Objective To evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in cancer patients. Material and method 364 cancer patients who received two doses of vaccine were enrolled. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 anti-Spike protein IgG and neutralizing antibody 2 months following vaccination were measured by ELIZA. Results Injection site pain and fever were the most common local and systemic side effects. The overall seroconversion rate was 86.9% that was lower in older age, those with hematological malignancies and chemotherapy receivers. Conclusion The result of study confirmed the safety and short-term efficacy of inactivated vaccine in patients with malignancies.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic imposes serious problems to health systems around the world and its rapid expansion makes it difficult to serve patients with certain health conditions such as cancer patients which might be at high risk for mortality if they are infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.Aim: To compare the outcomes of cancer patients admitted due to COVID-19 and compare them with data of COVID-19 infected patients without a history of cancer.Methods: In this case-controlled study, 93 healthy people and 92 patients with malignancy admitted for COVID-19 were enrolled. The clinical features and laboratory indicators were assessed at the presentation and both groups were followed-up for treatment options and outcomes prospectively and compared at the level of P ≤ .05.Results: COVID-19 related mortality rate in malignant patients was significantly higher than patients without malignancy (41.3% vs 17.2%, P = .0001). The risk of death increased significantly in patients with malignancy (OR = 8.4, P = .007) and mechanical ventilation (OR = 3.3, P = .034) independent of other variables. Fever (64.5% vs 43.5%, P = .004), chill (35.5% vs 14.1%, P = .001), malaise (49.5% and 30.4%, P = .008), dry cough (51.6% vs 26.1%, P = .0001), and vomiting (17.2% vs 5.4%, P = .012) were reported significantly lower in cancer patients. Conclusion:The results suggest that cancer patients who were infected by COVID-19 may present with atypical symptoms are at higher risk of mortality independent of the demographic data, comorbidities, and treatments.

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is among the mostly administrated chemotherapeutic agents for a wide variety of neoplasms. Non-coding RNAs have a central impact on the determination of the response of patients to 5-FU. These transcripts via modulation of cancer-related pathways, cell apoptosis, autophagy, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and other aspects of cell behavior can affect cell response to 5-FU. Modulation of expression levels of microRNAs or long non-coding RNAs may be a suitable approach to sensitize tumor cells to 5-FU treatment via modulating multiple biological signaling pathways such as Hippo/YAP, Wnt/β-catenin, Hedgehog, NF-kB, and Notch cascades. Moreover, there is an increasing interest in targeting these transcripts in various kinds of cancers that are treated by 5-FU. In the present article, we provide a review of the function of non-coding transcripts in the modulation of response of neoplastic cells to 5-FU.

Background: There is a global concern for the susceptibility of patients with cancer to the adverse effects of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Objectives: Nevertheless, there is a signal of potentially increased vulnerability of patients with cancer to more COVID-19-induced mortality, this notion needs to be further evaluated in various societies with different cancer epidemiology and practice. Methods: In this case-control study, done in Iran, we evaluated the medical records of patients with cancer (Ca+ patients) who infected with COVID-19 and compare them with patients without a medical history of cancer (Ca- patients). Clinical data were collected from 19 February 2020 to 17 May 2020. The extracted data were classified into demographics, underlying medical conditions, clinical manifestations, imaging and laboratory findings, and clinical outcomes. Results: A total of 24 Ca+ patients were compared with 44 Ca- patients in terms of clinical manifestations and outcomes of COVID-19. The Ca- patients significantly developed more dry cough (75.0% vs 29.2%, P = 0.01) and fever (72.7% vs 45.8%, P = 0.02). Findings of the chest CT scan was comparable between groups, except for pleural effusion and lymphadenopathy that exclusively reported in Ca+ patients. (3% and 4%, respectively). At the end of observation, 13 (19.1%) patients died from COVID-19. This rate was significantly higher in Ca+ patients (41.7 vs 6.8%, P = 001). Likewise, Ca+ patients experienced more mechanical ventilation (25.0 vs 4.7%, P = 0.01). However, the rate of ICU admission was comparable between groups (P = 0.29). Conclusions: The patients with cancer had a higher rate of mechanical ventilation and COVID-19-induced mortality.

The Wnt/β‐catenin pathway is an important, dysregulated pathway in several tumor types, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Although the activation of this pathway is an important component of normal development, its aberrant activation resulting from activating or inactivating mutations in the CTNNB1 gene locus, or in the negative regulators AXIN and APC involving stabilization of β‐catenin, and activation of target genes leads to a more aggressive phenotype, suggesting its potential value as a therapeutic target in the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. A number of small molecule and biologic agents have now been developed for targeting this pathway. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the therapeutic potential of targeting the Wnt pathway with particular emphasis on preclinical/clinical studies in the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.