Mutational Profiles of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas with Different Patterns of Clinical Aggression from Head and Neck Regions.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a prevalent malignancy with a rising incidence and a notably high mutational load. Exploring the genetic nuances of cSCC and investigating molecular approaches stands as a potential avenue for improving outcomes in high-risk patients. This retrospective case-control study involved two cohorts, one of 14 patients (the "discovery cohort") and the other of 12 patients (the "validation cohort"), with cSCC located in the head/neck anatomical region and diagnosed at the pT2 stage. Overall, cases developed early local relapses of the disease, whereas controls never relapsed during the entire follow-up period. A next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach conducted on histological samples revealed that TP53 and CDKN2A were the most frequently mutated genes in our series. No specific mutations were identified as potential prognostic or therapeutic targets. Controls exhibited a tendency toward a higher mutational rate compared to cases. It is possible that an increased number of mutations could prompt the cSCC to expose more antigens, becoming more immunogenic and facilitating recognition by the immune system. This could enhance and sustain the immunological response, potentially preventing future recurrences.

Multidisciplinary Management of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Scalp: An Algorithm for Reconstruction and Treatment.

Background: Scalp-associated cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) presents formidable treatment challenges, especially when it leads to full-thickness defects involving bone. Aggressive or recurring cases often demand a multidisciplinary approach. Leveraging our surgical experience and a literature review, we introduce a therapeutic algorithm to guide the selection of reconstruction methods, particularly for locally advanced lesions, furthermore showing the synergy between surgery and other therapies for comprehensive, multidisciplinary disease management. Methods: Our algorithm stems from a retrospective analysis of 202 patients undergoing scalp cSCC resection and reconstruction over a 7-year period, encompassing 243 malignancies. After rigorous risk assessment and documentation of surgical procedures, reconstruction methods were therefore related to malignancy extent, depth, and individual clinical status. Results: The documented reconstructions included 76 primary closures, 115 skin grafts, 7 dermal substitute reconstructions, 33 local flaps, 1 locoregional flap, and 1 microsurgical free flap. Patients unsuitable for surgery received radiotherapy or immunotherapy after histological confirmation. Precise analysis of tumor characteristics in terms of infiltration extent and depth guided the selection of appropriate reconstruction and treatment strategies Combining these insights with an extensive literature review enabled us to formulate our algorithm for managing scalp cSCCs. Conclusions: Effectively addressing scalp cSCC, especially in locally advanced or recurrent cases, demands a systematic approach integrating surgery, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Our multidisciplinary team's decision-making algorithm improved patient outcomes by offering a broader spectrum of therapeutic options that can synergistically achieve optimal results.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp: a combination of different therapeutic strategies.

A case study of a 71-year-old man with a giant cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp and calvaria is presented, where a combination of surgical excision, reconstruction with a latissimus dorsi muscular free flap, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy were used to control the disease for two years without recurrence.

Liquid Biopsy in the Oncological Management of a Histologically Undiagnosed Lung Carcinoma: A Case Report.

Lung cancer is one of the most common and lethal cancers worldwide. Numerous medications targeting specific molecular alterations in non-small cell lung cancer have been introduced in the last decade and have revolutionized the clinical management of the disease. Their use has brought to a parallel evolution of molecular testing techniques to identify alterations in druggable molecular targets within the genetic material of the tumors. To perform molecular testing, biopsy or surgery tissue specimens are needed, which in addition allow the histological characterization of the tumors. Unfortunately, in real-life practice not all the patients are suitable for biopsy or surgery procedures. The use of liquid biopsy for blood extracted tumoral DNA analysis is a promising approach in unbiopsied cases, but it is also weighted by several methodological and technical limitations. We report here a case of histologically undiagnosed lung cancer managed with a liquid biopsy and subsequently with anti-EGFR treatment. Our report highlights that the use of liquid biopsy molecular testing in specific clinical situations can offer treatment opportunities for fragile patients affected by lung cancer.

