Teratomas in the neck are rare neoplasms. Most of them occur in infants less than 1 year and are benign. In contrast, thyroid teratomas in adults are malignant and have fatal outcomes because of spread of tumor refractory to treatment. We report a case of a primary thyroid malignant teratoma in a 37-year-old woman. She was treated successfully with a combination of surgery, postoperative cis-platinum-based chemotherapy, and radiation therapy to the neck. Although the time of follow-up is short (24 months), we attribute her successful outcome to the use of this intensive therapeutic approach.
Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness. Disruption of axonal transport is associated with many neurodegenerative diseases and might also play a role in diabetes-associated disorders affecting nervous system. We investigated the impact of type 1 diabetes (2 and 8 weeks duration) on KIF1A, KIF5B and dynein motor proteins in the retina. Additionally, since hyperglycemia is considered the main trigger of diabetic complications, we investigated whether prolonged exposure to elevated glucose could affect the content and distribution of motor proteins in retinal cultures. The immunoreactivity of motor proteins was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in retinal sections and by immunoblotting in total retinal extracts from streptozotocin-induced diabetic and age-matched control animals. Primary retinal cultures were exposed to high glucose (30 mM) or mannitol (osmotic control; 24.5 mM plus 5.5 mM glucose), for seven days. Diabetes decreased the content of KIF1A at 8 weeks of diabetes as well as KIF1A immunoreactivity in the majority of retinal layers, except for the photoreceptor and outer nuclear layer. Changes in KIF5B immunoreactivity were also detected by immunohistochemistry in the retina at 8 weeks of diabetes, being increased at the photoreceptor and outer nuclear layer, and decreased in the ganglion cell layer. Regarding dynein immunoreactivity there was an increase in the ganglion cell layer after 8 weeks of diabetes. No changes were detected in retinal cultures. These alterations suggest that axonal transport may be impaired under diabetes, which might contribute to early signs of neural dysfunction in the retina of diabetic patients and animal models.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer being responsible for 80% of skin cancer deaths. Furthermore, the incidence of metastatic melanoma has increased over the past three decades with a mortality rate that continues to rise faster than most of all other cancers. The last few years have witnessed an unparalleled change in treatment options for patients with metastatic melanoma by the development of new therapeutic strategies like targeted therapies and immunotherapies that highly improved the patient's prognosis. Despite the paradigm- shifting success of these novel treatments, their effectiveness is still limited by intrinsic or acquired resistance. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the new available treatment modalities, criteria to select patients who might benefit from a specific therapy, mechanisms of innate and acquired resistance to these treatments and to discuss strategies to overcome drug resistance.
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