Predictive value of Smac, VEGF and Ki-67 in rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant therapy

Esophageal adenocarcinoma microenvironment: Peritumoral adipose tissue effects associated with chemoresistance

“…These data suggest that an expression profile of adipose cells, characterized by an enhanced capacity to express factors involved in EMT (such as α‐SMA) or in the stimulation of angiogenesis (such as VEGF), may be associated with the lack of response to neoadjuvant treatment in EAC patients. Interestingly, other aggressive tumors showing solid morphology with poor chemotherapy response demonstrated higher levels of these molecules . These characteristics may contribute to create a permissive microenvironment that allows the tumor to be more resistant to the effects of chemotherapy, as we observed in patients with poor response.…”

“…Interestingly, other aggressive tumors showing solid morphology with poor chemotherapy response demonstrated higher levels of these molecules. (32)(33)(34) These characteristics may contribute to create a permissive microenvironment that allows the tumor to be more resistant to the effects of chemotherapy, as we observed in patients with poor response. The periesophageal (within 2 cm from the gastric cardia) adipose tissue analyzed in this study must be considered a peritumoral microenvironment for adenocarcinoma located in the esophagogastric junction and not for SCC that was located in the upper portion of esophagus.…”

Can a Biomarker-Based Scoring System Predict Pathologic Complete Response After Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy for Rectal Cancer?

“…the presence of wild-type p53 in malignant cells has been repeatedly correlated with sensitivity to radiation-or chemotherapy-induced damage, whereas mutated p53 is associated with radio-and chemoresistance. 32,33 Qui et al examined VeGf expression in pretreatment biopsies from 72 patients undergoing long-course preoperative radiotherapy; however, they found that the histological response was unrelated to the pretreatment VeGf status. 26 there is also reportedly a correlation between p53 and treatment outcome.…”

Predictive and prognostic biomarkers for neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer

“…Bax, on the other hand, is a proapoptotic protein of the Bcl-2 family, and Bax expression was found to be significantly higher in the complete pathological response group compared to partial response [31]. Similarly, Smac is a pro-apoptotic protein, and in a study of 40 patients, high Smac correlated with tumour volume reduction [32].…”