The aim of the study is the assessment of the intensity of the infiltration of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) CD68+/iNOS− and Tregs CD8+/FoxP3+ in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients as prognostic factors with respect to disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). In this retrospective study, tissue samples were obtained from 89 patients undergoing resection for CRC (stage IIA, pT3N0M0 and stages IIIB and IIIC, pT3N1-2M0). Recurrence was observed in 45 patients at the time of the follow-up (10 local recurrences, 35 distant metastases). In patients with recurrence the following were present: a tendency to an older average age at the time of diagnosis (p = 0.07), higher nodal involvement (p = 0.002) and more advanced clinical disease (p = 0.01). The analysis of the clinical data and immunohistochemical studies were performed with the methodology of identification of TAM and Treg subsets in histological sections, with the aim to use it in routine clinical management. Both DSF and OS were the clinical parameters assessed in the study. The presence of intense infiltration of TAMs in the tumor stroma was related to shorter DFS (p = 0.005) and OS (p = 0.006). The opposite tendency was observed in the tumor front (p = 0.061). The relative risks of recurrence and cancer-related death were more than twice higher in the group of patients with intense infiltration of TAMs in the tumor stroma (RR 2.05, 95% CI 1.33–3.14; p = 0.001 and RR 2.08, 95% CI 1.28–3.39; p = 0.003, respectively). Intense infiltration of Tregs in the tumor stroma was related to shorter DFS and OS (p < 0.0001). The relative risks of recurrence and death in a group of patients with intense infiltration of Tregs in the tumor stroma were more than 12 times higher than in patients with less intense infiltration (RR 12.3, 95% CI 5.44–27.9; p < 0.0001 and RR 12.5, 95% CI 4.9–32.4; p < 0.0001, respectively). Infiltration of TAMs CD68+/iNOS− and Tregs CD8+/FoxP3+ in the tumor stroma are negative prognostic factors with a positive correlation between them. Tregs may constitute an independent prognostic factor in patients with CRC.

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a marker of the replication error phenotype. It is caused by impaired DNA mismatch repair processes (MMR), resulting in ineffectiveness of the mechanisms responsible for the DNA replication precision and postreplicative DNA repair. MSI underlies the pathogenesis of 10%–20% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases. The data about the potential value of MMR status as a predictive factor for 5-fluorouracil (FU)-based chemotherapy remain unclear. According to National Comprehensive Cancer Network updated guidelines, MSI testing is recommended for all patients with stage II CRC because patients with MSI-H (high-frequency MSI) tumour may have a good prognosis and obtain no benefit from 5-FU-based adjuvant chemotherapy. The significance of the MSI status as a predictive factor for patients with metastatic disease was not confirmed. The association between the MSI status and the efficacy of the therapy based on anti-programmed death-1 receptor inhibitors requires further studies.

The aim of the study was to determine expression of the PTEN suppressor gene in colorectal adenocarcinoma and its precancerous lesions (adenomatous polyps) in correlation with common clinical and histopathological features. Forty-four patients with adenomatous polyps and 32 with primary adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum were enrolled in the study. They underwent endoscopic removal of polyps or major surgery and postoperative adjuvant chemo-and radiotherapy depending on staging of the disease. No patient had received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy before the surgery. PTEN expression was evaluated using immunohistochemical staining on paraffin-embedded specimens and compared to clinicopathological features of tumors. In colorectal cancers, PTEN expression was found to be significantly lower than in normal intestinal mucosa and adenomatous polyps. That was associated with complete loss of PTEN expression observed more frequently in colorectal cancer, contrary to reduction of PTEN expression occurring mostly in polyps. A correlation between polyp diameter and loss of PTEN was demonstrated as well as between tumor size and TNM advanced stage and PTEN expression. The obtained results suggest that the PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway may play an important role in early stages of sporadic colorectal carcinogenesis and reduced PTEN expression in late oncogenesis is associated with some adverse clinical and pathological features.