[Management of small cell lung cancer patient in the regions of Lazio, Umbria and Sardinia.] / Gestione del paziente con microcitoma nelle regioni Lazio, Umbria e Sardegna.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease, difficult to treat. There have been no significant therapeutic advances over platinum and etoposide chemotherapy in the last 20 years until the introduction of immunotherapy. In 2020 atezolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor against PD-L1 was approved in Italy in combination with carboplatin and etoposide for the first-line treatment of patients with extensive stage disease (ES-SCLC), becoming the new standard treatment. On May 20, 2021, a virtual meeting, directed by profs. Federico Cappuzzo and Emilio Bria, was held in which 14 clinicians from different oncology centers in Lazio, Umbria and Sardinia discussed the issues of ES-SCLC patients treatment, after the advent of immunotherapy. The aim of the meeting was to share their clinical experience and to provide a series of practical indications that can support clinicians in the management of ES-SCLC patients in first-line with chemo-immunotherapy.

Adjuvant Hormonal Therapy in Women with Early-stage Breast Cancer.

For decades, adjuvant hormonal therapy has become the standard treatment of patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Currently, the drugs available are GnRH agonists, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and aromatase inhibitors. The use of GnRH agonists represents a potentially reversible treatment that can restore ovarian function after chemotherapy. In premenopausal women, systemic therapy based on selective estrogen receptor modulators administration (e.g., tamoxifen) usually represents the standard adjuvant treatment. There are not sufficient data to recommend the routine addition of GnRH agonists to other endocrine therapies. In postmenopausal women, the disease-free survival was significantly prolonged in patients treated with aromatase inhibitor compared with those treated with tamoxifen, but the survival benefit was modest. Better results were obtained when the two drugs were administered sequentially. According to the ASCO guidelines, after 5 years of tamoxifen treatment, either tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors therapy should be suggested for an additional 5 years. Unfortunately, most adverse events are consistent with estrogen deprivation and are common to all therapies, and the cumulative toxicity causes discontinuation and nonadherence to therapy in up to 50% of patients. Switching tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor may reduce adverse event incidence. Molecular-targeted therapy is useful in patients with advanced, relapsed or hormonal therapy-resistant tumors, usually as second- or third-line treatment. These drugs are usually added to aromatase inhibitors; however, currently, they have not yet been used in patients with early breast cancer.

Adjuvant Treatment of Early Breast Cancer in the Elderly.

Breast cancer is common in the elderly, as more than 50% of these tumors are diagnosed in patients aged 65 years or older. Elderly women may also delay reporting or underreport to their physician suspicious symptoms and lesions, so that breast cancer is more likely to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage, with putatively inferior outcomes. Adjuvant hormonal therapy has clear benefits for all women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer, despite the fact that it is still under-prescribed in elderly women, but the benefits of tamoxifen are more evident than that observed in younger patients. Aromatase inhibitors significantly prolong disease-free survival, reducing the risk of metastases and contralateral cancer compared with tamoxifen, and these benefits are greater in women aged ≥65 years. However, in case of a history of pathological fractures, arthritis or chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes, tamoxifen still represents the preferred adjuvant option. In patients with a high risk of recurrence with hormonal therapy alone, the cardiac toxicity of nonanthracycline regimens should be taken into account. Trastuzumab-based therapy should be offered to most patients with HER2-overexpressing tumors. Older patients have an increased risk of disease recurrence and cancer-related mortality, because they are usually undertreated due to their age and longevity. Thus, a multidisciplinary geriatric approach is required, but the optimal management of these patients is still not well defined.

Advances in the Treatment of Triple-negative Early Breast Cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer represents approximately 10-20% of all breast cancers and is associated with worse prognosis than other subtypes, with a higher risk of recurrence and death than other breast cancer types. This cancer is considered a heterogeneous disease comprising a spectrum of cancers with distinct activated biological pathways, various levels of chemosensitivity and different propensity for metastasis. Currently, chemotherapy represents the mainstay of medical treatment of these patients, because of the absence of well-defined molecular target agent, and we cannot use investigational classifications to determine appropriate systemic therapy outside of clinical trials. The specific adjuvant chemotherapy that may be most effective is still being determined but there is general consensus that regimens containing anthracyclines and taxanes are the standard approach for patient after surgery. Unfortunately, although some patients respond to treatment, other women have a high degree of intrinsic resistance to the same therapy. Moreover, in some studies, the pathological complete response was significantly higher in women treated with platinum-based regimen with respect to those treated with other chemotherapy regimen. The systematic evaluation of the predictive value of genomic alterations is critically important for a better comprehension of this entity and to develop new effective therapeutic strategies. In the future, a personalized therapeutic approach based on biology-oriented characteristics and molecular profiling may be effective for the patients.

