Tonsillar metastasis of gastric cancer

Metastasis from a malignant tumor to the palatine tonsils is rare, with only 100 cases reported in the English-language literature. Tonsillar metastasis from a gastric cancer is very rare. We report here a case of palatine tonsillar metastasis after gastric cancer surgery. The patient was an 88-year-old woman who had gastric cancer with abdominal wall invasion. She had undergone a distal gastrectomy with abdominal wall resection and D2 lymph node dissection. Histologically, the tumor was primarily a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. It was stage IV (T4, N1, M0) using TNM clinical classification. The patient developed pharyngeal discomfort and abdominal pain and was hospitalized during the follow-up period, 1 year 9 months post-operatively. Multiple lung metastases, Virchow’s lymph node metastasis, and adrenal metastasis were observed. A mass of 2.5 cm was also observed in the right palatine tonsil. It was diagnosed as a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, a metastasis from gastric cancer. There was a concern of asphyxiation due to hemorrhage of the tumor; however, the tumor dislodged approximately 10 days after biopsy and tonsillar recurrence was not observed. The patient died 1 year 10 months post-operatively. In the literature there are cases with tonsillar metastases where surgical treatment, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy were performed and extension of survival was seen. Tonsillar metastasis is a form of systemic metastasis of a malignant tumor, and there is a high risk for asphyxiation from tumor dislodgement or hemorrhage. Thus, it is important to recognize tonsillar metastasis as an oncologic emergency

The FUN30 Chromatin Remodeler, Fft3, Protects Centromeric and Subtelomeric Domains from Euchromatin Formation

The chromosomes of eukaryotes are organized into structurally and functionally discrete domains. This implies the presence of insulator elements that separate adjacent domains, allowing them to maintain different chromatin structures. We show that the Fun30 chromatin remodeler, Fft3, is essential for maintaining a proper chromatin structure at centromeres and subtelomeres. Fft3 is localized to insulator elements and inhibits euchromatin assembly in silent chromatin domains. In its absence, euchromatic histone modifications and histone variants invade centromeres and subtelomeres, causing a mis-regulation of gene expression and severe chromosome segregation defects. Our data strongly suggest that Fft3 controls the identity of chromatin domains by protecting these regions from euchromatin assembly

Meta-analysis of non-tumour doses for radiation-induced cancer on the basis of dose-rate

Purpose: Quantitative analysis of cancer risk of ionising radiation as a function of dose-rate