Chinese medical journal
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Chinese medical journal · Mar 2024
ReviewRecent advances in cancer-associated fibroblast: Biomarkers, signaling pathways, and therapeutic opportunities.
Anti-cancer therapies usually focus on tumor cells, but non-tumor stromal components in the tumor microenvironment also play vital roles in tumor initiation and progression, which may be the prognostic factors and potential therapeutic targets. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the essential component in the tumor environment, exhibiting high heterogeneity in their cell origin and phenotype with diverse functions that influence tumor angiogenesis, immune systems, and metabolism. Single-cell RNA sequencing and genetically engineered mouse models have increased our understanding of CAF diversity, and many subtypes have been defined. ⋯ However, few of these trials have generated promising results, which indicates that the complexity of CAFs in the tumor microenvironment remains largely unknown, and in-depth investigations of CAFs should be performed. This review summarizes the research on CAFs, focusing on the heterogeneity of their phenotypes and functions, specific signaling pathways, and the therapeutic strategies involving CAFs. Additionally, we briefly discuss the current technologies commonly used in CAF studies and describe the challenges and future perspectives of CAF research.
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Biliary tract cancers (BTC), a heterogeneous disease with poor prognosis, including gallbladder cancer (GBC), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC). Although surgery is currently the primary regimen to treat BTC, most BTC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and miss the opportunity of surgical eradication. ⋯ However, these therapies have been practiced in limited clinical settings in patients with BTC. In this review, we focus on the discussion of latest advances of immunotherapy in BTC and update the progress of multiple current clinical trials with different immunotherapies.
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Chinese medical journal · Mar 2024
Meta AnalysisPregnancy and the disease recurrence of patients previously treated for differentiated thyroid cancer: A systematic review and meta analysis.
Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is commonly diagnosed in women of child-bearing age, but whether pregnancy influences the prognosis of DTC remains controversial. This study aimed to summarize existing evidence regarding the association of pregnancy with recurrence risk in patients previously treated for DTC. ⋯ PROSPERO, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ ; No. CRD42022367896.
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Chinese medical journal · Mar 2024
ReviewIndividualized brain mapping for navigated neuromodulation.
The brain is a complex organ that requires precise mapping to understand its structure and function. Brain atlases provide a powerful tool for studying brain circuits, discovering biological markers for early diagnosis, and developing personalized treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. Neuromodulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and deep brain stimulation, have revolutionized clinical therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders. ⋯ Still, the individual variability among patients and the diversity of brain diseases make it necessary to develop personalized solutions. The article provides an overview of recent advances in individualized brain mapping and navigated neuromodulation and discusses the methodological profiles, advantages, disadvantages, and future trends of these techniques. The article concludes by posing open questions about the future development of individualized brain mapping and navigated neuromodulation.
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Chinese medical journal · Mar 2024
ReviewRecent advances and remaining challenges in lung cancer therapy.
Lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer death. Given the continued research into new drugs and combination therapies, outcomes in lung cancer have been improved, and clinical benefits have been expanded to a broader patient population. However, the overall cure and survival rates for lung cancer patients remain low, especially in metastatic cases. ⋯ Substantial progress has been made in targeted therapies using tyrosine kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibody immune checkpoint inhibitors with many US Food And Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs targeting the programmed cell death ligand-1 protein (e.g., durvalumab, atezolizumab), the programmed cell death-1 receptor (e.g., nivolumab, pembrolizumab), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (e.g., tremelimumab, ipilimumab). Cytokines, cancer vaccines, adoptive T cell therapies, and Natural killer cell mono- and combinational therapies are rapidly being studied, yet to date, there are currently none that are FDA-approved for the treatment of lung cancer. In this review, we discuss the current lung cancer therapies with an emphasis on immunotherapy, including the challenges for future research and clinical applications.