Lack of mutations within ST7 gene in tumour-derived cell lines and primary epithelial tumours

ST7 is a candidate tumour suppressor gene at human chromosome locus 7q31.1. We have performed mutational analysis of ST7 in a wide-range of cell lines and primary epithelial cancers and detected only one missense change in a breast cancer cell line. Other mutations previously found in cell lines and primary tumours were not evident in our analysis. These results imply that another tumour suppressor gene at this locus may be more important than ST7 in carcinogenesis

A 10-year Review of Surgical Management of Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans

Background: Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare skin cancer. Standard treatment in the United Kingdom (UK) is either surgical wide local excision (WLE) or Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). It is unclear which approach has the lower recurrence rate.Objectives: We undertook a retrospective comparative review of DFSP surgical management in the UK National Health Service (NHS) in order to define:1) current surgical practice for primary and recurrent DFSP2) local recurrence rates for primary DFSP3) survival outcomes for DFSP.Methods: Retrospective clinical case-note review of patients with histologically-confirmed DFSP (January 2004–2014) who have undergone surgical treatment.Results: Surgical management of 483 primary and 64 recurrent DFSP in 11 plastic surgery and 15 dermatology departments was analysed. Almost 75% of primary DFSP (n=362) were treated with WLE and 20.1% (n=97) with MMS. For recurrent DFSP, 68.7% (n=44) and 23.4% (n=15) underwent WLE and MMS, respectively. Recurrent primary DFSP occurred in 6 patients after WLE and none after MMS. Median follow-up was 4.8 years [IQR 3.5, 5.8] with 8 reported deaths during the follow-up analysis period; one confirmed to be DFSP-related.Conclusions: WLE was the commonest surgical modality used to treat DFSP across the UK. The local recurrence rate was very low, occurring only after WLE. Although a prospective RCT may provide more definitive outcomes, in the absence of a clearly superior surgical modality, treatment decisions should be based on patient preference, clinical expertise and cost

Basal cell carcinomas without histological confirmation and their treatment : an audit in four European regions

Summary- Background: Limited data are available on how often basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are clinically diagnosed without histological confirmation and how they are treated. Objectives Within the framework of the EPIDERM project, an audit was conducted in four European countries to study the occurrence of clinically diagnosed BCCs without histological confirmation and to investigate how these are treated. Methods: In the Netherlands, Scotland, Finland and Malta studies were performed within different timeframes. Patients with one or more BCC(s) were selected and the number of clinically diagnosed BCCs without histological confirmation and their treatment was investigated by (manually) reviewing the (electronic) patient records and checking the (hospital) pathology databases to find evidence of histological confirmation. Results: In the Netherlands, 1089 patients with a first histologically confirmed BCC developed 1974 BCCs of which 1833 (92.9%) were histologically confirmed and 141 (7.1%) were not. A 4-month retrospective study conducted in Scotland selected 294 patients with 344 BCCs; 306 (89.0%) were histologically confirmed and 38 (11.0%) were not. A 3-month prospective study performed at the same centre in Scotland identified 44 patients who developed 58 BCCs; 44 (75.9%) of these were histologically confirmed and 14 (24.1%) were not. In Finland, there were 701 patients who developed 977 BCCs, of which 807 (82.6%) were histologically and 170 (17.4%) nonhistologically confirmed. In Malta, there were 420 patients with 477 BCCs. Only three (0.7%) of them were clinically diagnosed without histological confirmation. In the Netherlands and Finland, clinically diagnosed BCCs without histological confirmation were most often treated with cryotherapy, whereas in Scotland 5% imiquimod cream was the preferred treatment modality. Conclusions: Although the frequency of clinically diagnosed BCCs without histological confirmation differed between the four European regions (range 0.7-24.1%), this confirms that the burden of BCC in Europe is underestimated when based on data from pathology and/or cancer registries.peer-reviewe