Latest Research
All publications from the Cancer3.AI database, newest first.
Giant Lumbosacral Meningioma Without Dural Attachment in an Adolescent: A Rare Diagnostic and Surgical Challenge.
Mousavi SR, et al
Physicians report the 24th documented case worldwide of a giant, non-dural-based lumbosacral meningioma, occurring in a 13-year-old girl — an extraordinarily rare presentation of a tumor type that almost always originates from the protective membrane surrounding the spinal cord and brain. The patient presented with one month of progressive low back pain and walking difficulty unresponsive to conservative treatment, and imaging revealed a massive tumor spanning the L3 to S3 vertebral levels. Complete surgical removal was achieved through a posterior spinal approach, with pathological examination confirming a WHO Grade I (benign) meningioma under the 2021 classification system. At one-year follow-up, the patient had made a full neurological recovery with no evidence of tumor regrowth or cerebrospinal fluid leakage. This case highlights the profound diagnostic challenge posed by meningiomas that lack the typical dural attachment, especially in pediatric populations, and demonstrates that even unusually large, adherent tumors in complex locations can be successfully managed with appropriate surgical expertise.
International medical case reports journal
Source →Characterization of Immunolocalization of IP3R-1 in Skin Epithelium and its Changes in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: An Immuno-Histochemical and Clinical-Pathological Study.
Gruber CR, et al
Researchers examined the distribution and expression of IP3R-1, a key calcium-release channel located on the endoplasmic reticulum, across normal skin, pre-cancerous dysplastic lesions, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) using immunohistochemistry on archival human tissue samples. In healthy skin, IP3R-1 protein was confined exclusively to the basal (deepest) layer of the epidermis and was absent from all more superficial layers, establishing a clear baseline pattern. A marked increase in IP3R-1 expression was detected in atypical cells of dysplastic lesions, and significant overexpression was confirmed in both SCC and BCC irrespective of tumor subtype or degree of cellular differentiation. Notably, despite the consistent overexpression in cancerous tissue, no statistically significant correlation was identified between IP3R-1 levels and specific clinicopathological features such as tumor invasiveness, differentiation grade, or aggressiveness. These findings indicate that disruption of calcium signaling through IP3R-1 may represent an early molecular event in non-melanoma skin cancer development, raising the possibility of IP3R-1 as a novel biomarker for early detection or a future therapeutic target, though further molecular validation studies are needed.
Indian dermatology online journal
Source →First report of synchronous papillary, medullary, and thymic carcinomas in a patient carrying a germline heterozygous MUTYH mutation.
Yu L, et al
Researchers report the first documented case of a patient carrying a single (heterozygous) germline mutation in the MUTYH gene who developed three simultaneous or sequential rare cancers: a collision tumor of the thyroid gland comprising both papillary thyroid carcinoma and medullary thyroid carcinoma diagnosed at age 55, followed two years later by a non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma of the thymus along with lymph node metastasis. Next-generation sequencing of the metastatic lymph node tissue uncovered a previously unreported frameshift mutation in MUTYH (c.848delT, p.M283Rfs*3), which was confirmed to be hereditary through Sanger sequencing of normal thyroid tissue. The MUTYH gene is best known for causing MUTYH-associated polyposis, an inherited colorectal cancer syndrome, but only when both copies of the gene are mutated; the cancer risk for individuals carrying just one mutated copy has remained poorly understood. This case broadens the known disease spectrum linked to heterozygous MUTYH carriers and raises the possibility that single-copy MUTYH mutations may predispose individuals to a wider variety of cancers beyond the gastrointestinal tract. Clinicians and genetic counselors should consider this emerging evidence when evaluating cancer risk and designing surveillance strategies for heterozygous MUTYH mutation carriers.
Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology
Source →Comparison of overall survival across treatment modalities for oesophageal, gastroesophageal, and gastric cancer: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Apostolidou-Kiouti F, et al
Researchers have published a protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) designed to compare overall survival outcomes across all major treatment modalities — including surgery, chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, immunotherapy, and multimodal approaches — for cancers of the oesophagus, gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), and stomach. These three cancer types share biological, molecular, and therapeutic characteristics but are frequently studied in isolation, leaving clinicians without a unified evidence base to guide treatment decisions. The planned study will search MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library for randomised controlled trials without date restrictions, and will employ advanced statistical methods including individual patient data analysis and population adjustment techniques where needed. By simultaneously ranking all eligible treatments using a network meta-analysis model and applying the CINeMA framework to evaluate confidence in the results, the analysis aims to deliver a comprehensive, rigorously graded comparison that current guidelines do not yet provide. This work is expected to support clinicians in selecting the most effective treatment strategies for patients with these difficult-to-treat upper gastrointestinal cancers, and may also help resolve ongoing debates about how GEJ tumours should be classified and managed.
Systematic reviews
Source →Single Institution Experience Using Circulating Tumor DNA to Monitor Recurrence in Rectal Cancer.
Hulse JC, et al
Researchers at a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center conducted a retrospective study to evaluate whether circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) — tiny fragments of cancer DNA detectable in the bloodstream — could help identify recurrence earlier in rectal cancer patients following definitive treatment, including surgery or non-operative management. Among 144 rectal cancer patients for whom ctDNA data were available between 2021 and 2024, 28 experienced clinical recurrences; in 71.4% of these cases, a positive ctDNA result preceded clinical detection of recurrence, with a median lead time of 100 days before standard methods confirmed the relapse. Notably, ctDNA positivity was far more common in patients who developed distant metastases (91.7%) than in those with purely local recurrences (58.8%), suggesting that a positive test may specifically signal systemic spread of disease. These findings indicate that ctDNA surveillance could serve as a valuable early warning complement to conventional imaging and clinical follow-up, particularly in guiding decisions about salvage surgery when recurrence is suspected. The study has limitations as a single-institution retrospective analysis with a modest sample size, and the authors emphasize that large prospective trials are needed to standardize ctDNA testing within formal rectal cancer surveillance protocols.
Diseases of the colon and rectum
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