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Background: The metastases of a primary lung cancer over the thyroid gland are extremely rare. We report on an unusual presentation of thyroid metastasis of lung cancer in order to improve the management of similar cases. Case presentation: Three years ago, a Moroccan male 59-year-old was admitted for dyspnea, dry cough, and chest pain. He had smoked about 30 cigarette packs a year. Clinical examination revealed a right thyroid nodule. Chest and neck computed tomography (CT) scan showed a proximal left tumor in contact with the pulmonary artery and revealed a suspected nodule in the right lobe of the thyroid with homolateral neck node. Transbronchial biopsy was performed and pathological examination revealed adenocarcinoma of the lung and positive for thyroid transcription factor. Other explorations carried out, such as brain CT, bone scan and abdominal ultrasound were normal. After a repeated negative fine needle aspiration biopsy of the suspected nodule of the right lobe of the thyroid, we performed total thyroidectomy with neck dissection. An anatomopathologic exam revealed a tubulopapillary adenocarcinoma poorly differentiated. An Immunohistochemistry showed positive tumor cells with TTF1 and cytokeratin (CK) 7 but negative cells with thyroglobulin and CK20. Thus, the pulmonary tumor was classified stage IV. Chemotherapy based on the combination of cisplatin and etoposide was conducted along with supportive care. The tumor grew up with brain metastases after three cycles of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the patient died 2 months after despite brain radiotherapy. Conclusion: We presented a medical case of a patient with thyroid metastasis resulting from a pulmonary adenocarcinoma which has rapidly evolved to brain metastases. The prognosis was pejorative in our clinical case (5 months after admission). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ureteral metastasis from gastric cancers are rare and can be a cause of ureteral obstruction. There have been few published case reports in the literature. In this paper, we report an additional case and a review of the literature of all the previous reported cases., Case Presentation: A 67 years old North African women who was treated four years before for a gastric adenocarcinoma, presented with abdominal pain. Imaging and endoscopy showed a mural stenosis of the left ureter, without any other abnormality. Histopathology confirmed the gastric origin of the metastasis. A palliative chemotherapy was foreseen, but due to the deterioration of the general condition of the patient, she received palliative care. We have also reviewed the literature and reported the previously published cases of ureteral metastasis from gastric cancer., Conclusions: It is worth recalling that in a context of neoplasia and with the presence of signs of ureteral obstruction, it is important to keep in mind the possibility of a ureteral metastasis., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women. Several studies have investigated the relationship between the C3435T polymorphism of ABCB1 gene and risk of breast cancer; but the results are conflicting. In the present study, we sought to assess the relationship between the C3435T polymorphism in ABCB1 gene and the risk of breast cancer in a sample of the Moroccan population., Methods: A case control study was performed on 60 breast cancer patients and 68 healthy women. The ABCB1 C3435T polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. Furthermore, a meta-analysis including 16 studies with 6094 cases of breast cancer and 8646 controls was performed., Results: Genotype frequencies were 50 % for CC, 33.3 % for CT and 16.7 % for TT in patients and 41.2 % for CC, 48.5 % for CT and 10.3 % for TT respectively in the control group. This difference was not statistically significant. The same trend as observed in the allele distribution between patients and controls (P = 0.84). Findings from the meta-analysis showed that the ABCB1 C3435T polymorphism was not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in the dominant model (OR = 0.907; 95 % CI = 0.767-1.073; P = 0.25) as well as in the recessive model (OR = 1.181; 95 % CI = 0.973-1.434; P = 0.093) and in the allele contrast model (OR = 1.098; 95 % CI = 0.972-1.240; P = 0.133). However, the stratification of studies on ethnic basis showed that the TT genotype was associated with the risk of breast cancer in Asians (OR = 1.405; 95 % CI = 1.145-1.725; P = 0.001), Caucasians (OR = 1.093; 95 % CI = 1.001-1.194; P = 0.048) and North African (OR = 2.028; 95 % CI = 1.220-3.371; P = 0.006)., Conclusions: We have noted that the implication of C3435T variant on the risk of breast cancer was ethnicity-dependent. However, there is no evidence that ABCB1 C3435T polymorphism could play a role in susceptibility to breast cancer in Morocco. Further studies with a larger sample size, extended to other polymorphisms are needed to understand the influence of ABCB1 genetic variants on the risk of breast cancer.

