Viral oncogenesis in tumours of the central nervous system: reality or random association? A retrospective study on archived material.

Central nervous system (CNS) tumours have devastating effects and are recurrent, with dismal prognosis (gliomas) or life-threatening by the compression effect (meningiomas). This disease's aetiology remains debatable. Over the last decade, the hypothesis that human viruses may be implicated in these tumours has been proposed. In this study, our aim is to examine the presence of 11 viruses in the most frequent CNS primary tumours. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we assessed the viral presence in archived, paraffin-embedded tumour tissues from 114 patients with glioma and meningioma and in the brain tissue from 40 controls lacking tumour pathology. We focused on candidate neuro-oncogenic types (herpesviridae and polyomaviruses) and on human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV presence, for which involvement in these tumours was hardly investigated, was found to be associated with both tumour categories compared with controls (glioma, p = 0.032; meningioma, p = 0.032), whereas the presence of the neuro-oncogenic viruses was found in a negligible number of both categories, suggesting a lack of association with the tumour presence. Moreover, our study reveals a positive correlation between HPV presence and glioma malignancy, and a negative correlation with meningioma grading. Our results suggest that the presence of HPV seems to be significantly associated with primary tumours of the CNS and its meninges.

Differential Intestinal Mucosa Transcriptomic Biomarkers for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Genetic research has shaped the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) landscape identifying nearly two hundred risk loci. Nonetheless, the identified variants rendered only a partial success in providing criteria for the differential diagnosis between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Transcript levels from affected intestinal mucosa may serve as tentative biomarkers for improving classification and diagnosis of IBD. The aim of our study was to identify gene expression profiles specific for UC and CD, in endoscopically affected and normal intestinal colonic mucosa from IBD patients. We evaluated a panel of 84 genes related to the IBD-inflammatory pathway on 21 UC and 22 CD paired inflamed and not inflamed mucosa and on age-matched normal mucosa from 21 non-IBD controls. Two genes in UC (CCL11 and MMP10) and two in CD (C4BPB and IL1RN) showed an upregulation trend in both noninflamed and inflamed mucosa compared to controls. Our results suggest that the transcript levels of CCL11, MMP10, C4BPB, and IL1RN are candidate biomarkers that could help in clinical practice for the differential diagnosis between UC and CD and could guide new research on future therapeutic targets.

Esthesioneuroblastoma: the complete picture - case report and review of the literature.

Esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB), also called olfactory neuroblastoma, is a cancerous tumor originating from the olfactory neuroepithelial cells frequently invading the brain through the cribriform plate. The optimal therapy is the multimodality treatment involving a group of physicians trained in different medical specialties. Establishing a careful histopathological diagnostic and treatment planning based on a multidisciplinary approach is of paramount importance. The treatment of ENB correlates with the extent of the lesion, with surgery being the mainstay of therapy followed by postoperative irradiation. Surgery, when complete, image-verified and associated with radiation therapy results in long-term survival and presents a very low probability of illness recurrence. We present the case of a 46-year-old female with ENB, who was operated on in the Clinic of Neurosurgery of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurovascular Diseases in Bucharest, Romania, through a bifrontal craniotomy approach. Gross total resection of the intracranial extent was performed. The pathological diagnosis revealed an aggressive olfactory neuroblastoma. Three weeks after discharge from hospital, the tumor was completely resected through a lateral rhinotomy performed by an otorhinolaryngologist. Six weeks later, the patient received adjuvant therapy (radiotherapy and chemotherapy). The outcome was favorable, with no tumor recurrence at 20 months postoperatively. Our case demonstrates that even when dealing with a visibly aggressive tumor, a correct diagnosis, accurate classification and grading along with appropriate therapy ensure a favorable outcome.