Rare Becomes Rarer: Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Cervix With Synchronous Breast, Pancreatic, and Ovarian Metastases.

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix (NECC) is a rare and extremely aggressive disease. Treatment options are scarce (mainly consisting of platinum-based chemotherapy combinations), and randomized controlled trials are lacking, leading to a very poor prognosis. It is prone to early metastasis, often with more than one affected site at diagnosis.

Cys mutants as tools to study the oligomerization of the pore-forming toxin sticholysin I.

Sticholysin I (StI) is a water-soluble protein with the ability to bind membranes where it oligomerizes and forms pores leading to cell death. Understanding the assembly property of this protein may be valuable for designing potential biotechnological tools, such as stable or structurally defined nanopores. In order to get insights into the stabilization of StI oligomers by disulfide bonds, we designed and characterized single and double cysteine mutants at the oligomerization interface.

Acceptance of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination among cancer patients in Portugal: attitudes and associated factors.

Objective: COVID-19 vaccines have shown efficacy and safety in healthy people. However, cancer patients under active immunosuppressive treatment were not included in the clinical trials conducted to test vaccines' efficacy and safety. This study aimed to evaluate the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in cancer patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy.

Epithelioid Trophoblastic Tumour Presenting with Scalp Lesions.

Unlabelled: Epithelioid trophoblastic tumour (ETT) is a very rare variant of gestational trophoblastic disease, which arises in reproductive-age women with a prior gestational history. Because of its rarity, its biological behaviour, imaging characteristics and therapeutic schedule have not yet been fully established. Here we describe a rare case of metastatic ETT in a premenopausal woman.

Prognostic factors for early relapse in non-metastatic triple negative breast cancer - real world data.

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has the worst prognosis amongst all subtypes. Studies have shown that the achievement of pathologic complete response in the breast and axilla correlates with improved survival. The aim of this study was to identify clinical or pathological features of real-life TNBC patients with a higher risk of early relapse.

Acute toxicity and tolerability of anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens in older versus younger patients with breast cancer: real-world data.

Objectives: To compare the non-cardiac acute toxicity and tolerability profile of anthracycline-based regimens between older versus younger women diagnosed with breast cancer in a real-world setting.

Methods: Retrospective cohort of female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with neoadjuvant or adjuvant anthracycline-based regimens between 2017 and 2019. Patients were grouped in young versus older, using an age of 65 as cut-off.

Architecture of the pore forming toxin sticholysin I in membranes.

Sticholysin I (StI) is a toxin produced by the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus and belonging to the actinoporins family. Upon binding to sphingomyelin-containing membranes StI forms oligomeric pores, thereby leading to cell death. According to recent controversial experimental evidences, the pore architecture of actinoporins is a debated topic.

Self-homodimerization of an actinoporin by disulfide bridging reveals implications for their structure and pore formation.

The Trp111 to Cys mutant of sticholysin I, an actinoporin from Stichodactyla helianthus sea anemone, forms a homodimer via a disulfide bridge. The purified dimer is 193 times less hemolytic than the monomer. Ultracentrifugation, dynamic light scattering and size-exclusion chromatography demonstrate that monomers and dimers are the only independent oligomeric states encountered.

Binding of sea anemone pore-forming toxins sticholysins I and II to interfaces--modulation of conformation and activity, and lipid-protein interaction.

Sticholysins I and II (St I and St II) are water-soluble toxins produced by the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus. St I and St II bind to biological and model membranes containing sphingomyelin (SM), forming oligomeric pores that lead to leakage of internal contents. Here we describe functional and structural studies of the toxins aiming at the understanding at a molecular level of their mechanism of binding, as well as their effects on membrane permeabilization.