Heterospecific territorial defense in tit species varies according to breeding habitat overlap.

The coexistence of species within the same guild is promoted by ecological and behavioral mechanisms, particularly niche differentiation. When niches overlap, coexistence may be maintained through spatial segregation, achieved through interspecific territoriality. Most research has focused on pairs of species, with little attention given to complex multispecies guilds.

Navigating chemotherapy and immunotherapy in early-stage lung cancer. A critical review and statements from INTERACTION group.

Introduction: During the recent INTERACTION group congress held on February 16-17, 2024, in Milan, Italy, many aspects of early-stage lung cancer treatment were explored. This review delves into perioperative treatment, a rapidly evolving field with an expanding therapeutic arsenal that includes chemotherapy, target therapy, and immunotherapy. The challenge remains in tailoring treatment strategies to individual patients, identifying patients best suited for surgery versus those necessitating trimodal treatment, particularly in distinguishing surgical candidates from those requiring multimodal approaches and not suitable for surgical approach.

External beam radiotherapy followed by image-guided adaptive brachytherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer: a multicenter retrospective analysis.

Purpose: To evaluate oncological outcomes and toxicities in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by image-guided adaptive brachytherapy at two Italian centres.

Material And Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 122 patients with LACC treated between 2010 and 2022. Primary endpoints were local control (LC), pelvic control (PC), and nodal control (NC).

Salvage Breast-Conserving Surgery and Reirradiation With Intraoperative Electrons for Recurrent Breast Cancer: A Multicentric Study on Behalf of Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO).

Purpose: Intraoperative radiation therapy with electrons (IOERT) may represent a viable choice for partial breast reirradiation after repeat quadrantectomy for local recurrence (LR) for primary breast cancer (BC) in lieu of mastectomy.

Methods And Materials: A database collecting data on partial breast reirradiation with IOERT from 8 Italian centers was set up in 2016 to 2018, providing data on cumulative incidence (CumI) of second LR and survival with a long follow-up.

Results: From 2002 to 2015, 109 patients underwent the conservative retreatment.

Nodal Elective Volume Selection and Definition during Radiation Therapy for Early Stage (T1-T2 N0 M0) Perianal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Narrative Clinical Review and Critical Appraisal.

Distinction between anal canal and perianal squamous cell carcinomas (pSCCs) is essential, as these two subgroups have different anatomical, histological, and lymphatic drainage features. Early-stage true perianal tumors are very uncommon and have been rarely included in clinical trials. Perianal skin cancers and aCCs are included in the same tumor classification, even though they have different lymphatic drainage features.

CAR NK-92 cell-mediated depletion of residual TCR+ cells for ultrapure allogeneic TCR-deleted CAR T-cell products.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major risk of the administration of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-redirected T cells to patients who are HLA unmatched. Gene editing can be used to disrupt potentially alloreactive T-cell receptors (TCRs) in CAR T cells and reduce the risk of GVHD. Despite the high knockout rates achieved with the optimized methods, a subsequent purification step is necessary to obtain a safe allogeneic product.

The tumor microenvironment drives NK cell metabolic dysfunction leading to impaired antitumor activity.

NK cells represent key players capable of driving antitumor immune responses. However, the potent immunosuppressive activity of the tumor microenvironment (TME) may impair their effector function. Here, we strengthen the importance of metabolic interactions between NK cells and TME and propose metabolic dysfunction as one of the major mechanisms behind NK failure in cancer treatment.

Effect of Eribulin on Angiogenesis and the Expression of Endothelial Adhesion Molecules.

Background/aim: Tumor vasculature is an important component of the tumor microenvironment and deeply affects anticancer immune response. Eribulin is a non-taxane inhibitor of the mitotic spindle. However, off-target effects interfering with the tumor vasculature have been reported.

Pharmacological interventions enhance virus-free generation of -replaced CAR T cells.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) redirected T cells are potent therapeutic options against hematological malignancies. The current dominant manufacturing approach for CAR T cells depends on retroviral transduction. With the advent of gene editing, insertion of a CD19-CAR into the T cell receptor (TCR) alpha constant () locus using adeno-associated viruses for gene transfer was demonstrated, and these CD19-CAR T cells showed improved functionality over their retrovirally transduced counterparts.

Polymorphonuclear Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Are Abundant in Peripheral Blood of Cancer Patients and Suppress Natural Killer Cell Anti-Tumor Activity.

Tumor microenvironment (TME) includes a wide variety of cell types and soluble factors capable of suppressing immune-responses. While the role of NK cells in TME has been analyzed, limited information is available on the presence and the effect of polymorphonuclear (PMN) myeloid-derived suppressor cells, (MDSC). Among the immunomodulatory cells present in TME, MDSC are potentially efficient in counteracting the anti-tumor activity of several effector cells.

IL-27 Mediates PD-L1 Expression and Release by Human Mesothelioma Cells.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare tumor with an unfavorable prognosis. MM genesis involves asbestos-mediated local inflammation, supported by several cytokines, including IL-6. Recent data showed that targeting PD-1/PD-L1 is an effective therapy in MM.

