Rectal cancer, which comprises 30% of all colorectal cancer cases, is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world. Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) are often treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (neoCRT) followed by surgery. However, after neoCRT treatment, approximately one-third of the patients progress to local recurrence or distant metastasis. In these studies, we found that patients with tumors that exhibited cytosolic HMGB1(Cyto-HMGB1) translocation and/or the presence of PD-1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) before treatment had a better clinical outcome. The better outcome is likely due to the release of HMGB1, which triggers the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) via TLR4 activation, and the subsequent recruitment of PD-1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to the tumor site, where they participate in immune-scavenging. In conclusion, our results provide evidence that cyto-HMGB1 and/or PD-1+TIL are not only predictive biomarkers before treatment, but they can also potentially designate patients for personalized oncological management including immunotherapy.

A 36-year-old woman was diagnosed with a therapy-refractory cutaneous CD4+ T-cell lymphoma, T3N0M0B0, and stage IIB. Helical irradiation of the total skin (HITS) and dose painting techniques, with 30 Gy in 40 fractions interrupted at 20 fractions with one week resting, 4 times per week were prescribed. The diving suit was dressed whole body to increase the superficial dose and using central core complete block (CCCB) technique for reducing the internal organ dose. The mean doses of critical organs of head, chest, and abdomen were 2.1 to 29.9 Gy, 2.9 to 8.1 Gy, and 3.6 to 15.7 Gy, respectively. The mean dose of lesions was 84.0 cGy. The dosage of left side pretreated area was decreased 57%. The tumor regressed progressively without further noduloplaques. During the HITS procedure, most toxicity was grade I except leukocytopenia with grade 3. No epitheliolysis, phlyctenules, tumor lysis syndrome, fever, vomiting, dyspnea, edema of the extremities, or diarrhea occurred during the treatment. HITS with dose painting techniques provides precise dosage delivery with impressive results, sparing critical organs, and offering limited transient and chronic sequelae for previously locally irradiated, therapy-refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

No abstract

Purpose. Limited-tomotherapy and hybrid-IMRT treatment techniques were compared for reductions in ipsilateral and contralateral lung, heart, and contralateral breast radiation doses. Methods and Materials. Thirty consecutively treated left-sided early-stage breast cancer patients were scheduled for lTomo and hIMRT. For the hIMRT plan conventional tangential-field and four-field IMRT plans were combined with different weightings in the prescribed dose. For the lTomo plan a geometrically limited arc was designed for the beamlet entrance. A D p of 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions was used for the PTV. The dose coverage, homogeneity index, conformity index of the target, and the dose volumes of critical structures were compared. Results. Both modalities presented similar target coverage. The homogeneity and conformity were improved for lTomo with P < 0.001 and P = 0.006, respectively. In the lTomo plan a concave dose distribution was generated with significant dose reductions in both high and low dose regions for ipsilateral lung and heart (P < 0.001). Conclusions. lTomo plan can have similar dose coverage and better homogeneity and conformity to the target. By properly designing the directionally and completely blocked structure, lTomo plan was developed successfully in reducing doses to the healthy tissues for early-stage left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy.