Oral verrucous carcinoma: a 24-year epidemiological study and case report

Introduction: Verrucous carcinoma is a non-metastatic variant of squamous cell carcinoma. It was first reported by Ackerman in 1948. It is a verrucous exophytic tumor and, although it is a rare lesion, it mainly affects the oral cavity, with slow growth and can be locally invasive. Objective: To report a case and present an observational and retrospective analysis of medical records containing biopsy data from patients diagnosed with oral verrucous carcinoma (OVC) in an oral diagnostic referral service for a period of 24 years. Material and methods: The following data were collected: age, sex, ethnicity, anatomical location and management. Result: Eight cases of OVC were found, all in Caucasian patients (n = 8, 100%), aged between 57 and 102 years. 62% of the injuries affected women. The most affected region was the jugal mucosa (n = 4, 50%). In addition, Smoking patients were not found. In all cases, incisional biopsy was performed and referral to the head and neck surgeon. Conclusion: Caucasian women in the sixth and seventh decades of life were the most affected by OVC. The absence of smoking patients corroborates the literature, which reports that cigarettes appear to be unrelated to this injury. The dentist's role is to recognize the disease early, diagnose it and refer it for medical treatment.

Altered Expression of Secreted Mediator Genes That Mediate Aggressive Breast Cancer Metastasis to Distant Organs

Heterogeneity is the characteristic of breast tumors, making it difficult to understand the molecular mechanism. Alteration of gene expression in the primary tumor versus the metastatic lesion remains challenging for getting any specific targeted therapy. To better understand how gene expression profile changes during metastasis, we compare the primary tumor and distant metastatic tumor gene expression using primary breast tumors compared with its metastatic variant in animal models. Our RNA sequencing data from cells revealed that parental cell and the metastatic variant cell are different in gene expression while gene signature significantly altered during metastasis to distant organs than primary breast tumors. We found that secreted mediators encoding genes (ANGPTL7, MMP3, LCN2, S100A8, and ESM1) are correlated with poor prognosis in the clinical setting as divulged from METABRIC and TCGA-BRCA cohort data analysis.

Positively Selected Enhancer Elements Endow Tumor Cells with Metastatic Competence

Metastasis results from a complex set of traits acquired by tumor cells, distinct from those necessary for tumorigenesis. Here, we investigate the contribution of enhancer elements to the metastatic phenotype of osteosarcoma. Through epigenomic profiling, we identify substantial differences in enhancer activity between primary and metastatic tumors in human patients as well as nearisogenic pairs of high and low lung-metastatic osteosarcoma cells. We term these regions Metastatic Variant Enhancer Loci (Met-VELs). We demonstrate that these Met-VELs drive coordinated waves of gene expression during metastatic colonization of the lung. Met-VELs cluster non-randomly, indicating that activity of these enhancers and their associated gene targets are positively selected. As evidence of this causal association, osteosarcoma lung metastasis is inhibited by global interruptions of Met-VEL-associated gene expression via pharmacologic BET inhibition, by knockdown of AP-1 transcription factors that occupy Met-VELs, and by knockdown or functional inhibition of individual genes activated by Met-VELs, such as F3. We further show that genetic deletion of a single Met-VEL at the F3 locus blocks metastatic cell outgrowth in the lung. These findings indicate that Met-VELs and the genes they regulate play a functional role in metastasis and may be suitable targets for anti-metastatic therapies.