Purpose To present pilot toxicity and survival outcomes for a prospective trial investigating adaptive radiotherapy (ART) for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Twenty-four patients enrolled onto an IRB-approved clinical trial. Twenty-two patients were analyzed. Daily CT-guided setup and deformable image registration permitted serial mapping of CTVs and avoidance structures for ART planning. Primary site was base of tongue in 15 patients, tonsil in 6, and glossopharyngeal sulcus in 1. Twenty (91%) patients had AJCC stage IV disease. T stage distribution was 2 T1, 12 T2, 3 T3, 5 T4 and N stage distribution was 1 N0, 2 N1, 5 N2a, 12 N2b, and 2 N2c. Twenty-one (95%) patients received systemic therapy. Results With 31 month median follow up (range: 13-45), there has been no primary site failure and 1 nodal relapse, yielding 100% local and 95% regional disease control at 2 years. Baseline tumor size correlated with absolute volumetric treatment response (p = 0.018). Parotid volumetric change correlated with duration of feeding tube placement (p = 0.025). Acute toxicity was comparable to conventional IMRT results. Chronic toxicity and functional outcomes beyond 1 year were tabulated. Discussion This is the first prospective evaluation of morbidity and survival outcomes in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer treated with automated adaptive replanning. ART can provide dosimetric benefit with only 1 or 2 mid-treatment replanning events. Our preliminary clinical outcomes document functional recovery and preservation of disease control at one-year follow-up and beyond.

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Diabetes, a global epidemic, has become a serious threat to public health. The present study is aimed at constructing an injectable thermosensitive PEG-polyester hydrogel formulation of liraglutide (Lira), a "smart" antidiabetic polypeptide, in the long-acting treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A total of three thermosensitive poly(ε-caprolactone-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone-co-glycolic acid) (PCGA-PEG-PCGA) triblock copolymers with similar molecular weights but different ε-caprolactone-to-glycolide (CL-to-GA) ratios were synthesized. The polymer aqueous solutions exhibited free-flowing sols at room temperature and formed in situ hydrogels at body temperature. While the different bulk morphologies, stabilities of aqueous solutions, and the varying in vivo persistence time of hydrogels in ICR mice were found among the three copolymers, all of the Lira-loaded gel formulations exhibited a sustained drug release manner in vitro regardless of CL-to-GA ratios. The specimen with a powder form in the bulk state, a stable aqueous solution before heating, and an appropriate degradation rate in vivo was selected as the optimal carrier to evaluate the in vivo efficacy. A single injection of the optimal gel formulation showed a remarkable hypoglycemic efficacy up to 1 week in diabetic db/db mice. Furthermore, three successive administrations of this gel formulation within one month significantly lowered glycosylated hemoglobin and protected islets of db/db mice. As a result, a promising once-weekly delivery system of Lira was developed, which not only afforded long-term glycemic control but also significantly improved patient compliance.

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