Guardians and Mediators of Metastasis: Exploring T Lymphocytes, Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells, and Tumor-Associated Macrophages in the Breast Cancer Microenvironment.

Breast cancers (BCs) are solid tumors composed of heterogeneous tissues consisting of cancer cells and an ever-changing tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME includes, among other non-cancer cell types, immune cells influencing the immune context of cancer tissues. In particular, the cross talk of immune cells and their interactions with cancer cells dramatically influence BC dissemination, immunoediting, and the outcomes of cancer therapies.

Evaluating local thyroid cytopathology practices by molecular quality metrics: A multi-institutional study on 4651 FNAs with a focus on the role of the interventional cytopathologist.

Background: The diagnostic accuracy of thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) can be highly influenced by the technical skills of the operator performing the procedure and by interobserver variability in microscopic interpretation. This is particularly true for the indeterminate categories. Recently, molecular testing has been proposed as an ancillary tool for monitoring the performance of different thyroid cytopathology practices.

New techniques versus standard mapping for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

New tracers for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), as indocyanine green (ICG), superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) and micro bubbles, have been recently introduced in clinical practice showing promising but variable results. We reviewed the available evidence comparing these new techniques with the standard tracers to evaluate their safety. To identify all available studies, a systematic search was performed in all electronic databases.

Type 2 Deiodinase Thr92Ala Polymorphism and Aging Are Associated with a Decreased Pituitary Sensitivity to Thyroid Hormone.

The DIO2 Thr92Ala polymorphism (rs225014), which occurs in about 15-30% of Caucasian people, determines a less efficient type 2 deiodinase (D2) enzyme. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of DIO2 Thr92Ala polymorphism on the serum thyrotropin (TSH) levels in thyroidectomized patients with hypothyroidism and to evaluate whether TSH levels and aging could be related, at pituitary level, to D2 activity. This prospective study was performed on 145 thyroid cancer patients, treated with total thyroidectomy, and undergoing radioiodine treatment after 3 weeks of levothyroxine (LT4) withdrawal.

Thyroid Cancer and Fibroblasts.

Thyroid cancer is the most common type of endocrine cancer, and its prevalence continue to rise. Non-metastatic thyroid cancer patients are successfully treated. However, looking for new therapeutic strategies is of great importance for metastatic thyroid cancers that still lead to death.

Generation and Characterization of a Tumor Stromal Microenvironment and Analysis of Its Interplay with Breast Cancer Cells: An In Vitro Model to Study Breast Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Inactivation.

Breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (BCAFs), the most abundant non-cancer stromal cells of the breast tumor microenvironment (TME), dramatically sustain breast cancer (BC) progression by interacting with BC cells. BCAFs, as well as myofibroblasts, display an up regulation of activation and inflammation markers represented by α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2). BCAF aggregates have been identified in the peripheral blood of metastatic BC patients.

Long-Term Prognostic Value of the Response to Therapy Assessed by Laboratory and Imaging Findings in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

This study assessed the long-term predictive value of the response to therapy, evaluated by serum thyroglobulin (Tg) determination and neck ultrasound, and estimated the potential additional impact of diagnostic whole-body scan (WBS) in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) treated with surgery and radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy. We retrospectively evaluated 606 DTC patients treated with surgery and RAI. Response to I therapy at 12 months was assessed by serum Tg measurement, neck ultrasound, and diagnostic WBS.

Management of Low-Risk Thyroid Cancers: Is Active Surveillance a Valid Option? A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, representing 2.9% of all new cancers in the United States. It has an excellent prognosis, with a five-year relative survival rate of 98.

Influence of Tumor Microenvironment and Fibroblast Population Plasticity on Melanoma Growth, Therapy Resistance and Immunoescape.

Cutaneous melanoma (CM) tissue represents a network constituted by cancer cells and tumor microenvironment (TME). A key feature of CM is the high structural and cellular plasticity of TME, allowing its evolution with disease and adaptation to cancer cell and environmental alterations. In particular, during melanoma development and progression each component of TME by interacting with each other and with cancer cells is subjected to dramatic structural and cellular modifications.

