Dendritic cell vaccine-based immunotherapy in combination with salvage chemotherapy for patients with advanced or relapsed gastric cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Late presentation for health care among patients with Cancer Esophagus is a major problem in Uganda. Cancer of Esophagus is one of the curable cancers if caught in its early stages. World Health Organization (2010) reports that esophageal cancer is the second most common cancer among men and was responsible for over 25000 deaths in 2010, approximately 80% occurred in developing countries. It was projected that it will increase by 25% over the next 10 years if nothing is done like putting prevention measures of adequate screening and treatment into place. Methods: A recording tape was used to store all the discussions for flexibility. The recorded material was first transcribed from local language then translated into English. Different themes were identified and then coding was done to come up with clear relations to the topic. Results: The results were also presented to Hospice Africa Uganda and Mbarara regional referral hospital management for proper planning. The 60% of the patient had no transport neither finicial support to access or report at the health facilities. The 40% of these patient had financial support but did not have time to visit the health workers. Conclusion: In conclusion, the themes realized which contributed to the late presentation for health care, could be grouped under three main factors: Socioeconomic factors , Health system factors and Patient and community factors. These factors are interdependent. These need to be addressed by the responsible personnel in order to realize a change for the better in the health seeking mannerisms of patients. P À 002 A novel patient derived orthotopic xenograft model of gastro-esophageal junction cancer: Key platform for translational discoveries derived tumor in situ promotes tumor engraftment. Complete PDOX engraftment was observed with rapid intra and extra luminal tumor growth as evidenced by serial Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Patient derived stroma co-engrafts with tumor cells in GEJ-PDOX. PDOXs contain fibroblasts, immune and inflammatory cells, vascular and lymphatic vessels. Stromal hallmarks of aggressive GEJs are recapitulated in GEJ-PDOX mouse model. PDOXs demonstrates tumor invasion into vasculature. GEJ-PDOXs is a clinically relevant model for metastases and immunological studies. Conclusion: Murine models have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of gastroesophageal cancers. However, these models have limited applications in tumor microenvironment, immune oncology and metastatic studies. A GEJ-PDOX model exhibits remarkable fidelity to human disease and captures the precise tissue microen-vironment present within the local GEJ architecture facilitating it as a novel tool in translating findings from such studies. This model can be applied to address importance of tumor microenvironment in metastatic and immunological studies, and to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of GEJ cancer. P À 003 Targeted-sequencing and comprehensive molecular profiling of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma