Increasing Rate of Noninterventional Treatment Management in Localized Prostate Cancer Candidates for Active Surveillance: A North American Population-Based Study

Background

The rate of noninterventional treatment (NIT) in prostate cancer (PCa) active surveillance (AS) candidates is on the rise. However, contemporary data are unavailable. We described community-based NIT rates within 16 Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registries between 2010 and 2014.

Safety and Efficacy of Pazopanib in First-Line Metastatic Renal-Cell Carcinoma With or Without Renal Failure: CORE-URO-01 Study

Background

Pazopanib has been approved for first-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma on the basis of clinical trials that enrolled only patients with adequate renal function. Few data are available on the safety and efficacy of pazopanib in patients with renal insufficiency. This study investigated the effect of kidney function on treatment outcomes in such patients.

Comparison between X-ray-hysterosalpingography and 3 Tesla magnetic resonance-hysterosalpingography in the assessment of the tubal patency in the cause of female infertility

Objectives

XR-hysterosalpingography currently represents the gold standard for tubal pathology evaluation. Magnetic resonance-HSG is an innovative technique. With our study, we aim to comprehend if and how MR-HSG, compared to traditional XR-HSG, could give us this additional information in the diagnostic/therapeutic process.

Materials and methods

This study included 19 patients between 30 and 42 years old (average age 37.7) affected by infertility. Patients underwent contextually both XR-HSG and MR-HSG, using a single catheterization. The dynamic MR-HSG exam consisted a MR sequence during contrast administration through the cervical catheter.

Results

Both XR-HSG and MR-HSG documented that 15 of the 19 patients had bilateral tubal patency, while four patients had monolateral tubal patency. However, MR-HSG allowed us to diagnose additional findings:

• Two active endometriosis foci in adnexal localization and a condition of adenomyosis

• A unicornuate uterus malformation

• A submucous uterine myoma near the tubal ostium

• A decrease of the ovarian reserve in a patient

So MR-HSG could potentially detect in 10/19 (52%) women the cause of their infertility, compared to 4/19 (21%) detected with XR-HSG and about 30% of women would have resulted as false negatives if we only used XR-HSG.

Finally, with a questionnaire, we demonstrated that MR-HSG is less painful than XR-HSG.

Conclusions

These data thus confirm that XR-HSG and MR-HSG present the same diagnostic of assessing tubal patency. We also demonstrated that MR-HSG is able to detect further collateral findings that could likewise be a possible therapeutic target and it could possibly become the new gold standard in female infertility diagnostics.

     

Oncogenic properties and signaling basis of the PAX8-GLIS3 fusion gene

Hyalinizing trabecular tumors of the thyroid are rare and mostly benign epithelial neoplasms of follicular cell origin, which have recently been shown to be underpinned by the PAX8-GLIS3 fusion gene. In our study, we sought to investigate the potential oncogenic mechanisms of the PAX8-GLIS3 fusion gene. Forced expression of PAX8-GLIS3 was found to increase proliferation, clonogenic potential and migration of human nonmalignant thyroid (Nthy-ori 3-1) and embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells. Moreover, in xenografts, Nthy-ori 3-1 PAX8-GLIS3 expressing cells generated significantly larger and more proliferative tumors compared to controls. These oncogenic effects were found to be mediated through activation of the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) pathway. Targeting of smoothened (SMO), a key protein in the SHH pathway, using the small molecule inhibitor Cyclopamine partially reversed the increased proliferation, colony formation and migration in PAX8-GLIS3 expressing cells. Our data demonstrate that the oncogenic effects of the PAX8-GLIS3 fusion gene are, at least in part, due to an increased activation of the SHH pathway.