Metastatic eccrine porocarcinoma: report of a case and review of the literature

Eccrine porocarcinoma (EPC) is a rare type of skin cancer arising from the intraepidermal portion of eccrine sweat glands or acrosyringium, representing 0.005-0.01% of all cutaneous tumors. About 20% of EPC will recur and about 20% will metastasize to regional lymph nodes. There is a mortality rate of 67% in patients with lymph node metastases. Although rare, the occurrence of distant metastases has been reported

Effect of electrochemotherapy on human herpesvirus 8 kinetics in classic Kaposi sarcoma

Abstract Background Electrochemotherapy (ECT) has shown to be an effective treatment for cutaneous and subcutaneous Kaposi sarcoma (KS) lesions. However, no study has investigated the impact of ECT treatment on the kinetics of human herpesvirus type 8 (HHV8), which is considered the necessary causal agent of KS. We aimed to evaluate HHV8 viral load and expression levels in patients affected by classic KS who received one or more ECT treatments and have been followed semi annually for up to four years. Methods A total of 27 classic KS patients were enrolled in this study. Tumour biopsies and blood samples were obtained before ECT treatment. Additional blood samples were collected at six month intervals for 12–48 months. HHV8 viral load and expression profiles of latent (ORF72 and ORF73) and lytic (K2, K8, K8.1, K10/K10.1, K10.5/K10.6 and ORF16) genes were assessed in all samples by real-time PCR. HHV8 ORF26 and K1 regions were amplified and subjected to direct nucleotide sequencing followed by phylogenetic analysis for variant identification. Results All KS biopsies and 46.4% of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected before ECT treatment were positive for HHV8 DNA. Viral load ranged from 0.02 to 2.3 copies per cell in KS lesions and 3.0 × 10−7 to 6.9 × 10−4 copies per cell in PBMCs. Overall, latent ORF72 and ORF73 as well as lytic K2, K8 and K10/K10.1 were expressed in all KS biopsies. ORF16 mRNA was detected in 71.4% and both K8.1 and K10.5/K10.6 mRNAs in 57.1% of KS samples. The ORF72, ORF73 and K2 transcripts were amplified in 37.5%, 25% and 25% of PBMCs collected before ECT, respectively. After the first ECT session, complete response was achieved in 20 out of 27 (74.1%) patients and HHV8 DNA was detected in four out of 27 (14.8%) PBMC samples at six month follow up. Phylogenetic analysis of ORF26 amplimers showed that most viral variants belonged to A/C (82.3%), and few to C2 (5.9%) or C3 (11.8%) subtype. The K1/VR1 variants fell into A (33.3%) and C (66.7%) HHV8 clade. No correlation was found between HHV8 subtypes and ECT complete response. Conclusions ECT therapy has a significant effect on HHV8 kinetics in patients with classic KS. The complete remission of patients was accompanied by clearance of circulating virus

Antitumor activity of BRAF inhibitor and IFNÃ\u97alpha; Combination in BRAF-mutant melanoma

Background: BRAFV600E-mediated MAPK pathway activation is associated in melanoma cells with IFNAR1 downregulation. IFNAR1 regulates melanoma cell sensitivity to IFNÃ\u97alpha;, a cytokine used for the adjuvant treatment of melanoma. These findings and the limited therapeutic efficacy of BRAF-I prompted us to examine whether the efficacy of IFNÃ\u97alpha; therapy of BRAFV600E melanoma can be increased by its combination with BRAF-I.Methods: BRAF/NRAS genotype, ERK activation, IFNAR1, and HLA class I expression were tested in 60 primary melanomatumors from treatment-naive patients. The effect of BRAF-I on IFNAR1 expression was assessed in three melanoma cell lines and in four biopsies of BRAFV600E metastases. The antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic and immunomodulatory activity of BRAF-I and IFNÃ\u97alpha; combination was tested in vitro and in vivo utilizing three melanoma cell lines, HLA class I-MA peptide complex-specific T-cells and immunodeficient mice (5 per group for survival and 10 per group for tumor growth inhibition). All statistical tests were two-sided. Differences were considered statistically significant when the P value was less than .05. Results: The IFNAR1 level was statistically significantly (P Ã\u97lt; .001) lower in BRAFV600E primary melanoma tumors than in BRAF wild-type tumors. IFNAR1 downregulation was reversed by BRAF-I treatment in the three melanoma cell lines (P Ã\u97le; .02) and in three out of four metastases. The IFNAR1 level in the melanoma tumors analyzed was increased as early as 10 to 14 days following the beginning of the treatment. These changes were associated with: 1) an increased susceptibility in vitro of melanoma cells to the antiproliferative (P Ã\u97le; .04), pro-apoptotic (P Ã\u97le; .009) and immunomodulatory activity, including upregulation of HLA class I antigen APM component (P Ã\u97le; .04) and MA expression as well as recognition by cognate T-cells (P Ã\u97lt; .001), of BRAF-I and IFNÃ\u97alpha; combination and 2) an increased survival (P Ã\u97gt; .001) and inhibition of tumor growth of melanoma cells (P Ã\u97lt; .001) in vivo by BRAF-I and IFNÃ\u97alpha; combination. Conclusions: The described results provide a strong rationale for the clinical trials implemented in BRAFV600E melanoma patients with BRAF-I and IFNÃ\u97alpha; combination