257,170 research outputs found
A Lucky Mistake: The Splenic Glands of Marcello Malpighi
PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: More than 50% of all gynaecological cancers can be classified as rare tumours (defined as an annual incidence of <6 per 100,000) and such tumours represent an important challenge for clinicians.
RECENT FINDINGS: Rare cancers account for more than one fifth of all new cancer diagnoses, more than any of the single common cancers alone. Reviewing the RARECAREnet database, some of the tumours occur infrequently, whilst others because of their natural history have a high prevalence, and therefore appear to be more common, although their incidence is also rare. Harmonization of medical practice, guidelines and novel trials are needed to identify rare tumours and facilitate the development of new treatments. Ovarian tumours are the focus of this review, but we comment on other rare gynaecological tumours, as the diagnosis and treatment challenges faced are similar.
FUTURE: This requires European collaboration, international partnerships, harmonization of treatment and collaboration to overcome the regulatory barriers to conduct international trials. Whilst randomized trials can be done in many tumour types, there are some for which conducting even single arm studies may be challenging. For these tumours alternative study designs, robust collection of data through national registries and audits could lead to improvements in the treatment of rare tumours. In addition, concentring the care of patients with rare tumours into a limited number of centres will help to build expertise, facilitate trials and improve outcomes
Precise navigation surgery of tumours in the lung in mouse models enabled by in situ fluorescence labelling with a killer-reporter adenovirus.
BackgroundCurrent methods of image-guided surgery of tumours of the lung mostly rely on CT. A sensitive procedure of selective tumour fluorescence labelling would allow simple and high-resolution visualisation of the tumour for precise surgical navigation.MethodsHuman lung cancer cell lines H460 and A549 were genetically transformed to express red fluorescent protein (RFP). Tumours were grown subcutaneously for each cell line and harvested and minced for surgical orthotopic implantation on the left lung of nude mice. Tumour growth was measured by fluorescence imaging. After the tumours reached 5 mm in diameter, they were injected under fluorescence guidance with the telomerase-dependent green fluorescent protein (GFP)-containing adenovirus, OBP-401. Viral labelling of the lung tumours with GFP precisely colocalised with tumour RFP expression. Three days after administration of OBP-401, fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) was performed.ResultsFGS of tumours in the lung was enabled by labelling with a telomerase-dependent adenovirus containing the GFP gene. Tumours in the lung were selectively and brightly labelled. FGS enabled complete lung tumour resection with no residual fluorescent tumour.ConclusionsFGS of tumours in the lung is feasible and more effective than bright-light surgery
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Microflow of fluorescently labelled red blood cells in tumours expressing single isoforms of VEGF and their response to VEGF-R tyrosine kinase inhibition
This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.In this work we studied the functional differences between the microcirculation of murine tumours that only express single isoforms of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF), VEGF120 and VEGF188, and the effect of VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase (VEGF-R TK) inhibition on their functional response to the vascular disrupting agent, combretastatin A-4 phosphate (CA-4-P). We used measurement of fluorescentlylabelled
red blood cell (RBC) velocities in tumour microvessels to study this functional response. RBC velocity for control VEGF120-expressing tumours was over 50% slower than for control VEGF188-expressing tumours, which may be due to the immature and haemorrhagic vasculature of the VEGF120
tumour. After chronic treatment with a VEGF-R tyrosine kinase inhibitor, SU5416, RBC velocities in VEGF120 tumours were significantly increased compared to control VEGF120 tumours, and similar to velocities in both VEGF188 treatment groups. Control and SU5416 treated VEGF188 tumours were not
different from each other. Treatment of VEGF120 tumours with SU5416 reduced their vascular response to CA-4-P to a similar level to the VEGF188 tumours. Differential expression of VEGF isoforms not only affected vascular function in untreated tumours but also impacted on response to a vascular disrupting drug, CA-4-P, alone and in combination with an anti-angiogenic approach involving VEGF-R TK inhibition.
