Management of two cases of recurrent anal carcinoma.

Due to the low incidence of anal cancer and generally high cure rates, few second-line treatment options have been evaluated in the setting of formal clinical trials. We briefly report two cases that were both found to have wild-type K-RAS, with no epidermal growth factor receptor amplification or evidence of prior persistent human papilloma virus infection. Both cases were treated with irinotecan and cetuximab with evidence of clinical benefit in the setting of a third recurrence, as well as evidence of response to other strategies employed in their management.

Clinically meaningful responses to sequential gemcitabine-based chemotherapy regimens in a patient with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer exhibits profound chemoresistance resulting either from pre-existing (intrinsic) mechanisms, or from anticancer drug treatment itself (acquired chemoresistance). We present the case of a patient with pancreatic adenocarcinoma metastatic to the liver who experienced clinical, radiographic and tumor marker response to three lines of gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. The regimens included: 8 cycles of gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (GEMOX), 8 cycles of gemcitabine, docetaxel and capecitabine (GTX) and more than 3 cycles of gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel, with an exceptional response 2 years from the initiation of chemotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Synchronous presentation of a primary iliac lymph node plasmacytoma and a prostate adenocarcinoma.

Synchronous presentation of primary nodal plasmacytoma and prostate cancer is very rare and has not been described in the literature. Here, we report a case of a patient with nodal plasmacytoma whose clinical presentation was suggestive of metastatic prostate cancer in the setting of recently diagnosed prostate cancer. The workup and treatment of both malignancies as well as a possible underlying common pathologic mechanism (IL-6 gene mutation) are discussed.

Blood type, hormone receptor status, HER2/neu status, and survival in breast cancer: a retrospective study exploring relationships in a phenotypically well-defined cohort.

Purpose: Altered glycosylation has been associated with oncogenic potential. Relationships of blood types (where expression is due to glycosylation pattern) and HER2/neu (where expression arises due to altered glycosylation) and breast cancer-associated markers like estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor (ER/PR) were examined and related to outcomes in patients with breast cancer.

Methods: A population-based retrospective study of 426 surgical breast cancer patients examined relationships between (1) patient characteristics, (2) breast tumor characteristics, and (3) outcomes of women diagnosed at the same medical center over a 10-year period relative to specific molecules defined by glycosylation patterns (eg.