Morbid Obesity and Thyroid Cancer Rate. A Review of Literature.

In the past three decades, several recent studies have analyzed the alarming increase of obesity worldwide, and it has been well established that the risk of many types of malignancies is increased in obese individuals; in the same period, thyroid cancer has become the fastest growing cancer of all malignancies. We investigated the current literature to underline the presence of a connection between excess body weight or Body Mass Index (BMI) and risk of thyroid cancer. Previous studies stated that the contraposition between adipocytes and adipose-resident immune cells enhances immune cell production of multiple pro-inflammatory factors with subsequent induction of hyperlipidemia and vascular injury; these factors are all associated with oxidative stress and cancer development and/or progression.

Moving towards a local testing solution for undetermined thyroid fine-needle aspirates: validation of a novel custom DNA-based NGS panel.

Aims: In thyroid cytopathology, the undetermined diagnostic categories still pose diagnostic challenges. Although next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a promising technique for the molecular testing of thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimens, access to such technology can be difficult because of its prohibitive cost and lack of reimbursement in countries with universal health coverage. To overcome these issues, we developed and validated a novel custom NGS panel, specifically designed to target 264 clinically relevant mutations involved in thyroid tumourigenesis.

The Use of Dermal Substitutes for Donor Site Closure After Radial Forearm Free Flap Harvesting.

Objective: The aim of our study was to analyze the aesthetic and functional outcome in the radial forearm free flap donor site using a simple split thickness skin grafting (STSG) closure compared with the use of dermal scaffold supporting the STSG closure.

Methods: The study analyzed 18 patients, divided in 2 groups based on the donor site closure modality. In STSG group, a simple STSG was used to cover the defect.

Long-term management of lenvatinib-treated thyroid cancer patients: a real-life experience at a single institution.

Purpose: The efficacy of lenvatinib for advanced and progressive radioactive iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer is well established. Herein, we retrospectively evaluated the long-term safety and efficacy of lenvatinib in 23 patients treated at a single Institution.

Methods: Clinical data of all patients treated for a differentiated thyroid cancer with lenvatinib from April 2015 to September 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.

Influence of Fibroblasts on Mammary Gland Development, Breast Cancer Microenvironment Remodeling, and Cancer Cell Dissemination.

The stromal microenvironment regulates mammary gland development and tumorigenesis. In normal mammary glands, the stromal microenvironment encompasses the ducts and contains fibroblasts, the main regulators of branching morphogenesis. Understanding the way fibroblast signaling pathways regulate mammary gland development may offer insights into the mechanisms of breast cancer (BC) biology.

Evaluation of BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARg alterations in different Bethesda diagnostic categories: A multicentric prospective study on the validity of the 7-gene panel test in 1172 thyroid FNAs deriving from different hospitals in South Italy.

Background: Thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a reliable and cost-effective diagnostic tool for establishing the nature of thyroid nodules, although up to 30% of FNAs are still classified as "indeterminate." Molecular testing of FNAs could improve preoperative diagnosis, thereby reducing unnecessary surgery. In this multicenter prospective study the authors investigated, using a 7-gene assay, the distribution and diagnostic impact of BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC, and PAX8/PPARg, the most frequent genomic alterations occurring during thyroid oncogenesis.

Development of a Stromal Microenvironment Experimental Model Containing Proto-Myofibroblast Like Cells and Analysis of Its Crosstalk with Melanoma Cells: A New Tool to Potentiate and Stabilize Tumor Suppressor Phenotype of Dermal Myofibroblasts.

Melanoma is one of the most aggressive solid tumors and includes a stromal microenvironment that regulates cancer growth and progression. The components of stromal microenvironment such as fibroblasts, fibroblast aggregates and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can differently influence the melanoma growth during its distinct stages. In this work, we have developed and studied a stromal microenvironment model, represented by fibroblasts, proto-myofibroblasts, myofibroblasts and aggregates of inactivated myofibroblasts, such as spheroids.

