High GILT Expression Is Associated with Improved Survival in Metastatic Melanoma Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibition.

Gamma-interferon-inducible lysosomal thiol reductase (GILT) is critical for MHC class II restricted presentation of multiple melanoma antigens. There is variable GILT protein expression in malignant melanocytes in melanoma specimens. High GILT mRNA expression in melanoma specimens is associated with improved overall survival, before the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI).

Colorectal cancer in the very young: a comparative study of tumor markers, pathology and survival in early onset and adult onset patients.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosed before age 30 years is a fatal disease whose biology remains poorly understood. To understand its pathogenesis, we compared molecular and clinical data in surgically treated early-age onset and adult onset patients.

Materials And Methods: Clinical data and tumor tissue were collected retrospectively for 94 patients with early-age onset CRC (age ≤30 years) and compared to 275 adult CRC patients (age ≥50 years).

Routine biopsy of Cloquet's node is of limited value in sentinel node positive melanoma patients.

Background And Objectives: Biopsy of Cloquet's node (CN) during groin dissection has been used to indicate need for pelvic dissection. With earlier detection of microscopic regional disease in the era of sentinel node biopsy (SNB), frequency of positive CN may be so low that routine biopsy is unwarranted.

Methods: Patients with positive groin SNB from 2000 to 2008 were identified from two centers.

Improved testing for microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer using a simplified 3-marker assay.

Background: In colorectal cancer (CRC), microsatellite instability (MSI) is a valuable marker of defective DNA mismatch repair that identifies cancers with distinct phenotypic properties, including favorable survival. However, the optimal assay for MSI status is unknown. We have evaluated a simplified 3-marker assay for MSI and compared it with the 5-marker (NCI) assay to see if technical variations in MSI testing are important.

Therapy for unresectable recurrent and in-transit extremity melanoma.

Background: Unresectable recurrent and in-transit extremity melanoma presents a dilemma for the treating physician. While the disease is confined to the involved limb, the survival mimics that of multiple nodal metastases, with a 10-year survival rate of approximately 40%. This represents late-stage disease for which curative treatment options are limited.

A current perspective on local excision of rectal cancer.

Local excision of rectal cancer is appealing because of its technical ease and excellent functional results, but concern over inadequate pathologic staging and inferior treatment outcomes when compared with radical surgery remain a major hurdle for its widespread use. Local failure rates in modern series for local excision are 4%-18% for T1 rectal cancers and 22%-67% for T2 cancers, and cancer cure rates are only 70%-80%. In addition, data from the past decade suggest that preoperative staging with endorectal ultrasound, use of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy/radiation therapy, and aggressive salvage surgery have not been reliable methods of limiting local tumor recurrence or improving long-term cure rates.