Medullary and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland occurring as a collision tumor with lymph node metastasis: A case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Papillary thyroid carcinoma and medullary thyroid carcinoma are two different thyroid neoplasia. The simultaneous occurrence of medullary thyroid carcinoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma as a collison tumor with metastases from both lesions in the regional lymph nodes is a rare phenomenon.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 32-year-old Iranian man presented with a fixed anterior neck mass. Ultrasonography revealed two separate thyroid nodules as well as a suspicious neck mass that appeared to be a metastatic lesion. The results of thyroid function tests were normal, but the preoperative calcitonin serum value was elevated. Our patient underwent a total thyroidectomy with neck exploration. Two separate and ill-defined solid lesions grossly in the right lobe were noticed. Histological and immunohistochemical studies of these lesions suggested the presence of medullary thyroid carcinoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma. The lymph nodes isolated from a neck dissection specimen showed metastases from both lesions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The concomitant occurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma and medullary thyroid carcinoma and the exact diagnosis of this uncommon event are important. The treatment strategy should be reconsidered in such cases, and genetic screening to exclude multiple endocrine neoplasia 2 syndromes should be performed. For papillary thyroid carcinoma, radioiodine therapy and thyroid-stimulating hormone suppressive therapy are performed. However, the treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma is mostly radical surgery with no effective adjuvant therapy.</p

Islet transplantation from a nationally funded UK centre reaches socially deprived groups and improves metabolic outcomes

Acknowledgements We thank the transplant nurses involved with the Scottish Islet Transplant Programme (T. McGilvray, J. Davidson, M. Phillips and C. Jansen) for help with participant assessment. We thank the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Services including the Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Team for HLA typing and antibody screening, and the Tissue and Cells Team (A. Timpson, L. Fraser, L. Irvine and P. Henry) for islet isolation and product release testing. We acknowledge the Departments of Transplantation, Diabetes and Interventional Radiology at NHS Lothian for all aspects of patient care and the organ procurement programme. We thank J. Shaw and A. Brooks from the Department of Regenerative Medicine for Diabetes at the University of Newcastle for advice regarding CGMS. C-peptide assays were performed by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Core Biochemical Assay Laboratory. Funding: The Scottish Islet Transplant Programme is funded by the National Services Division. This research was funded by Diabetes UK (Biomedical and Psychosocial Outcomes of Islet Transplantation; Grant no. BDA 06/0003362), Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation, Diabetes Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Royal Infirmary Diabetes Treatment Trust Fund. Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reduced expression of lamin A/C correlates with poor histological differentiation and prognosis in primary gastric carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lamin A/C is very important in DNA replication, RNA dependent transcription and nuclear stabilization. Reduced or absent lamin A/C expression has been found to be a common feature of a variety of different cancers. To investigate the role of lamin A/C in gastric carcinoma (GC) pathogenesis, we analyzed the correlations between the lamin A/C expression level and clinicopathological factors and studied its prognostic role in primary GC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The expression of lamin A/C at mRNA level was detected by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real time RT-PCR, and western blot was used to examine the protein expression. Lamin A/C expression and its prognostic significance were investigated by performing immunohistochemical analysis on a total of 126 GC clinical tissue samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both lamin A/C mRNA and protein expression were downregulated in the majority of tumours compared with corresponding normal gastric tissues (<it>p </it>= 0.011 and <it>p </it>= 0.036, respectively). Real time RT-PCR further validated that downregulation of lamin A/C is associated with poor histological differentiation (r = 0.438, <it>p </it>= 0.025). The immunohistochemical staining showed an evident decrease of lamin A/C expression in 55.6% (70/126) GC cases. Importantly, the negative lamin A/C expression correlated strongly with histological classification (r = 0.361, <it>p </it>= 0.034). Survival analysis revealed that patients with lamin A/C downregulation have a poorer prognosis (<it>p </it>= 0.034). In addition, lamin A/C expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor by multivariate analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Data of this study suggest that lamin A/C is involved in the pathogenesis of GC, and it may serve as a valuable biomarker for assessing the prognosis for primary GC.</p

ENSAT registry-based randomized clinical trials for adrenocortical carcinoma

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an orphan disease lacking effective systemic treatment options. The low incidence of the disease and high cost of clinical trials are major obstacles in the search for improved treatment strategies. As a novel approach, registry-based clinical trials have been introduced in clinical research, so allowing for significant cost reduction, but without compromising scientific benefit. Herein, we describe how the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumours (ENSAT) could transform its current registry into one fit for a clinical trial infrastructure. The rationale to perform randomized registry-based trials in ACC is outlined including an analysis of relevant limitations and challenges. We summarize a survey on this concept among ENSAT members who expressed a strong interest in the concept and rated its scientific potential as high. Legal aspects, including ethical approval of registry-based randomization were identified as potential obstacles. Finally, we describe three potential randomized registry-based clinical trials in an adjuvant setting and for advanced disease with a high potential to be executed within the framework of an advanced ENSAT registry. Thus we, therefore, provide the basis for future registry-based trials for ACC patients. This could ultimately provide proof-of-principle of how to perform more effective randomized trials for an orphan disease