Analysis of RBC velocities is a useful tool in measuring functional responses to vascular targeted treatments.This study is funded by the Cancer Research UK
Solitary fibrous tumour of the nose and nasopharynx
A case of solitary fibrous tumour of the nasal cavity is reported. These tumours, rare in the nose, are believed to be similar to fibrous mesotheliomas of the pleural cavity. The main presenting symptom is that of unilateral nasal obstruction and diagnosis is made on histological examination of the lesion. These tumours have to be distinguished from other spindle-cell tumours of the nasal cavity and sinuses.peer-reviewe
Sacral tumours on MRI : a pictorial essay
Tumours of the sacrum can be primary or secondary. Since the sacrum is rich in haematopoietic bone marrow, bone metastases are the most frequent aetiologies. However, tumours can arise from all components of the sacrum and primary bone tumours should be considered in case of a solitary lesion and absence of oncologic history. As the clinical signs are usually non-specific, magnetic resonance imaging has become an indispensable tool in narrowing the differential diagnosis and determining the therapeutic approach. This pictorial essay illustrates specific features of the most common sacral tumours on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging
An evaluation of DNA-damage response and cell-cycle pathways for breast cancer classification
Accurate subtyping or classification of breast cancer is important for
ensuring proper treatment of patients and also for understanding the molecular
mechanisms driving this disease. While there have been several gene signatures
proposed in the literature to classify breast tumours, these signatures show
very low overlaps, different classification performance, and not much relevance
to the underlying biology of these tumours. Here we evaluate DNA-damage
response (DDR) and cell cycle pathways, which are critical pathways implicated
in a considerable proportion of breast tumours, for their usefulness and
ability in breast tumour subtyping. We think that subtyping breast tumours
based on these two pathways could lead to vital insights into molecular
mechanisms driving these tumours. Here, we performed a systematic evaluation of
DDR and cell-cycle pathways for subtyping of breast tumours into the five known
intrinsic subtypes. Homologous Recombination (HR) pathway showed the best
performance in subtyping breast tumours, indicating that HR genes are strongly
involved in all breast tumours. Comparisons of pathway based signatures and two
standard gene signatures supported the use of known pathways for breast tumour
subtyping. Further, the evaluation of these standard gene signatures showed
that breast tumour subtyping, prognosis and survival estimation are all closely
related. Finally, we constructed an all-inclusive super-signature by combining
(union of) all genes and performing a stringent feature selection, and found it
to be reasonably accurate and robust in classification as well as prognostic
value. Adopting DDR and cell cycle pathways for breast tumour subtyping
achieved robust and accurate breast tumour subtyping, and constructing a
super-signature which contains feature selected mix of genes from these
molecular pathways as well as clinical aspects is valuable in clinical
practice.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 6 table
Analysis of the clinical relevance of histological classification of benign epithelial salivary gland tumours
IntroductionA vast increase in knowledge of numerous aspects of malignant salivary gland tumours has emerged during the last decade and, forseveral reasons, thishas not been the case in benign epithelial salivary gland tumours. We have performed a literature review to investigate whether an accurate histological diagnosis of the 11 different types of benign epithelial salivary gland tumours is correlated to any differences in their clinical behaviour.MethodsA search was performed for histological classifications, recurrence rates and risks for malignant transformation, treatment modalities, and prognosis of these tumours. The search was performed primarily through PubMed, Google Scholar, and all versions of WHO classifications since 1972, as well as numerous textbooks on salivary gland tumours/head and neck/pathology/oncology. A large number of archival salivary tumours were also reviewed histologically.ResultsPleomorphic adenomas carry a considerable risk (5-15%) for malignant transformation but, albeit to a much lesser degree, so do basal cell adenomas and Warthin tumours, while the other eight types virtually never develop into malignancy. Pleomorphic adenoma has a rather high risk for recurrence while recurrence occurs only occasionally in sialadenoma papilliferum, oncocytoma, canalicular adenoma, myoepithelioma and the membranous type of basal cell adenoma. Papillomas, lymphadenoma, sebaceous adenoma, cystadenoma, basal cell adenoma (solid, trabecular and tubular subtypes) very rarely, if ever, recur.ConclusionsA correct histopathological diagnosis of these tumours is necessary due to (1) preventing confusion with malignant salivary gland tumours; (2) only one (pleomorphic adenoma) has a considerable risk for malignant transformation, but all four histological types ofbasal cell adenoma canoccasionally develop into malignancy, as does Warthin tumour; (3) sialadenoma papilliferum, oncocytoma, canalicular adenoma, myoepithelioma and Warthin tumour only occasionally recur; while (4) intraductal and inverted papilloma, lymphadenoma, sebaceous adenoma, cystadenoma, basal cell adenoma (apart from the membranous type) virtually never recur. No biomarker was found to be relevant for predicting recurrence or potential malignant development. Guidelines for appropriate treatment strategies are given.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Malignant and noninvasive skin tumours in renal transplant recipients.
Background. Transplant recipients require immunosuppression to prevent graft rejection. This conveys an increased risk of malignancy, particularly skin tumours. There is a need for up-to-date data for the South of England. Method. Pathology records were reviewed for 709 kidney transplant recipients on immunosuppression at our hospital from 1995 to 2008. Skin tumours were recorded/analysed. Results. Mean age at transplant was 46 years. Mean length of follow-up was 7.2 years and total follow-up was 4926 person-years. 53 (7.5%) patients (39/458 (8.5%) males and 14/251 (5.6%) females) developed ≥1 skin malignancy. Cumulative incidences of 4.0%, 7.5%, and 12.2% were observed for those with <5, <10, and ≥10 years follow-up, respectively. The rate was 45 tumours per 1000 person-years at risk. Additionally, 21 patients (3.0%) only had noninvasive tumours. 221 malignant skin tumours were found: 50.2% were SCCs, 47.1% BCCs, and 2.7% malignant melanomas. Mean years to first tumour were 5.8. Mean number of tumours per patient was 4, with mean interval of 12 months. Conclusions. Despite changes in transplantation practice during the time since the last data were published in this region, these findings are similar to previous studies. This adds to the evidence allowing clinicians to inform patients in this region of their risk
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