NUT carcinomas (NCs) are a group of rare tumors that can occur anywhere in the body and are defined by the fusion of the nuclear protein in testis (NUTM1) resulting in increased transcription of proto-oncogenes. NCs have a poor prognosis that varies according to the site of origin with an urgent need to develop new treatment strategies. Case reports on immunotherapy in pulmonary NC have been published, and bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) inhibitors have shown activity in NC in phase I/II trials. We present the case of a 27-year-old woman with an unresectable sinonasal NC who had a sustained clinical response to both immunotherapy and BET inhibitor therapy. This is the first reported case of immunotherapy in sinonasal NC, and it highlights the different responses to a range of treatments including BET inhibitor therapy. This case supports the theory that NCs arising from different primary sites have differing prognoses.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. To improve outcomes for these patients, we need to develop new treatment strategies. Personalized cancer medicine, where patients are treated based on the characteristics of their own tumor, has gained significant interest for its promise to improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary side effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential utility of patient‐derived colorectal cancer organoids (PDCOs) in a personalized cancer medicine setting.
Colorectal cancer stem cells have been proposed to drive disease progression, tumour recurrence and chemoresistance. However, studies ablating leucine rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5)-positive stem cells have shown that they are rapidly replenished in primary tumours. Following injury in normal tissue, LGR5+ stem cells are replaced by a newly defined, transient population of revival stem cells. We investigated whether markers of the revival stem cell population are present in colorectal tumours and how this signature relates to chemoresistance. We examined the expression of different stem cell markers in a cohort of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids and correlated expression with sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. Our findings revealed that there was inter-tumour variability in the expression of stem cell markers. Clusterin (CLU), a marker of the revival stem cell population, was significantly enriched following 5-FU treatment and expression correlated with the level of drug resistance. Patient outcome data revealed that CLU expression is associated with both lower patient survival and an increase in disease recurrence. This suggests that CLU is a marker of drug resistance and may identify cells that drive colorectal cancer progression.