The significance of tissue-agnostic biomarkers in solid tumors: the more the merrier?

Introduction: To date, several emerging biomarkers have gained considerable interest in the field of predictive molecular oncology. The advent of precision medicine has led to the development of innovative drugs targeting rare molecular pathways independently from histology, defined as tissue-agnostic drugs.

Areas Covered: Although there is a lot of promise for this new tissue-agnostic model in the oncological scenario, crucial issues from both the diagnostic and therapeutic standpoint are emerging.

Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: From the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) to the Italian Neurosurgical Society (SINch) Recommendations.

Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a progressively growing pathology to afford by a spinal surgeon due to the aging of the population, associated with better treatment management and the best diagnosis and treatment solutions are greatly discussed. Nowadays that scientific literature is progressively increasing to identify the gold standard in diagnosis and treatment can be very challenging. This is particularly evident in spinal surgery with many different indications not only in different countries but also in the same local reality.

Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma in a pediatric hemophiliac.

Background: Spontaneous spinal epidural hematomas (SSEH), unrelated to trauma, epidural anesthesia, or surgery, are rare in the pediatric population. Here, a 1-year-old male with hemophilia presented with a magnetic resonance (MR)-documented SSEH and was successfully treated with a C5-T10 right hemilaminectomy.

Case Description: A 1-year-old male with hemophilia presented with quadriparesis.

Styloid Jugular Nutcracker: The Possible Role of the Styloid Process Spatial Orientation-A Preliminary Morphometric Computed Study.

Styloid Jugular Nutcracker (SJN, also known as Eagle Jugular Syndrome EJS) derives from a jugular stenosis caused by an abnormal styloid process, compressing the vessel in its superior portion (J3) against the C1 anterior arch. It could be considered a venous vascular variant of Eagle Syndrome (ES). Main clinical features of this ES variant are headache, pulsatile tinnitus and dizziness, possibly related to venous hypertension and impaired cerebral parenchyma drainage.

Navigating the liquid biopsy Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) in non-small cell lung cancer: Making the invisible visible.

Liquid biopsy has gained increasing interest in the growing era of precision medicine as minimally invasive technique. Recent findings demonstrated that detecting minimal or molecular residual disease (MRD) in NSCLC is a challenging matter of debate that need multidisciplinary competencies, avoiding the overtreatment risk along with achieving a significant survival improvement. This review aims to provide practical consideration for solving data interpretation questions about MRD in NSCLC thanks to the close cooperation between biologists and oncology clinicians.

Clinical Potential of Circulating Cell-Free DNA (cfDNA) for Longitudinally Monitoring Clinical Outcomes in the First-Line Setting of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): A Real-World Prospective Study.

Background: Despite the increasing implementation of targeted and immunotherapy-based treatments, the prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC remains dismal. We prospectively evaluated longitudinal plasma cfDNA kinetics as an early marker of therapeutic efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC undergoing standard first-line treatments.

Methods: From February 2020 to May 2022, treatment-naïve patients with advanced NSCLC were consecutively enrolled at the Medical Oncology Unit of the Paolo Giaccone University Hospital, Palermo (Italy).

Brain abscess after meningioma removal caused by infection in an adult.

Background: species are an unusual cause of cerebral abscess in infant. In particular, can invade and replicate in human brain microvascular endothelial cells with a selective neurovirulence, producing ventriculitis and brain abscess mainly in the infant. A delayed brain abscess caused by species in adult patients and after surgery is an occurrence that has not yet been reported in the literature.

Burr hole on polyetheretherketone cranioplasty for the management of chronic subdural hematoma: A case report.

Background: In rare cases, chronic subdural hematoma can be a complication following cranioplasty implantation. Therefore, it can develop spontaneously or after a trauma in the underlying site of a duroplasty and represent, if compression of the brain structures, a life-threatening condition. In case of a patient with cranioplasty in polyetheretherketone (PEEK), performing a burr hole on prosthesis can represent, although unusual, an effective and safe technique for evacuation of the chronic subdural hematoma, avoiding the need to remove the prosthesis itself.

The diagnostic accuracy of mutations by circulating tumor DNA in breast cancer: an individual patient data meta-analysis.

