Molecular markers of endometrial carcinoma detected in uterine aspirates.

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most frequent of the invasive tumors of the female genital tract. Although usually detected in its initial stages, a 20% of the patients present with advanced disease. To date, no characterized molecular marker has been validated for the diagnosis of EC. In addition, new methods for prognosis and classification of EC are needed to combat this deadly disease. We thus aimed to identify new molecular markers of EC and to evaluate their validity on endometrial aspirates. Gene expression screening on 52 carcinoma samples and series of real-time quantitative PCR validation on 19 paired carcinomas and normal tissue samples and on 50 carcinoma and noncarcinoma uterine aspirates were performed to identify and validate potential biomarkers of EC. Candidate markers were further confirmed at the protein level by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. We identified ACAA1, AP1M2, CGN, DDR1, EPS8L2, FASTKD1, GMIP, IKBKE, P2RX4, P4HB, PHKG2, PPFIBP2, PPP1R16A, RASSF7, RNF183, SIRT6, TJP3, EFEMP2, SOCS2 and DCN as differentially expressed in ECs. Furthermore, the differential expression of these biomarkers in primary endometrial tumors is correlated to their expression level in corresponding uterine fluid samples. Finally, these biomarkers significantly identified EC with area under the receiver-operating-characteristic values ranging from 0.74 to 0.95 in uterine aspirates. Interestingly, analogous values were found among initial stages. We present the discovery of molecular biomarkers of EC and describe their utility in uterine aspirates. These findings represent the basis for the development of a highly sensitive and specific minimally invasive method for screening ECs

Guillain-Barre Syndrome and Swallowing Dysfunction

WOS: 000422943000003PubMed ID: 28873071Purpose: Patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), especially severe cases that require treatment in intensive care units, often experience swallowing difficulties. However, the oropharyngeal function of patients with GBS not treated in intensive care units is not typically evaluated using neurophysiological techniques. Methods: Electrophysiological techniques were used to determine dysphagia limit and sequential water swallowing values in an electromyography laboratory. Results: This study assessed 18 patients with GBS who were not treated in the intensive care unit between 4 and 45 days after their hospital admission; 18 healthy volunteers were used as a control group. Of the 18 patients with GBS, 7 exhibited the clinical involvement of either a single cranial nerve or a combination of cranial nerves while 11 did not show any lower cranial nerve involvement. Clinical dysphagia was observed in seven patients and six of these cases involved a lower cranial nerve while five patients without cranial nerve involvement had silent dysphagia according to the dysphagia limit test. In addition, the duration of sequential swallowing was significantly prolonged in all patients with GBS compared with the control subjects. Conclusions: The present findings demonstrated that neurophysiological techniques are useful and easily applicable for patients with GBS and that there were no complications. Furthermore, cranial nerve involvement in patients with GBS likely increased the incidence of oropharyngeal dysphagia, and subclinical dysphagia may be present in this population as well. Therefore, neurophysiological techniques can be initially used and then repeated during follow-up visits for all types of patients with GBS

Molecular bases of endometrial cancer: new roles for new actors in the diagnosis and therapy of the disease

Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the most commonly diagnosed gynecologic malignancy in the western world. The majority of these cancers are curable, but a subset about 15–20% of endometrial tumors exhibits an aggressive phenotype. Based on clinic-pathological and molecular characteristics, EC has been classified into two groups: Type I estrogen-dependent adenocarcinomas, which have a good prognosis and an endometrioid histology, and Type II or non-estrogen-dependent EC associated with poor prognosis and non-endometrioid histology. EC develops as a result of a stepwise accumulation of alterations that seem to be specific of each histological type. However, more knowledge is needed to better understand the differences in the biology and the clinical outcome of EC. We would like to highlight the need to explore new potential biomarkers of EC as a tool for the detection and monitoring of aggressive endometrial tumors that, at the same time, will allow us to develop novel and more selective molecular targeted therapies against EC.Fil: Llauradó, Marta. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Ruiz, Anna. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Majem, Blanca. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Ertekin, Tugce. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Colás, Eva. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Pedrola, Nuria. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Devis, Laura. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Rigau, Marina. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Sequeiros, Tamara. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Montes, Melania. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Garcia, Marta. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Cabrera, Sílvia. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Gil Moreno, Antonio. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Xercavins, Jordi. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Castellví, Josep. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Garcia, Angel. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Ramón y Cajal, Santiago. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Moreno, Gema. Fundación MD Anderson; EspañaFil: Alameda, Francesc. Hospital del Mar. Servei de Patologia ; EspañaFil: Vazquez, Monica Hebe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (i); Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnológico Bahia Blanca. Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas y Biomedicas del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Palacios, José. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Prat, Jaime. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Servei de Patologia; EspañaFil: Doll, Andreas. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; EspañaFil: Matías Guiu, Xavier. Hospital Arnau de Vilanova. Servei de Patologia; EspañaFil: Abal, Miguel. Complejo Hospitalario de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Reventós, Jaume. Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. Hospital Vall D; Españ