Latest Research
All publications from the Cancer3.AI database, newest first.
Donor type and post-transplant outcomes in anti-thymocyte globulin based allogeneic transplantation for myelodysplastic syndromes.
Park SY, et al
This study investigated how the type of stem cell donor affects long-term transplant outcomes in patients with myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS), a group of bone marrow cancers, when anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) is used to prevent the serious complication known as graft-versus-host disease. Researchers analyzed 391 adult MDS patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at a single center between 2009 and 2019, comparing results among matched sibling donors, unrelated donors, and haploidentical (half-matched) donors over a median follow-up of nine years. Overall five-year survival reached 63% and relapse-free survival 58.4%, with no significant difference in overall survival or non-relapse mortality across the three donor groups. Strikingly, patients who received transplants from matched sibling donors experienced a significantly higher relapse rate of 34.3% at five years, compared to only 16.4% and 16.8% for unrelated and haploidentical donors, respectively. The authors attribute this finding to ATG potentially blunting the graft-versus-leukemia effect more severely in sibling donor transplants, reducing the immune system's ability to eliminate residual cancer cells. These results challenge the traditional preference for matched sibling donors in MDS transplantation and suggest that alternative donors may provide superior disease control when ATG-based prophylaxis is used.
Annals of hematology
Source →Peculiar Presentation of an Intrapericardial Ectopic Thyroid.
Auriemma S, et al
Physicians report an exceptionally rare case of ectopic thyroid tissue found inside the pericardial sac — the protective membrane surrounding the heart — in a 62-year-old woman who experienced months of worsening shortness of breath, palpitations, and flushing. Contrast-enhanced CT imaging revealed a small, highly vascularized mass positioned near the ascending aorta, while a PET/CT scan yielded inconclusive results and a tissue biopsy could not be safely performed due to the lesion's anatomical location. Surgeons successfully removed the mass through a minimally invasive upper ministernotomy procedure, after which all of the patient's symptoms resolved completely. Histological analysis confirmed the mass was benign ectopic thyroid tissue, placing this case among fewer than ten such intrapericardial occurrences ever documented in the English-language medical literature. The case serves as an important reminder for clinicians to include ectopic thyroid tissue in the differential diagnosis of unexplained pericardial masses, particularly when standard imaging is inconclusive and the patient has a prior history of thyroid disease.
Reports (MDPI)
Source →Late recurrent renal cell carcinoma presenting as a solitary gallium-68 DOTATATE-avid pancreatic mass with polycythemia.
Albalawi M, et al
A case report published in JCEM Case Reports describes an 81-year-old woman who developed a solitary, hypervascular mass in the head of the pancreas fifteen years after undergoing surgery to remove a kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma, RCC). Advanced nuclear imaging with gallium-68 DOTATATE PET/CT showed intense uptake in the mass, a pattern typically associated with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs), leading to an initial misidentification of the lesion's origin. Despite receiving somatostatin analog therapy — a standard treatment for pNETs — the mass continued to grow, prompting clinicians to perform an endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy, which confirmed the lesion was in fact a metastasis from the original kidney cancer. The case highlights that renal cell carcinoma can spread to the pancreas and mimic pNETs both radiologically and on specialized nuclear imaging, potentially leading to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Clinicians are urged to maintain a high index of suspicion for late RCC metastasis in patients with a prior history of kidney cancer, even decades after the initial surgery, and to pursue tissue biopsy when imaging findings are ambiguous or when expected therapies fail.
JCEM case reports
Source →Expression and prognostic value of cyclase-associated proteins in cutaneous melanoma.
Ma W, et al
Researchers investigated the expression and prognostic significance of two actin-regulatory proteins, CAP1 and CAP2, in cutaneous melanoma using immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray of benign moles and melanoma samples, supplemented by publicly available gene expression datasets. Both CAP1 and CAP2 were found to be significantly overexpressed at the protein level in melanoma compared to benign nevi, with metastatic tumors showing even higher expression than primary tumors, and elevated mRNA levels correlating with advanced disease stage. In primary melanomas, high CAP1 and CAP2 expression was associated with aggressive pathologic features, including greater tumor thickness (Breslow depth), elevated mitotic rate, and advanced T stage. High expression of CAP1 and CAP2 was each linked to significantly shorter disease-specific survival, though neither protein emerged as an independent predictor in multivariate analysis accounting for other established factors. Functional analyses connected these proteins to actin dynamics, cell signaling via cyclic AMP, and cell shape regulation—pathways relevant to tumor invasion and spread. These findings position CAP1 and CAP2 as potential biomarkers of aggressive melanoma behavior and suggest that cytoskeletal regulatory programs may play an important role in melanoma progression.
Melanoma research
Source →Spontaneous regression of a choroidal nevus with risk factors for growth.
Prat Dot M, et al
Researchers have documented an exceptionally rare case of spontaneous, complete regression of a choroidal nevus — a pigmented lesion located at the back of the eye — in a 41-year-old woman who presented with multiple recognized risk factors for malignant transformation into choroidal melanoma. Over a six-year follow-up period, the lesion progressively involuted without any therapeutic intervention, representing only the third such case ever reported in the scientific literature. The authors propose that the regression was driven by an immune-mediated mechanism involving melanocyte-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes, a process analogous to the spontaneous regression occasionally observed in cutaneous melanocytic lesions and, rarely, in choroidal melanoma itself. This finding is clinically important because choroidal nevi with risk factors are typically subject to close surveillance and may prompt prophylactic treatment; awareness that spontaneous regression can occur, however rarely, may inform clinical decision-making and warrants further investigation into the immune mechanisms that could potentially be harnessed therapeutically.
Archivos de la Sociedad Espanola de Oftalmologia
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