The role of PPM1D in cancer and advances in studies of its inhibitors.

A greater understanding of factors causing cancer initiation, progression and evolution is of paramount importance. Among them, the serine/threonine phosphatase PPM1D, also referred to as wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (Wip1) or protein phosphatase 2C delta (PP2Cδ), is emerging as an important oncoprotein due to its negative regulation on a number of crucial cancer suppressor pathways. Initially identified as a p53-regulated gene, PPM1D has been afterwards found amplified and more recently mutated in many human cancers such as breast cancer.

Oral fibrosarcoma in a black iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata).

A case of oral fibrosarcoma in a 13-yr-old male black iguana (Ctenosaura pectinata) is reported here. The iguana exhibited new tissue formation involving a large part of the maxilla and hard palate, which histologically and ultrastructurally corresponded to a primary fibrosarcoma of the oral cavity. Although there are reports of fibrosarcomas in other reptiles, such as snakes and crocodiles, no reports of this neoplasm in the oral cavity of an iguana were reported, which suggests that it is either infrequent or infrequently sampled for histological diagnosis.