{"title":"Overtreatment of multiple myeloma and its precursor states: de-escalation is an urgent need in clinical practice and trials","authors":"Ghulam Rehman Mohyuddin, Aaron M. Goodman","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00895-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00895-x","url":null,"abstract":"Certain subsets of patients with multiple myeloma or its precursor conditions are overtreated with current approaches to therapy. Herein, we highlight several key areas where we believe de-escalation of treatment is needed. Dedicated trials to assess these de-escalation approaches and urgent changes to current clinical practices are needed.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":81.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140632300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emily Hoffmann, Max Masthoff, Wolfgang G. Kunz, Max Seidensticker, Stefanie Bobe, Mirjam Gerwing, Wolfgang E. Berdel, Christoph Schliemann, Cornelius Faber, Moritz Wildgruber
{"title":"Multiparametric MRI for characterization of the tumour microenvironment","authors":"Emily Hoffmann, Max Masthoff, Wolfgang G. Kunz, Max Seidensticker, Stefanie Bobe, Mirjam Gerwing, Wolfgang E. Berdel, Christoph Schliemann, Cornelius Faber, Moritz Wildgruber","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00891-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00891-1","url":null,"abstract":"Our understanding of tumour biology has evolved over the past decades and cancer is now viewed as a complex ecosystem with interactions between various cellular and non-cellular components within the tumour microenvironment (TME) at multiple scales. However, morphological imaging remains the mainstay of tumour staging and assessment of response to therapy, and the characterization of the TME with non-invasive imaging has not yet entered routine clinical practice. By combining multiple MRI sequences, each providing different but complementary information about the TME, multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) enables non-invasive assessment of molecular and cellular features within the TME, including their spatial and temporal heterogeneity. With an increasing number of advanced MRI techniques bridging the gap between preclinical and clinical applications, mpMRI could ultimately guide the selection of treatment approaches, precisely tailored to each individual patient, tumour and therapeutic modality. In this Review, we describe the evolving role of mpMRI in the non-invasive characterization of the TME, outline its applications for cancer detection, staging and assessment of response to therapy, and discuss considerations and challenges for its use in future medical applications, including personalized integrated diagnostics. By combining multiple MRI sequences, each providing different but complementary information about the tumour microenvironment (TME), multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) enables non-invasive assessment of the heterogeneous features of the TME components. The authors of this Review describe the role of mpMRI in the non-invasive characterization of the TME, presenting examples of its utility in cancer detection, staging and assessment of response to therapy, and considering future applications for personalized integrated diagnostics.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":78.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140621568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ALND can be safely omitted for patients with sentinel-node macrometastases","authors":"David Killock","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00893-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00893-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":78.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140607604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lighting the torch: intratumoural T cell-to-stroma enrichment score as a predictor of immunotherapy response in urothelial carcinoma","authors":"David H. Aggen, Jonathan E. Rosenberg","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00890-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00890-2","url":null,"abstract":"T cell infiltration in the tumour microenvironment (TME) is a prerequisite for sustained antitumour immune responses. However, identifying predictive biomarkers that quantify T cell infiltration and the presence of proinflammatory TMEs associated with immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) response for clinical implementation has proved challenging. Here, we highlight a study that validates a T cell-to-stroma enrichment score generated from RNA sequencing data as a novel biomarker for ICI response in patients with urothelial carcinoma.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":81.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140553400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antiangiogenic–immune-checkpoint inhibitor combinations: lessons from phase III clinical trials","authors":"Hung-Yang Kuo, Kabir A. Khan, Robert S. Kerbel","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00886-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00886-y","url":null,"abstract":"Antiangiogenic agents, generally antibodies or tyrosine-kinase inhibitors that target the VEGF–VEGFR pathway, are currently among the few combination partners clinically proven to improve the efficacy of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). This benefit has been demonstrated in pivotal phase III trials across different cancer types, some with practice-changing results; however, numerous phase III trials have also had negative results. The rationale for using antiangiogenic drugs as partners for ICIs relies primarily on blocking the multiple immunosuppressive effects of VEGF and inducing several different vascular-modulating effects that can stimulate immunity, such as vascular normalization leading to increased intratumoural blood perfusion and flow, and inhibition of pro-apoptotic effects of endothelial cells on T cells, among others. Conversely, VEGF blockade can also cause changes that suppress antitumour immunity, such as increased tumour hypoxia, and