Conjunctival Merkel cell carcinoma: case report and review of the literature.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) of the conjunctiva is rare. We report the case of a 73-year-old man who presented with unilateral foreign body sensation and blurred vision. A rapidly enlarging conjunctival lesion was identified and excised. The histopathological diagnosis was poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, later reclassified as neuroendocrine / Merkel cell carcinoma following excision on subsequent recurrence. The patient developed lymph node and widespread metastatic disease. The challenges of diagnosing MCC at this site are discussed and the literature on treatment options for this aggressive disease is reviewed.

Extensive Extramammary Paget's Disease With Underlying Perianal Adenocarcinoma: The Role of Neoadjuvant Radiation Treatment.

Extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) is an uncommon entity, and secondary EMPD is even rarer. To our knowledge, this report involves one of the only three cases in the literature to date regarding the use of neoadjuvant radiation therapy in the treatment of secondary EMPD. A 65-year-old woman's EMPD had become more widespread over the years to involve buttocks, perineum, anus, vulva, and vagina. Given the knowledge of potential secondary EMPD, suspicious perianal lesions were biopsied. Histology and immunohistochemistry staining confirmed adenocarcinoma. Our patient was treated with neoadjuvant radiation therapy, along with concurrent chemotherapy. This was followed by pelvic exenteration, which confirmed a complete response from the neoadjuvant treatment. We discuss her presentation, investigations, and treatment regimen in detail. In addition, we review the treatment of secondary EMPD as reported in previously published literature.

Matricellular CCN6 (WISP3) protein: a tumor suppressor for mammary metaplastic carcinomas.

Located at 6q22-23, Ccn6 (WISP3) encodes for a matrix-associated protein of the CCN family, characterized by regulatory, rather than structural, roles in development and cancer. CCN6, the least studied member of the CCN family, shares the conserved multimodular structure of CCN proteins, as well as their tissue and cell-type specific functions. In the breast, CCN6 is a critical regulator of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions (EMT) and tumor initiating cells. Studies using human breast cancer tissue samples demonstrated that CCN6 messenger RNA and protein are expressed in normal breast epithelia but reduced or lost in aggressive breast cancer phenotypes, especially inflammatory breast cancer and metaplastic carcinomas. Metaplastic carcinomas are mesenchymal-like triple negative breast carcinomas, enriched for markers of EMT and stemness. RNAseq analyses of the TCGA Breast Cancer cohort show reduced CCN6 expression in approximately 50% of metaplastic carcinomas compared to normal breast. Our group identified frameshift mutations of Ccn6 in a subset of human metaplastic breast carcinoma. Importantly, conditional, mammary epithelial-cell specific ccn6 (wisp3) knockout mice develop invasive high-grade mammary carcinomas that recapitulate human spindle cell metaplastic carcinomas, demonstrating a tumor suppressor function for ccn6. Our studies on CCN6 functions in metaplastic carcinoma highlight the potential of CCN6 as a novel therapeutic approach for this specific type of breast cancer.

Photoelectrocyclization as an activation mechanism for organelle-specific live-cell imaging probes.

Photoactivatable fluorophores are useful tools in live-cell imaging owing to their potential for precise spatial and temporal control. In this report, a new photoactivatable organelle-specific live-cell imaging probe based on a 6π electrocyclization/oxidation mechanism is described. It is shown that this new probe is water-soluble, non-cytotoxic, cell-permeable, and useful for mitochondrial imaging. The probe displays large Stokes shifts in both pre-activated and activated forms, allowing simultaneous use with common dyes and fluorescent proteins. Sequential single-cell activation experiments in dense cellular environments demonstrate high spatial precision and utility in single- or multi-cell labeling experiments.

Synthesis and properties of lysosome-specific photoactivatable probes for live-cell imaging.

Fluorescent dyes have become increasingly important in cell biology since they enable high signal-to-noise and selectivity in visualizing subcellular organelles. Photoactivatable dyes allow for tracking and monitoring of a subset of cells or organelles. Here, we report the synthesis and application of a new class of large Stokes shift fluorescent dyes that are water-soluble, cell permeable, non-cytotoxic, and lysosome-specific. Additionally, we demonstrate temporally controlled sequential photoactivation of individual cells in close spatial proximity.

Synthesis and conformational dynamics of the reported structure of xylopyridine A.

