Association Study between Polymorphisms in DNA Methylation-Related Genes and Testicular Germ Cell Tumor Risk.

Background: Testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT), histologically classified as seminomas and nonseminomas, are believed to arise from primordial gonocytes, with the maturation process blocked when they are subjected to DNA methylation reprogramming. SNPs in DNA methylation machinery and folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism genes have been postulated to influence the proper establishment of DNA methylation.

Methods: In this pathway-focused investigation, we evaluated the association between 273 selected tag SNPs from 28 DNA methylation-related genes and TGCT risk.

Quality of life among germ-cell testicular cancer survivors: The effect of time since cancer diagnosis.

Introduction: Testicular cancer is one of the most treatable cancers, with a 10-year survival of more than 95%. Many patients will be long-term survivors and this disease strikes men in an important phase of their lives, therefore the quality of life (QoL) among these patients is an area of particular interest. We aimed to study whether QoL in testicular cancer survivors depends on the time since cancer diagnosis.

Caveolin-1 expression predicts favourable outcome and correlates with mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs).

Aims: Novel prognostic markers are warranted for gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Caveolin-1 is a multifunctional protein that proved to be associated with outcome in multiple tumour types. Aim of this study was to investigate Caveolin-1 expression and prognostic efficacy in a series of gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

Different quality of treatment in retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS) according to hospital-case volume and surgeon-case volume: a retrospective regional analysis in Italy.

Background: Retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS) should be surgically managed in specialized sarcoma centers. However, it is not clearly demonstrated if clinical outcome is more influenced by Center Case Volume (CCV) or by Surgeon Case Volume (SCV). The aim of this study is to retrospectively explore the relationship between CCV and SCV and the quality of surgery in a wide region of Northern Italy.

Postnatal risk factors for testicular cancer: The EPSAM case-control study.

Testicular cancer is considered to originate from an impaired differentiation of fetal germ cells, but puberty could represent another time window of susceptibility. Our study aimed at investigating the association between environmental exposures acting during puberty/adolescence (13-19 years of age) and the risk of testicular cancer. We used data of the EPSAM study, a case-control study on germ-cell testicular cancer conducted in the province of Turin, Italy, involving cases diagnosed between 1997 and 2008.

Subfertility and Risk of Testicular Cancer in the EPSAM Case-Control Study.

Background/objectives: It has been suggested that subfertility and testicular cancer share genetic and environmental risk factors. We studied both subfertility and the strongest known testicular cancer susceptibility gene, the c-KIT ligand (KITLG), whose pathway is involved in spermatogenesis.

Methods: The EPSAM case-control study is comprised of testicular cancer patients from the Province of Turin, Italy, diagnosed between 1997 and 2008.

Long-term survival after multidisciplinary management of a metastatic sarcomatoid porocarcinoma with repeated exeresis, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and cetuximab: case report and review of literature.

Eccrine porocarcinoma is a rare and aggressive skin neoplasm; only two cases of sarcomatoid differentiation have been reported. Whereas surgery is effective as first line treatment, optimal management of recurrent or metastatic porocarcinoma is not defined and needs multidisciplinary approach. Here we described the first reported case of metastatic sarcomatoid porocarcinoma.

Inferior vena cava prosthetic replacement in a patient with horseshoe kidney and metastatic testicular tumor: technical considerations and review of the literature.

Background: Seminomatous and non-seminomatous Germ Cell Tumors (GCT) of the testis are a rare cancer, with an estimated incidence of 56.3 per million white males and 10 per million black males in the United States.The association between non-seminomatous GCT and horseshoe kidney is a rare event and is seen in about 1.

Role of multidimensional assessment of frailty in predicting short-term outcomes in hospitalized cancer patients: results of a prospective cohort study.

Aims And Background: The study analyzed the value of physical and psychosocial frailty assessment in predicting the need for supportive care and the risk of short-term failures after discharge in hospitalized cancer patients.

Methods And Study Design: Frailty was assessed in 350 consecutive patients using a multidimensional tool. Patients were followed for 4 months after discharge to record the occurrence of chemotherapy interruption, urgent hospital readmission or death.

Lifetime growth and risk of testicular cancer.

Adult height is associated with testicular cancer risk. We studied to what extent this association is explained by parental height, childhood height and age at puberty. We conducted a case-control study on germ-cell testicular cancer patients diagnosed in 1997-2008 and resident in the Province of Turin.

Complete response of metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma to cetuximab plus paclitaxel.

Background And Methods: Cetuximab therapy results strongly active in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). A patient affected by a rapidly progressing, already irradiated and cisplatin-refractory cSCC, with lung, pleura and thoracic lymph nodes metastasis, was treated with weekly cetuximab and paclitaxel.

Results: Treatment was well tolerated and a partial response was obtained after four months of cetuximab plus paclitaxel therapy.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome induced by infusion of oxaliplatin: a case report.

Introduction: Oxaliplatin is a third-generation platinum compound with proven antitumor activity in the treatment of colorectal cancer. The occurrence of life-threating hemolitic uremic syndrome has been observed after oxaliplatin therapy. The kind of tumor and treatment modalities seem to influence the onset of hemolitic uremic syndrome.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the umbilicus: management of an unusual localization.

We describe the case of a squamous cell carcinoma spreading to the skin and regional lymph nodes from the umbilicus. Bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy and a session of electrochemotherapy with bleomycin 15 mg/m2 were performed. However, because of the development of new cutaneous nodules in the abdominopelvic region, we performed targeted palliative therapy with erlotinib 150 mg/day.

KIT and PDGFRA mutations and PDGFRA immunostaining in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

In the present study, we investigated the association of PDGFRA and KIT mutations as well as PDGFRA immunohistochemical expression with clinicopathologic features and prognosis in a series of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Tumor DNA from 40 GISTs was sequenced for the presence of mutations in KIT exons 9, 11, 13 and 17, and in PDGFRA exons 12 and 18. Tissue sections were stained with polyclonal anti-PDGFRA antibody.

Thymoma: inter-relationships among World Health Organization histology, Masaoka staging and myasthenia gravis and their independent prognostic significance: a single-centre experience.

Objective: In thymomas, World Health Organization (WHO) histology, Masaoka stage and myasthenia gravis (MG) have long been considered important for patient management and outcome. Their role has been independently investigated in the past. Few studies, however, focussed on the correlations among these variables.

Procalcitonin as a predictive marker of infections in chemoinduced neutropenia.

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the usefulness of procalcitonin (PCT) as a predictive marker of infections in neutropenic patients following chemotherapeutic treatments.

Methods: Over a 6-month period, 65 patients (34 affected by a solid tumor, 31 by a hematological disorder) were enrolled. Serum PCT concentrations were measured by an automated immunoassay on the leucocytes nadir and on the third day, when patients were checked for any sign of infection.