Background: The circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) diagnostic accuracy for detecting phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha () mutations in breast cancer (BC) is under discussion. We aimed to compare plasma and tissue alterations, encompassing factors that could affect the results.

Methods: Two reviewers selected studies from different databases until December 2020.

Spinal cord compression from cutaneous malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor metastasis in a patient with neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Background: Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1) and previous irradiation are two common risk factors that can result in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), extremely rare soft-tissue sarcomas. Here, a 63-year-old male with NF-1 presented with diffuse spinal metastases from a subcutaneous MPNST.

Case Description: A 63-year-old male with NF-1 presented acutely with paraplegia and urinary incontinence.

Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Related Protein 8 at the Crossroad between Cancer and Neurodegeneration.

The low-density-lipoprotein receptors represent a family of pleiotropic cell surface receptors involved in lipid homeostasis, cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. The family shares common structural features but also has significant differences mainly due to tissue-specific interactors and to peculiar proteolytic processing. Among the receptors in the family, recent studies place low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 8 (LRP8) at the center of both neurodegenerative and cancer-related pathways.

Bidirectional Control between Cholesterol Shuttle and Purine Signal at the Central Nervous System.

Recent studies have highlighted the mechanisms controlling the formation of cerebral cholesterol, which is synthesized in situ primarily by astrocytes, where it is loaded onto apolipoproteins and delivered to neurons and oligodendrocytes through interactions with specific lipoprotein receptors. The "cholesterol shuttle" is influenced by numerous proteins or carbohydrates, which mainly modulate the lipoprotein receptor activity, function and signaling. These molecules, provided with enzymatic/proteolytic activity leading to the formation of peptide fragments of different sizes and specific sequences, could be also responsible for machinery malfunctions, which are associated with neurological, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion is more effective than cervical arthroplasty in relieving atypical symptoms in patients with cervical spondylosis.

Background And Purpose: Patients with cervical spondylosis often present with concurrent 'atypical symptoms' of unknown etiology that have been associated with cervical spondylotic disease, including dizziness, headache, nausea, tinnitus, blurred vision, palpitations, and memory and gastrointestinal disturbances. Few studies have addressed whether surgical intervention to treat classic symptoms of cervical spondylosis can also effectively alleviate atypical symptoms. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to compare the ability of cervical arthroplasty (CA) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) to alleviate atypical symptoms associated with cervical spondylosis.

ALS monocyte-derived microglia-like cells reveal cytoplasmic TDP-43 accumulation, DNA damage, and cell-specific impairment of phagocytosis associated with disease progression.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease characterised by the loss of upper and lower motor neurons. Increasing evidence indicates that neuroinflammation mediated by microglia contributes to ALS pathogenesis. This microglial activation is evident in post-mortem brain tissues and neuroimaging data from patients with ALS.

Thoracic dumbbell spinal chordoma mimicking a schwannoma.

Background: Epidural dumbbell-shaped chordomas are localized slow growing, and malignant/aggressive neoplasms. Here, we present a 62-year-old male with a T3-T4 dumbbell-shaped chordoma and reviewed the appropriate literature.

Case Description: A 62-year-old male presented with a three-month history of thoracic pain.

The Boundless World of Cranioplasty: A Multicenter Retrospective Study and Therapeutic Flow-Chart Patient-Specific Based.

Background: Cranioplasty is both a functional and aesthetical therapeutic option. In the clinical scenario every cranioplasty's material is potentially qualified to achieve the goal of calvarian reconstruction but there is a lack of agreement about the optimum choice, especially between the heterologous ones. The choice of cranioplasty widely depends on surgeon's personal preferences.

Is there any room for PD-1 inhibitors in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy as frontline treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer? A systematic review and meta-analysis with indirect comparisons among subgroups and landmark survival analyses.

Background: The addition of PD-L1 inhibitors to platinum-based chemotherapy (CT) has newly received United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in extensive stage-small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). PD-1 agents similarly improved survival rates, even if not yet supported by international regulatory agencies. The current work aims to assess different efficacy and safety profiles among chemoimmunotherapy plus immuno-oncology (CT+IO) approaches according to different immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) subtypes.