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J Surg Oncol 2021 May 7. Epub 2021 May 7.

Westat, Rockville, Maryland, USA.

Background: In the management of peritoneal metastases from colon and rectal cancer, the most favorable results are reported with an aggressive combined treatment on patients who have a small extent of the disease. A test to detect occult peritoneal metastases would greatly facilitate the management of this component of colorectal dissemination.

Methods: Currently, the standard test by which to confirm the diagnosis of the peritoneal spread of colorectal cancer is peritoneal cytology. Read More

OMICS 2021 May;25(5):313-332

Division of Computational Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

One of the most frequently utilized cancer stem cell markers in human cancers, including colorectal cancer and breast cancer, is CD44. A glycoprotein, CD44, traverses the cell membrane and binds to many ligands, including hyaluronan, resulting in activation of signaling cascades. There are conflicting data, however, on expression of CD44 in relationship to subtypes of cancers. Read More

Surg Case Rep 2021 May 7;7(1):114. Epub 2021 May 7.

Department of Surgery, Tokyo Bay Medical Center, 3-4-32 Todaijima, Urayasu, Chiba, 279-0001, Japan.

Background: Metastatic lesions to the appendix are rare. They usually present with acute appendicitis or remain asymptomatic and are diagnosed incidentally. Metastases to the appendix have been reported from a number of primary tumor sites including ovary, colon, gastric and lung. Read More

Dis Colon Rectum 2021 Jun;64(6):677-688

Department of Physiology & Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

Background: Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the rectum accounts for 10% of all rectal cancers and has an impaired response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and worse overall survival. To date, insufficient genomic research has been performed on this histological subtype.

Objective: This study aims to define the mismatch repair deficiency rate and the driver mutations underpinning mucinous adenocarcinoma of the rectum and to compare it with rectal adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified. Read More

Dis Colon Rectum 2021 Apr 26. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Chief, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery; Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Assistant Professor, Division of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Surgery; Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.

Background: Positive circumferential resection margin is a predictor of local recurrence and worse survival in rectal cancer. National programs aimed to improve rectal cancer outcomes were first created in 2011, and continue to evolve. The impact on circumferential resection margin during this timeframe has not been fully evaluated in the United States. Read More

Int J Cancer 2021 May 5. Epub 2021 May 5.

Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Socioeconomic factors influence patterns of care in colorectal cancer. This study investigates the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on stage at presentation, receipt of diagnostic imaging, receipt of treatment, and overall survival (OS) in a universal healthcare system. The Ontario Cancer Registry (OCR) was accessed to identify a cohort of patients diagnosed with colorectal adenocarcinoma from 2007-2016 in Ontario, Canada. Read More

Aging (Albany NY) 2021 May 4;13. Epub 2021 May 4.

Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

As an important transcription factor, zinc-finger and BTB domain-containing 7B (ZBTB7C) plays an important role in a variety of tumors. However, its relationship with human immunity is unclear. This article aims to study its differential expression and survival across cancers and explore the relationships between its differential expression and the tumor microenvironment and immune cell infiltration. Read More

Commun Biol 2021 May 3;4(1):519. Epub 2021 May 3.

Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore, Singapore.

The role of low frequency variants associated with telomere length homeostasis in chronic diseases and mortalities is relatively understudied in the East-Asian population. Here we evaluated low frequency variants, including 1,915,154 Asian specific variants, for leukocyte telomere length (LTL) associations among 25,533 Singapore Chinese samples. Three East Asian specific variants in/near POT1, TERF1 and STN1 genes are associated with LTL (Meta-analysis P 2. Read More

Ann Clin Lab Sci 2021 Mar;51(2):271-276

Department of Cancer Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo

Here we present the case of a 73-year-old male with rectal adenocarcinoma with heterotopic ossification (HO). Cancer-associated HO in the digestive system is rare. Thus, the precise mechanism and clinicopathological significance of HO have not yet been defined. Read More

Pharmacol Res 2021 Apr 30;169:105644. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Electronic address:

Background: Changes in lipid metabolism pathways play a major role in colon carcinogenesis and development. Hence, we conducted a systematic analysis of lipid metabolism-related genes to explore new markers that predict the prognosis of colon adenocarcinoma (COAD).

Methods: The non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) algorithm was applied to identify the molecular subtypes based on lipid metabolism-related genes. Read More

Dis Colon Rectum 2021 May;64(5):545-554

Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Background: The influence of microsatellite instability on prognosis in high-risk stage II colon cancer is unknown.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between microsatellite instability and overall survival in high-risk stage II colon cancer.