Impact of tissue type and content of neoplastic cells of samples on the quality of epidermal growth factor receptor mutation analysis among patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

Assessment of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutational status has become crucial in recent years in the molecular classification of patients with lung cancer. The impact of the type and quantity of malignant cells of the neoplastic specimen on the quality of mutation analysis remains to be elucidated, and only empirical and sporadic data are available. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of tissue type and content of neoplastic cells in the specimen on the quality of EGFR mutation analysis among patients with lung adenocarcinoma. A total of 515 patients with histologically-confirmed disease were included in the present study. Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue samples were used for the mutation analysis and the content of the neoplastic cells was evaluated using light microscopy. Genomic DNA was isolated using a standard protocol. The coding sequences and splice junctions of exons 18, 19 and 21 in the EGFR gene were then screened for mutations by direct automated sequencing. The mean age of the patients examined was 64.9 years and 357 (69.3%) were male. A total of 429 tissue samples (83.3%) were obtained by biopsy and the remaining samples were obtained by surgery. A total of 456 samples (88.5%) were observed from primary lung adenocarcinomas, while 59 (11.5%) were from metastatic lesions. EGFR mutations occurred in 59 cases (11.5%); exon 18 mutations were detected in one case (1.7%), whereas exon 19 and 21 mutations were detected in 30 (51%) and 28 (47.3%) cases, respectively. EGFR mutations were more frequent in females and patients that had never smoked. The distribution of the mutations among primary and metastatic tissues exhibited no significant differences in the proportions of EGFR mutations detected. However, a statistically significant difference in the number of mutations detected was found between samples with at least 50% of neoplastic cells (450 cases-57 mutations; 12.7%) and those with <50% of neoplastic cells (65 cases-2 mutations; 3.1%).

Immune response to influenza A(H1N1)v in HIV-infected patients.

INTRODUCTION: HIV infection is considered a risk factor for severe outcomes of influenza A(H1N1)v infection. However, data on immune response against influenza A(H1N1)v virus in HIV-infected patients are lacking. METHODOLOGY: Data from seven HIV-positive and 14 HIV-negative patients infected with A(H1N1)v and from 23 HIV-positive and six HIV-negative asymptomatic controls were analyzed to evaluate the clinical picture, A(H1N1)v viral shedding, and the immune response against the virus. RESULTS: Patients displayed mainly upper respiratory tract diseases (57.1%), while pneumonia was diagnosed only in HIV-negative patients (23.8% of subjects, of which 4.8% required intensive care unit admission). At day seven, 29% of HIV-infected patients were still positive for A(H1N1)v by RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swabs. Interestingly, a persistence of CXCL10 secretion at high level and lower IL-6 levels was observed in HIV-positive subjects. The geometric mean haemagglutination inhibition titer (HI-GMT) and anti-influenza IgM levels were lower in HIV-positive individuals while anti-influenza IgG levels remained similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The immune impairment due to HIV infection could affect A(H1N1)v clearance and could lead to a lower antibody response and a persistent secretion of CXCL10 at high levels. However, the lower IL-6 secretion and treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) could result in a milder clinical picture.

Functional dissection of protein domains involved in the immunomodulatory properties of PE_PGRS33 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

PE_PGRSs are a large family of proteins identified in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and in few other pathogenic mycobacteria. The PE domain of PE_PGRS33 mediates localization of the protein on the mycobacterial cell surface, where the PGRS domain is available to interact with host components. In this study, PE_PGRS33 and its functional deletion mutants were expressed in M. smegmatis, and in vitro and in vivo assays were used to dissect the protein domains involved in the immunomodulatory properties of the protein. We demonstrate that PE_PGRS33-mediated secretion of TNF-α by macrophages occurs by extracellular interaction with TLR2. Our results also show that while the PGRS domain of the protein is required for triggering TNF-α secretion, mutation in the PE domain affects the pro-inflammatory properties of the protein. These results indicate that PE_PGRS33 is a protein with immunomodulatory activity and that protein stability and localization on the mycobacterial surface can affect these properties.

Interferon regulatory factor 8-deficiency determines massive neutrophil recruitment but T cell defect in fast growing granulomas during tuberculosis.

