Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Subclassified by Immunohistochemistry: Correlation with Clinical and Pathological Outcomes in Patients Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

The intrinsic subtype of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is based on genomic evaluation. In this study, we report the survival and pathological complete response (pCR) rates of TNBC patients subtyped by IHC and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). A retrospective cohort of 187 TNBC patients who received NACT between 2008 and 2017 was used, and IHC subtyping was performed on biopsy specimens before chemotherapy. The subtyping revealed predominantly basal-like tumors (IHC-BL, 61%), followed by basal-like immune-suppressed tumors (IHC-BLIS, 31%), mesenchymal tumors (12.5%), luminal androgen receptor tumors (IHC-LAR, 12%), and basal-like immune-activated tumors (IHC-BLIA, 10.9%). The pCR rate varied among subtypes, with IHC-BLIA showing the highest (30.0%) and IHC-LAR showing the lowest (4.5%). IHC-BLIS led in recurrence sites. Overall and disease-free survival analyses did not show significant differences among subtypes, although IHC-BLIA demonstrated a trend toward better survival, and IHC-mesenchymal, worse. Patients who achieved pCR exhibited significantly better disease-free survival and overall survival than non-responders. This study underscores the potential of IHC-based subtyping in TNBC management, highlighting distinct response patterns to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and potential implications for treatment strategies. Further research is warranted to validate these findings and explore tailored therapeutic approaches for specific TNBC subtypes.

ALCAM is a biomarker of tumor aggressiveness and worse prognosis in glottic laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is the second most frequent head and neck tumor. Prognosis of patients with LSCC has not improved in recent decades, showing a need for the identification of prognostic biomarkers and new therapeutic targets. Recently, we showed that ALCAM overexpression was associated with glottic LSCC prognosis. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: Aiming to validate the prognostic value of ALCAM, we evaluate the ALCAM protein levels by immunohistochemistry in 263 glottic LSCC surgically treated with neck dissection. RESULTS: ALCAM was expressed in 48.7% and overexpressed in 36.5% of glottic LSCC samples. ALCAM overexpression was associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.030), lymphovascular involvement (p = 0.0002), high-grade tumors (p = 0.025), and tumor relapse (p = 0.043). Multivariate survival analyses showed an overfitting between ALCAM overexpression and lymph node metastasis as a prognostic variable. CONCLUSIONS: High ALCAM expression was associated with an aggressive glottic LSCC profile.

FBXL7 Body Hypomethylation Is Frequent in Tumors from the Digestive and Respiratory Tracts and Is Associated with Risk-Factor Exposure.

Squamous cell carcinoma is the main histological tumor type in the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT), including the esophagus (ESCC) and the head and neck sites, as well as the oral cavity (OCSCC), larynx (LSCC) and oropharynx (OPSCC). These tumors are induced by alcohol and tobacco exposure, with the exception of a subgroup of OPSCC linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Few genes are frequently mutated in UADT tumors, pointing to other molecular mechanisms being involved during carcinogenesis. The F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 7 (FBXL7) is a potential tumor-suppressing gene, one that is frequently hypermethylated in pancreatic cancer and where the encoded protein promotes the degradation of AURKA, BIRC5 and c-SRC. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the methylation and expression profile of FBXL7 in the UADT and the gene's association with the clinical, etiological and pathological characteristics of patients, as well as the expression of its degradation targets. Here we show that the FBXL7 gene's body is hypomethylated in the UADT, independently of histology, but not in virus-associated tumors. FBXL7 body methylation and gene expression levels were correlated in the ESCC, LSCC, OCSCC and OPSCC. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that FBXL7 protein levels are not correlated with the levels of its degradation targets, AURKA and BIRC5, in the UADT. The high discriminatory potential of FBXL7 body hypomethylation between non-tumor and tumor tissues makes it a promising biomarker.

Puberty and sex in pediatric thyroid cancer: could expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors affect prognosis?

Objective: A sharp increase in pediatric thyroid cancer incidence is observed during adolescence, driven mainly by girls. Differences in disease presentation across sexual maturity stages raise the question of whether sex steroids have a role in the heterogeneity. The aims of this study were to analyze the influence of puberty and sex on clinical presentation and prognosis and to evaluate the correlation between the expression of sex hormone receptors. Design and methods: Clinical records and immunohistochemical of specimens from 79 patients were analyzed. Puberty was analyzed by two criteria: end of puberty and beginning, in which the age of 10 was the cutoff. Results: Postpubertal were more frequently classified as having low-risk disease and a lower frequency of persistent disease, especially when the completion of puberty was used as the criteria. Male sex was associated with a higher risk of persistent disease at the end of the observation period. Estrogen receptor α positivity was low in the entire sample, while progesterone receptor positivity was positive in 30% of the cases. Female hormone receptor expression was not associated with sex, American Thyroid Association risk score, persistent structural disease, or pubertal status. Conclusion: Our study showed that the completion of puberty correlated best with the clinical behaviour of pediatric thyroid cancer. It was also shown that postpubertal patients have a less aggressive initial presentation and better outcomes. However, this observation could not be explained by the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the primary tumors.

