Use of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) Questionnaire to Assess Levels of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Healthcare and Administrative Staff in 5 Oncology Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic - Article abstract #930812

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Associated Factors Among Cancer Patients Attending the Oncology Clinic of University Clinical Hospital Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Cross-Sectional Study - Article abstract #932788

BACKGROUND:Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast (NECB) is very rare, accounting for 0.1% of all breast tumors and less than 1% of all neuroendocrine tumors. Most NECBs are hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2)-negative and more than 50% are the luminal B subtype. Because prospective studies of NECB are lacking, treatment is the same as for other breast tumors. CASE REPORT:A 70-year-old woman was diagnosed with NECB in February 2011. She underwent radical right mastectomy and right axillary node dissection. Final histopathological examination revealed NECB with positive axillary nodes (N1). The tumor cells were 100% positive for estrogen receptors and 10% positive for progesterone receptors. The HER-2 status was 3+. According to the Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) Classification of Malignant Tumors, the pathologic stage was IIB - pT2pN1cM0. The histologic grade was 2 and the Ki-67 proliferation index was 5.7%. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy, IV trastuzumab, and endocrine therapy. After 9 years of follow-up, she remains disease-free. CONCLUSIONS:As far as we know, this is only the second report describing treatment of HER-2-positive NECB with trastuzumab. A literature review shows that it is the first report of treatment of HER-2-positive primary NECB with adjuvant trastuzumab. In similar cases, long-term follow-up is recommended because of the potential for multiple metastases of NECB even years after completion of adjuvant therapy.

The most common type of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), which has a high metastatic potential. Even though the International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium (IMDC) risk model is conventionally utilized for selection and stratification of patients with metastatic RCC (mRCC), there remains an unmet demand for novel prognostic and predictive markers. The goal of this study was to analyze the expression of Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Cluster of Differentiation 31 (CD31) to determine microvessel density, and Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) in primary kidney tumors, as well as their predictive and prognostic value in patients with metastatic ccRCC (mccRCC) who were treated with first-line sunitinib. The study included 35 mccRCC patients who were treated with first-line sunitinib in period between 2009 and 2019. Immunofluorescence was used to examine biomarker expression in tissue specimens of the primary tumor and surrounding normal kidney tissue. Median disease-free survival (DFS) was longer in patients with negative and low tumor VEGF score than in patients with medium tumor VEGF score (p=0.02). Those with low tumor CD31 expression had a longer median DFS than patients with high tumor CD31 expression (p=0.019). There was no correlation between Ang-1 expression and DFS. The expression of biomarkers in normal kidney tissue was significantly lower than in tumor tissue (p<0.001). In conclusion, higher VEGF scores and greater CD31 expression were associated with longer DFS, but neither of these biomarkers correlated with progression-free survival or overall survival.

Precision medicine is a developing trend in oncology, and it includes the prognosis and treatment of advanced-stage ccRCC. New predictive factors and therapeutic targets for this disease are steadily needed. The aim of this study was to explore the tumor expression of inversin as a potential prognostic factor and/or therapeutic target in ccRCC. We compared the expression of inversin between primary ccRCC and normal renal tissues by using immunohistochemistry and rtPCR in our cohort, and we also analyzed publicly available data from the TCGA-KIRC cohort. We found that the expression of inversin was significantly lower in primary tumor tissue, in comparison to solid normal tissue. Data from the KIRC study confirmed that a lower INVS expression level in ccRCC was significantly related with the overall and disease-specific survival, as well as with a shorter progression-free interval (p < 0.05). Four out of ten inversin interactome partners were significantly related with the overall and disease-specific survival in ccRCC. A lower expression of ANKS6 was a negative survival predictor, while a higher expression of NPHP3, DVL1, or DVL3 was related with a lower survival. The expression of INVS and its interactome partners in ccRCC was correlated with the differentiation of the tumor and metastasis. The expression of INVS and its partners was also correlated with tumor leukocyte infiltration and the expression of immune checkpoint genes. The results of this study point to inversin and a distinguished group of its interactome partners as potential prognostic factors in ccRCC, with their predominant involvement in the modulation of the inflammatory infiltration of the tumor microenvironment and a strong relationship with the metastatic potential of the tumor.