Morphology and Molecular Features of Rare Colorectal Carcinoma Histotypes

Several histopathological variants of colorectal carcinoma can be distinguished, some associated with specific molecular profiles. However, in routine practice, ninety/ninety-five percent of all large bowel tumors are diagnosed as conventional adenocarcinoma, even though they are a heterogeneous group including rare histotypes, which are often under-recognized. Indeed, colorectal cancer exhibits differences in incidence, location of tumor, pathogenesis, molecular pathways and outcome depending on histotype. The aim is therefore to review the morphological and molecular features of these rare variants of intestinal carcinomas which may hold the key to differences in prognosis and treatment

Survival prediction in high-grade gliomas using CT perfusion imaging.

Patients with high-grade gliomas usually have heterogeneous response to surgery and chemoirradiation. The objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate serial changes in tumor volume and perfusion imaging parameters and (2) to determine the value of these data in predicting overall survival (OS). Twenty-nine patients with World Health Organization grades III and IV gliomas underwent magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) perfusion examinations before surgery, and 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after radiotherapy. Serial measurements of tumor volumes and perfusion parameters were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic analysis, Cox proportional hazards regression, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis to determine their values in predicting OS. Higher trends in blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), and permeability-surface area product in the contrast-enhancing lesions (CEL) and the non-enhancing lesions (NEL) were found in patients with OS \u3c 18 months compared to those with OS ≥ 18 months, and these values were significant at selected time points (P \u3c 0.05). Only CT perfusion parameters yielded sensitivities and specificities of ≥70 % in predicting 18 and 24 months OS. Pre-surgery BF in the NEL and BV in the CEL and NEL 3 months after radiotherapy had sensitivities and specificities \u3e80 % in predicting 24 months OS in patients with grade IV gliomas. Our study indicated that CT perfusion parameters were predictive of survival and could be useful in assessing early response and in selecting adjuvant treatment to prolong survival if verified in a larger cohort of patients

Housing Reloaded. The European Large Scale Heritage

miR-224 has recently emerged as a driver oncomiR in sporadic colorectal carcinogenesis, but its pathogenetic role is still controversial. A large phenotypical and molecularly characterized series of preinvasive and invasive colorectal lesions was investigated for miR-224 expression by qRT-PCR and in situ hybridization. The caspase-3 and caspase-7 status was also assessed and correlated to miR-224 dysregulation. miR-224 was significantly upregulated during the adenoma-carcinoma sequence and in the context of inflammatory bowel disease dysplastic lesions, whereas its expression was significantly downregulated among BRAF-mutated tumors and in the presence of a DNA mismatch repair deficiency. miR-224 targets caspase-3 and caspase-7 in colorectal cancer, and this inverse relation was already evident from the earliest phases of transformation in intestinal mucosa. The miR-224/caspases axis may represent an interesting field of study for innovative biomarkers/therapeutics for BRAF-mutated/DNA mismatch repair-deficient tumors. Copyright \ua9 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved