Oncology

Statin use is associated with a reduced incidence of colorectal cancer expressing SMAD4

Long-term use of statins is associated with a small reduced risk of colorectal cancer but their mechanism of action is not well understood. While they are generally believed to act on KRAS, we have previously proposed that they act via influencing the BMP pathway. The objective of this study was to look for associations between statin use and the risk of developing colorectal cancer of a particular molecular subtype.

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Use of potentially inappropriate medication in older patients with lung cancer at the end of life

Medications at the end of life should be used for symptom control. Medications which potential adverse effects outweigh their expected benefits are called ‘potentially inappropriate medications’ (PIMs). PIMs are related with adverse drug events and reduced quality of life. In this study, we investigated to what extent PIMs are dispensed to older patients with lung cancer in the last month of life.

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Long-Term Risk of Skin Cancer and Lymphoma in Users of Topical Tacrolimus and Pimecrolimus: Final Results from the Extension of the Cohort Study Protopic Joint European Longitudinal Lymphoma and Skin Cancer Evaluation (JOELLE)

Purpose: Evidence is insufficient to infer whether topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs; tacrolimus and pimecrolimus) cause malignancy. The study objective was to estimate the long-term risk of skin cancer and lymphoma associated with topical TCI use in adults and children, separately.

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Digoxin treatment reactivates in vivo radioactive iodide uptake and correlates with favorable clinical outcome in non-medullary thyroid cancer

Purpose: Non-medullary thyroid cancer (NMTC) treatment is based on the ability of thyroid follicular cells to accumulate radioactive iodide (RAI). However, in a subset of NMTC patients tumor dedifferentiation occurs, leading to RAI resistance. Digoxin has been demonstrated to restore iodide uptake capacity in vitro in poorly differentiated and anaplastic NMTC cells, termed redifferentiation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the in vivo effects of digoxin in TPO-Cre/LSL-BrafV600E mice and digoxin-treated NMTC patients.

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Risk of cardiovascular disease following gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists vs antagonists in prostate cancer: Real-world evidence from five databases

Observational studies in prostate cancer (PCa) have shown an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) following gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, whereas randomised-controlled trials have shown no associations. Compared to GnRH agonists, GnRH antagonists have shown less atherosclerotic effects in preclinical models. Having a history of CVD was found to be an effect modifier for the associations with some CVD subtypes. Overall, we did not observe a difference in risk of overall CVD when comparing GnRH antagonists with agonists-though for some subtypes of CVD we noted an increased risk with antagonists. Further studies are required to address potential confounding caused by unadjusted variables such as severity of CVD history and PCa stage.

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Characteristics and Absolute Survival of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated With Biologics: A Real-World Data Analysis From Three European Countries

Biologics were approved for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) based on favorable benefit-risk-assessments from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but evidence on their use in the real-world setting is scarce. Based on descriptive analyses we therefore aimed to assess characteristics and survival of CRC patients treated with biologics using large healthcare databases from three European countries (Netherlands, Italy, Germany).

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