Modern Evaluation and Treatment of Malignant Pancreatic, Liver and Biliary Tract Tumours

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Causes, Screening and Diagnosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2023) | Viewed by 6192

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7WG, UK
Interests: pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; pancreatic cystic tumours; biliary tract cancers; liver metastases; hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); neuroendocrine tumours; surgical oncology; hepatopancreatobiliary surgery; tumour biology; microRNAs; exosomes; noncoding RNAs; biomarkers; RNA sequencing; liver regeneration
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and liver and biliary tract tumours (including ampullary cancer, gallbladder cancer, and cholangiocarcinoma) are aggressive malignancies. Most patients present with advanced disease due to late diagnosis, and as there are few effective therapeutic options, outcomes are extremely poor.

To improve survival, efforts must be multifaceted and focus on prevention, early identification of high-risk individuals, and prompt diagnosis, as well as molecular-based targeted therapies for established disease. Therefore, a better understanding of their genetic landscape, crucial aspects of tumour biology implicated in disease development and progression, and the identification of diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic biomarkers are extremely important.

While the evolution of precision medicine in recent decades has changed the treatment landscape in many cancers, at present, no targeted therapies are used routinely in the management of these tumours. However, crucial genetic changes have been identified, and these will hopefully lead to a more personalised approach.

In this Special Issue, we are inviting original research articles, reviews, and perspectives to address some of these challenges for these tumours. Topics will include but are not limited to the biology and genomic characteristics of these cancers; the coding and non-coding transcriptome; the role of extracellular vesicles; biomarkers in tissue, blood, and biofluids; “liquid biopsies”; the identification of novel therapeutic targets; and new surgical/oncological/radiological approaches for treating localized and more advanced disease.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Adam Frampton
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • radiology
  • medical oncology
  • interventional radiology
  • endovascular procedures
  • liver neoplasms
  • computer-assisted image processing
  • deep learning
  • pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
  • biliary tract cancers
  • ampullary cancer
  • gallbladder cancer
  • cholangiocarcinoma
  • pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours
  • tumour biology
  • exosomes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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12 pages, 925 KiB  
Article
Utility of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling Tests for Patients with Incurable Pancreatic Cancer in Clinical Practice
by Takuo Yamai, Kenji Ikezawa, Naotoshi Sugimoto, Makiko Urabe, Yugo Kai, Ryoji Takada, Tasuku Nakabori, Hiroyuki Uehara, Takahisa Kawamura, Kei Kunimasa, Sachiko Yamamoto, Toru Wakamatsu, Takuji Hayashi, Yoji Kukita, Fumie Fujisawa, Tazuko Inoue, Yuko Yamaguchi, Tomoyuki Yamasaki, Keiichiro Honma and Kazuyoshi Ohkawa
Cancers 2023, 15(3), 970; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15030970 - 3 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2517
Abstract
Although comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) tests have been covered under the Japanese national health insurance program since 2018, the utility and issues of CGP tests have not been clarified. We retrospectively reviewed 115 patients with incurable pancreatic cancer (IPC) who underwent CGP tests [...] Read more.
Although comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) tests have been covered under the Japanese national health insurance program since 2018, the utility and issues of CGP tests have not been clarified. We retrospectively reviewed 115 patients with incurable pancreatic cancer (IPC) who underwent CGP tests in a Japanese cancer referral center from November 2019 to August 2021. We evaluated the results of CGP tests, treatments based on CGP tests, and survival time. Eight cases (6.9%) were diagnosed as tumor mutation burden-high (TMB-H) and/or microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H). The gene mutation rates of KRAS/TP53/CDKN2A/SMAD4 were 93.0/83.0/53.0/25.2%, respectively. Twenty-five patients (21.7%) had homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)-related genetic mutations. Four patients (3.5%) having TMB-H and/or MSI-H were treated with pembrolizumab, and only two patients (1.7%) participated in the clinical trials. Patient characteristics were not significantly different between patients with and without HRD-related gene mutations. The median OS was significantly longer in the HRD (+) group than in the HRD (−) group (749 days vs. 519 days, p = 0.047). In multivariate analysis, HRD-related gene mutation was an independent prognostic factor associated with favorable OS. CGP tests for patients with IPC have the potential utility of detecting HRD-related gene mutations as prognostic factors as well as a therapeutic search. Full article
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Review

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27 pages, 1195 KiB  
Review
Advances in Immunotherapeutics in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
by Tarak Chouari, Francesca Soraya La Costa, Nabeel Merali, Maria-Danae Jessel, Shivan Sivakumar, Nicola Annels and Adam E. Frampton
Cancers 2023, 15(17), 4265; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15174265 - 25 Aug 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3182
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) accounts for up to 95% of all pancreatic cancer cases and is the seventh-leading cause of cancer death. Poor prognosis is a result of late presentation, a lack of screening tests and the fact some patients develop resistance to [...] Read more.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) accounts for up to 95% of all pancreatic cancer cases and is the seventh-leading cause of cancer death. Poor prognosis is a result of late presentation, a lack of screening tests and the fact some patients develop resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Novel therapies like immunotherapeutics have been of recent interest in pancreatic cancer. However, this field remains in its infancy with much to unravel. Immunotherapy and other targeted therapies have yet to yield significant progress in treating PDAC, primarily due to our limited understanding of the disease immune mechanisms and its intricate interactions with the tumour microenvironment (TME). In this review we provide an overview of current novel immunotherapies which have been studied in the field of pancreatic cancer. We discuss their mechanisms, evidence available in pancreatic cancer as well as the limitations of such therapies. We showcase the potential role of combining novel therapies in PDAC, postulate their potential clinical implications and the hurdles associated with their use in PDAC. Therapies discussed with include programmed death checkpoint inhibitors, Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4, Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell therapy, oncolytic viral therapy and vaccine therapies including KRAS vaccines, Telomerase vaccines, Gastrin Vaccines, Survivin-targeting vaccines, Heat-shock protein (HSP) peptide complex-based vaccines, MUC-1 targeting vaccines, Listeria based vaccines and Dendritic cell-based vaccines. Full article
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