Following Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, immune cell recruitment in lungs is pivotal in establishing protective immunity through granuloma formation and neogenesis of lymphoid structures (LS). Interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF-8) plays an important role in host defense against Mtb, although the mechanisms driving anti-mycobacterial immunity remain unclear. In this study, IRF-8 deficient mice (IRF-8⁻/⁻) were aerogenously infected with a low-dose Mtb Erdman virulent strain and the course of infection was compared with that induced in wild-type (WT-B6) counterparts. Tuberculosis (TB) progression was examined in both groups using pathological, microbiological and immunological parameters. Following Mtb exposure, the bacterial load in lungs and spleens progressed comparably in the two groups for two weeks, after which IRF-8⁻/⁻ mice developed a fatal acute TB whereas in WT-B6 the disease reached a chronic stage. In lungs of IRF-8⁻/⁻, uncontrolled growth of pulmonary granulomas and impaired development of LS were observed, associated with unbalanced homeostatic chemokines, progressive loss of infiltrating T lymphocytes and massive prevalence of neutrophils at late infection stages. Our data define IRF-8 as an essential factor for the maintenance of proper immune cell recruitment in granulomas and LS required to restrain Mtb infection. Moreover, IRF-8⁻/⁻ mice, relying on a common human and mouse genetic mutation linked to susceptibility/severity of mycobacterial diseases, represent a valuable model of acute TB for comparative studies with chronically-infected congenic WT-B6 for dissecting protective and pathological immune reactions.

Interleukin-6 is a potential biomarker for severe pandemic H1N1 influenza A infection.

Pandemic H1N1 influenza A (H1N1pdm) is currently a dominant circulating influenza strain worldwide. Severe cases of H1N1pdm infection are characterized by prolonged activation of the immune response, yet the specific role of inflammatory mediators in disease is poorly understood. The inflammatory cytokine IL-6 has been implicated in both seasonal and severe pandemic H1N1 influenza A (H1N1pdm) infection. Here, we investigated the role of IL-6 in severe H1N1pdm infection. We found IL-6 to be an important feature of the host response in both humans and mice infected with H1N1pdm. Elevated levels of IL-6 were associated with severe disease in patients hospitalized with H1N1pdm infection. Notably, serum IL-6 levels associated strongly with the requirement of critical care admission and were predictive of fatal outcome. In C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ, and B6129SF2/J mice, infection with A/Mexico/4108/2009 (H1N1pdm) consistently triggered severe disease and increased IL-6 levels in both lung and serum. Furthermore, in our lethal C57BL/6J mouse model of H1N1pdm infection, global gene expression analysis indicated a pronounced IL-6 associated inflammatory response. Subsequently, we examined disease and outcome in IL-6 deficient mice infected with H1N1pdm. No significant differences in survival, weight loss, viral load, or pathology were observed between IL-6 deficient and wild-type mice following infection. Taken together, our findings suggest IL-6 may be a potential disease severity biomarker, but may not be a suitable therapeutic target in cases of severe H1N1pdm infection due to our mouse data.

Diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis by a commercial real-time PCR assay for Aspergillus DNA in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from high-risk patients compared to a galactomannan enzyme immunoassay.

Culture-independent molecular techniques such as real-time PCRs offer the potential for early diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA), thereby reducing the disease-associated mortality rate. PCR-based testing is presently excluded from disease-defining consensus criteria due to lack of standardization and clinical validation. A single-center prospective study was conducted to investigate the performance of the commercially available MycAssay Aspergillus test for detecting Aspergillus DNA in patients with suspicion of IA. To this end, a total of 158 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid specimens that were consecutively collected from hematology (n = 68) and intensive care unit (n = 90) patients were examined. Sixteen of 17 (94.1%) specimens from patients with proven/probable IA were MycAssay positive, and 15 of these 16 patients were also positive by an "in-house" PCR assay. A total of 139 of 141 (98.6%) specimens from patients without proven/probable IA were MycAssay negative. Fifteen of 16 (94.1%) MycAssay-positive patients were also positive for BAL fluid galactomannan (GM) at an index cutoff of ≥1.0 (index range, 1.1 to 8.3), as were 3 patients without IA but with pulmonary fusariosis. Interestingly, in seven of the PCR-positive BAL specimens that tested culture positive for Aspergillus species, cycle threshold values were earlier than those of specimens with a culture-negative result. In conclusion, the MycAssay Aspergillus PCR appears to be a sensitive and specific molecular test for the diagnosis of IA, and its performance is comparable to that of the GM assay. However, more large studies are necessary to firmly establish its clinical utility in high-risk settings.

Effective use of nitrocellulose-blotted antigens for phage display monoclonal antibody selection.

