Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a rare, lethal disease associated with a median survival of 6 months despite the best multidisciplinary care. Surgical resection is not curative in ATC patients, being often a palliative procedure. Multidisciplinary care may include surgery, loco-regional radiotherapy, and systemic therapy. Besides conventional chemotherapy, multi kinase-targeted inhibitors are emerging as novel therapeutic tools. The numerous molecular alteration detected in ATC are targets for these inhibitors. The aim of this review is to determine the prevalence of the major genetic alterations occurring in ATC and place the results in the context of the emerging kinase-targeted therapies.

Microarray technology was used to profile miRNA expression in primary tumor and stromal tissue from paraffin embedded material of 51 patients with colorectal cancer. 26 miRNAs resulted differentially expressed with at least 2-fold change in tumor tissue with respect to stroma (16 more expressed in the tumor and 10 more expressed in the stroma). 10/26 were confirmed as differentially expressed at qRTPCR: miR-200c-3p, miR-141-3p, miR-200b-3p, miR-200a-3p, miR-1246, miR-92a-3p, miR-194-5p, miR-192-5p, miR-3651-5p, and miR-574-3p. No significant association was found between miRNA expressions and stage at diagnosis, site of primary tumor, first site of metastasis, progression-free, or overall survival.

Background: Preoperative chemoradiation is now standard treatment for stages II–III rectal cancer. Capecitabine (CAP) and oxaliplatin (OX) are synergistic with radiotherapy (RT) and active in colorectal neoplasms. Patients and methods: Two cycles of CAP 825 mg/m² b.i.d. (days 1–14) and OX 50 mg/m² (days 1 and 8) every 3 weeks were given concomitantly with pelvic conformal RT (45 Gy). Patients with a ≥T3 and/or node-positive rectal tumour were eligible. The pathologic tumour response was defined according to the tumour regression grade (TRG) scale. Results: Forty-six patients were enrolled. Gastrointestinal adverse events were mostly G1–G2; only two patients experienced G3 vomiting and diarrhoea and six patients had G1 peripheral neuropathy. Haematological toxicity was rare. G2 proctitis and anal pain occurred in two patients. Pathological complete response (TRG1) was observed in nine patients (20.9%; 95% CI 8.7%–33.1%); TRG2 in 19 patients (44.2%); TRG3 in 12 patients (27.9%); and TRG4 in three patients (7%). Overall, nine patients recurred: five with distant metastases, one with local recurrence, and three with both local recurrence and distant metastases. Conclusions: CAP–OX–RT as preoperative treatment for rectal cancer induces a remarkable rate of complete or near-complete pathologically documented response and is well tolerated.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are molecules involved in signal transduction pathways with both beneficial and detrimental effects on human cells. ROS are generated by many cellular processes including mitochondrial respiration, metabolism and enzymatic activities. In physiological conditions, ROS levels are well-balanced by antioxidative detoxification systems. In contrast, in pathological conditions such as cardiovascular, neurological and cancer diseases, ROS production exceeds the antioxidative detoxification capacity of cells, leading to cellular damages and death. In this review, we will first describe the biology and mechanisms of ROS mediated oxidative stress in cardiovascular disease. Second, we will review the role of oxidative stress mediated by oncological treatments in inducing cardiovascular disease. Lastly, we will discuss the strategies that potentially counteract the oxidative stress in order to fight the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease, including that induced by oncological treatments.

Choriocarcinoma is a germ cell tumor containing syncytiotrophoblastic cells and secreting human Beta-HCG. Primary choriocarcinoma of the lung is extremely uncommon. The prognosis of this tumor is extremely poor, despite surgical and chemotherapeutic treatment. We report a surgically treated case of choriocarcinoma in a 37-year-old woman who came to our attention because of a isolated lung lesion. The tumor was successfully resected. Chemotherapy was started 2 months after thoracic surgery and consisted of bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin. At 1-year follow-up the patient is alive in good condition. The hCG level is actually normal.