Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by an extremely dense fibrotic stroma, which contributes to tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance. During tumorigenesis, quiescent pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are activated and become major contributors to fibrosis, by increasing growth factor signaling and extracellular matrix deposition. The p53 tumor suppressor is known to...

Integrins on both tumor cells and the supporting host stromal cells in bone (osteoclasts, new blood vessels, inflammatory cells, platelets and bone marrow stromal cells) play key roles in enhancing bone metastasis. Tumor cells localize to specific tissues through integrin-mediated contacts with extracellular matrix and stromal cells. Integrin expression and signaling are perturbed in cancer cel...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), one of the most lethal neoplasms, is characterized by an expanded stroma with marked fibrosis (desmoplasia). We previously generated pancreas epithelium-specific TGF-β receptor type II (Tgfbr2) knockout mice in the context of Kras activation (mice referred to herein as Kras+Tgfbr2KO mice) and found that they developed aggressive PDAC that recapitulated t...

Hypoxia is frequent in solid tumors and linked to aggressive phenotypes and therapy resistance. We explored expression patterns of the proposed hypoxia marker HIF-1α in endometrial cancer (EC) and investigate whether preoperative functional imaging parameters are associated with tumor hypoxia. Expression of HIF-1α was explored both in the epithelial and the stromal tumor component. We found tha...

PURPOSE The aim of the study was to investigate the vascular and stromal architecture of preclinical tumor models and patient tumor specimens from malignancies with known clinical outcomes to VEGFi treatment, to gain insight into potential determinants of intrinsic sensitivity and resistance. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The tumor stroma architecture of preclinical and clinical tumor samples were anal...

In situ estrogen synthesis by hormone-dependent breast cancers could potentially regulate cellular proliferation through autocrine or paracrine mechanisms. Several biochemical studies have demonstrated activity of the enzyme aromatase, the rate-limiting step for estrogen synthesis, in breast tumor homogenates. Prior immunohistochemical studies in breast neoplasms demonstrated aromatase antibody...

INTRODUCTION Gastrointestinal stromal tumor is the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract. We report a case of gastrointestinal stromal tumor in a small intestine, initially suspected for leiomyosarcoma given that gastrointestinal stromal tumors in young adult patients are limited due to their rarity. CASE PRESENTATION A 30-year-old Caucasian ethnic Albanian woman from Kosovo prese...

In this case series we present the cases of two patients at a metastatic stage stomach gastrointestinal stromal tumor, who received treatment with imatinib. After period disease stability showed signs resistance to first-line therapy and despite promising switch sunitinib, developed life-threatening complications. Salvage surgeries were performed, aimed preserving life simultaneously reducing t...

Surface epithelial-stromal tumors are the most common neoplasm of ovary in the reproductive age and beyond. Less than 1% of epithelial ovarian tumors occur before the age of 21 years while 75% of sexcord stromal tumors (Sertoli and Leydig Cell) occur in the third and fourth decades of life. Serous tumors rarely occur in combination with germ cell tumors, sex-cord stromal tumors or granulosa cel...

The endometrial stromal nodule is a benign tumor composed of differentiated endometrial stromal cells arranged as a well circumscribed nodule with smooth non-invasive margins. They are rare neoplasms, diagnosed in most instances by microscopy. Although nodules are benign in nature, hysterectomy is the treatment of choice to enable evaluation of the tumor margins which are well demarcated in end...