Transcriptome Analysis Identifies ALCAM Overexpression as a Prognosis Biomarker in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is one of the most incident tumors in the world, especially in developing countries, such as Brazil. Different from other tumors, LSCC prognosis did not improve during the past four decades. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop biomarkers that can predict LSCC patient's prognosis. RESULTS: Transcriptome analysis pointed out 287 overexpressed genes in LSCC in comparison to adjacent mucosa. Among these, a gene-pattern signature was created with 24 genes associated with prognosis. The Bayesian clustering of both Brazil and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data pointed out clusters of samples possessing significative differences in the prognosis, and the expression panel of three genes (ALCAM, GBP6, and ME1) was capable to distinguish patients with worse prognosis with an accuracy of 97%. Survival analyses with TCGA data highlighted ALCAM gene expression as an independent prognostic factor for LSCC. This was further confirmed through immunohistochemistry, using a validation set of Brazilian patients. ALCAM expression was not associated with prognosis for other head and neck tumor sites. CONCLUSION: ALCAM overexpression seems to be an independent prognosis biomarker for LSCC patients.

Sofrimento psíquico em trabalhadores de enfermagem de uma unidade de oncologia / Psychological suffering of nursing professionals at an oncology unit / El sufrimiento psiquico de los trabajadores de enfermería de una unidad de oncologia

Esta pesquisa focalizou a realidade de trabalho de técnicos de enfermagem do setor de oncologia de um hospital de Vitória - ES. A nossa hipótese foi que o cenário de múltiplas demandas - com profissionais que vivenciam uma expectativa constante de situações de emergência e de concentração de pacientes graves, sujeitos a internações prolongadas, isolamento e mudanças súbitas no estado geral - contribui para a criação de um ambiente de trabalho que gera sofrimento psíquico no trabalhador. Para a coleta dos dados utilizamos a técnica de observação participante e entrevista semi-estruturada. Os dados foram analisados segundo metodologia qualitativa. Os resultados encontrados indicam que estes fatores combinados contribuem para a criação de um ambiente de trabalho que se caracteriza como estressante e gerador de uma atmosfera emocional comprometida, evidenciando a necessidade de se criarem espaços onde se possa falar dos mais variados sentimentos que decorrem da rotina de trabalho e causam sofrimento psíquico.

Current research is focused on the working reality of nursing technicians of an oncology ward of a hospital in Vitória-ES, Brazil. A hypothesis was foregrounded in which a type of multiple demands scenario, or rather, professionals experiencing constant expectations of emergency situations, concentration of seriously ill patients prone to become interned for too long a period, isolation, sudden oscillations in their general conditions, would likely contribute towards the establishment of a working environment that generates psychological suffering on the part of the health professionals. Data collecting techniques consisted of participants' observations and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed according to qualitative methodology. Results indicated that the combination of these factors produced a working environment characterized as stressful and prone to cause a biased emotional atmosphere. Consequently, the need for establishing spaces where one might talk on the most varied feelings caused by working routines and producing psychological suffering was enhanced.

Esta investigación enfocó la realidad del trabajo de los técnicos de enfermería de una unidad de oncologia de un hospital de la ciudad de Vitória, ES - Brasil. Nuestra hipótesis está basada en la situación que enfrentan los trabajadores que conviven constantemente cuadros de emergencias, aislamientos , cambios súbitos del estado general de los pacientes con posibilidades de internaciones prolongadas y concentración de pacientes graves, contribuyendo todo esto a un ambiente de trabajo que provoca sufrimiento psíquico en los técnicos de enfermería. La técnica utilizada para recopilar los datos que presentamos fue, la de observación- participante y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, analizadas según la metodología cualitativa. Los resultados indican que la combinación de estos factores produce un ambiente de trabajo estresante y generador de una atmosfera emocional comprometida y, que por tanto, precisa de crear espacios para expresar los más diversos sentimientos surgidos por la rutina de trabajo que provoca este sufrimiento psíquico.