Nasopharyngeal metastasis from colorectal cancer: a case report.

Metastases from colorectal cancer can occur either through the lymphatic or by hematogenous spread. The most common metastatic sites are the lung and liver. Nasopharyngeal metastasis from colorectal cancer has never been previously reported in the literature on the internet databases we can found. In this paper, we present the case of a 79-year-old male suffering from adenocarcinoma of the rectum with distant metastases to the liver, lung, and nasopharynx. Over the previous 7 years, he had received treatment for rectal cancer including radical surgery (miles surgery), chemotherapy, hepatectomy, and pneumonectomy. After local nasopharyngeal radiotherapy, the patient's quality of life significantly declined and they eventually died of dyspnea caused by airway obstruction due to a nasopharyngeal mass after 7 months of palliative treatment involving pain relief from end-stage disease. Nasopharyngeal metastases from colorectal cancer are extremely rare in the clinic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case reporting this occurrence which not only extends the disease database but also warns doctors to pay more attention to these clinical scenarios. Strict monitoring of patients with colorectal cancer after primary treatment could lead to the early diagnosis of metastases and give patients better opportunities for treatment and improved prognosis.

Novel strategy of stents in thyroid mass: a case series report of managing severely dyspneic patients.

BACKGROUND: Tracheal and bronchial stenosis is a life-threatening condition causing difficulty in breathing and even severe respiratory distress. The silicone tracheobronchial stents were placed using the rigid bronchoscopy into the trachea of severe dyspneic patients and they exhibited symptomatic improvement as well as a rise in the saturation of oxygen. The bronchial stents were applicable to many extensive malignant airway stenosis patients, such as those with esophageal cancer, lung cancer, and laryngeal cancer. But the effectiveness of bronchial stents for thyroid cancer is not certain. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we report 3 emergency patients with a thyroid mass referred to our hospital because of grade 4 dyspnea according to the American Thoracic Society shortness of breath guidelines. The main clinical symptoms were severe dyspnea and stridor. The radiographic examination and tomographic examination showed the narrowing and displacement of the trachea. To the best of our knowledge, ideal airway management for the massive thyroid mass was considered to be temporary tracheobronchial stent placement pre-operation. CONCLUSION: In our study, we applied the tracheobronchial stent to massive thyroid mass patients with dyspnea and aimed to not only improve preoperative airway obstruction but also to protect the potential airway collapse from post-operative tracheomalacia following extubation. We found that application of tracheobronchial stents may provide a new strategy to dyspneic patients with huge thyroid mass.

Identification of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 as a novel prognostic marker in luminal subtype breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Luminal subtype breast cancer accounts for a predominant number of breast cancers. Considering the heterogeneity of the disease, it is urgent to develop novel biomarkers to improve risk stratification and optimize therapy choices. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) represents an emerging and understudied class of transcripts that play a significant role in cancer biology. Growing knowledge of cancer-associated lncRNAs contributes to the development of molecular markers for prognosis evaluation and gene therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three pairs of primary luminal subtype breast cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were collected and sequenced. EBseq algorithm was used to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs. RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were used to validate the robustness of our RNA-seq results. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were utilized to assess the association between the lncRNAs and overall survival of patients in TCGA cohort. RESULTS: A total of 796 lncRNAs were significantly dysregulated in luminal subtype breast cancer, including 436 upregulated and 360 downregulated lncRNAs. Among them, FAM83H antisense RNA 1 (FAM83H-AS1) was the most upregulated lncRNA, whereas GSN antisense RNA 1 (GSN-AS1) was the most downregulated lncRNA. Moreover, we proved that the high expression level of FAM83H-AS1 indicated unfavorable prognosis not only in luminal subtype breast cancer but also in all subtype breast cancers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report indicating that FAM83H-AS1 was involved in luminal subtype breast cancer and was an independent prognostic indicator. CONCLUSION: Our study provides a rich resource to the research community for further identifying lncRNAs with diagnostic and therapeutic potentials and exploring biological function of lncRNAs in luminal subtype breast cancer.

Downregulated long non-coding RNA CLMAT3 promotes the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells by targeting regulators of the cell cycle pathway.

