Purpose: Alteration of visual acuity in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is mostly driven by vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A)-induced edema from leaky newly forming blood vessels below the retina layers. To date, all therapies aimed at alleviation of this process have relied on inhibition of VEGF-A activity. Although effective in preventing vascular leak and edema, this approach also leads to the loss of normal vasculature and multiple related side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents 15% of invasive breast cancer cases and is an aggressive subtype. Patients with metastatic TNBC have a poor prognosis. Efforts have been made to develop new therapeutic options and identify molecular biomarkers to improve overall survival and quality of life for TNBC patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVery rare tumors are usually divided into two groups: One includes tumors that are rare among both children and adults; the other one encompasses tumors that frequently occur in adults but are rarely observed in children. In this review, we focus on adrenocortical tumors, neuroendocrine tumors of the appendix, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, pancreatoblastoma and solid pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas, with special attention to the role of surgery as main curative intervention or as part of the multimodal treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Cystic fibrosis (CF)-associated liver disease can significantly affect the quality of life and survival of people with CF. The hepatobiliary manifestations in CF are various, with focal/multilobular biliary cirrhosis more common in children and porto-sinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD) in young adults. Portal hypertensive complications, particularly bleeding from esophagogastric varices and hypersplenism are common, while liver failure is rarer and mainly linked to biliary disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmong neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), a non-negligible proportion (9-22%) is represented by sufferers of NENs of unknown primary origin (UPO), a poor prognostic group with largely unmet clinical needs. In the absence of standard therapeutic algorithms, current guidelines suggest that the treatment of UPO-NENs should be based on tumor clinical-pathological characteristics, disease burden, and patient conditions. Chemotherapy represents the backbone for the treatment of high-grade poorly differentiated UPO-NENs, usually providing deep but short-lasting responses.
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