KRAS and BRAF mutational status in primary colorectal tumors and related metastatic sites: biological and clinical implications.

Background: KRAS and BRAF mutations in primary colorectal tumors (PT) are predictive of nonresponse to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The question of primary resistance to anti-EGFR treatment as a result of the presence of KRAS or BRAF mutations only in metastases has been raised but not resolved.

Methods: We analyzed the mutational status of KRAS and BRAF in 64 new patients with mCRC and performed a systematic review of published data from 285 patients.

Factors affecting the outcome of patients with metastatic leiomyosarcoma treated with doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy.

Background: To determine whether pulmonary metastasectomy or the addition of ifosfamide/dacarbazine to a doxorubicin-containing regimen offers a survival benefit to adult patients with metastatic leiomyosarcoma.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively collected data from 147 patients treated with a doxorubicin-containing regimen from 1998 to 2008.

Results: Progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.

Aromatase inhibition in male breast cancer patients: biological and clinical implications.

Background: The role of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and their impact on estradiol (E(2)) levels remain unknown in male breast cancer (MBC) patients.

Patients And Methods: MBC patients with metastatic disease and those treated with AIs were selected from the breast cancer database of the Centre Antoine-Lacassagne (Nice, France). Sex hormone levels were retrospectively assessed on serum samples from our institutional serum bank.

Clinical and biological significance of CDK4 amplification in well-differentiated and dedifferentiated liposarcomas.

Purpose: The MDM2 and HMGA2 genes are consistently amplified in well-differentiated/dedifferentiated liposarcomas (WDLPS/DDLPS) whereas CDK4 is frequently but not always amplified in these tumors. Our goal was to determine whether the absence of CDK4 amplification was (a) correlated to a specific clinico-histopathologic profile; and (b) compensated by another genomic anomaly involving the CCND1/CDK4/P16INK4a/RB1/E2F pathway.

Experimental Design: We compared the clinical characteristics of a series of 143 WDLPS/DDLPS with amplification of both MDM2 and CDK4 (MDM2+/CDK4+) to a series of 45 WDLPS/DDLPS with MDM2 amplification and no CDK4 amplification (MDM2+/CDK4-).

Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma in 260 patients aged 80years or more.

Purpose: We report the experience of two French cancer centers in the treatment of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients aged 80 years.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and sixty patients aged 80 years with a primary oral cavity SCC were included in this retrospective analysis.

Results: Sex ratio was near to 1.

Differential expression of biomarkers in primary non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic sites.

Introduction: The use of biomarkers to evaluate the presence of a target or to select a specific therapy is increasingly advocated. The correlation of biomarker expression between the primary tumor and its corresponding metastasis has not yet been well documented and analyzed in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: The expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), excision repair cross-complementing (ERCC1), vascular-endothelial growth factor receptor, and Ki-67 was immunohistochemically analyzed in tumor samples of primary NSCLC and one corresponding metastasis in a population of 49 patients.

EGFR and KRAS status of primary sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung: implications for anti-EGFR treatment of a rare lung malignancy.

Sarcomatoid carcinomas (SC) of the lung are uncommon malignant tumors composed of carcinomatous and sarcomatous cell components and characterized by a more aggressive outcome than other histological subtypes of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted therapies have emerged as a promising therapeutic approach in patients with advanced typical NSCLC such as adenocarcinoma, the potential clinical activity of these drugs in lung SC is still unknown. To investigate this point, we have analyzed the status of 4 EGFR pathways biomarkers in a series of lung SC.

[Colorectal cancers: prognostic and predictive factors of response to treatment].

For many years, 5-fluorouracil was the unique drug approved in the management of colorectal cancer. In the last decade, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, capecitabine and more recently targeted therapies as cetuximab and bevacizumab have been added to chemotherapy schedules. Prognosis and predictive factors are deeply needed to improve the management of the patients.

[Surgical margins in soft tissue sarcoma].

Objectives: To state about adequacy of surgery margins in soft tissue sarcoma (STS).

Methods: Review of the relevant literature.

Results: The end point for measuring the quality of margins in STS is local recurrence (LR).

Neo/adjuvant chemotherapy does not improve outcome in resected primary synovial sarcoma: a study of the French Sarcoma Group.

Background: There are only scarce data about the benefit of adjunctive chemotherapy in patients with localized synovial sarcoma (SS).

