Journal of Cancer Biology

Plasma cell myeloma is a hematopoietic neoplasm with morphologic and genetic heterogeneity. Genetics have been shown to play an important role in risk stratification of plasma cell myeloma however the correlation between genetic aberrations and morphologic features is not well studied. In performing a systematic study of 266 multiple myeloma bone marrow biopsies from 329 patients, we initially investigated the association between bone marrow morphology, conventional cytogenetics, gene expression profiling and gene mutations

CD133 is a transmembrane protein that mainly localizes to the plasma membrane of normal stem cells as well as cancer stem cells, and is widely known as a cancer stem cell marker. CD133 was recently shown to localize in the cytoplasm; however, its transport pathway and functions currently remain unknown.

H3K9 demethylases can remove the repressive H3K9 methylation marks on histones to alter chromatin structure, gene transcription and epigenetic state of cells. By counteracting the function of H3K9 methyltransferases, H3K9 demethylases have been shown to play an important role in numerous biological processes, including diseases such as cancer. 

A-to-I RNA modifications performed by the adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) protein family are gaining traction as important mechanisms in cancer biology. A-to-I RNA editing changes adenosine to inosine on double stranded RNA, which co-transcriptionally alters transcript sequence and structure. A number of microRNA (miRNA) precursors are known to be edited by the ADARs, which alters the expression and/or function of the mature miRNA. 

Machine learning (ML) is a branch of artificial intelligence that uses an algorithm to process the data, retrieve valuable information, learn from it, find a pattern, and make predictions. Manual data analyses suffer from several disadvantages including it is time-consuming and subject to error.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PAC) is an aggressive malignancy that is frequently locally invasive or widely metastatic at the time of diagnosis. As such, morbidity and mortality remain extremely high. Despite growing advances in surgical technique and medical management, the incidence and mortality rate are expected to increase over the next two decades. 

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States. Because lung cancer is genetically heterogeneous, tailored therapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy would increase patient overall survival as compared with the one-size-fits-all chemotherapy. TP53-mutant lung cancer accounts for more than half of all lung cancer cases and is oftentimes more aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy. Directly targeting mutant p53 has not yet been successful, so identification of novel therapy targets and biomarkers in the TP53-mutant lung cancer is urgently needed to increase the overall survival in this subgroup.

Granular cell tumor, also known as Abrikossoff’s tumor, is a benign tumor that is relatively rare and is slightly more common in female patients, with a higher prevalence between the fourth and sixth decades of life although it is possible to appear at any age. It can appear in any part of the body but about 45-65% of all the lesions appear in the head or neck areas. Intraoral lesions represent about 70% of these cases.

Sézary's Syndrome consists of a rare type of non-Hodgkin cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), being a very aggressive leukemic variant of CTCL. Given its rarity and its ability to mimic other more common diseases, this neoplasm represents a major diagnostic challenge for both clinicians and pathologists.

In recent years, the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or “vape” in which nicotine is the major component has been dramatically increasing, particularly among teenagers and young adults. This is due to a general perception that e-cigarettes are harmless to use, in particular for the cessation of tobacco smoking. Thus, a better understanding of whether e-cigarettes pose a risk to human health is urgently needed. Nicotine exposure can accelerate malignant growth of cancer cells.

Cryoablation of breast cancer offers an alternative to surgery for women who are not ideal surgical candidates. It is a minimally invasive procedure that has already had success in fibroadenoma treatment with good tumor reduction and cosmesis. The findings of cryoablation as treatment for early-stage, low-risk breast cancer has been previously discussed in the recently published article ‘Cryoablation: A promising non-operative therapy for low-risk breast cancer’.

Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) belongs to the family Herperviridae, subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae, genus Lymphocriptovirus [1]. It is one of the most common human viruses as most people get infected with EBV at some point in their lives. EBV spreads most commonly through bodily fluids, primarily saliva. Although viral DNA has been detected in breast milk and genital secretions [2], the evidence for sexual transmission is extremely limited [3]. 

This study examines differences between patients with and without cancer in patient demographic and clinical characteristics and COVID-19 mortality and discusses the implications of these differences in relation to existing cancer disparities and COVID-19 vulnerabilities. Data was collected as a part of a retrospective study on a cohort of COVID-19 positive patients across Mount Sinai Health System from March 28, 2020 to April 26, 2020. Descriptive, comparative, and regression analyses were applied to examine differences between patients with and without cancer in demographic and clinical characteristics and COVID-19 mortality and whether cancer status predicts COVID-19 mortality controlling for these covariates using SAS 9.4. Results showed that, of 4641 patients who tested positive for COVID-19, 5.1% (N=236) had cancer.

Exercise has been found to improve function, mitigate disability, enhance the anticancer immune system response, and improve quality of life for patients with osteosarcoma and its survivors. Of late, exercise has additionally been implemented as an adjuvant to standard therapies. These products of exercise, along with the benefits of physical activity in pre- and postoperative rehabilitation, were summarized in the recently published book chapter Exercise and Physical Activity in Patients with Osteosarcoma and Survivors.

In medical diagnostics, complex physical techniques are state of the art and everyday clinical practice would be unthinkable without them. But also, in the field of therapeutic interventions there are several physical procedures. For example, ionizing radiation is used in oncology and non-ionizing radiation in dermatological (UV light) and photodynamic therapies (laser). Similarly, electrosurgical and laser procedures are well established in surgery.

Available targeted therapies for colorectal cancer (CRC) are limited. Immunotherapy offers new options for cancer treatment, but most of CRC are refractory to current immune checkpoint blockade, which indicates the possible presence of yet uncharacterized immune-suppressive mechanisms. Herein we report that high levels of Dickkopf-related protein 2 (DKK2) are expressed in human CRC tumors, and the DKK2 blockade caused stronger activation of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells in ex vivo culture. A correlation of high DKK2 expression 

In the United States, lung and bronchus cancers are the second most common types of cancer and are responsible for the largest number of deaths from cancer, with African Americans suffering disproportionately from lung and bronchus cancers. This disparity likely results from a complex interplay among social, psycho-social, lifestyle, environmental, health system, and biological determinants of health.

Molecular biomarker testing is essential to the work up of metastatic and advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma. Despite molecular testing guidelines proposed by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Association for Molecular Pathology, and many others, multiple reports continue to indicate that lung cancer patients are inadequately tested for key molecular biomarkers. Within our hospital system, reflex ordered testing of a panel of molecular biomarkers in all newly diagnosed lung adenocarcinomas was approved and implemented in 2017.

Examination of the surface of bones (from which soft tissues have been removed) provides a window complementary to that provided by clinical, standard anatomic, laboratory and radiologic studies. That approach, utilized successfully for analysis of other forms of osteosarcoma is applied to the high grade telangiectatic version of medullary osteosarcoma.

Partial ureteral obstruction (PUO) is a major clinical problem in the daily urologic practice that is treatable and often reversible. Renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is implicated in the pathophysiology of PUO as angiotensin II induces alterations in renal hemodynamics, apoptosis, inflammation and fibrosis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) have been clinically used to recover the unfavorable functional and histological changes after relief of PUO.