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A 68-year-old Caucasian gentleman presented with a 6-month history of a left sided Level I/II neck swelling involving the floor of mouth. MRI revealed a large cystic lesion and histology confirmed a diagnosis of primary papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the sublingual gland. Papillary cystadenocarcinoma was first described in 1991 by the World Health Organisation [WHO], and is a rare malignant neoplasm characterised by cysts and papillary endo-cystic projections. Papillary cystadenocarcinoma arising from the sublingual glands is extremely rare and has the potential to metastasise to cervical lymph nodes. This patient we report was therefore treated with surgical excision and post-operative radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the present paper, we compared the histopathological and vibrational analyses of different tissue sections of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) at various malignancy grades, in order to unambiguously identify them. To achieve reliable results, healthy and dysplastic samples were also taken into account. FT-IR microspectroscopy is considered an effective tool for studying different molecular structures occurring in tumoral tissues and offers an interesting alternative to detect biochemical changes in a non-subjective way. In particular, on an adequate number of tissue sections affected by three different grades of OSSC (well G1, moderately G2, and poorly G3 differentiated), as well as on dysplastic and healthy tissues (all obtained from surgical resection), the chemical maps were acquired on meaningful areas containing both epithelial and connective structures. The multivariate analysis (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, HCA, and Principal Component Analysis, PCA), performed separately on epithelial and connective spectral data, afforded to a good segregation for the different morphological structures. By analysing the representative spectra of healthy, dysplastic and tumoral epithelia and connectives, modifications were pin-pointed in the position of bands and absorbance band ratios usually associated with carcinogenesis. Above all, the changes in the protein pattern (with modifications in the length of side chains and in secondary structures), and in carbohydrates and nucleic acids moieties were associated with specific spectral markers of this pathology. The vibrational investigation led to a satisfactory understanding of these lesions so contributing to an early diagnosis, when the sole morphological inspection may result troublesome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the predisposition of the FGFR4 Gly/Arg polymorphism for development of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and, furthermore, to examine if the FGFR4 Arg388 allele can be associated with resistance to chemo- and radiotherapy. When analysing 110 tumour biopsies a significant 1.7-fold increased risk to develop HNSCC in individuals carrying the Gly388 allele (p =0.026) was found. Moreover a 2-fold increased risk for males harbouring the Gly388 allele (p =0.031) to develop HNSCC was detected. In 39 HNSCC cell lines the role of the Arg388 allele for radiation and cisplatin sensitivity was investigated. Our results show no role of the Arg388 allele for the radiosensitivity (p =0.996) but indicate a tendency to increased cisplatin sensitivity (p =0.141). When screening the transmembrane and kinase domains in the FGFR4 gene a novel mutation, probably generating a truncated protein lacking exons 14–18, was found in six of eight selected cell lines. Taken together, we have here identified a marker that predicts the risk to develop HNSCC and possibly the sensitivity to cisplatin as well as a novel mutation in the FGFR4 gene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]