Tailor-made Biochar enhances the anti-tumour effects of butyrate-glycerides in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the second cause of cancer death in the world. Emerging evidence suggests that the short-chain-fatty-acid butyrate diet-assumed or produced by gut microbiota may interfere with CRC. Novel, more focused and effective anti-cancer natural molecules selectively acting on tumour cells are required to improve patients' compliance compared to more aggressive drug-based schemes.

Visceral adipose tissue adiponectin predicts excess weight loss after bariatric surgery in females with severe obesity.

Objective: Bariatric surgery not always results in satisfactory excess weight loss (EWL) in severe obesity. Given the economic and clinical costs of bariatric surgery failure, defining predictors of successful EWL represents a relevant clinical issue for the health system to select patients benefiting from operation.

Methods: By ELISA and Western blot analyses, we assessed the predicting value of pre-operative adiponectin (APN) locally produced in abdominal visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissue versus plasma levels as a novel sex-linked biomarker of EWL at different time points of follow up (6-24 months) after bariatric surgery in 43 patients (56% females) affected by severe obesity undergoing a small pilot observational study.

Intratumour microbiota modulates adrenocortical cancer responsiveness to mitotane.

The infiltrating microbiota represents a novel cellular component of the solid tumour microenvironment that can influence tumour progression and response to therapy. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive endocrine malignancy for which mitotane (MTT) treatment represents the first-line therapy, though its efficacy is limited to a therapeutic window level (14-20 mg/L). Novel markers able to predict those patients who would benefit from MTT therapy are urgently needed to improve patient's management.

Stimulated Expression of CXCL12 in Adrenocortical Carcinoma by the PPARgamma Ligand Rosiglitazone Impairs Cancer Progression.

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy with poor prognosis when metastatic and scarce treatment options in the advanced stages. In solid tumors, the chemokine CXCL12/CXCR4 axis is involved in the metastatic process. We demonstrated that the human adrenocortex expressed CXCL12 and its cognate receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7, not only in physiological conditions, but also in ACC, where the receptors' expression was higher and the CXCL12 expression was lower than in the physiological conditions.

Circulating Fascin 1 as a Promising Prognostic Marker in Adrenocortical Cancer.

Fascin-1 (FSCN1) is an actin-bundling protein associated with an invasive and aggressive phenotype of several solid carcinomas, as it is involved in cell cytoskeleton rearrangement and filopodia formation. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy characterized by poor prognosis, particularly when metastatic at diagnosis. Radical resection is the only therapeutic option for ACC patients in addition to the adjuvant treatment with mitotane.