Current Oncology

Background: There exists an unmet clinical need to define definitive management strategies for patients with locally advanced non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC), particularly if not amenable to surgical resection. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a case series of locally advanced unresectable NMSC treated with induction systemic treatment followed by response-adapted consolidative radiation. Results: We identified 15 patients who met study criteria, including seven with basal cell carcinoma (BCC), six with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), and two with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). Clinical complete response (CR) by physical examination was observed in all 15 patients. No locoregional or distant recurrences were observed in any histologic subtype after completion of radiation (median follow-up from completion of radiation: 18.1 months BCC, 22.5 months CSCC, 22.7 months MCC). The median duration of observed response (DOOR), measured from first clinical response was 26.9 months (26.2 BCC, 29.4 CSCC, 27.1 MCC). Radiation treatment volumes were response-adapted with median gross tumor volume reduction of 55.3% (15.3%–100%). Median treatment-free response was 20.5 months. No unexpected systemic therapy related toxicities were identified. Conclusions: In this single-institution retrospective case series, induction systemic therapy followed by response-adapted consolidative radiation was feasible and associated with durable disease control in selected patients with locally advanced unresectable NMSC.

Endometrial cancer (EC) is a heterogeneous malignancy characterized by diverse molecular and clinicopathological features. This study investigated somatic mutations in three hotspot-region genes commonly implicated in EC pathogenesis (KRAS, TP53, PTEN) and their associations with clinical characteristics and biomarkers, rather than comprehensive genomic profiling. Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to analyze hotspot regions of KRAS (exons 2 and 4), TP53 (exons 4 and 7), and PTEN (exon 2), while mutation parameters, including mutant allele frequency (MAF), allelic depth, and variant frequency, were assessed alongside clinicopathological data. Pathogenic KRAS missense mutations (p.G12D and p.A146V), TP53 missense (p.G245C) and stop-gain (p.W91*) variants, and a pathogenic PTEN mutation (p.D52Y) were identified, with MAF values ranging from 36.2% to 77.1%. One patient also exhibited microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) status. Serum CA125 concentrations were significantly higher in serous carcinoma than in endometrioid carcinoma and non-malignant cases, suggesting potential prognostic rather than diagnostic value. This suggests an association between CA125 levels and histological subtype rather than diagnostic or prognostic value, as this study did not evaluate survival, recurrence, or longitudinal outcomes. The detected mutations highlight disruptions in estrogen signaling, DNA damage response, and PI3K/AKT pathway regulation, illustrating the diversity of alterations detectable within these three hotspot regions in EC. These findings provide insight into the mutational status of KRAS, TP53, and PTEN hotspot regions in endometrial cancer and support the potential use of identified genetic alterations as biomarkers for precision medicine and targeted therapeutic strategies, while indicating that CA125’s clinical utility in EC, whether diagnostic or prognostic, remains to be established through outcome-based studies. This also reinforces CA125’s limited diagnostic but possible prognostic role in EC management.

Objective: This study mainly focused on evaluating the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting beads bronchial arterial chemoembolization (DEB-BACE) in treating advanced refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, with an exploratory investigation of whether combining DEB-BACE with anlotinib could bring additional benefits and identification of key prognostic factors. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 104 eligible patients, including 64 who received DEB-BACE monotherapy and 40 who received DEB-BACE combined with anlotinib. Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazard model were used for survival and prognostic analyses. Primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and adverse events (AEs). Results: The entire cohort had a median PFS of 13.9 months and median OS of 17.0 months, suggesting a potential survival benefit of DEB-BACE in advanced NSCLC. As an exploratory analysis, the combination group showed numerical advantages in PFS (13.9 vs. 10.6 months), OS (20.3 vs. 14.0 months), and ORR, without significant differences (all p > 0.05). ECOG 2 was an independent poor prognostic factor for PFS (HR = 2.602, p = 0.020) and tended to affect OS (HR = 2.259, p = 0.050). No grade 4 AEs or treatment-related deaths occurred; the 5.8% grade 3 AEs were all manageable. Conclusions: DEB-BACE may be effective and safe as a treatment option for advanced NSCLC patients, although prospective controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings. The combination of DEB-BACE with anlotinib, as an exploratory strategy, shows numerical benefits but no significant superiority.