Pure Yolk Sac Testicular Tumour in an Adult: A Diagnostic Dilemma.

A rare case of a pure yolk sac testicular tumour presenting in an adult with learning difficulties is presented. Pure yolk sac tumours are much more common in children, but when they do occur in adults, onset can be both insidious and aggressive. The best practice for identification involves the precise use of ultrasound, blood tests for tumour markers and FDG-PET/CT imaging for staging.

Recent advances in testicular germ cell tumours.

Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) are the most common solid tumours in young men and have an excellent overall cure rate and prognosis. In most patients, localised disease is cured by surgery alone, and a minority of patients receive short-course adjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the risk of further relapse. Also, in about 80% of patients, metastatic disease can be cured by systemic cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Precision medicine in age-specific non-small-cell-lung-cancer patients: Integrating biomolecular results into clinical practice-A new approach to improve personalized translational research.

Objectives: Non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC) in young adults (≤45 years-old) accounts for a very small proportion, as this disease usually occurs in people at older age. The youthful NSCLC may constitute an entity with different clinical-pathologic characteristics, having predominance of adenocarcinoma histology and affecting mostly non-smoker subjects. However, without specific guidelines, it is currently considered, both clinically and biologically, as the same disease of the older counterpart, although differences have been documented.

Unraveling the chromosome 17 patterns of FISH in interphase nuclei: an in-depth analysis of the HER2 amplicon and chromosome 17 centromere by karyotyping, FISH and M-FISH in breast cancer cells.

Background: In diagnostic pathology, HER2 status is determined in interphase nuclei by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with probes for the HER2 gene and for the chromosome 17 centromere (CEP17). The latter probe is used as a surrogate for chromosome 17 copies, however chromosome 17 (Chr17) is frequently rearranged. The frequency and type of specific structural Chr17 alterations in breast cancer have been studied by using comparative genomic hybridization and spectral karyotyping, but not fully detailed.

Extending survival of stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.

Most of patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) present with locally advanced or metastatic disease. In this setting the goal of treatment is to prolong survival and to control disease- and treatment-related symptoms. Currently systemic cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the first-line treatment for most patients with stage IV NSCLC, but preferred treatments are now defined by histology and based on the presence of specific molecular abnormalities.

Intermediate endpoints of primary systemic therapy in breast cancer patients.

Primary systemic therapy (PST) in breast cancer offers the opportunity to explore interactions between tumor biology and administered treatment. Changes in clinical, tissue-based, or imaging markers can provide information on the mechanisms of PST activity (activity endpoints) or predict treatment efficacy (surrogate endpoints). The most frequently used intermediate endpoint for PST is pathological complete response, but its role as a surrogate parameter of efficacy has not yet been demonstrated.

The prolyl hydroxylase enzymes are positively associated with hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor in human breast cancer and alter in response to primary systemic treatment with epirubicin and tamoxifen.

Introduction: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship of expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α-modifying enzymes prolyl hydroxylase (PHD)1, PHD2 and PHD3 to response of tumours and survival in breast cancer patients enrolled in a phase II trial of neoadjuvant anthracycline and tamoxifen therapy.

Methods: The expression of PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3 together with HIF-1α and the HIF-inducible genes vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) and carbonic anhydrase IX were assessed by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray approach in 211 patients with T2-4 N0-1 breast cancer enrolled in a randomised trial comparing single-agent epirubicin versus epirubicin and tamoxifen as the primary systemic treatment.

Results: PHD1, PHD2 and PHD3 were detected in 47/179 (26.

Anti-angiogenic effect of tamoxifen combined with epirubicin in breast cancer patients.

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) are the key factors mediating neo-vascularization. They are often coexpressed in breast cancer. Sex steroids may stimulate angiogenesis via the estrogen receptor (ER) pathway.