Concepts in Oncology

Double Hit Lymphoma

Double - hit (DH) lymphomas are a recently discovered subtype of lymphoma that is defined by a chromosomal breakpoint affecting the MYC/8q24 locus in combination with another recurrent breakpoint, for instance a t(14;18)(q32;q21), involving BCL2. In the 2008 WHO classification, they are classified as "B cell lymphoma unclassifiable with features intermediate between Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma(DLBCL) and Brkitt’s Lymphoma(BL)". Thus, it is somewhere

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Is granular cell tumor cancer?

Granular Cell Tumors are rare with only about 200 cases reported, some half of them in the mouth and neck area. Whether it is cancer or not has been controversial but it has recently been shown to be of early neural tissue origin(Rejas et al). However, some granular tumors behave benignly, meaning that they don’t invade and spread, and others can be very aggressive and the older literature contains many reports contrasting "malignant" and "benign"

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Is Langherhan’s Hystiocytosis a cancer?

The pathogenesis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a mater of debate. LCH is a rare disease that can invade tissues and spread but otherwise looks like a reactive process. There is ongoing controversy as whether it is a cancer. Supporting the reactive nature of LCH is its propensity for spontaneous remissions, the extensive secretion of multiple cytokines by dendritic cells and bystander-cells (a phenomenon known as cytokine storm), favorable

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Cryoablation for kidney cancer

Cryoablation is not  well supported by the medical literature for renal cell cancer. There are mostly case reports and series, although some of them are large and there are no comparative trials. The procedure has some theoretical disadvantages. For one, it leaves no pathology, so that prognostication becomes difficult. Other limitations of percutaneous cryoablation include the inability to control hemorrhage without intra-arterial access and a

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NK cells in medicine

Natural killer (NK) cells, a type of T lymphocyte cell, are major actors of the body’s immune responses against viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other mediators of pathology such as malignant transformation. These cells are also directly implicated in the link between by preexistent body’s own and adaptive, newly developed immunity, shaping T-cell responses. It is now obvious that manipulation of this lymphocyte subset could be the basis of

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