Design: This is a retrospective review of the National Cancer Database from 2010 to 2016. Read More

Radiol Artif Intell 2020 Jan 29;2(1):e190063. Epub 2020 Jan 29.

Departments of Cancer Physiology (W.M., I.T., J.Q., R.J.G.) and Cancer Epidemiology (M.B.S.), H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL 33612.

Purpose: To investigate the performance of pretreatment fluorine 18 (F) fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT radiomics in predicting severe immune-related adverse events (irSAEs) among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapy, which is important in optimizing treatment plans and alleviating future complications with early interventions.

Materials And Methods: The retrospective arm of this study included 146 patients with histologically confirmed stage IIIB-IV NSCLC who were treated with immune checkpoint blockade between June 2011 and December 2017 and who were split into training ( = 97) and test ( = 49) cohorts. A prospective validation arm enrolled 48 patients before initiation of immunotherapy between January 2018 and June 2019 as an independent test cohort. Read More

NAR Genom Bioinform 2021 Jun 20;3(2):lqab016. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, Queen's University Belfast, BT9 7AE, Northern Ireland.

Identifying robust predictive biomarkers to stratify colorectal cancer (CRC) patients based on their response to immune-checkpoint therapy is an area of unmet clinical need. Our evolutionary algorithm Atlas Correlation Explorer (ACE) represents a novel approach for mining The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data for clinically relevant associations. We deployed ACE to identify candidate predictive biomarkers of response to immune-checkpoint therapy in CRC. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2021 7;2021:9987819. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Engineering Research Center of EMR and Intelligent Expert System, Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, No. 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou, 310027 Zhejiang Province, China.

Background: Colon cancer has high morbidity and mortality rates among cancers. Existing clinical staging systems cannot accurately assess the prognostic risk of colon cancer patients. This study was aimed at improving the prognostic performance of the colon cancer clinical staging system through knowledge-based clinical-molecular integrated analysis. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Apr 28;22(9). Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Science, 194064 St-Petersburg, Russia.

Background: Cancer stem cells' (CSCs) self-maintenance is regulated via the pluripotency pathways promoting the most aggressive tumor phenotype. This study aimed to use the activity of these pathways for the CSCs' subpopulation enrichment and separating cells characterized by the OCT4 and SOX2 expression.

Methods: To select and analyze CSCs, we used the SORE6x lentiviral reporter plasmid for viral transduction of colon adenocarcinoma cells. Read More

Diagnostics (Basel) 2021 Apr 6;11(4). Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, 04100 Latina, Italy.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is rapidly increasing representing the second most frequent cause of cancer-related deaths. From a clinical-molecular standpoint the therapeutically management of CRC focuses on main alterations found in the RAS family protein, where single mutations of KRAS are considered both the hallmark and the target of this tumor. Double and concomitant alterations of KRAS are still far to be interpreted as molecular characteristics which could potentially address different and more personalized treatments for patients. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 Apr 6;13(7). Epub 2021 Apr 6.

School of Medicine and Surgery, University Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy.

(1) Introduction: To date, the sensitivity of the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) in a homogeneous cohort of colonic resections for oncologic purposes has not been reported. The present study aims to compare the CCI with the conventional Clavien-Dindo classification (CDC) in colon cancer patients. (2) Methods: The clinical data of patients submitted to an elective colectomy for adenocarcinoma were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Apr 7;22(8). Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Wroclaw Medical University, Borowska 211A, Borowska 211A, 50-556 Wroclaw, Poland.

In the present paper, new pyrimidine derivatives were designed, synthesized and analyzed in terms of their anticancer properties. The tested compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antitumor activity. The cytotoxic effect on normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) was also determined. Read More

Gastroenterology 2021 Apr 26. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University; Department of Clinical Pathology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University; Department of Pathology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Aging (Albany NY) 2021 Apr 27;13. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Department of Colorectal and Anal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.

This study investigated and verified the diagnostic and prognostic values of natural killer group 2 member D ligand (NKG2DL) genes in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). We downloaded s expression data and corresponding clinical parameters from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and used bioinformatics techniques to investigate the values of s in COAD. Then, we used the GSE40967 cohort to verify the prognostic value of s. Read More

Medicina (B Aires) 2021 ;81(2):286-288

Service de Médecine Interne, Diabète et Maladies Métaboliques, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Francia.

