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Host-Related Prognostic Factors in Gastrointestinal Malignancies: From Genetics to Phenomics

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Cancer Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 867

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Surgery, Teikyo Chiba Medical Center, 3426-3 Anesaki, Chiba 299-0111, Japan
Interests: esophagogastric cancer; surgical oncology; nutritional oncology; diagnostic imaging

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Guest Editor
Division of Esophago-Gastrointestinal Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Nitona-cho, Chiba 260-8717, Japan
Interests: surgical treatment of esophageal and gastric cancers; nutrition; infectious diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the era of personalized medicine, optimizing treatment outcomes for gastrointestinal malignancies requires a comprehensive assessment of not only tumor biology but also host-related factors.

Patient prognosis and treatment tolerance are deeply interconnected with individual characteristics, ranging from genetic background to phenotypic presentation.

This Special Issue aims to elucidate the clinical significance of these diverse host factors. We focus on the continuum of patient assessment: from genetic polymorphisms (e.g., drug-metabolizing enzymes like UGT1A1, DPYD, and MTHFR) that influence chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity, to phenotypic expressions such as host status defined by clinical examinations (e.g., body composition, sarcopenia, and cancer cachexia).

We welcome original clinical research and review articles addressing topics including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Pharmacogenetics: Impact of germline variations on drug metabolism, adverse events, and survival.

(2) Body Composition Assessment: Clinical implications of sarcopenia, myosteatosis, and visceral adiposity evaluated by clinical modalities.

(3) Nutritional Oncology: Assessment of malnutrition, cachexia, and nutritional interventions.

(4) Systemic Inflammation: Host immune-inflammatory responses as prognostic markers.

(5) Therapeutic Management: Strategies to optimize host status for better chemotherapy tolerance and surgical outcomes.

By integrating findings from genetics to phenomics, this issue seeks to establish new standards for patient-centered management in GI cancers.

Dr. Kiyohiko Shuto
Dr. Yoshihiro Nabeya
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pharmacogenetics
  • body composition assessment
  • nutritional oncology
  • systemic inflammation
  • therapeutic management

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 619 KB  
Article
Safety and Efficacy of FOLFIRI-3 (Split-Dose Irinotecan) for Unresectable Colorectal Cancer: A Stratified Analysis Based on UGT1A1 Gene Polymorphisms
by Gaku Ohira, Hideaki Miyauchi, Toru Tochigi, Tetsuro Maruyama, Koichiro Okada, Atsushi Hirata, Yuko Ikeda, Koichi Hayano, Michihiro Maruyama, Takayuki Ishige, Kazuyuki Matsushita and Kiyohiko Shuto
Cancers 2026, 18(9), 1377; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers18091377 - 26 Apr 2026
Viewed by 645
Abstract
Purpose: UGT1A1 gene polymorphisms are established risk factors for irinotecan (CPT-11)-induced toxicity. The FOLFIRI-3 regimen, incorporating split-dose CPT-11 administration on Days 1 and 3, was developed to improve safety and efficacy. This study evaluated the clinical outcomes of FOLFIRI-3 stratified by UGT1A1 [...] Read more.
Purpose: UGT1A1 gene polymorphisms are established risk factors for irinotecan (CPT-11)-induced toxicity. The FOLFIRI-3 regimen, incorporating split-dose CPT-11 administration on Days 1 and 3, was developed to improve safety and efficacy. This study evaluated the clinical outcomes of FOLFIRI-3 stratified by UGT1A1 genotype. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 147 patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with first-line FOLFIRI-3 between 2005 and 2020 who underwent UGT1A1 genotyping for *6 and *28 variants. During this period, FOLFIRI-3 was adopted as the standard first-line regimen for all eligible patients at our institution to standardize toxicity management. Patients were classified into three groups: Wild-type (negative for both variants; n = 82), Single-heterozygous (SH; n = 56), and Homo/Compound heterozygous (HCH; n = 8) group. Results: The HCH group maintained a relative dose intensity (RDI) of 57.7% with manageable toxicity. While time to treatment discontinuation (TTD) did not differ significantly among groups, overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the SH group compared to the Wild-type group (Median Survival Time: 30.4 vs. 21.7 months, p = 0.0058). Conclusions: For high-risk HCH patients, our findings regarding the tolerability of FOLFIRI-3 are strictly preliminary due to the small sample size and require further validation in larger, multi-institutional cohorts. Despite this limitation, this regimen serves as a valuable alternative for high-risk patients and provides superior survival benefits for single heterozygotes, likely due to optimized pharmacokinetics. Full article
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