BRAF-mutant melanoma management: a single center retrospective analysis of patients treated with sequential therapy.

Aims: In treating patients with melanoma, the order in which therapy is administered, choosing between targeted therapy and immune checkpoint inhibition, has garnered growing interest.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a retrospective, real-world analysis of patients with advanced melanoma undergoing immunotherapy or targeted therapy as first-line at a single center.

Results: A total of 88 patients diagnosed with melanoma were identified.

Whole-Exome Analysis and Osteosarcoma: A Game Still Open.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most prevalent malignant bone tumor in adolescents and young adults. OS cells grow in a permissive local microenvironment which modulates their behavior and facilitates all steps in tumor development (e.g.

It Looks Like a Zebra but Is Not: [F]FDG PET/CT in a Giant Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma Mimicking Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, associated with high mortality and rising incidence rates in Europe despite prevention efforts. Nodular MM, the most aggressive subtype, often mimics other skin tumors, complicating diagnosis. We present the case of a 66-year-old woman with a large, ulcerated tumor beneath the left scapula, along with multiple nodular lesions on the left arm and chest.

Supraorbital Basosquamous Carcinoma Treated with Cemiplimab Followed by Sonidegib: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

(BCC) is a skin cancer with low local aggressiveness and a low tendency to metastasize. (BSC) represents an aggressive histological subtype of BCC with intermediate features between (SCC) and BCC. Cemiplimab is currently approved as first-line therapy in SCC and second-line therapy in BCC patients who have progressed on or are intolerant of a Hedgehog pathway Inhibitor (HHI).

Incidental papillary thyroid microcarcinoma in consecutive patients undergoing thyroid surgery for benign disease. A single center experience.

Background: There has recently been an increase in the incidental histological diagnosis of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (I-PTMC), that varies from 3.5% in autopsies studies, to 5.2% in thyroid specimens from thyroid surgery, up to 9.

Neuropeptide Y Promotes Human M2 Macrophage Polarization and Enhances p62/SQSTM1-Dependent Autophagy and NRF2 Activation.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is an abundantly expressed peptide capable of modulating innate and adaptive immune responses and regulating chemotaxis and cytokine secretion by macrophages. Abnormal regulation of NPY is involved in the development of atherosclerosis. The inflammatory infiltrate within atherosclerotic plaque is characterized by accumulation of macrophages, which are subject to reprogram their phenotypes in response to environmental signals.

Granzyme B Expression in Visceral Adipose Tissue Associates With Local Inflammation and Glyco-Metabolic Alterations in Obesity.

Granzyme B (GrB) is a serine protease produced by immune and non-immune cells, able to promote multiple processes, like apoptosis, inflammation, extracellular matrix remodeling and fibrosis. GrB expression in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) was associated with tissue damage, local inflammation and insulin resistance in obesity murine model, but there is no data in humans. Aim of this study was to explore the expression of GrB in VAT from obese subjects in relation to adipose tissue injury, inflammation, metabolic alterations and GrB circulating levels.

Angiopoietin-Like Protein 4 Overexpression in Visceral Adipose Tissue from Obese Subjects with Impaired Glucose Metabolism and Relationship with Lipoprotein Lipase.

Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) regulates lipid partitioning by inhibiting circulating and tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL); ANGPTL4 loss-of-function variants improve insulin sensitivity and reduce type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk with mechanisms partially unknown. This study was designed to explore metabolic implications of differential ANGPTL4 and LPL expression in human adipose tissue (AT). We recruited eighty-eight obese individuals, with and without abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM), undergoing bariatric surgery; visceral AT (VAT) fragments were obtained intra-operatively and analyzed by immunohistochemistry and mRNA by rt-PCR.

Immunohistochemical detection of IL-17 and IL-23 improves the identification of patients with a possible diagnosis of Sjogren's syndrome.

