Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells: Therapeutic Target for Gastrointestinal Cancers.

Gastrointestinal cancers represent one of the more challenging cancers to treat. Current strategies to cure and control gastrointestinal (GI) cancers like surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy have met with limited success, and research has turned towards further characterizing the tumor microenvironment to develop novel therapeutics. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have emerged as crucial drivers of pathogenesis and progression within the tumor microenvironment in GI malignancies. Many MDSCs clinical targets have been defined in preclinical models, that potentially play an integral role in blocking recruitment and expansion, promoting MDSC differentiation into mature myeloid cells, depleting existing MDSCs, altering MDSC metabolic pathways, and directly inhibiting MDSC function. This review article analyzes the role of MDSCs in GI cancers as viable therapeutic targets for gastrointestinal malignancies and reviews the existing clinical trial landscape of recently completed and ongoing clinical studies testing novel therapeutics in GI cancers.

Infratemporal abscess: a rare complication of a common procedure.

The infratemporal fossa (ITF) is an anatomically complex cavity that houses a variety of muscular and neurovascular structures at the base of the skull. Infections involving the ITF, though uncommon, can be fatal due to the difficulties of accessing this anatomical space and its proclivity to evolve into a cavernous venous thrombosis (CVT). As a result, a multi-disciplinary approach involving several surgical and medical subspecialists is often warranted. We present a case of an infratemporal fossa abscess (IFA) after wisdom teeth extraction with a very complicated clinical course and a distinct microbiologic profile.

Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma and Unforeseen Adrenal Insufficiency: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) can metastasize to nearly every organ, yet rarely metastasizes to the adrenal glands despite their anatomical proximity. Adrenal metastases are typically incidental findings on medical imaging and are vastly clinically asymptomatic. The adrenal glands can maintain hormonal homeostasis if a tenth of total adrenal gland function is preserved. We present a patient with synchronous bilateral adrenal metastases from RCC with rapid and unexpected development of adrenal insufficiency (AI).

Acute Portal Vein Thrombosis Secondary to COVID-19 Vaccination.

Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a partial or complete occlusion of the hepatic portal vein most frequently seen in patients with cirrhotic liver disease. Various non-cirrhotic conditions including inherited prothrombic blood disorders, neoplasms, and inflammatory diseases create hypercoagulable states that predispose individuals to blood clotting. Rarely does an exhaustive workup leave the etiology of a PVT unknown or unclear, and even more uncommon is a potential new etiology suspected. Our patient is a 34-year-old female, with no significant risk factors for pathologic clotting, who was diagnosed with an acute PVT several days after receiving the Moderna coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.