reduced intratumoural ingress of co-administered ICIs. As a result, the net clinical benefits from antiangiogenic–ICI combinations will be determined by the balance between the opposing effects of VEGF signalling and its inhibition on the antitumour immune response. In this Perspective, we summarize the results from the currently completed phase III trials evaluating antiangiogenic agent–ICI combinations. We also discuss strategies to improve the efficacy of these combinations, focusing on aspects that include the deleterious functions of VEGF–VEGFR inhibition on antitumour immunity, vessel co-option as a driver of non-angiogenic tumour growth, clinical trial design, or the rationale for drug selection, dosing and scheduling. The benefit of combining antiangiogenic agents with immune-checkpoint inhibitors has been demonstrated in pivotal phase III trials across different cancer types, some with practice-changing results; however, other phase III trials have had negative results. The authors of this Perspective discuss the variable outcomes of these trials, considering factors that account for these differences and suggesting future initiatives for improving the outcomes in patients receiving these combinations.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":78.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140544844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sebastian G. Huayamares, David Loughrey, Hyejin Kim, James E. Dahlman, Eric J. Sorscher
{"title":"Nucleic acid-based drugs for patients with solid tumours","authors":"Sebastian G. Huayamares, David Loughrey, Hyejin Kim, James E. Dahlman, Eric J. Sorscher","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00883-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00883-1","url":null,"abstract":"The treatment of patients with advanced-stage solid tumours typically involves a multimodality approach (including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy and/or immunotherapy), which is often ultimately ineffective. Nucleic acid-based drugs, either as monotherapies or in combination with standard-of-care therapies, are rapidly emerging as novel treatments capable of generating responses in otherwise refractory tumours. These therapies include those using viral vectors (also referred to as gene therapies), several of which have now been approved by regulatory agencies, and nanoparticles containing mRNAs and a range of other nucleotides. In this Review, we describe the development and clinical activity of viral and non-viral nucleic acid-based treatments, including their mechanisms of action, tolerability and available efficacy data from patients with solid tumours. We also describe the effects of the tumour microenvironment on drug delivery for both systemically administered and locally administered agents. Finally, we discuss important trends resulting from ongoing clinical trials and preclinical testing, and manufacturing and/or stability considerations that are expected to underpin the next generation of nucleic acid agents for patients with solid tumours. Nucleic acid-based therapies offer an alternative to traditional cancer treatment modalities, with promising data beginning to emerge. In this Review, the authors describe the design and development of nucleic acid-based therapies administered virally and non-virally, including discussions of the advantages and disadvantage of each approach, as well as the role of patient-specific factors such as the tumour microenvironment, and consider the most promising future research directions.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":78.8,"publicationDate":"2024-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140534349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Global epidemiology of epithelial ovarian cancer","authors":"Penelope M. Webb, Susan J. Jordan","doi":"10.1038/s41571-024-00881-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41571-024-00881-3","url":null,"abstract":"Globally, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer in women, accounting for an estimated 3.7% of cases and 4.7% of cancer deaths in 2020. Until the early 2000s, age-standardized incidence was highest in northern Europe and North America, but this trend has changed; incidence is now declining in these regions and increasing in parts of eastern Europe and Asia. Ovarian cancer is a very heterogeneous disease and, even among the most common type, namely epithelial ovarian cancer, five major clinically and genetically distinct histotypes exist. Most high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas are now recognized to originate in the fimbrial ends of the fallopian tube. This knowledge has led to more cancers being coded as fallopian tube in origin, which probably explains some of the apparent declines in ovarian cancer incidence, particularly in high-income countries; however, it also suggests that opportunistic salpingectomy offers an important opportunity for prevention. The five histotypes share several reproductive and hormonal risk factors, although differences also exist. In this Review, we summarize the epidemiology of this complex disease, comparing the different histotypes, and consider the potential for prevention. We also discuss how changes in the prevalence of risk and protective factors might have contributed to the observed changes in incidence and what this might mean for incidence in the future. Ovarian cancer, accounting for 4.7% of cancer deaths in women in 2020, remains highly prevalent globally. Nonetheless, owing to changes in environmental exposures, the approach to preventive measures and disease classification, both incidence and mortality have been declining in economically developed countries since the early 2000s. Conversely, parts of Asia and eastern Europe have seen increases in the incidence of ovarian cancer over this period of time. In this Review, the authors summarize the epidemiology of ovarian cancer, including the roles of the various risk factors and the potential for prevention.","PeriodicalId":19079,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":78.8,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140310796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}