The combinatorial phage display library approach to antibody repertoire cloning offers a powerful tool for the isolation of specific antibodies to defined target antigens. Panning strategy is often a very critical point for selecting antibody displayed on the surface of bacteriophages. Most selection strategies described to date have relied on the availability of purified and often recombinant antigen, providing the possibility to perform selections on a well defined antigen source. However, when the antigen is difficult to purify by means of laborious and time-consuming chromatography procedures, panning of phage antibody libraries has to be performed on complex antigen sources such as cell surfaces or tissue sections, or even by in vivo selection methods. This provides a series of technical and experimental complications. In the present work, we successfully generated a mouse monoclonal antibody fragment from a phage display library directed against protein E7 of HPV18 avoiding antigen purification as for immunizing mice as for antibody library selection. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of phage antibody selections on antigens transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane as solid support, using one-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system as the only practice to separate a given antigen present in bacterial crude cell lysate.

Comparison of real-time PCR and pp65 antigen assays for monitoring the development of Cytomegalovirus disease in recipients of solid organ and bone marrow transplants.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a frequent complication in transplant recipients. This retrospective study compared real-time PCR (rt-PCR) and a pp65 antigen assay as tools for monitoring CMV infection in solid organ (SOT) and bone marrow (SCT) transplant patients. The study tested 2662 samples by rt-PCR, and 1284 specimens with a pp65 antigen assay. 24.3% of the rt-PCR samples and 4.1% of the pp65 antigen samples were positive. 793 specimens, from 230 patients, were tested with both assays. In 6.7% of samples, both tests were positive; in 72.7% both were negative; in the remaining 20.6% of cases, the results were discordant. CMV disease was diagnosed in 50 patients. Results from the two methods were poorly correlated (r=0.460). The sensitivity of rt-PCR (94%) was higher than that of the pp65 antigen assay (27%). Both assays showed high specificity (92% and 99%, respectively). ROC curve analysis, performed separately for SOT and SCT patients, confirmed that rt-PCR outperformed the pp65 assay in the detection of CMV. These findings provide evidence that rt-PCR is a reliable diagnostic tool, and that it can be more effective than pp65 based assays in monitoring CMV infection progression and in guiding therapy in immunocompromised patients.

The viral load of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in peripheral blood predicts for biological and clinical characteristics in Hodgkin lymphoma.

PURPOSE: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is present in the malignant Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells of 20% to 40% cases of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in Western countries. We were interested in the detection and quantification of cell-free plasma EBV-DNA as an indicator of biological and clinical characteristics in EBV-associated HL. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: EBV was detected in peripheral blood compartments (whole blood, plasma, and mononuclear cells) at diagnosis by real-time PCR for the EBNA (EB nuclear antigen) region (n = 93) and in HRS cells by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBER; n = 63). These data were correlated to histological and clinical characteristics, EBV serology, circulating cell-free DNA, and interleukin (IL)-6 levels. RESULTS: Detection of EBV-DNA in plasma had a high specificity (90%), but a relatively low sensitivity (65%) to predict for EBV association. The viral load was higher in patients with advanced stage disease, older age in the presence of B-symptoms, and international prognostic score more than 2. The presence of EBV in HRS cells and higher plasma EBV-DNA copy numbers correlated to an increased frequency of tumor-infiltrating CD68+ macrophages in lymph node biopsies. Plasma EBV-DNA load correlated to circulating cell-free DNA and IL-6 levels, and inversely correlated to lymphocyte counts and EBNA1 antibody titers. CONCLUSION: Although the presence of EBV-DNA in peripheral blood cannot be regarded as a surrogate marker for EBER, the plasma EBV-DNA load at HL diagnosis is an indicator of disease activity and biological characteristics associated with negative prognosis. Moreover, the inverse correlation to EBNA1 antibody titers and lymphocyte counts may indicate a reduction in immunosurveillance, favoring the expansion of EBV-HRS cells in HL.

Cytomegalovirus DNA retrieval in the inner ear fluids of a congenitally deaf child one month after primary infection: a case report.

In the present article we report cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA localization in the inner ear of a 15-month-old deaf boy 1 month after a virologically documented primary infection. CMV DNA retrieval was possible thanks to polymerase chain reaction analysis of the perilymph collected at cochlear implant surgery. To the authors' knowledge this is the first demonstration of CMV persistence in the cochlea of an immunocompetent subject after an acquired infection.