Metabolic flexibility in melanoma: A potential therapeutic target.

Cutaneous melanoma (CM) represents one of the most metastasizing and drug resistant solid tumors. CM is characterized by a remarkable metabolic plasticity and an important connection between oncogenic activation and energetic metabolism. In fact, melanoma cells can use both cytosolic and mitochondrial compartments to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) during cancer progression.

Mitochondrial Flexibility of Breast Cancers: A Growth Advantage and a Therapeutic Opportunity.

Breast cancers are very heterogeneous tissues with several cell types and metabolic pathways together sustaining the initiation and progression of disease and contributing to evasion from cancer therapies. Furthermore, breast cancer cells have an impressive metabolic plasticity that is regulated by the heterogeneous tumour microenvironment through bidirectional interactions. The structure and accessibility of nutrients within this unstable microenvironment influence the metabolism of cancer cells that shift between glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Human exposure to bisphenol AF and diethylhexylphthalate increases susceptibility to develop differentiated thyroid cancer in patients with thyroid nodules.

Pollutants represent potential threats to the human health, being ubiquitous in the environment and exerting toxicity even at low doses. This study aims at investigating the role of fifteen multiclass organic pollutants, assumed as markers of environmental pollution, most of which exerting endocrine-disrupting activity, in thyroid cancer development. The increasing incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) may be related to the rising production and environmental dissemination of pollutants.

Involvement of Breast Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts in Tumor Development, Therapy Resistance and Evaluation of Potential Therapeutic Strategies.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, which incidence has increased in recent years. It is constituted by very heterogeneous tissue characterized by an abnormal microenvironment regulating tumor progression and providing evasion from cancer therapies. Breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (BCAFs) are the main cell type of breast cancer microenvironment and can represent up to 80% of the tumor mass.

Generation and analysis of spheroids from human primary skin myofibroblasts: an experimental system to study myofibroblasts deactivation.

Myofibroblasts are activated fibroblasts involved in tissue repair and cancer. They are characterized by expression of -smooth muscle actin (-SMA), immunoregulatory phenotype and paracrine interaction with normal and tumorigenic cells leading to cell proliferation. At the end of wound-healing myofibroblasts undergo apoptotic cell death, whereas -activated fibroblasts are also subjected to a programmed necrosis-like cell death, termed nemosis, associated with cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression induction and inflammatory response.

Randomized comparison of power Doppler ultrasonography-guided core-needle biopsy with open surgical biopsy for the characterization of lymphadenopathies in patients with suspected lymphoma.

The sensitivity of lymph node core-needle biopsy under imaging guidance requires validation. We employed power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) to select the lymph node most suspected of malignancy and to histologically characterize it through the use of large cutting needle. Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this randomized clinical trial.

Primary peritoneal clear cell carcinoma versus ovarian carcinoma versus malignant transformation of endometriosis: a vexing issue.

Peritoneum is a site for both primary and secondary tumors. Primary peritoneal tumors are fairly rare. The most common primary tumors of the peritoneum are malignant mesothelioma and serous papillary adenocarcinoma.

Contrast enhanced multi-detector CT and MR findings of a well-differentiated pancreatic vipoma.

Pancreatic vipoma is an extremely rare tumor accounting for less than 2% of endocrine pancreatic neoplasms with a reported incidence of 0.1-0.6 per million.

Clinical outcome in differentiated thyroid carcinoma and microcarcinoma.

Introduction: Due to the frequent use of neck ultrasonography, the incidence of differentiated thyroid microcarcinoma (DTMC), defined as a lesion with greatest dimension ≤1 cm, is increasing worldwide. Although DTMC generally has a lower aggressivity and a better prognosis than differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC), some cases of clinically aggressive DTMC were found. The aim of this study is to compare the rate of recurrence in DTMC and DTC, during a 3-year follow-up.