Primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the heart with skeletal muscles metastases

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is an extremely rare primary malignant tumor of the heart. It is usually diagnosed when it is locally aggressive or has already metastasized. The prognosis is poor with an average survival time of one year. We report a case of recurrent left atrial malignant fibrous histiocytoma initially misdiagnosed as myxoma. The patient underwent repeated surgical resections followed by chemotherapy. Despite adjuvant chemotherapy, 18 months after initial diagnosis, definitive tumor relapse in left atrium was diagnosed. This is the 48th case of primary cardiac fibrous malignant histiocytoma reported in the literature

Immunotherapy of kidney cancer

Rak je bubrega neoplazma koja je razmjerno otporna na postojeću kemoterapiju, hormonsko i iradijacijsko liječenje, stoga se u liječenju bolesnika s rakom bubrega primjenjuju i testiraju lijekovi ili terapije s imunomodulatornim djelovanjem. U kliničkoj praksi, a sa svrhom imunoterapije, najčešće se primjenjuju rekombinantni citokini interferon-alfa (INF-a) i interleukin-2 (IL-2). Ta dva citokina mogu izazvati terapijski odgovor u 10% do 30% bolesnika s metastatskim rakom bubrega. Dugoročno preživljenje ipak je rijetko, nešto češće u bolesnika koji su primali visokodozni IL-2. Kako liječenje raka bubrega usprkos brojnim studijama s različitim terapijama nije zadovoljavajuće, u tijeku su i kliničke studije s drugim imunoterapijskim postupcima.Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is generally resistant to standard chemotherapy, hormonal or irradiation treatments. Therefore, various drugs or therapies with immunomodulatory action were or are tested in kidney cancer patients. In clinical praxis many approaches have been investigated of which interferon-alpha (INF-") and interleukin-2 (IL-2) are the most extensively studied ones. These two cytokines can achieve response rates in 10% to 30% of patients with metastatic RCC. Long-term survival, however, is achieved only in few patients. More frequently in the ones who have been receiving high-dose IL-2. Consequently, the treatment of RCC is far from being optimal. Therefore, other and novel immunotherapeutic strategies are ongoing or planned to be tested in clinical trials

Lokalno liječenje moždanih metastaza raka dojke

Breast cancer, along with lung cancer and melanoma, is one of the most common origins of central nervous system metastases. Due to improvement of systemic therapy options for primary disease and consequential prolonged survival, treatment of brain metastasis (BM) is presenting an evolving challenge. While new systemic therapy approaches for breast cancer brain metastasis are focusing on overcoming the blood brain and blood tumor barrier, as well as targeted therapies, local therapy remains the primary line of treatment. The decision of which local therapies to use, depends upon the number and volume of BM, their localization, patient’s clinical status, previously used treatments, status of extracranial disease and patient’s prognosis. In cases when an active approach, including surgery and/or radiotherapy, does not bring benefit to the patient’s quality of life or overall survival, best supportive care is recommended.Rak dojke, uz tumore pluća te melanom, najčešći je tumor koji metastazira u središnji živčani sustav. Uslijed razvitka sistemske terapije primarne bolesti, i posljedičnog produljenog preživljenja bolesnika, liječenje moždanih metastaza predstavlja sve veći izazov. Dok se novi pristupi sistemskoj terapiji moždanih presadnica tumora dojke fokusiraju na savladavanje prepreke krvno-moždane i krvno-tumorske barijere te na ciljanu terapiju, lokalna terapija ostaje primarna linija liječenja. Odluka o izboru metode liječenja ovisi o broju i volumenu moždanih presadnica, njihovoj lokalizaciji, kliničkom statusu bolesnika, prethodno korištenim metodama liječenja, stadiju uznapredovalosti osnovne bolesti te prognozi bolesnika. U slučajevima kada aktivni pristup liječenju, koji uključuje operaciju i/ili radioterapiju, ne pridonosi kvaliteti života ili ukupnom preživljenju bolesnika, preporuča se najbolja potporna njega