Background: BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes explain a large part of hereditary breast cancer. Several studies have shown that BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors exhibit some specific morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics. The aim of our study is to compare the clinicopathological characteristics between Moroccan breast cancers associated or not with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Previously, we had identified 11 BRCA carriers in a series of 40 selected breast cancer patients at increased risk for carrying a mutation in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. The clinical and pathological features of patients carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation (n = 11) were evaluated and compared to those of non-mutated patients (n = 29)., Results: In comparison with non carriers, women with BRCA1/2 mutation present younger mean age at diagnosis (37.90 vs. 44.48 years, p = 0.05), younger mean age of 1st menarche (13.08 vs. 14.24 years, p = 0.05) and shorter duration of breastfeeding (8.71 vs. 19.35 months, p = 0.05). Moreover, 63.6 and 62.5% of BRCA1/2 carriers present SBR grade III and triple negative tumors respectively (p = 0.02)., Conclusions: In this first Moroccan study comparing clinical and pathological characteristics of women carrying or not BRCA1/2 mutation, patients with BRCA mutation tend to develop early breast cancer with high-grade and triple negative tumors. However, further large scale research including more data is needed to better characterize BRCA1/2 cases and to evaluate the survival rate associated with these mutations in our population tumors. Moreover, it would be more interesting to study women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations separately in order to determine if they exhibit distinct characteristics.

Background: Identification of specific mutations in cancer patients may lead to the discovery of genes, which can affect susceptibility and/or prognosis. It has previously been reported that mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are linked to breast cancer. Here, we evaluated the use of the High Resolution Melting (HRM) approach to screen for mutations in exon 11 of BRCA1 gene in Moroccan patients., Methods: HRM analysis was used to screen exon 11 from 71 breast cancer patients in order to detect different variants. Conventional Sanger sequencing was used to confirm the presence of possible mutations. Distribution of different SNPs was determined by SNaPshot analysis software., Results: In order to assess the efficacy of the HRM approach to screen for mutations, especially in diagnosis, we first used two samples with previously known mutations, "2924delA and 3398delC". Indeed, these previously known sequence variants were detected by the HRM approach and yielded melting curves with atypical shape relative to wild-type control sequences. We then analyzed, 69 samples from breast cancer patients using the HRM method, and were able to detect two samples with atypical curves. Sequencing of the two samples, using the conventional Sanger approach, confirmed the presence of the same SNP (c.2612C > T) in both samples., Conclusions: Our results strongly suggest that the HRM approach represents a reliable and highly sensitive method for mutation scanning, especially in diagnosis.

Introduction: Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is a major therapeutic option for the management of unresectable aggressive fibromatosis. Unfortunately, for most patients of low or very low average income countries, surgery often is the first treatment option. This is related to unavailability of chemotherapy or targeted therapy, and to a lack of financial resources or surgeons' lack of knowledge of other therapeutic options., Case Presentation: In 2010, a 26-year-old Moroccan man was referred to our oncology and radiotherapy center by his surgeon for the management of a recurrent tumor of his right subscapularis muscle. Before his assessment in our center, two resections were performed by his surgeon after performing an incision biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging was performed and showed a right axillary nodule size 2.1cm regarding a collection with a residual tumor. We decided to administer imatinib 400mg daily by mouth. Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging evaluation were performed regularly and reported a stable tumor. We reported no adverse side effects to imatinib regarding Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events grading., Conclusions: Recurrences are high during aggressive fibromatosis management. Systemic treatment with imatinib for unresectable or recurrent tumors with positive c-KIT could be the best therapeutic option. In our case report, the patient was stabilized with imatinib for 30 months and he had a very good quality of life.