Findings suggest that primary cutaneous melanoma with a high Breslow thickness is characterized by tumour cells with high motility and invasion ability, in line with the hypothesis that low E-cadherin levels and overexpression of Cdc42 and CXCR4 could be prognostic markers of poor outcome.

Tissue engineered scaffolds must have an organized and repeatable microstructure which enables cells to assemble in an ordered matrix that allows adequate nutriental perfusion. In this work, to evaluate the reciprocal cell interactions of endothelial and osteoblast-like cells, human osteoblast-like cells (MG63) and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) were co-seeded onto 3D geometrically controlled porous poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and cultured by means of a rotary cell culture system (RCCS-4DQ). In our dynamic co-culture system, the lack of significant enhancement of osteoblast ALP activity and ECM production indicated that the microgravity conditions of the rotary system affected the cells by favoring their proliferation and cellular cross-talk. These results emphasize how osteoblasts increase endothelial cell proliferate and endothelial cells amplify the growth of osteoblasts but decrease their differentiation. This dynamic seeding of osteoblasts and endothelial cells onto a 3D polymeric scaffold may represent a unique approach for studying the mechanisms of interaction of endothelial and osteoblast cells as well as achieve a functional hybrid in which angiogenesis, furnished by neo-vascular organization of endothelial cells may further support osteoblasts growth. Furthermore, this in vitro model may be useful in examining the applicability of novel material structures for tissue engineering.

Adenomyosis is a disease with a mysterious pathogenesis, defined by an abnormal displacement of the eutopic endometrium deeply and haphazardly inside the myometrium. Angiogenesis has been indicated to play an important role and our aim was to investigate whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) expression and microvessel density (MVD) were different in women with and without adenomyosis. Immunohistochemistry was performed in endometrial tissues in 23 patients who underwent radical hysterectomy for adenomyosis (14) and for ovarian cysts and fibroids (9) at an Academic Hospital. Compared to women without the disease, VEGF expression was increased in endometrium with a normal location in patients with adenomyosis, although not associated to a significant increase of HIF-1alpha and MVD. Moreover, the endometrium with an abnormal location in patients with adenomyosis showed an increased VEGF and HIF-1alpha expression, particularly in the epithelial cells, associated to an increase of MVD, compared with the endometrium in a normal location in the same group of patients. Our present findings suggest that VEGF-mediated angiogenesis might be associated with the development of adenomyosis. In the ectopic foci the abnormal location might contribute to increased HIF-1a expression, stimulation of VEGF production, and increased vessel formation. In endometrium with a normal location, instead, where VEGF increased expression seems not to be correlated with HIF-1alpha increased expression nor with an increased MVD, other mechanisms might be reasonably postulated. Additional studies are required to explore new targeted and more effective treatment modalities.