MULTIPLE PRIMARY MALIGNANCIES

Multipli primarni tumori koji se javljaju kod istog bolesnika, metakrono ili sinkrono, relativno su rijedak događaj s porastom učestalosti posljednjih desetljeća. Cilj je ovog istraživanja utvrditi njihovu učestalost kod bolesnika liječenih hospitalno u Zavodu za radioterapijsku onkologiju Klinike za onkologiju Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, KBC Zagreb u periodu od 2003. do 2009. godine. Učestalost je multiplih malignih tumora u navedenom periodu bila 2,4%. Od ukupno 103 bolesnika 97 je imalo dva, a 6 tri primarna tumora. Metakronih je tumora bilo 88, a sinkronih 20. Učestalost im je bila veća kod žena nego kod muškaraca, a i pojavljivali su se ranije kod žena nego kod muškaraca. Najčešće su kombinacije prvog i drugoga metakronog tumora kod muškaraca bile: rak prostate-maligni tumor probavnog sustava (osobito rak rektuma i debelog crijeva) i obrnutim redoslijedom te hematološke zloćudne bolesti-maligni tumor probavnog sustava; a kod žena: rak dojke-rak kontralateralne dojke i hematološke zloćudne bolesti (osobito ne-Hodgkinov limfom)-rak dojke. Valja očekivati da će učestalost bolesnika s višestrukim primarnim tumorima rasti, i zbog programa ranog otkrivanja tumora i zbog uspješnijeg liječenja i dužeg očekivanog trajanja života.Multiple primary malignancies, metachronous or synchronous, in a single patient are relatively rare event with the increase of incidence in recent decades. The aim of this research is to study their incidence in patients hospitalized at the Division of Radiotherapy, Department of Oncology, University of Zagreb, School of medicine, University Hospital Centre Zagreb from 2003 to 2009. The incidence of multiple primary malignancies was 2.4%. Among 103 patients, 97 had two, and 6 three primary tumors. Eighty-three cases were metachronous, while 20 cases were synchronous malignancies. The frequency was higher in females than males and their age at diagnosis of tumors was younger than in males. The most common tumor combinations in males were: prostate cancer-digestive system malignancy (especially colorectal cancer) and viceversa, and hematological malignant tumors-digestive system malignancy; while in women there were: breast cancer-cancer of contralateral breast and hematological malignant tumors (especially lymphoma non Hodgkin)-breast cancer. The incidence of multiple primary malignancies is expected to increase due to the better screening programs for early detection of malignancies as well as considerable improvement in their treatment and longer life expectancy

Expression of MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 cancer/testis antigens in medullary breast cancer: retrospective immunohistochemical study

AIM: To immunohistochemically evaluate the expression of MAGE-A1, MAGE-A, and NY-ESO-1 cancer/testis (C/T) tumor antigens in medullary breast cancer (MBC) tumor samples and to analyze it in relation to the clinicopathological features. ----- METHODS: This retrospective study included samples from 49 patients: 40 with typical MBC and 9 with atypical MBC. Tumor specimens were obtained from patients operated on in the University Hospital for Tumors and the Sisters of Mercy University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia, from 1999 to 2005. Standard immunohistochemistry was used on archival paraffin-embedded MBC tissues. ----- RESULTS: MAGE-A1, MAGE-A, and NY-ESO-1 antigens were expressed in 33% (16/49), 33% (16/49), and 22% (11/49) of patients, respectively. No difference between the groups with and without C/T tumor antigen expression in age at diagnosis, tumor size, axillary lymph node metastasis, adjuvant therapy, and HER-2 expression was identified. Significantly more patients died in the MAGE-A-positive group than in the MAGE-A-negative group (P=0.010), whereas a borderline significance was found between MAGE-A1-positive and the MAGE-A1-negative group (P=0.079) and between NY-ESO-1-positive and NY-ESO-1-negative group (P=0.117). Overall survival, as evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier curves, was lower in MAGE-A1- (P=0.031), MAGE-A- (P=0.004), NY-ESO-1-positive groups (P=0.077). ----- CONCLUSION: Expression of C/T antigens may represent a marker of potential prognostic relevance in MBC

High expression of MAGE-A10 cancer-testis antigen in triple-negative breast cancer

Recent studies indicate that ER/PR/HER-2-negative (triple-negative, TN) breast cancers may be "CTA-rich" tumors, suggesting the possibility of CTA-based cancer vaccines as a treatment option for patients bearing these tumors. MAGE-A10 together with NY-ESO-1 is probably the most immunogenic CTA, representing a potentially highly attractive target of active specific immunotherapies. Paraffin-embedded tumor sections were collected retrospectively from 165 breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2003. Immunohistochemical staining for MAGE-A10 and NY-ESO-1 was performed. The expression of MAGE-A10 and NY-ESO-1 was correlated with other clinicopathological variables. MAGE-A10 expression (score </= 2+) was detected in 105/164 (64%), and NY-ESO-1 expression (score </= 2+) was observed in 14/164 (8.5%) patients. No correlation between MAGE-A10 and NY-ESO-1 expression and tumor size, tumor grade, Ki-67 and lymph nodes status was detectable. MAGE-A10 expression was significantly associated with ER-negative (P = 0.002), PR-negative (P = 0.002) and HER-2-negative (P = 0.044) tumors. We clearly showed that MAGE-A10 is frequently expressed in the group of TN patients, where the majority (85.7%) of tumors express this CTA. Because of limited therapeutic options for the triple-negative breast cancer, the frequent expression of MAGE-A10 CTA in these cancers may offer the opportunity for a much needed additional treatment for this group of patients