Advances in genomics, molecular pathology and metabolism have generated many candidate biomarkers of colorectal cancer with potential clinical value. Epidemiological and biological studies suggest a role for adiposity, dyslipidaemia, hyperinsulinemia, altered glucose homeostasis, and elevated expression of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis members in the risk and prognosis of cancer. This review discusses some recent past and current approaches being taken by researches in obesity and metabolic disorders. The authors describe three main systems as the most studied metabolic candidates of carcinogenesis: dyslipidemias, adipokines and insulin/IGF axis. However, each of these components is unsuccessful in defining the diseases risk and progression, while their co-occurrence increases cancer incidence and mortality in both men and women.

The outcome of management of diabetic foot ulceration (DFU) is poor and insufficient. DFU therapy includes the standard management as debridement of the wound, revascularization procedures, off-loading of the ulcer and antibacterial actions, and supplementation of growth factors and cytokines, leading to stimulation of granulation, epidermization, and angiogenesis. The aim of the present review is to summarize the adjunct methods of the standard DFU therapy as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), maggot therapy (MT), and platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRPT). The results of preclinical and clinical trials indicated that the methods may reduce time of therapy, short-term morbidity, and the risk of major amputation.

Adamalisynes (ADAMs) play an important role in inter-membrane interactions, cell adhesion and fusion processes and protein shedding from the cell surface. Many reports indicate that members of the ADAMs family are overexpressed in human cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate ADAM28 and Insulin Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 (IGFBP-3)) gene expression in colorectal carcinoma tissues with regard to the overweight or obese status of the patients using an oligonucleotide micro array technique. Fresh tissue specimens were obtained from colorectal cancer patients during surgical treatment. Eighteen specimens from tumour and 18 normal tissue specimens from colorectal cancer patients at clinical stages III and IV were analysed. The examined patients were divided into two groups; those with BMI;::25 and those with normal BMI. The control group consisted of 18 specimens of non-neoplastic colon tissues, which were divided between overweight/obese and normal body weight patients. The gene transcriptional activity from the specimens was analysed using an oligonucleotide microarray technique. Microarrays and rinsing and marking solutions were prepared according to the procedure in the Gene Expression Analysis Technical Manual. The following conclusions were made: i) change of ADAM28 and IGFBP-3 genes expression are present in the normal tissue in overweight/obese patients with colorectal cancer only; ii) the observed molecular variability of ADAM28 and IGFBP-3 expression may be an initial process of cancer proliferation; iii) the histopathologically normal surgical margin in this group of patients was not equal to the molecular margin.Adamalisynes (ADAM -a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain), also known as MCDs (metalloprotease/disintegrin/cysteine rich protein), belong to a large family of zinc-dependent proteins referred to as methizines. Admalisynes is a group consisting of more than 30 type I transmembrane

The study does not confirm the presence or biological activity of HPV in tumor tissues. Thus, the relationship between GAC and HPV infection, in the Central European population seems doubtful.

In certain patients with advanced colorectal cancer, loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) activity is observed. PTEN is a major gatekeeper gene of the AKT serine/threonine kinase (AKT) signaling pathway responsible for the proliferative activity of cells. The assessment of AKT activity may be a prognostic factor or a predictor of response to the targeted therapies against particular signaling proteins. To precisely identify the cause and the place of the pathway deregulation, it is necessary to identify phosphorylation states and concentrations of several proteins located at different levels of the regulatory cascade. In the present study, we propose the simultaneous use of specific antibodies conjugated with different quantum dots to highlight the nature of AKT/PKB cascade deregulation in patients with colorectal cancer and the loss of PTEN expression in tumor tissue. Fifty patients with colorectal cancer of no specific location were enrolled in the study. The expression of the PTEN protein, and concentrations of phosphorylated/activated forms of 3-Phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) and AKT were assessed using quantum dot-conjugated antibodies. In patients with a diminished or complete loss of the PTEN expression in the tumor tissue increased levels of activated/phosphorylated forms of PDK1 (Phospho-PDK1-Ser241) and AKT (Phospho-AKT-Thr308) proteins were found, which are responsible for the permanent activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT/PTEN signaling pathway in certain cases of colorectal cancer.