Over-expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA)-CLMAT3 is significantly associated with colorectal liver metastasis and is an independent predictor of poor survival for colorectal cancer patients. However, as little is known regarding the role of this gene in the proliferation of colorectal cancer in vitro, we investigated the involvement of lncRNA-CLMAT3 in colorectal cancer cell proliferation. In this study, we demonstrate that lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression was significantly increased in colorectal cancer cells compared with a normal intestinal mucous cell line and that inhibition of lncRNA-CLMAT3 suppressed colorectal cancer cell proliferation in vitro. We also found that this reduced colorectal cancer cell proliferation due to lncRNA-CLMAT3 knockdown is associated with G0/G1 cell-cycle arrest induction and apoptosis enhancement. Furthermore, lncRNA-CLMAT3 knockdown enhanced Cdh1 expression and resulted in p27Kip accumulation via increased Skp2 protein ubiquitination. Taken together, our findings suggest that reducing lncRNA-CLMAT3 inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation by affecting cell cycle components.

Aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs in colorectal cancer with liver metastasis.

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays a crucial role in the regulation of various cellular processes and human diseases. However, little is known about the role of lncRNAs in colorectal liver metastasis (CLM). In the present study, we aimed to determine whether lncRNAs are differentially expressed in CLM tissue and to further assess their clinical value. lncRNA arrays were employed to screen for differentially expressed lncRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues with synchronous, metachronous, or nonliver metastasis. Based on bioinformatics data, a quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was performed to identify target lncRNAs in an expanded set of CRC samples with various subtypes of liver metastasis. The relationships between the target lncRNAs and the clinical characteristics and patient prognosis were further analyzed. After determining the expression profile of lncRNAs (n = 1332) in CLM tissue, 40 differentially expressed lncRNAs that were potentially related to CLM were selected for further examination in an expanded set of clinical samples, and three novel target lncRNAs, termed lncRNA-CLMAT1-3, were verified. High lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression strongly correlated with liver metastasis (P = 0.03) and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.009). Moreover, patients displaying high lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression exhibited a shorter median overall survival duration than those displaying low lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression (30.7 vs. 35.2 months, P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the lncRNA-CLMAT3 expression level is an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio 2.05, P = 0.02) after adjusting for other known prognostic factors. lncRNA-CLMAT3 over-expression was significantly associated with CLM and was an independent predictor of poor survival for patients with CRC.

[A retrospective survival analysis of with pulmonary metastasis from colorectal cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the survival rate after pulmonary resection for metastatic colorectal cancer(CRC). METHODS: Clinical data of 77 patients with pulmonary metastasis from CRC between January 2005 and October 2008 in the Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: There were 38 patients with synchronous pulmonary metastasis, of whom 2 underwent resection for pulmonary metastasis. The median survival time of two groups was 25 months and 18 months, which was not significantly different (P=0.33). There were 39 cases of metachronous pulmonary metastasis, of whom 28 received pulmonary metastasis resection. The 1-year and 3-year survival rates of 2 groups were 93.3% and 58.5%, and 38.8% and 19.1%, respectively. The median survival time of two groups was 26.7 months and 8 months, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.004). CONCLUSION: Surgical resection can improve the survival rate in patients with pulmonary metastasis from colorectal cancer.

[Prognostic analysis of 669 liver metastasis of colorectal cancer cases].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relation between different therapy and survival rate of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer (LMCC). METHODS: Clinical data of 669 LMCC patients,collected from Fudan University Zhongshan Hospital from January 2000 to July 2008, were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Of the 669 cases, 379 cases were synchronous liver metastases(SLM) and 290 cases were metachronous liver metastases(MLM). There were no significant differences in age, gender and position of primary tumor between SLM and MLM groups(P>0.05), but as to liver metastasis characteristics(liver lobe involved, focus number and maximal focus diameter) and CEA, CA19-9 before therapy,there were significant differences(P<0.05). Two hundred and fifty-three cases underwent curative hepatic resection, including 123 cases in SLM and 130 cases in MLM. Until October 31, 2008, all the cases were followed up. The median survival time of SLM was(11+/-1) months and of MLM(23+/-2) months(P<0.01). Five-year survival rate of SLM was 6.4% and of MLM 11.4%(P<0.01). As to different treatments, median survival time and 5-year survival rate of curative hepatic resection group were 37 months and 35.6%, and of non-operation groups(i.e. intervention, chemotherapy, radiofrequency therapy and percutaneous ethanol injection) were 5 to 26 months and 0 to 3.6% respectively(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Curative hepatic resection is the first choice of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer, which can improve the survival rate. Resection rate and survival of MLM are better than those of SLM.