Urethral metastasis with neuroendocrine differentiation in a patient with prostate cancer treated with hormone deprivation

Adenocarcinoma prostate treated with hormone deprivation may evolve into a neuroendocrine differentiated tumor. Usually visceral metastasis are seen in neuroendocrine tumors. We present a case of neuroendocrine differentiated urethral metastasis from a hormone deprived prostate cancer

Biospectroscopic analysis of human breast cancer tissue: probing infrared signatures to comprehend biochemical alterations

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most studied and lead- ing form of malignancy in human females. Currently, studies conducted in the field of breast cancer focuses on its early detection using noninvasive or minimally inva- sive techniques in lieu of traditional excisional biopsy, as cancer treatment is often simpler and effective, when diagnosed at an early stage. Mammography is the first step, usually performed in diagnosing breast cancer, but at times mammogram may not be able to provide a clear picture. In addition, biopsy is performed to confirm the presence or absence of tumor, which is associated with false-positive results. Consequently, the limitations of current screening methods have shifted the focal area of on cological research in applying biospectroscopy tech- niques for diagnostics (Gajjar et al.,2014

Biospectroscopic analysis of human breast cancer tissue: probing infrared signatures to comprehend biochemical alterations

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most studied and lead- ing form of malignancy in human females. Currently, studies conducted in the fi eld of breast cancer focuses on its early detection using noninvasive or minimally inva- sive techniques in lieu of traditional excisional biopsy, as cancer treatment is often simpler and effective, when diagnosed at an early stage. Mammography is the fi rst step, usually performed in diagnosing breast cancer, but at times mammogram may not be able to provide a clear picture. In addition, biopsy is performed to con fi rm the presence or absence of tumor, which is associated with false-positive results. Consequently, the limitations of current screening methods have shifted the focal area of oncological research in applying biospectroscopy tech- niques for diagnostics (Gajjar et al., 2014 ). Infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy are versatile vibrational spectroscopy methods that have been used to discriminate normal and cancer tissue and/or cell of dif- ferent kinds, including endometrial cancer, cervical can- cer, lung cancer, precancerous lesion, and brain tumors (Gajjar et al., 2013 ). Coupled with some algorithms (Gajjar et al., 2013 ), these spectroscopic outcomes can deliver an objective, high throughput and low-cost solu- tion to breast cancer diagnosis. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) has expanded its application in the fi eld of human biology, since it was revealed that biological molecules present in a living tissue possess vibrational features that can be studied to derive their molecular information. Thus, the biochemical modi fi cation in a normal tissue/cell can be analyzed and compared to its malignant state (Gajjar et al., 2014 ). Further, several reports have highlighted its advancement in both near- and mid- infrared regions, making it an ef fi cient and convenient method for clinical purposes. From last few years, FTIR spectrophotometer has been exploited to study the molecular and structural characteristics of proteins, car- bohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Initially, Chirgadze and Nevskaya in 1976 studied the infrared spectral fea- tures of amide I and amide II (Chirgadze & Nevskaya, 1976 ). Further, in an investigation, Liquier and his col- leagues (Liquier, Taboury, Taillandier, & Brahms, 1977 ) demonstrated that FTIR spectroscopy could be utilized to identify the different conformations of DNA (Liquier et al., 1977 ). In the year 2000, using infrared spectro- scopic vibrations, Bouchard and his co-researchers, revealed the structure of insulin and described the forma- tion of amyloid fi brils via insulin, which involves sub- stantial unfolding of the native protein (Bouchard, Zurdo, Nettleton, Dobson, & Robinson, 2000 ). Since then, many more complex studies have been conducted on proteins and nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) structures, their conformations and interactions with small ligands. The biochemical changes in a cell/tissue generally lead to nuclear, cytoplasmic and morphological variations and hence, FTIR spectroscopy could detect these alterations during the developmental stages of cancer before mor- phological and cytological changes are evident under light microscope. Many studies have shown that spectro- scopic techniques (with different sampling modes) can differentiate the biochemistry of normal and neoplastic cells. It has been employed to investigate the carcinoma of the breast, esophagus, colon, stomach, and prostate signi fi cant