We report the case of an 86-year-old man presenting with a spontaneous hematoma in the left iliac muscle and previous diagnosis of colon cancer in 1998 (stage pT3N0M0) treated with transverse colectomy and considered in complete remission. After a complete study, it was possible to identify the presence of Factor VIII inhibitors antibodies that confirmed the presence of acquired hemophilia. During hospitalization the patient presented a lower gastrointestinal bleeding leading to the diagnosis of recurrence of a previously treated colorectal adenocarcinoma. Read More

Surg Case Rep 2021 Apr 27;7(1):104. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Division of Gastrointestinal, Breast and General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Tsukinowa-cho, Seta, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan.

Background: Malignant tumors with rhabdoid features are extremely rare. They can occur in various organs, including the gastrointestinal tract, with common clinical features of high malignancy and poor prognosis.

Case Presentation: A 41-year-old man visited our hospital complaining of lower abdominal pain and fever. Read More

Cureus 2021 Mar 23;13(3):e14065. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

General Surgery, Centro Hospitalar de Entre Douro e Vouga, Santa Maria da Feira, PRT.

Skin metastases from internal malignancies are rare, even more from colorectal tumours, and are usually a sign of disseminated disease with a poor prognosis. However, with increased numbers of cancer survivors, a high index of suspicion should exist during the evaluation of cutaneous lesions since it can be the initial sign of disease progression or even the first sign that triggers a malignancy diagnosis, potentially improving the patient's odds. Herein, we report a case of synchronous cutaneous metastases from colon adenocarcinoma with unusual localization on the back and forearm of a 65-year-old man. Read More

Oncologist 2021 Apr 25. Epub 2021 Apr 25.

Division of Hematology and Oncology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and New York Presbyterian Hospital, Herbert Irving Pavilion, 161 Fort Washington Avenue, New York, NY, USA.

HER2 amplification, which results in overexpression of the receptor tyrosine kinase HER2, has been described in a wide variety of malignancies. HER2-targeting agents have been incorporated into the treatment paradigms for HER2-overexpressing breast and gastric cancer. More recently, these agents have shown promise in other gastrointestinal malignancies, such as colon cancer and biliary tract tumors. Read More

Med Res Rev 2021 Apr 23. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

College of Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Colon cancer is an adenocarcinoma, which subsequently develops into malignant tumors, if not treated properly. The current colon cancer therapy mainly revolves around chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, but the search continues for more effective interventions. With the advancement of nanoparticles (NPs), it is now possible to diagnose and treat colon cancers with different types, shapes, and sizes of NPs. Read More

Oncotarget 2021 Apr 13;12(8):767-782. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Center for Public Health Genomics, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.

Approximately 15% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases present with high levels of microsatellite instability (MSI-H). Bulk RNA-sequencing approaches have been employed to elucidate transcriptional differences between MSI-H and microsatellite stable (MSS) CRC tumors. These approaches are frequently confounded by the complex cellular heterogeneity of tumors. Read More

World J Gastrointest Oncol 2021 Apr;13(4):305-311

Department of General Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, China.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) causes a range of digestive symptoms including recurrent diarrhea, abdominalgia, and flatulence, and severely impacts the quality of life of patients. Infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor alpha, has recently been promoted as a therapeutic treatment for CD, but its safety margins remain uncertain. We report a case of rapidly progressive colorectal cancer that was diagnosed in a patient with CD who had previously been treated with infliximab. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Apr 22;14(4). Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Ophthalmology, Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, Nambour, Queensland, Australia.

An 83-year-old man presented with a red right eye, rapidly deteriorating vision and no history of ocular trauma or surgery. The patient had no vitritis on presentation, which confounded a diagnosis. Vitreous tap and injection of intravitreal antibiotics was performed day 2, however, the eye could not be saved and was surgically removed. Read More

Int J Surg Case Rep 2021 Apr 22;81:105804. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Department of Surgery, Kangwon National University Hospital, Kangwon National University Hospital, 156, Baengnyeong-ro, Chuncheon-Si, Gangwon-Do 24289, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Introduction And Importance: Thyroid metastasis of colorectal cancer is rare and the patient with thyroid metastasis has no symptoms early in the disease course. On the other hand, evaluation of thyroid is not generally included in the routine follow-up of colorectal cancer. Therefore, the diagnosis of thyroid metastasis of colorectal cancer may be delayed. Read More

J Minim Access Surg 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Abdominal Surgery, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Radical surgery is the mainstay of treatment of colon cancer. Lymphatic drainage of splenic flexure colon cancer is variable, and the exact site of lymphatic dissection is uncertain. Hence, a true consensus of what kind of colectomy should be performed for tumours of the splenic flexure is lacking. Read More