Objectives: Poorly cohesive carcinomas (PCCs) are neoplasms defined by a predominantly dyshesive growth pattern with single cell or cord-like stromal infiltration. The -distinctive clinicopathologic and prognostic features of small bowel PCCs (SB-PCCs) in comparison with conventional-type small intestinal adenocarcinomas have only recently been characterized. However, as SB-PCCs' genetic profile is still unknown, we aimed to analyze the molecular landscape of SB-PCCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are characterized by aggressive clinical course and poor prognosis. No reliable prognostic markers have been validated to date; thus, the definition of a specific NEC prognostic algorithm represents a clinical need. This study aimed to analyze a large NEC case series to validate the specific prognostic factors identified in previous studies on gastro-entero-pancreatic and lung NECs and to assess if further prognostic parameters can be isolated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) of the major and minor ampulla are rare diseases with clinico-pathologic features distinct from non-ampullary-duodenal NENs. However, they have been often combined and the knowledge on prognostic factors specific to ampullary NENs (Amp-NENs) is limited. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with metastatic potential and patient prognosis in Amp-NENs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPoorly cohesive carcinomas (PCCs) are neoplasms characterized by a dyshesive cell invasion pattern featuring single-cell or cord-like stromal infiltration. Although they have been extensively studied in the stomach and other digestive system organs, limited data regarding nonampullary small bowel poorly cohesive carcinomas (SB-PCCs) are hitherto available. The aims of our study were to analyze the clinicopathologic and immunophenotypical features of SB-PCCs (PCC pattern accounting for >50% of the neoplasm) and to compare them with small bowel adenocarcinomas (SBAs), not otherwise specified (SBAs-NOS) and with cancers with a histologically distinct PCC component accounting for 10% to 50% of the neoplasm (mixed-poorly-cohesive-glandular-SBAs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost Crohn's disease-associated small bowel carcinomas (CrD-SBCs) are diagnosed in advanced stage and have poor prognosis. To improve diagnosis and therapy, a better knowledge of tumour precancerous lesions, histotypes and prognostic factors is needed. We investigated histologically and immunohistochemically 52 CrD-SBCs and 51 small bowel carcinomas unrelated to inflammatory disease, together with their tumour-associated mucosa, looking for Crohn-selective changes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEsophageal neuroendocrine neoplasms (E-NENs) are much rarer than other gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms, the majority showing aggressive behavior with early dissemination and poor prognosis. Among E-NENs, exceptionally rare well differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (E-NET) and more frequent esophageal poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (E-NEC) and mixed neuroendocrine-non neuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNEN) can be recognized. E-NECs usually exhibit a small cell morphology or mixed small and large cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpecial AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (SATB2) is a transcription factor expressed by colonic cryptic epithelium and epithelial neoplasms of the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract, as well as by small bowel adenocarcinomas (SBAs), though at a lower rate. Nevertheless, up to now, only small SBA series, often including a very limited number of Crohn's disease-associated SBAs (CrD-SBAs) and celiac disease-associated SBAs (CD-SBA), have been investigated for SATB2 expression. We evaluated the expression of SATB2 and other GI phenotypic markers (cytokeratin (CK) 7 and CK20, caudal type homeobox 2 (CDX2) and alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR)), as well as mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, in 100 SBAs, encompassing 34 CrD-SBAs, 28 CD-SBAs and 38 sporadic cases (Spo-SBAs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Small bowel adenocarcinoma is a relatively rare cancer, often diagnosed in an advanced stage. In localized and resectable disease, surgery alone or in combination with adjuvant chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. In the recently published National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice guidelines, criteria for selecting patients with stage II small bowel adenocarcinoma to receive adjuvant chemotherapy are provided, and they are mainly extrapolated from studies on colorectal cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are rare and very aggressive neoplasms with dismal prognosis, especially when metastatic or with negative prognostic factors, such as vascular invasion. To the best of our knowledge, no case of pancreatic NEC with mismatch repair deficiency has been reported to date. We describe a 62-year-old patient who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for a NEC located in the pancreatic head, with peripancreatic lymph node metastases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall bowel adenocarcinomas (SBAs) are often associated with poor prognosis and have limited therapeutic options. Programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway blockade is an effective treatment in many microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) solid tumors. We aimed at investigating PD-L1 and PD-1 expression in non-hereditary, non-ampullary SBAs, associated with celiac disease (CeD), Crohn's disease (CrD), or sporadic, recruited through the Small Bowel Cancer Italian Consortium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA key role in the carcinogenic action of is played by the effector protein CagA, the first identified oncoprotein of the bacterial world. However, the present knowledge in regard to the bacterial injection of CagA