Patients And Methods: Data from 237 SS patients recorded in the database of the French Sarcoma Group were retrospectively analyzed. The respective impact of radiotherapy, neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy on overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS) were assessed after adjustment to prognostic factors.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in patients aged > or = 80 years: patterns of care and survival.

Background: Scarce data exist concerning the outcome of very elderly patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methods: The clinical files of 316 patients aged > or = 80 years with HNSCC who were included in the authors' hospital database between 1987 and 2006 were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: Approximately 88% of patients received locoregional treatment, 31% of patients underwent surgery, and 57% of patients received definitive radiotherapy.

Variability of origin for the neocentromeric sequences in analphoid supernumerary marker chromosomes of well-differentiated liposarcomas.

Well-differentiated liposarcomas (WDLPS) and dedifferentiated liposarcomas are cytogenetically characterized by the presence of supernumerary ring or giant chromosomes containing amplified material from the 12q14-15 region. These chromosomes contain neocentromeres, which are able to bind the kinetochore proteins and to ensure a stable mitotic transmission although they do not show detectable alpha-satellite sequences. WDLPS is the sole solid tumor for which the presence of a neocentromere is a consistent and specific feature.

Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4 x 10 (19) eV.

The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5 x 10;{18} eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index gamma of the particle flux, J proportional, variantE;{-gamma}, at energies between 4 x 10;{18} eV and 4 x 10;{19} eV is 2.

Docetaxel-based chemotherapy in elderly patients (age 75 and older) with castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Background: There are no data on the patterns of care and outcome of very elderly patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) treated with docetaxel.

Objective: To assess the routine use of first-line docetaxel-based chemotherapy in CRPC patients aged >75 yr.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We reviewed the clinical files of 175 patients aged > or =75 yr with CRPC treated with first-line docetaxel in nine French tertiary care cancer centres from 2000 to 2007.

NFIB rearrangement in superficial, retroperitoneal, and colonic lipomas with aberrations involving chromosome band 9p22.

Lipomas are frequently characterized by rearrangements resulting in the fusion of the HMGA2 gene (12q14.3) with a variety of partners. Chromosome band 9p22 rearrangements occur in about 1% of lipomas.

Monosomy 7 and absence of 12q amplification in two cases of spindle cell liposarcomas.

Spindle cell liposarcoma (SCL) is a rare malignant adipose tissue tumor presently regarded as a variant of well-differentiated liposarcoma (WDLPS). While WDLPS is cytogenetically characterized by the presence of supernumerary ring or giant chromosomes containing MDM2 amplification, data concerning the genomic alterations of SCL are scarce. Here, we describe the molecular cytogenetic characterization of two SCL cases.

Very Late Local Relapse of Ewing's Sarcoma of the Head and Neck treated with Aggressive Multimodal Therapy.

Ewing's sarcoma's relapse rarely occurs more than two years after the initial diagnosis. We report the case of a 26-year-old man with a history of Ewing's sarcoma of the left maxillary sinus at the age of 10 who presented with a very late local relapse, 16 years after the first occurrence of disease. Ultimate control was achieved after multimodal therapy including surgery, high-dose chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory.

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth's crust. Tau leptons from nu(tau) charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of nu(tau) at EeV energies.

HMGA2 is the partner of MDM2 in well-differentiated and dedifferentiated liposarcomas whereas CDK4 belongs to a distinct inconsistent amplicon.

Data concerning the fine structure of the 12q13-15 amplicon which contains MDM2 and CDK4 in well-differentiated and dedifferentiated liposarcomas (WDLPS/DDLPS) are scarce. We investigated a series of 38 WDLPS/DDLPS using fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis with 17 probes encompassing the 12q13-15 region. In addition, using quantitative RT-PCR we studied the expression of MDM2, CDK4, DDIT3 (CHOP/GADD153), DYRK2, HMGA2, TSPAN31 and YEATS4 (GAS41) in 11 cases.

Treatment outcome and survival in participants of phase I oncology trials carried out from 2003 to 2006 at Institut Gustave Roussy.

Background: The oncology community usually perceives phase I oncology trials as associated with poor or limited benefits and substantial risks. There is scarce data concerning outcome and survival of patients enrolled in current phase I oncology trials.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed all phase I oncology trials conducted by investigators from the Adult Phase I Unit at Institut Gustave Roussy from 2003 to 2006.