Decreasing treatment burden in HPV-related OPSCC: A systematic review of clinical trials.

Introduction: Favorable outcomes are observed after treatment with standard chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients. The consistent growing interest on treatment-related toxicity burden, potentially jeopardizing survivors' quality of life, led clinicians to investigate possible de-escalation strategies.

Materials And Methods: A comprehensive systematic literature search of clinical trials was performed through the EMBASE database to provide an overview of the de-escalation strategies spectrum.

Fibromyalgia and Nutrition: An Updated Review.

Due to the lack of specific and standardized treatments for the management of fibromyalgia (FM), available evidence suggests a multidisciplinary approach, and nutrition represents an important therapeutic strategy. This work aims to update the relationship between FM and nutrition, through a review of more recent scientific evidence based on a systematic research on PubMed. Of 66 records initially identified, 26 studies were selected and included in the present work.

Glucocorticoids and the cytokines IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 present in the tumor microenvironment induce PD-1 expression on human natural killer cells.

Background: Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)-immune checkpoint blockade has provided significant clinical efficacy across various types of cancer by unleashing both T and natural killer (NK) cell-mediated antitumor responses. However, resistance to immunotherapy occurs for many patients, rendering the identification of the mechanisms that control PD-1 expression extremely important to increase the response to the therapy.

Objective: We sought to identify the stimuli and the molecular mechanisms that induce the de novo PD-1 expression on human NK cells in the tumor setting.

Radiation therapy for oligometastatic oropharyngeal cancer.

At presentation, isolated metastasis from oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is rare. Liver is a relatively uncommon first site of failure, especially in the absence of other distant metastases, particularly without diagnosis of lung metastases. We report on a case of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma with synchronous liver metastasis treated with radiation therapy.

Cytokine-Induced Guanylate Binding Protein 1 (GBP1) Release from Human Ovarian Cancer Cells.

We showed that IL-27 shares several effects with IFN-γ in human cancer cells. To identify novel extracellular mediators, potentially involved in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) biology, we analyzed the effect of IL-27 or IFN-γ on the secretome of cultured EOC cells by mass-spectrometry (nano-UHPLC-MS/MS). IL-27 and IFN-γ modulate the release of a limited fraction of proteins among those induced in the whole cell.

Supratotal Resection of Glioblastoma: Is Less More?

Background: A relationship between the extent of resection (EOR) and survival has been demonstrated in patients with glioblastomas (GBMs). However, despite gross total resection (GTR) of the enhancing nodule (EN), GBMs usually relapse, generally near the surgical cavity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic role of FLAIR resection of GBMs by analyzing pre- and post-operative MRIs to estimate the EOR of EN, FLAIR-hyperintense regions and total tumor volume (TTV).

The role of radiotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer: a literature overview.

Ovarian cancer (OC) accounts for 3% of all cancer in women and for 5% of all cancer-related deaths. Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC) is a radiosensitive malignancy with a poor prognosis. In the pre-chemotherapy era, radiation therapy (RT) delivered to the abdominopelvic region (whole abdominal irradiation, WAI) has historically played a role in the adjuvant and consolidation setting.

Immune inflammation indicators in anal cancer patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation: training and validation cohort with online calculator (ARC: Anal Cancer Response Classifier).

In anal cancer, there are no markers nor other laboratory indexes that can predict prognosis and guide clinical practice for patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation. In this study, we retrospectively investigated the influence of immune inflammation indicators on treatment outcome of anal cancer patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy. All patients had a histologically proven diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal/margin treated with chemoradiotherapy according to the Nigro's regimen.

Prospective assessment of taste impairment and nausea during radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.

Dysgeusia and nausea are common side effects observed in head and neck cancer patients treated with either exclusive radiotherapy or combined modality treatment. The aim of the present study was to prospectively evaluate dysgeusia, during treatment and follow-up, using the chemotherapy-induced taste alteration scale (CiTAS), a metrics based on 18-items exploring three dimensions (quantitative and qualitative changes in taste perception, and diet-related issues) identified through a four-factor analysis: decline in basic taste, discomfort, phantogeusia-parageusia, and general taste alterations. Moreover, we scored, according to Common Toxicity Criteria Adverse Events, nausea and other treatment-related toxicities.

Presence of innate lymphoid cells in pleural effusions of primary and metastatic tumors: Functional analysis and expression of PD-1 receptor.

The tumor microenvironment (TM) contains a wide variety of cell types and soluble factors capable of suppressing immune responses. While the presence of NK cells in pleural effusions (PE) has been documented, no information exists on the presence of other innate lymphoid cell (ILC) subsets and on the expression of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) in NK and ILC. The presence of ILC was assessed in PE of 54 patients (n = 33 with mesothelioma, n = 15 with adenocarcinoma and n = 6 with inflammatory pleural diseases) by cell staining with suitable antibody combinations and cytofluorimetric analysis.