into epithelial cells (through a type IV secretion system) and its intracellular fate is based primarily on experimental studies in vitro. Our study was aimed to investigate, in -infected human gastric epithelium, CagA delivery and intracellular distribution in order to identify any in vivo counterpart of the cell injection mechanism described in vitro and any intracellular cytoplasmic site of preferential CagA distribution, thus shedding light on the natural history of CagA in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCeliac disease (CD) is a risk factor for developing small-bowel carcinoma with a 14-fold higher risk compared with general population. As small-bowel carcinomas associated with CD (CD-SBCs) are extremely rare, very few molecular data are available about their pathogenesis, and information about their transcriptomic profiling is lacking. We generated RNA-seq data on 13 CD-SBCs, taken from the largest well-characterized series published so far, collected by the Small Bowel Cancer Italian Consortium, and compared the tumor transcriptional signatures with the four Consensus Molecular Subtypes (CMS) of colorectal carcinoma by applying the "CMS classifier.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the minor papilla/ampulla (MIPA) are rare and poorly studied. Only individual case reports and no comprehensive analysis are available from the literature. We collected 16 MIPA NETs and investigated their clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features, including markers such as somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, serotonin, MUC1, cytokeratin 7, and somatostatin receptors type 2A and 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall bowel carcinomas (SBC) are uncommon neoplasms, whose predisposing conditions include hereditary syndromes and immune-mediated intestinal disorders including coeliac disease (CD) and Crohn's disease (CrD). Although both CD-associated SBC (CD-SBC) and CrD-associated SBC (CrD-SBC) arise from an inflammatory background, they differ substantially in tumour cell phenotype, frequency of microsatellite instability and nuclear β-catenin expression, as well as in prognosis. For these patients, high tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte density and glandular/medullary histotype represent independent positive prognostic factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Joint Cancer Committee (AJCC) modified the grading of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms from a three-tier (WHO-AJCC 2010) to a four-tier system by introducing the novel category of NET G3 (WHO-AJCC 2017).
Objectives: This study aims at validating the WHO-AJCC 2017 and identifying the most effective grading system.
Method: A total of 2,102 patients were enrolled; entry criteria were: (i) patient underwent surgery; (ii) at least 2 years of follow-up; (iii) observation time up to 2015.
In this article, we outline and discuss available information on the cellular site and mechanism of proteasome interaction with cytosolic polyubiquitinated proteins and heat-shock molecules. The particulate cytoplasmic structure (PaCS) formed by barrel-like particles, closely reproducing in vivo the high-resolution structure of 26S proteasome as isolated in vitro, has been detected in a variety of fetal and neoplastic cells, from living tissue or cultured cell lines. Specific trophic factors and interleukins were found to induce PaCS during in vitro differentiation of dendritic, natural killer (NK), or megakaryoblastic cells, apparently through activation of the MAPK-ERK pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrade 3 well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (G3 NETs) have been characterized in the pancreas and stomach and distinguished from low-to-intermediate grade (G1-G2) NETs, as well as from highly malignant, poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). Up to now, no G3 NET has been thoroughly described in the distal small intestine. We herein report a case of a 61-year-old man presenting with carcinoid syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gastric neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are very heterogeneous, ranging from mostly indolent, atrophic gastritis-associated, type I neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), through highly malignant, poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (pdNECs), to sporadic type III NETs with intermediate prognosis, and various rare tumor types. Histologic differentiation, proliferative grade, size, level of gastric wall invasion, and local or distant metastases are used as prognostic markers. However, their value remains to be tailored to specific gastric NENs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas (MANECs) are composed of a poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) and a non-neuroendocrine (non-NEC) neoplastic epithelial component, each representing at least 30% of the tumor. At present, prognostic factors for MANECs remain largely unexplored. We investigated the clinical-pathologic features of a large multicenter series of digestive system MANECs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUptake, intracellular trafficking and pathologic effects of VacA toxin from Helicobacter pylori have been widely investigated in vitro. However, no systematic analysis investigated VacA intracellular distribution and fate in H. pylori-infected human gastric epithelium in vivo, using ultrastructural immunocytochemistry that combines precise toxin localization with analysis of the overall cell ultrastructure and intercompartimental/interorganellar relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Helicobacter pylori (Hp) type IV secretion system (T4SS) forms needle-like pili, whose binding to the integrin-β receptor results in injection of the CagA oncoprotein. However, the apical surface of epithelial cells is exposed to Hp, whereas integrins are basolateral receptors. Hence, the mechanism of CagA delivery into polarized gastric epithelial cells remains enigmatic.
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