Impact of the 2009 AJCC staging guidelines for melanoma on the number of mitotic figures reported by dermatopathologists at one institution.

Background: In 2009 the revised seventh staging system for melanoma recommended the use of mitotic count to separate stage T1a from T1b. However, careful scrutiny of cases may lead to an inadvertent selection effect, with consequent increased reporting of mitotic counts.

Methods: We investigated whether there is a significant increase in mitotic counts reported since 2009 for melanomas with a Breslow thickness of 1.

Necrotizing Sweet syndrome: a new variant of neutrophilic dermatosis mimicking necrotizing fasciitis.

Background: We report a series of patients initially given the diagnosis of necrotizing fasciitis whose course progressed despite surgical debridement, antibiotic therapy, or both, but who responded rapidly to systemic corticosteroids.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the clinical data, histopathologic and microbiology information, and treatment course of this unusual entity.

Methods: This was a descriptive study/case series.

Saracatinib Impairs Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Invasion by Disrupting Invadopodia Function.

Elevated Src kinase activity is linked to the progression of solid tumors, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Src regulates HNSCC proliferation and tumor invasion, with the Src-targeted small molecule inhibitor saracatinib displaying potent anti-invasive effects in preclinical studies. However, the pro-invasive cellular mechanism(s) perturbed by saracatinib are unclear.

Cortactin overexpression regulates actin-related protein 2/3 complex activity, motility, and invasion in carcinomas with chromosome 11q13 amplification.

Carcinoma cell motility and invasion are prerequisites for tumor cell metastasis, which requires regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. Cortactin is an actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) complex-activating and filamentous (F)-actin-binding protein that is implicated in tumor cell motility and metastasis, partially by its ability to become tyrosine phosphorylated. Cortactin is encoded by the CTTN gene and maps to chromosome 11q13, a region amplified in many carcinomas, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).