Journal of Cancer Immunology

Short Communication Open Access

Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Animal Models Available to Characterize Tumor Immunology and Optimize Treatment Development

Gael S Roth, Zuzana Macek Jilkova, Thomas Decaens

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second cause of cancer-related death worldwide with almost 1 million new cases per year. At the diagnosis, 70% of patients have only access to a palliative treatment with few therapeutic options mostly represented by tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as sorafenib and lenvatinib in first line; regorafenib and cabozantinib in second line.

Review Article Open Access

Mitochondria Autoimmunity and MNRR₁ in Breast Carcinogenesis: A Review

Félix Fernández Madrid, Lawrence I. Grossman, Siddhesh Aras

We review here the evidence for participation of mitochondrial autoimmunity in BC inception and progression and propose a new paradigm that may challenge the prevailing thinking in oncogenesis by suggesting that mitochondrial autoimmunity is a major contributor to breast carcinogenesis and probably to the inception and progression of other solid tumors. It has been shown that MNRR1 mediated mitochondrial-nuclear function promotes BC cell growth and migration and the development of metastasis and constitutes a proof of concept supporting the participation of mitochondrial autoimmunity in breast carcinogenesis. 

Review Article Open Access

Immunotherapy in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Julie M. Asare, Cara A. Rabik, Stacy Cooper, Patrick A. Brown

Leukemia is the most common childhood malignancy and cause of pediatric cancer death. Significant advances in the cure rates of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) have been achieved; however, patients with refractory or relapsed B-ALL or T-ALL continue to have poor outcomes. Immunotherapy is a revolutionary treatment aimed to improve survival and reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy by harnessing the patient’s own immune system to target cancer cells.

Review Article Open Access

Ovarian Function Suppression Plus Aromatase Inhibitors or Tamoxifen in Premenopausal HR-positive Breast Cancer

Xueqing Xie, Yiqun Yao, Dianlong Zhang

Breast cancer is the most common type of malignant tumor in women, accounting for 30% of women’s cancer, while the mortality rate ranks second among women’s cancer. Twenty-five percent of all breast cancer patients are premenopausal patients, and 7% of patients are younger than 40 years old.

Commentary Open Access

Management of Appendiceal Neuroendocrine Tumors: Beyond Tumor Size

Jace P. Landry, Yvette B. Mattison, Robert A. Ramirez, J. Philip Boudreaux, Eugene A. Woltering, Mary A. Maluccio, Ramcharan Thiagarajan

Appendiceal neuroendocrine tumors (ANETs) less than 2 cm were thought to have no metastatic potential; however, recent evidence including our previous report shows increasing occurrences of regional and metastatic disease in smaller ANETs. We provided an update of patients with ANETs at our institution. A retrospective review was performed in a follow-up series of patients with ANET who presented to our tertiary referral center from 2019-2020. Demographics, tumor characteristics, treatment, and clinical outcomes were evaluated.

Review Article Open Access

Emerging Strategies to Attack Polyploid Cancer Cells

Jing Zhang, Shenqiu Zhang, Qiong Shi, Dun Yang, Thaddeus D. Allen

Polyploid cancer cells can arise de novo in tumors or they can be induced by therapeutics that inadvertently increase the rate of cytokinetic failure. These cells portend a poor outcome in many cancers because polyploid cancer cells can undergo error prone reductive cell divisions to yield aneuploid progeny. The immune system has evolved mechanisms by which it can specifically recognize and remove polyploid cancer cells, but these appear to be tampered with malignancy so that polyploid cells can persist and fuel the development of cancer cell clones that are resistant to therapeutics and have metastatic potential.

Commentary Open Access

High Lymph Node Positive to Sampled Ratio as a Potential Indication for Postoperative Radiation Therapy in Patients with pN₂ Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Nikhil P. Mankuzhy, Muayad F. Almahariq, Craig W. Stevens, Thomas J. Quinn

The role for postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with mediastinal lymph node (LN) involvement (pN2 disease) is controversial. We performed a SEER analysis comparing surgery alone with PORT among patients with pN2 NSCLC. As we await the final results of the LUNG ART trial, a subset of patients with a high LN positive to sampled (LPR) ratio may benefit from PORT.

Commentary Open Access

Susceptibility of Malignant Brain Tumors to 5-aminolaevulinic Acid Mediated Photodynamic Therapy: Direct Phototoxicity and Immunological Effects

Angeliki Datsi, Rüdiger V. Sorg

Recently we published the article ‘Accumulation of protoporphyrin IX in medulloblastoma cell lines and sensitivity to subsequent photodynamic treatment’. In this commentary, we review protoporphyrin IX accumulation after application of 5-aminolaevulinic acid and the resulting sensitivity of medulloblastoma cells to photodynamic therapy. We compare the results to glioblastoma cells, including glioblastoma stem-like cells, and address the contribution of the transporter adenosine triphosphate binding cassette subfamily G member 2 (ABCG2) as well as the enzyme ferrochelatase to the process.

Commentary Open Access

SPANX Regulation of LAMIN A/C Network: Perspectives in Cancer and Laminopathies

Ikrame Lazar, Bertrand Fabre

Cancer/testis antigens (CTA) are tumor antigens whose expression is normally restricted to the testis. More than half of CTA genes are located on the X chromosome and form a branch called X-CTA [1]. Unlike the remaining CTA genes located throughout the genome, multigene X-CTA families are present as clusters on the X chromosome. Among them, the Sperm Protein Associated with the
Nucleus on the X chromosome (SPANX) family is composed by five members [SPANX-A1, -A2 (-A1 and -A2 being two copies of the same gene), -B1, -C and -D]. As SPANX proteins are highly homologous and cannot be distinguished by antibody-based techniques, unless stated otherwise, hereafter we will use the term “SPANX” to refer to these five proteins.