3'-UTR poly(T/U) tract deletions and altered expression of EWSR1 are a hallmark of mismatch repair-deficient cancers.

The genome-wide accumulation of DNA replication errors known as microsatellite instability (MSI) is the hallmark lesion of DNA mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient cancers. Although testing for MSI is widely used to guide clinical management, the contribution of MSI at distinct genic loci to the phenotype remains largely unexplored. Here, we report that a mononucleotide (T/U)16 tract located in the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the Ewing sarcoma breakpoint region 1 (EWSR1) gene is a novel MSI target locus that shows perfect sensitivity and specificity in detecting mismatch repair-deficient cancers in two independent populations.

Intraoperative photodynamic therapy of the chest cavity in malignant pleural mesothelioma bearing rats.

Background And Objective: Experimental assessment of anticancer effect, normal tissue damage, and toxicity of intrathoracic mTHPC-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined to surgery in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) bearing rats.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Six days after implantation of syngenic malignant mesothelioma cells in the left chest cavity of Fischer rats (n = 21) and 4 days after sensitization (0.1 mg/kg mTHPC), a left-sided pneumonectomy was performed, followed by intraoperative light delivery (652 nm, fluence 20 J/cm(2)), either by spherical illumination of the chest cavity (fluence rate 15 mW/cm(2)) or by focal illumination of a tumor area (fluence rate 150 mW/cm(2)).

Prognosis of dermal lymphatic invasion with or without clinical signs of inflammatory breast cancer.

It is still an open debate whether tumor emboli in dermal lymphatics without inflammatory signs represent a similar bad prognosis like inflammatory breast cancer. We evaluated the prognostic role of dermal lymphatic invasion (DLI) in breast cancer with (DLI + ID) or without (DLI w/o ID) inflammatory disease (ID). From August 1988 to January 2000, 42 patients with DLI were irradiated.