Retrospective study on osteosarcoma and ewing sarcoma - our experience.

Introduction: Primary bone tumors are relatively rare types of cancer. Their relative frequency is not yet well established and still there is more information needed regarding the evolution and prognosis of those patients.

Objectives: We analyzed several factors (site of lesion, tumor stage, tumor volume, disease related complications, therapy related complications) that influenced the evolution of bone tumor in a lot of patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma or Ewing sarcome.

β-Arrestin-biased agonism as the central mechanism of action for insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor-targeting antibodies in Ewing's sarcoma.

Owing to its essential role in cancer, insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R)-targeted therapy is an exciting approach for cancer treatment. However, when translated into clinical trials, IGF-1R-specific antibodies did not fulfill expectations. Despite promising clinical responses in Ewing's sarcoma (ES) phase I/II trials, phase III trials were discouraging, requiring bedside-to-bench translation and functional reevaluation of the drugs.

Analysis of a promoter polymorphism in the SMDF neuregulin 1 isoform in Schizophrenia.

Background/aims: Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) is a positional candidate gene in schizophrenia (SZ). Two major susceptibility loci in the NRG1 gene approximately one million nucleotides apart have been identified in genetic studies. Several candidate functional allelic variants have been described that might be involved in disease susceptibility.

Analysis of protocadherin alpha gene enhancer polymorphism in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Cadherins and protocadherins are cell adhesion proteins that play an important role in neuronal migration, differentiation and synaptogenesis, properties that make them targets to consider in schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) pathogenesis. Consequently, allelic variation occurring in protocadherin and cadherin encoding genes that map to regions of the genome targeted in SZ and BD linkage studies are particularly strong candidates to consider. One such set of candidate genes is the 5q31-linked PCDH family, which consists of more than 50 exons encoding three related, though distinct family members--alpha, beta, and gamma--which can generate thousands of different protocadherin proteins through alternative promoter usage and cis-alternative splicing.

Synergistic interactions between interferon-gamma and TRAIL modulate c-FLIP in endothelial cells, mediating their lineage-specific sensitivity to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura plasma-associated apoptosis.

Microvascular endothelial cell (MVEC) injury coupled to progression of platelet microthrombi facilitated by ADAMTS13 deficiency is characteristic of idiopathic and HIV-linked thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Cytokines capable of inducing MVEC apoptosis in vitro are up-regulated in both TTP and HIV infection. However, the concentrations of these cytokines required to elicit EC apoptosis in vitro are 2- to 3-log-fold greater than present in patient plasmas.

Incorporating statistical measures of anatomical variability in atlas-to-subject registration for conformal brain radiotherapy.

Deforming a digital atlas towards a patient image allows the simultaneous segmentation of several structures. Such an intersubject registration is difficult as the deformations to recover are highly inhomogeneous. A priori information about the local amount of deformation to expect is precious, since it allows to optimally balance the quality of the matching versus the regularity of the deformation.

Decreased transcription of the human FCGR2B gene mediated by the -343 G/C promoter polymorphism and association with systemic lupus erythematosus.

The role for inhibitory Fc gamma receptors class IIb (FcgammaRIIb) in the onset, progression and severity of several animal models of autoimmune diseases is well established. By contrast, the pathogenic potential of FcgammaRIIb in human autoimmune diseases remains largely unknown. Here we report the identification of a polymorphism in the human FCGR2B promoter (dbSNP no.

Grid powered nonlinear image registration with locally adaptive regularization.

Multi-subject non-rigid registration algorithms using dense deformation fields often encounter cases where the transformation to be estimated has a large spatial variability. In these cases, linear stationary regularization methods are not sufficient. In this paper, we present an algorithm that uses a priori information about the nature of imaged objects in order to adapt the regularization of the deformations.

Inhibitory Fc gamma receptors: from gene to disease.

Multiple lines of evidence have revealed a key role for inhibitory Fc gamma receptors class IIb (FcgammaRIIb) as negative modulators of innate and adaptive immune responses. Acquired and genetic factors regulate the expression of FcgammaRIIb receptors and modify their inhibitory potential. Recent advances have highlighted the importance of FcgammaRIIb receptors in influencing the development of cancer and autoimmunity.