Radiation Therapy in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers: An Italian Survey on Behalf of the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology.

Aims: The National Palliative Care and Interventional Radiotherapy Study Groups of the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) carried out a survey whose aim was to obtain a "snapshot" of the real-world practice of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) treatments in Italy.

Materials And Methods: The survey was conducted on SurveyMonkey's online interface and was sent via e-mail to our society Radiation Oncologists.

Results: Fifty-eight Italian radiation oncologists (ROs), representing 54 centers, answered the survey.

Trabectedin and Radiation Therapy for Cardiac Metastasis From Leiomyosarcoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is one of the most frequent subtypes of soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs). Metastatic spread to the heart in cancer patients carries a poor prognosis and there is no known effective treatment. Cardiac metastases of STSs are very rare.

Impedance biosensor for real-time monitoring and prediction of thrombotic individual profile in flowing blood.

A new biosensor for the real-time analysis of thrombus formation is reported. The fast and accurate monitoring of the individual thrombotic risk represents a challenge in cardiovascular diagnostics and in treatment of hemostatic diseases. Thrombus volume, as representative index of the related thrombotic status, is usually estimated with confocal microscope at the end of each in vitro experiment, without providing a useful behavioral information of the biological sample such as platelets adhesion and aggregation in flowing blood.

Bottom-up synthesis of carbon nanoparticles with higher doxorubicin efficacy.

Nanomedicine requires intelligent and non-toxic nanomaterials for real clinical applications. Carbon materials possess interesting properties but with some limitations due to toxic effects. Interest in carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is increasing because they are considered green materials with tunable optical properties, overcoming the problem of toxicity associated with quantum dots or nanocrystals, and can be utilized as smart drug delivery systems.

Comparison between conventional imaging (abdominal-pelvic computed tomography and bone scan) and [(18)F]choline positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging for the initial staging of patients with intermediate- tohigh-risk prostate cancer: A retrospective analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of [(18)F]fluorocholine positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FCH PET/CT) in detecting lymph-node and bone involvement in comparison with conventional imaging, such as abdominal-pelvic CT and bone scan, in the initial staging of prostate cancer (PCa).

Materials And Methods: The study retrospectively evaluated 48 patients who had FCH PET/CT for the initial staging of PCa. At the same time, 32 of the 48 patients had a bone scan and 26 of the 48 patients had abdominal-pelvic diagnostic CT.

Incidental uptake of (18)F-fluorocholine (FCH) in the head or in the neck of patients with prostate cancer.

Background: Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) with (18)F-fluorocholine (FCH) is routinely performed in patients with prostate cancer. In this clinical context, foci of FCH uptake in the head or in the neck were considered as incidentalomas, except for those suggestive of multiple bone metastases.

Results: In 8 patients the incidental focus corresponded to a benign tumour.

Fate of lymphocytes after withdrawal of tofacitinib treatment.

Tofacitinib (Tofa) is an inhibitor of Janus Kinase 3, developed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for the prevention of transplant rejection. Due to its selective action on proliferating cells, Tofa can offer a way to block T cell activation, without toxic effects on resting cells. However, few studies have investigated the effects of Tofa on lymphocyte activation in vitro.

Cancer vaccines in phase II/III clinical trials: state of the art and future perspectives.

The topic of this review covers a very important branch of cancer research, cancer vaccination. The growing knowledge in tumor immunology has evolved rapidly, starting from nonspecific generic stimulation of the immune system to more specific approaches based on the availability of tumor antigens. The review covers molecular and cell biology, and pharmaceutical technology of cancer vaccines.

Differential proteomic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

The principal aim of the present study consisted in the identification of the disregulated proteins associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The differences in protein expression between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the corresponding non-HCC liver tissues were investigated in a cohort of 20 patients using two-dimensional fluorescence difference in gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). The up- and down-regulated protein spots that exhibited 1.

mTOR pathway and mTOR inhibitors as agents for cancer therapy.

Research into mTOR, mammalian Target Of Rapamycin as an important drug target continues to be extremely interesting, both in terms of the increased molecular knowledge being acquired at the basis of various human diseases, and also for possible applications in drug cancer therapy. The mTOR signaling system plays a key role in several transduction pathways that are necessary for cell cycle progression and cellular proliferation. Drugs known as mTOR inhibitors have been included in ongoing and in recently completed cancer trials.

Extracellular matrix: a matter of life and death.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) is an essential component of the stromal microenvironment both from a structural and a functional point of view. The ECM functions as a scaffold for tissue organization and regulates growth factors and chemokines availability thus contributing to maintain tissue homeostasis. Attachment of cells to ECM is essential to support cell survival, growth, and proliferation, and the lack of these interactions can trigger a type of cell death named anoikis.

Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy versus chromogranin A assay in the management of patients with neuroendocrine tumors of different types: clinical role.

Background: Current diagnosis and staging of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are significantly improved by the introduction of the chromogranin A (CgA) assay in plasma or serum as a tumor marker, and by the use of somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) for tumor localization. However, the clinical role of CgA assay compared with SRS in the management of NETs has not been well elucidated.

Patients And Methods: Sixty-three consecutive patients with a histological diagnosis of NET underwent plasma CgA assay and SRS for tumor staging (23 cases), evaluation of tumor response (18 cases) and evaluation of tumor recurrence on follow-up (22 cases).

Vascular PG-M/versican variants promote platelet adhesion at low shear rates and cooperate with collagens to induce aggregation.

We have identified a novel von Willebrand factor/fibrinogen/selectin-independent, platelet adhesion-promoting function of vascular PG-M/versicans that may be relevant in normal venous thrombosis and critical in atherosclerotic conditions. A purification scheme was devised to obtain vascular versicans, which by biochemical, immunochemical, and ultrastructural means were asserted to be 1) composed primarily of isoforms V1 and V2; 2) free of contaminants; 3) prevalently substituted with chondroitin-4-sulfate and dermatan sulfate (DS) chains; and 4) capable of binding hyaluronan to form link protein-stabilized ternary complexes. Real-time analysis of human platelet perfused under diverse shear forces showed that they largely failed to bind to several vascular and nonvascular proteoglycans (PGs).

Improving fluorescence-based assays for the in vitro analysis of cell adhesion and migration.

Cell adhesion and cell migration are two primary cellular phenomena to be approached in vitro in order to allow for the effective dissection of the individual events and the unravelling of their underlying molecular mechanisms. The use of assays dedicated to the analysis of cell adhesion and migration in vitro also affords an efficient way of conducting larger basic and applied research screenings of the conditions affecting these processes and are potentially exploitable in the context of routine tests in the biological and medical fields. Therefore, there is a substantial interest in devicing more rationale such assays and major contributions in this direction have been provided by the advent of procedures based on fluorescent cell tagging.

Laminin isoforms 8 and 10 are primary components of the subendothelial basement membrane promoting interaction with neoplastic lymphocytes.

To determine whether subendothelial laminins (LNs) could be implicated in the extravasation of neoplastic lymphocytes, we have examined the distribution of a number of LN isoforms in human vascular structures of adult individuals and have assayed the ability of the isolated LN molecules to promote adhesion of lymphoma and leukemic cells in vitro using a novel cell adhesion assay, CAFCA, Centrifugal Assay for Fluorescence-based Cell Adhesion (E. Giacomello et al., Biotechniques, 26: 758-762, 1999; P.