Biological issues with cabozantinib in bone metastatic renal cell carcinoma and castration-resistant prostate cancer

Bone Metastases from Gastric Cancer: What We Know and How to Deal with Them

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third cause of cancer-related death worldwide; the prognosis is poor especially in the case of metastatic disease. Liver, lymph nodes, peritoneum, and lung are the most frequent sites of metastases from GC; however, bone metastases from GC have been reported in the literature. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the metastatic sites may affect the prognosis. In particular, knowledge about the impact of bone metastases on GC patients’ outcome is scant, and this may be related to the rarity of bone lesions and/or their underestimation at the time of diagnosis. In fact, there is still a lack of specific recommendation for their detection at the diagnosis. Then, the majority of the evidences in this field came from retrospective analysis on very heterogeneous study populations. In this context, the aim of this narrative review is to delineate an overview about the evidences existing about bone metastases in GC patients, focusing on their incidence and biology, the prognostic role of bone involvement, and their possible implication in the treatment choice.

Bone Metastasis: Current State of Play

Bone metastasis (BM) in cancer remains a critical issue because of its associated clinical and biological complications. Moreover, BM can alter the quality of life and survival rate of cancer patients. Growing evidence suggests that bones are a fertile ground for the development of metastasis through a "vicious circle" of bone resorption/formation and tumor growth. This review aims to outline the current major issues in the diagnosis and management of BM in the most common types of osteotropic cancers and describe the mechanisms and effects of BM. First, we discuss the incidence of BM through the following questions: Are we witnessing an increase in incidence, and are we now better equipped with modern imaging techniques? Is the advent of efficient bone resorption inhibitors affecting the bigger picture of BM management? Second, we discuss the potential effects of cancer progression and well-prescribed drugs, such as multitarget tyrosine kinase inhibitors, inhibitors of the mammalian target of rapamycin, and immune checkpoint inhibitors, on BM. Finally, we examine the duality of the effects of some therapies that may help in cancer treatment but may also contribute to further BM.

Toward a genome-based treatment landscape for renal cell carcinoma

Knowledge about molecular mechanisms driving development and progression of renal cell carcinoma has been elucidated by different studies. In few years we discovered a large difference between genomic landscapes of clear cell and non-clear cell carcinoma. Moreover, tumor heterogeneity and different acquisition of gene mutations during tumor progression are issues of particular interest. In this review we focalized our attention on principal genomic alterations identified among RCC subtypes. Acquired gene mutations may be an adaptive response to several external pressure including metabolic, treatment, genomic and immune-related external pressure. Thus we correlated and discussed principal genomic alterations adopted by tumor to escape from each external pressures. The aim of the present work is to summarize current knowledge about genomic alterations in RCC with special interest of treatment strategies tailored on the basis of disease mutations assessment.