TERT promoter mutation subtypes and survival in stage I and II melanoma patients.

Mutations within the promoter of gene encoding telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit are frequent in many cancers including melanoma. Previously, the TERT promoter mutations were shown to associate with markers of poor outcome and reduced survival in patients with primary melanoma. In this study, we investigated the impact of the subtypes of TERT mutations on disease-free and melanoma-specific survival in 287 patients with stage I/II nonacral melanoma.

Variables that influence BRAF mutation probability: A next-generation sequencing, non-interventional investigation of BRAFV600 mutation status in melanoma.

Background: The incidence of melanoma, particularly in older patients, has steadily increased over the past few decades. Activating mutations of BRAF, the majority occurring in BRAFV600, are frequently detected in melanoma; however, the prognostic significance remains unclear. This study aimed to define the probability and distribution of BRAFV600 mutations, and the clinico-pathological factors that may affect BRAF mutation status, in patients with advanced melanoma using next-generation sequencing.

Universal BRAF State Detection by the Pyrosequencing®-Based U-BRAF(V⁶⁰⁰) Assay.

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive type of malignancy with considerable metastatic potential and frequent resistance to cytotoxic agents. BRAF mutant protein was recently recognized as therapeutic target in metastatic melanoma.We present the newly developed U-BRAF(V600) approach (Patent No.

Opening a niche for therapy: local lymphodepletion helps the immune system to fight melanoma.

In this issue, Fujiwara et al. report that local ablation of CD4+ T cells in a murine B16 melanoma model, together with concomitant activation of the immune system by OX40L, leads to complete rejection of the melanomas. Rejection was driven mainly by CD8+ T cells, which infiltrated the melanomas and secreted sizeable amounts of IFN-γ.

Automated universal BRAF state detection within the activation segment in skin metastases by pyrosequencing-based assay U-BRAF(V600).

Malignant melanoma is a highly-aggressive type of malignancy with considerable metastatic potential and frequent resistance to cytotoxic agents. BRAF mutant protein was recently recognized as therapeutic target in metastatic melanoma. We present a newly-developed U-BRAF(V600) approach - a universal pyrosequencing-based assay for mutation detection within activation segment in exon 15 of human braf.

Real-imaging cDNA-AFLP transcript profiling of pancreatic cancer patients: Egr-1 as a potential key regulator of muscle cachexia.

Background: Cancer cachexia is a progressive wasting syndrome and the most prevalent characteristic of cancer in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We hypothesize that genes expressed in wasted skeletal muscle of pancreatic cancer patients may determine the initiation and severity of cachexia syndrome.

Experimental Design: We studied gene expression in skeletal muscle biopsies from pancreatic cancer patients with and without cachexia utilizing Real-Imaging cDNA-AFLP-based transcript profiling for genome-wide expression analysis.

RASSF10 promoter hypermethylation is frequent in malignant melanoma of the skin but uncommon in nevus cell nevi.

The Ras association domain family (RASSF) consists of several tumor suppressor genes, which are frequently silenced in human cancers. We analyzed the epigenetic inactivation of RASSF2 and RASSF10 in malignant melanoma (MM) of the skin, including 5 MM cell lines, 28 primary MM, 33 metastases of MM, 47 nevus cell nevi (NCN), and 22 control tissues. The RASSF2 promoter was epigenetically downregulated in two MM cell lines only, but not in any of the investigated tumor samples.

Cleavage of L1 in exosomes and apoptotic membrane vesicles released from ovarian carcinoma cells.

Purpose: The L1 adhesion molecule (CD171) is overexpressed in human ovarian and endometrial carcinomas and is associated with bad prognosis. Although expressed as a transmembrane molecule, L1 is released from carcinoma cells in a soluble form. Soluble L1 is present in serum and ascites of ovarian carcinoma patients.

Conservation of the positions of metazoan introns from sponges to humans.

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are the phylogenetic oldest Metazoa still extant. They can be considered as reference animals (Urmetazoa) for the understanding of the evolutionary processes resulting in the creation of Metazoa in general and also for the metazoan gene organization in particular. In the marine sponge Suberites domuncula, genes encoding p38 and JNK kinases contain nine and twelve introns, respectively.

Histocompatibility reaction in tissue and cells of the marine sponge Suberites domuncula in vitro and in vivo: central role of the allograft inflammatory factor 1.

Sponges (Porifera) are the phylogenetically oldest still extant metazoan phylum. Recently elements of their immune system have been cloned and analyzed, primarily from the demosponges Suberites domuncula and Geodia cydonium. By differential display, two genes were identified in S.