The suitability of newly synthesized Dextran-Catechin conjugate in the treatment of PDAC was proved confirming the high potential application of the proposed macromolecula system in the cancer therapy.

Background: Recently it has been suggested that microchimerism may have a significant role in the aetiopathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases. Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of microchimerism in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), to quantify the phenomenon, to evaluate changes of microchimerism during follow up, and to correlate these data with clinical and laboratory variables. Methods: Patients were selected for the study on the basis of the following criteria: (a) pregnancy with at least one male offspring; (b) no history of abortion and blood transfusion. Microchimerism was detected using a competitive nested polymerase chain reaction for a specific Y chromosome sequence and an internal competitor designed ad hoc. Disease activity and organ involvement were also evaluated. Results: Sixty samples from 22 patients with SLE and 24 healthy controls were examined. Microchimerism was seen in 11 (50%) patients and 12 (50%) controls. The mean number of male equivalent cells was 2.4 cells/100 000 (range 0.1-17) in patients with SLE and 2.5 (range 0.2-1.8) in healthy controls. No differences in the incidence of microchimerism or in the number of microchimeric cells were found between patients and healthy controls. Patients with a history of lupus nephritis had a higher mean number of fetal cells than patients with no such history. Disease activity did not appear to correlate with microchimerism. Conclusions: The preliminary data suggest that microchimerism does not interfere with the disease course of SLE, although further analysis on larger groups will be necessary to confirm these observations.

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Anaplastic (ATC) and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) are very aggressive cancers whose histological diagnosis is not always straightforward. Clinical, pathological and genetic features may be useful to improve the identification of these rare histotypes. In the present study the clinical, pathological and genetic features of two groups of ATC (n=21) and PDTC (n=21) patients were analyzed. Clinical data were retrieved from a computerized database. The oncogenic profiles were studied using the Sanger sequencing method of a selected series of oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes known to be altered in these tumors. The presence of macrophages in both series of tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Patients with ATC were older and affected by a more advanced disease at diagnosis than those with PDTC. The median survival was significantly shorter in ATC compared with PDTC patients (P=0.0014). ATC showed a higher prevalence of TP53 and TERT mutations (10/21, 47.6% and 9/21, 42.8%, respectively) while TERT and BRAF mutations were the most prevalent in the PDTC group (7/21, 33.3% and 4/23, 19% respectively). Genetic heterogeneity (i.e., >2 mutations) was more frequent in ATC (10/21, 28.6%) compared with in PDTC (3/21, 4.7%) (P=0.03). Macrophages were more frequently present in ATC, particularly in those cases with TP53 mutations. In conclusion, these data indicate that ATC and PDTC may be characterized by different clinical, pathological and genetic profiles. In particular ATC, but not PDTC, were positive for TP53 and PTEN alterations. Complex mutations were also found in ATC but not in PDTC. Moreover, genetic heterogeneity was more frequent in ATC than PDTC. Finally, TP53 mutation and the accumulation of several mutations correlated with a shorter survival time.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the concentration of cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) in the plasma of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to examine the correlation of cf-DNA with clinical variables of the disease. The study population consisted of 122 SSc patients and 16 healthy controls. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected by direct assessment. The beta-globin gene was used to determine the total amount of DNA in the plasma by real-time quantitative PCR analysis. cf-DNA was found in all patients (mean concentration 1,420.7 copies/ml) and controls (mean concentration 1,462.5), with no significant difference. In SSc patients, no correlation was found between cf-DNA and the type of organ involvement, but patients with active disease presented significantly higher cf-DNA concentrations than those with inactive disease (p < 0.05). Our data suggest that cf-DNA could provide a useful biomarker for the assessment of disease activity in SSc patients.