Cancer Science & Therapy

What kind of intraperitoneal therapy would be recommend for our mother, sister, wife or daughter if she was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer and if we were in the office of an experienced surgeon able to achieve an optimal resection or, even better, a complete resection of her disease? If one was a surgeon who believed in postoperative systemic chemotherapy, one’s argument would be based on the results of the study GOG 172 (which coincided with a clinical alert from the NCI of the United States in favor of this modality of intraperitoneal treatment after optimal surgery in patients with ovarian cancer)

Fatal outcome at early presentation of cancer is rare. Here, a case is discussed of a 53 year old female that presented with an acute onset of left lower extremity pain with paleness, pulselessness, abdominal cramps and vomiting that had been present for several weeks. Rapid evaluation led to the initial diagnosis of metastasized gastric cancer that had evolved to hepatic abscedation and aortic valve endocarditis. The patient rapidly developed severe sepsis with multiple organ failure and died 48 hours after presentation.

I read with great interest the article by Draoui et al., on a new class of inhibitors of lactate influx in cancer [1]. The authors report characterization of a novel compound, 7-amino carboxycoumarin (7-ACC), which specifically inhibits one of the members of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs), the MCT-1. Using the substrate mimetic, an analog of pyruvate, the authors also demonstrate that 7-ACC selectively blocks lactate-influx and does not interfere with the uptake of the mimetic thus establishing the molecular specificity of 7-ACC in the inhibition of lactate uptake.

Objective: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women with high rates of mortality worldwide. Cervical cancer is slowly progressive and is preceded by pre-invasive intraepithelial lesions. Therefore, detection of premalignant lesions is key to preventing disease progression to advanced stages. The objective of the present study was examination and quantification of the differentially expressed non-coding mitochondrial RNAs during progression of disease.
Material and methods: The differential expression of S-ncmtRNA and AS-ncmtRNA was analyzed by in situ hybridization (ISH) using tissue macroarrays (TMA) from normal, CIN1, CIN2, CIN3 and invasive squamous carcinoma (SCC). PCNA and p16INK-4a were detected in consecutive biopsies by immunohistochemistry. Quantification of ISH signal was carried out with Image ProPlus 6.1 software and the results were expressed as percentage of Integrated Optical Density (IOD).
Results: We found a marked down-regulation of AS-ncmtRNA in 95% of tissues analyzed (CIN 1/2, CIN 3, and invasive squamous cancer). Moreover, differential expression of ASncmtRNA v/s S-ncmtRNA showed significant difference. Normal proliferating tissues did not display down-regulation of AS-ncmtRNA. Down regulation of ASncmtRNA correlated with the expression of the tumor suppressor protein p16INK-4a Conclusions: We found down-regulation of AS-ncmtRNA in pre-malignant and tumor samples which could distinguish normal tissues from early lesions and tumor samples. These results suggest that the down-regulation of AS-ncmtRNA is a novel marker of early lesions and cervix neoplasia.

Acquired resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies such as cetuximab and panitumumab represents an important limitation to the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC), and research efforts have increasingly been directed towards understanding molecular mechanisms of resistance. We propose that neurotrophin signaling mediated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor, tropomyosinrelated kinase B (TrkB), might be a compensatory mechanism contributing to decreased response to anti-EGFR therapy in CRC. The combined targeting of EGFR and TrkB is a novel strategy worth of further investigation.

Nodular hidradenoma or clear cell hidradenoma are tumors of sweat gland usually seen in 20-50 years age group with female preponderance. We report a case of 45 year old female who came for FNA with a clinical suspicion of sebaceous cyst. Cytosmears showed fairly cohesive groups of uniform, oval to polygonal cells some of which showed cytoplasmic clearing. The cells were lying in a mucoid background along with good number of cyst macrophages. Cytological impression was benign adnexal tumor possibly cystic eccrine hidradenoma which was confirmed on histology as nodular hidradenoma. Cytohistological correlation readily allows differentiation of this unusual neoplasm from other benign and malignant mimics of skin tumours. The prognosis is excellent following excision.