new cancer immunotherapy that uses cancer-killing cells genetically engineered outside the body to find and destroy malignant tumors. The modified "natural killer" cells can differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells that are often intermingled in and around tumors, destroying only the targeted cells. The natural killer cells' ability to distinguish the target cells, even from healthy cells that bear similar markers, brings new promise to this branch of immunotherapy, say ...

Males help keep populations genetically healthy

Males help keep populations genetically healthy
2021-06-27
A few males are enough to fertilise all the females. The number of males therefore has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population. This is shown by a new Uppsala University study providing in-depth knowledge of the possible long-term genetic consequences of sexual selection. The results are published in the scientific journal Evolution Letters. The study supports the theory that in many animal species selection acting on males can impose the fortuitous benefit to the population of causing offspring to inherit healthy genes. Stiff competition among males results ...

Toxicity of protein involved in Alzheimer's triggered by a chemical 'switch'

Toxicity of protein involved in Alzheimers triggered by a chemical switch
2021-06-26
Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that a specific chemical feature of a key protein known as tau may cause it to accumulate in the brain and trigger illnesses like Alzheimer's. They found that disulfide bonds on certain amino acids act to stabilize tau and cause it to accumulate, an effect that got worse with increased oxidative stress. The identification of chemical targets triggering tau accumulation may lead to breakthrough treatments. The tau protein is key to the healthy function of biological cells. It helps form and stabilize microtubules, the thin filaments that crisscross cell interiors to help keep them structurally rigid and provide 'highways' to shuttle molecules between organelles. However, when they ...

Edible Cholera vaccine made of powdered rice proves safe in phase 1 human trials

Edible Cholera vaccine made of powdered rice proves safe in phase 1 human trials
2021-06-26
A new vaccine to protect against deadly cholera has been made by grinding up genetically modified grains of rice. The first human trial has shown no obvious side effects and a good immune response. Researchers based at the University of Tokyo and Chiba University have published the peer-reviewed results of the Phase 1 clinical trial of the vaccine, named MucoRice-CTB, in The Lancet Microbe. Vaccine manufacturing has made enormous strides in 2020, spurred on by COVID-19. However, the complexity of mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines has highlighted the value of inoculations that can be made, transported and stored cheaply and without refrigeration. The MucoRice-CTB vaccine is stable at room temperature from start to finish. "I'm very optimistic for the future of our MucoRice-CTB vaccine, ...

Elephants solve problems with personality

Elephants solve problems with personality
2021-06-26
Just as humans have their own individual personalities, new research in the Journal of Comparative Psychology shows that elephants have personalities, too. Moreover, an elephant's personality may play an important role in how well that elephant can solve novel problems. The article was written by Lisa Barrett and Sarah Benson-Amram in the University of Wyoming's Animal Behavior and Cognition Lab, led by Benson-Amram. It may be viewed here. The authors of the paper tested 15 Asian elephants and three African savanna elephants in three zoos across the country -- the San Diego Zoo, the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park and the Oklahoma City Zoo -- with the help of elephant caretakers. Previous work from Barrett and Benson-Amram demonstrated ...

Differences in human, mouse brain cells have important implications for disease research

Differences in human, mouse brain cells have important implications for disease research
2021-06-26
FINDINGS A UCLA-led study comparing brain cells known as astrocytes in humans and mice found that mouse astrocytes are more resilient to oxidative stress, a damaging imbalance that is a mechanism behind many neurological disorders. A lack of oxygen triggers molecular repair mechanisms in these mouse astrocytes but not in human astrocytes. In contrast, inflammation activates immune-response genes in human astrocytes but not mouse astrocytes. BACKGROUND Although the mouse is a ubiquitous laboratory model used in research for neurological diseases, results from studies in mice are not always applicable to humans. In fact, more than 90% of drug candidates that show preclinical promise for neurological disorders ultimately fail when tested in humans, in part ...

Hydrofracking environmental problems not that different from conventional drilling

Hydrofracking environmental problems not that different from conventional drilling
2021-06-25
Crude oil production and natural gas withdrawals in the United States have lessened the country's dependence on foreign oil and provided financial relief to U.S. consumers, but have also raised longstanding concerns about environmental damage, such as groundwater contamination. A researcher in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences, and a team of scientists from Penn State, have developed a new machine learning technique to holistically assess water quality data in order to detect groundwater samples likely impacted by recent methane leakage during oil and gas production. Using that model, the team concluded that unconventional drilling ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

What are they vaping? Study reveals alarming surge in adolescent vaping of THC, CBD, and synthetic cannabinoids

ECMWF - delivering forecasts over 10 times faster and cutting energy usage by 1000

Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work

Turning social fragmentation into action through discovering relatedness

Cheese may really be giving you nightmares, scientists find

Study reveals most common medical emergencies in schools

Breathable yet protective: Next-gen medical textiles with micro/nano networks

Frequency-engineered MXene supercapacitors enable efficient pulse charging in TENG–SC hybrid systems

Developed an AI-based classification system for facial pigmented lesions

Achieving 20% efficiency in halogen-free organic solar cells via isomeric additive-mediated sequential processing

New book Terraglossia reclaims language, Country and culture

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

[Press-News.org] Oncotarget: Treatment outcomes in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma
In CTP class A patients, IGF/CTP score B was associated with shorter PFS and OS