Objectives: The diagnosis of primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) continues to be difficult and several patients keep symptomatic for years with different diagnoses before confirmation of pSS. Since the IL-23-IL-17 axis is involved in the etiopathogenesis of pSS we evaluated by immunohistochemistry and morphometric methods the presence of IL-17 as well as IL-23 within minor salivary glands (MSG) obtained from patients with uncertain diagnosis of pSS.

Materials And Methods: 42 patients, with symptoms attributable to pSS, and 8 patients used as a control, were enrolled for the study.

Relationship between hepatic and systemic angiopoietin-like 3, hepatic Vitamin D receptor expression and NAFLD in obesity.

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide and an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. Angiopoietin-like proteins (ANGPTLs) are targets for vitamin D receptor (VDR)-mediated gene transcription and this axis may promote NAFLD. ANGPTL3 is a hepatokine which inhibits lipoprotein lipase and its experimentally induced inactivation reduces hepatosteatosis.

Non-antibiotic prophylaxis in thyroid surgery. Experience of a single Institution and revision of literature.

Aim: To evaluate the incidence of SSI and systemic infectious complications in a consecutive series of patients undergoing thyroid surgery in the absence of prophylactic antibiotic (NO-AP).

Methods: Prospective observational study including 77 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and completion of previous hemithyroidectomy in NO-AP. The surgical intervention was performed by surgeons who were experienced in the procedure, and involved the use of Ligasure Harmonic Ethicon®, absorbable hemostat in oxidized regenerated cellulose (Tabotamp®), and skin incision suture device Skin Stapler®.

Noninvasive assessment of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in patients with severe obesity.

Purpose: In morbid obesity nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is endemic. Aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the most common noninvasive methods for identify NAFLD and fibrosis in a cohort of morbid obese population.

Methods: Ninety morbid obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery (BS) and intraoperative liver biopsy were evaluated preoperatively with Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and serum biomarkers for steatosis and fibrosis and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography.

Predictive markers of long-term recurrence in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Background: In last years, many attempts were made to recognize chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) phenotypes focusing on identifying relevant key pathogenic molecules. Polyps recurrence rate ranges from 4% to 60%, so it's clear that not all clinical and immunologic factors associated with recurrence are known.

Objective: We investigate the inflammatory profile in patients with long term recurrent and non-recurrent CRSwNPs and if a specific profile is associated with recurrence, comparing eosinophilic, neutrophilic and lymphocytic infiltration, as well as IL-5 and IL-8 expression to long term recurrence rate.

Insulin resistance, but not insulin response, during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is associated to worse histological outcome in obese NAFLD.

Background And Aim: Obese subjects are at high risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes (T2D) due to insulin resistance (IR). Since high glucose levels are as toxic as lipids for hepatic metabolism, we hypothesize that altered response to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is associated to more severe NAFLD with significant/advanced liver damage.

Methods And Results: We studied 90 subjects with morbid obesity (73F/17M, BMI = 43.

Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder in a consecutive series of 2631 patients. A single-center experience.

Background: Challenges in the diagnosis of polypoid gallbladder lesion (PLG) is due to the low sensibility (SE) of ultrasound scan (US), and the selection criteria of patients with PLG to be addressed to surgical treatment or followup are not yet fully defined.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective observational study was conducted on 2631 patients, 1175(44.6%) M, mean age 56 years, 1456(55.

KMT2C modulates migration and invasion processes in osteosarcoma cell lines.

In this study we investigated the role of KMT2C (a chromatin-modifying and remodelling protein) in osteosarcoma progression through cell migration and invasion assays in osteosarcoma primary and metastatic cell lines. Wound healing and transwell assays were used to detect changes of cell migration and matrigel assay was used to evaluate changes of cell invasion in primary and metastatic osteosarcoma cell lines after KMT2C siRNA transfection. We found that primary osteosarcoma cell lines showed the highest capacity of migration before mRNA KMT2C silencing and the highest capacity of invasion after mRNA KMT2C silencing; on the contrary, osteosarcoma metastatic cell line showed the highest capacity of migration after mRNA KMT2C silencing and the highest capacity of invasion before mRNA KMT2C silencing.