Reliability of sentinel node procedure for lymph node staging in prostate cancer patients at high risk for lymph node involvement.

Aim: To investigate the reliability of a sentinel node (SN) procedure for nodal staging in prostate cancer (PCa) patients at high risk for lymph node (LN) involvement.

Material And Methods: Seventy-four patients with localized prostate adenocarcinoma, who were clinically node-negative and had a risk of LN involvement of ≥ 10% (Partin tables), were prospectively enrolled. Upon intraprostatic 99mTc-nanocolloid injection, they underwent planar scintigraphy and SPECT imaging.

Sarcomatoid dedifferentiation in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma and outcome on treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors: a retrospective analysis.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (anti-VEGFR-TKIs) in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (m-ccRCC) with sarcomatoid dedifferentiation.

Patients And Methods: The files of all patients with m-ccRCC consecutively treated with first-line anti-VEGFR-TKIs at the authors' institution were retrospectively reviewed. Pathology slides from nephrectomy and metastasectomy were assessed for the presence and extent of sarcomatoid dedifferentiation.

Keratin 19: a key role player in the invasion of human hepatocellular carcinomas.

Objective: Keratin (K)19, a biliary/hepatic progenitor cell (HPC) marker, is expressed in a subset of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) with poor prognosis. The underlying mechanisms driving this phenotype of K19-positive HCC remain elusive.

Design: Clinicopathological value of K19 was compared with EpCAM, and α-fetoprotein, in a Caucasian cohort of 242 consecutive patients (167 surgical specimens, 75 needle biopsies) with different underlying aetiologies.

Expression of a Distinct Set of Chemokine Receptors in Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells is Responsible for In Vitro Migration Toward Chemokines Appearing in the Major Pelvic Ganglion Following Cavernous Nerve Injury.

Introduction: Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) herald tremendous promise for clinical application in a wide range of injuries and diseases. Several preclinical reports demonstrate their efficacy in the treatment of cavernous nerve (CN) injury-induced erectile dysfunction in rats. It was recently illustrated that these effects were established as a result of ADSC migration to the major pelvic ganglion (MPG) where these cells induced neuroregeneration in loco.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with outcome in metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib.

Background: There are no validated markers that predict response in metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC) patients treated with sunitinib. We aim to study the impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have recently been proposed as predictors of outcome to anti-VEGF-targeted therapy in metastatic RCC in an independent cohort of patients.

Methods: We genotyped 16 key SNPs in 10 genes involved in sunitinib pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and VEGF-independent angiogenesis in patients with metastatic clear-cell RCC treated with sunitinib as the first-line targeted therapy.

VEGFR1 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with outcome in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib - a multicentric retrospective analysis.

Background: There are no validated markers that predict outcome in metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) patients treated with sunitinib. Recently, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9582036 in VEGFR1 has been proposed as a predictor of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) to bevacizumab in patients with pancreatic cancer and rs7993418 in VEGFR1 as predictor for PFS in mRCC-patients treated with bevacizumab. Here, we aim to study the impact of these SNPs in mRCC patients treated with sunitinib.

A possible role for microRNA-141 down-regulation in sunitinib resistant metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma through induction of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and hypoxia resistance.

Purpose: We identified microRNA driven mechanisms in clear cell renal cell carcinoma associated with the tumor response to the multitargeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib.

Materials And Methods: We performed screening genome-wide microRNA real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction on 20 freshly frozen clear cell renal cell carcinoma tissue samples of patients who received sunitinib as first line targeted therapy. Nine patients with progressive disease within 6 months after initiating therapy were considered poor responders and 11 with at least 1-year progression-free survival were considered good responders.

Concomitant oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors and bisphosphonates in advanced renal cell carcinoma with bone metastases.

Background: The presence of bone metastases in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is associated with poorer outcome as compared with patients without bone involvement. Concomitant bisphosphonates could probably improve outcomes but also induce osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ).

Methods: Retrospective study on all the renal cell carcinoma patients with bone metastases treated with sunitinib or sorafenib between November 2005 and June 2012 at the University Hospitals Leuven and AZ Groeninge in Kortrijk.

Genome-wide microRNA expression analysis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma by next generation deep sequencing.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression, are frequently aberrantly expressed in human cancers. Next-generation deep sequencing technology enables genome-wide expression profiling of known miRNAs and discovery of novel miRNAs at unprecedented quantitative and qualitative accuracy. Deep sequencing was performed on 11 fresh frozen clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and adjacent non-tumoral renal cortex (NRC) pairs, 11 additional frozen ccRCC tissues, and 2 ccRCC cell lines (n = 35).

Single incision mini-sling versus a transobutaror sling: a comparative study on MiniArc and Monarc slings.

Introduction And Hypothesis: A retrospective, dual-center, cohort study on the single incision MiniArc sling and the transobturator Monarc sling in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence is presented. We hypothesized that both systems would perform equally well.

Methods: One hundred thirty-one (MiniArc n = 75, Monarc n = 56) consecutive patients were evaluated.

Glycaemic control and perioperative organ protection.

The concept of stress hyperglycaemia as an adaptive, beneficial response in critical illness has recently been challenged. Two large prospective randomized controlled trials in the Leuven University Hospital surgical and medical ICUs demonstrated that maintenance of normoglycaemia with intensive insulin therapy substantially prevents morbidity and reduces mortality. Strict normoglycaemia is required to gain most clinical benefit.

Interactive effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and retinoids on proliferation and differentiation in cultured human keratinocytes: quantification of cross-linked envelope formation.

Dioxins are potent inducers of chloracne in humans. This skin aberration can be interpreted as an altered differentiation pattern of acinar sebaceous base cells and a change in the rate of terminal differentiation of the keratinocytes. We measured this rate induced by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) in primary cultures of human keratinocytes.

Effects of retinoic acid on the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin-induced differentiation of in vitro cultured human keratinocytes.

In order to study the interactive effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and retinoic acid on terminal differentiation of primary cultured keratinocytes derived from human foreskins, the amount of [(35)S]methionine-labelled proteins incorporated into cross-linked envelopes (CLEs) was determined. After isolation of the CLEs with sodium dodecyl sulfate, the amount of radioactivity collected on a filter was considered as a quantitative parameter for keratinocyte differentiation. Treatment of keratinocytes with different concentrations of TCDD resulted in a dose-dependent increase in differentiation, while only a minor decrease in differentiation occurred after treatment with retinoic acid.

The effects of receptor density and cell shape on epidermal growth factor binding.

In this paper we describe the effects of receptor density and cell shape on the binding of epidermal growth factor (EGF) to its receptor. Association kinetics of EGF binding to cells with a high receptor density was done using A431 cells. The association rate of EGF binding was apparently independent of the EGF concentration, most likely due to diffusion limited EGF binding as result of high receptor density.

Three classes of epidermal growth factor receptors on HeLa cells.

The kinetics of 125I-labeled epidermal growth factor (EGF) binding to receptors on HeLa cells were investigated. Scatchard analysis revealed the presence of 22,000 high affinity receptors (Kd = 0.12 nM) and 25,000 low affinity receptors per cell (Kd = 9.

Membrane vesicles of A431 cells contain one class of epidermal growth factor binding sites.

Epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells exhibit two classes of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors as deduced from Scatchard analysis. Steady-state binding of EGF to isolated A431 membranes indicated, however, the presence of only one class of EGF binding sites. The apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of these sites was approx.