Natural products have served as a rich source for the discovery of new nucleic acid targeting molecules for more than half a century. However, our ability to design molecules that bind nucleic acid motifs in a sequence- and/or structure-selective manner is still in its infancy. Xylopyridine A, a naturally occurring molecule of unprecedented architecture, has been found to bind DNA by a unique mode of intercalation. Here we show that the structure proposed for xylopyridine A is not consistent with the characterization in the original isolation report and does not bind B-form DNA. Instead, we report that the originally proposed structure for xylopyridine A represents a new class of conformationally dynamic structure-selective quadruplex nucleic acid binder. The unique molecular conformation locks out nonspecific intercalative binding modes and provides a starting point for the design of a new class of structure-specific nucleic acid binder.

The p63 protein isoform ΔNp63α inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human bladder cancer cells: role of MIR-205.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological process that plays important roles in tumor metastasis, "stemness," and drug resistance. EMT is typically characterized by the loss of the epithelial marker E-cadherin and increased expression of EMT-associated transcriptional repressors, including ZEB1 and ZEB2. The miR-200 family and miR-205 prevent EMT through suppression of ZEB1/2. p53 has been implicated in the regulation of miR-200c, but the mechanisms controlling miR-205 expression remain elusive. Here we report that the p53 family member and p63 isoform, ΔNp63α, promotes miR-205 transcription and controls EMT in human bladder cancer cells. ΔNp63α, E-cadherin and miR-205 were coexpressed in a panel of bladder cancer cell lines (n = 28) and a cohort of primary bladder tumors (n = 98). Stable knockdown of ΔNp63α in the "epithelial" bladder cancer cell line UM-UC6 decreased the expression of miR-205 and induced the expression of ZEB1/2, effects that were reversed by expression of exogenous miR-205. Conversely, overexpression of ΔNp63α in the "mesenchymal" bladder cancer cell line UM-UC3 induced miR-205 and suppressed ZEB1/2. ΔNp63α knockdown reduced the expression of the primary and mature forms of miR-205 and the miR-205 "host" gene (miR-205HG) and decreased binding of RNA Pol II to the miR-205HG promoter, inhibiting miR-205HG transcription. Finally, high miR-205 expression was associated with adverse clinical outcomes in bladder cancer patients. Together, our data demonstrate that ΔNp63α-mediated expression of miR-205 contributes to the regulation of EMT in bladder cancer cells and identify miR-205 as a molecular marker of the lethal subset of human bladder cancers.

The effect of participatory community communication on HIV preventive behaviors among ethnic minority youth in central Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: In Vietnam, socially marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities in mountainous areas are often difficult to engage in HIV research and prevention programs. This intervention study aimed to estimate the effect of participatory community communication (PCC) on changing HIV preventive ideation and behavior among ethnic minority youth in a rural district from central Vietnam. METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey after the PCC intervention, using a structured questionnaire, 800 ethnic minority youth were approached for face-to-face interviews. Propensity score matching (PSM) technique was then utilized to match these participants into two groups-intervention and control-for estimating the effect of the PCC. RESULTS: HIV preventive knowledge and ideation tended to increase as the level of recall changed accordingly. The campaign had a significant indirect effect on condom use through its effect on ideation or perceptions. When intervention and control group statistically equivalently reached in terms of individual and social characteristics by PSM, proportions of displaying HIV preventive knowledge, ideation and condom use were significantly higher in intervention group than in matched control counterparts, accounting for net differences of 7.4%, 12.7% and 5%, respectively, and can be translated into the number of 210; 361 and 142 ethnic minority youth in the population. CONCLUSIONS: The study informs public health implications both theoretically and practically to guide effective HIV control programs for marginalized communities in resources-constrained settings like rural Vietnam and similar contexts of developing countries.

Bladder cancer stem cells.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that renew themselves while simultaneously producing differentiated tissue- or organspecific cells through asymmetric cell division. The appreciation of the importance of stem cells in normal tissue biology has prompted the idea that cancers may also develop from a progenitor pool (the "cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis"), and this idea is gaining increasing acceptance among scientists. CSCs are sub-populations of cancer cells responsible for tumor initiation, differentiation, recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance. First identified in the hematopoietic system, CSCs have also been discovered in solid tumors of the breast, colon, pancreas, and brain. Recently, the tissue-specific stem cells of the normal urothelium have been proposed to reside in the basal layer, and investigators have isolated phenotypically similar populations of cells from urothelial cancer cell lines and primary tumors. Herein, we review the CSC hypothesis and apply it to explain the development of the two different types of bladder cancer: noninvasive ("superficial") carcinoma and invasive carcinoma. We also examine potential approaches to identify CSCs in bladder cancer as well as therapeutic applications of these findings. While exciting, the verification of the existence of CSCs in bladder cancer raises several new questions. Herein, we identify and answer some of these questions to help readers better understand bladder cancer development and identify reasonable therapeutic strategy for targeting stem cells.