Tata Memorial Hospital

About: Tata Memorial Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in Mumbai, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Breast cancer. The organization has 3187 authors who have published 4636 publications receiving 109143 citations.

Isolated primary extranodal lymphoma of the oral cavity: A series of 15 cases and review of literature from a tertiary care cancer centre in India

Abstract: Background: Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) have a great tendency to affect organs and tissues that do not ordinarily contain lymphoid cells. Involvement of the oral cavity by NHL is very rare. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis was carried out by chart review of patients who presented to our hospital between 1990 and 2008. All those patients whose histopathology at our hospital was confirmed as lymphoma were included. Results: Although we register nearly 2000 new oral cancers every year, most of which are squamous cell cancers, we could trace only 15 cases of oral lymphoma in the last 18 years. Of these, hard palate and alveolus were most common sites (5 each). The median age at presentation was 42.6 years. A vast majority (12/15) were NHL. Most patients (70%) reported with painless progressive swelling without systemic signs, such as fever, weight loss, and so on. Only 2 patients were HIV positive. Nearly two thirds received combinations of CT and RT. Cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, oncovin (vincristine), prednisolone regime was the most common regime offered (12/15). Most of them (67%) had good response to 6 cycles of CT that was followed by RT. 10/15 patients completed treatment. Follow-up data of more than 2 years of follow-up was present in 11/15 patients. With median follow-up of 27 months, 5 were disease free, 5 died, and 1 controlled following 2nd line of CT, 2 were lost to follow-up and 2 were alive with disease. Discussion: Head and neck lymphoma is the second most common region for extranodal lymphoma. The nasopharynx, tonsils, and base tongue are most often involved. Unlike the western world, oral cavity involvement is extremely rare. Interestingly, only 2 patients tested positive for HIV and most were young patients. Oral lymphoma may mimic benign oral conditions that often lead to misdiagnosis. Conclusion: Although oral cavity may be the preferred site of NHL in immunocompromised patients it does occur in immunocompetent patients as well. Isolated oral lymphoma is extremely rare and from our data we can say that oral NHL in Indian sub population is more aggressive compared with western literature.

Vimentin regulates differentiation switch via modulation of keratin 14 levels and their expression together correlates with poor prognosis in oral cancer patients

Abstract: Vimentin is an intermediate filament protein, predominantly expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin, although its aberrant expression is seen in many carcinomas during epithelial mesenchymal transition. In cancer, vimentin expression is associated with the transition from a more differentiated epithelial phenotype to a dedifferentiated state. In view of the perceived role of keratins (Ks) as regulators of differentiation in epithelia, it was important to understand whether vimentin modulates differentiation through the reprogramming of keratins, in transformed cells. To address this, vimentin was stably downregulated in oral cancer derived cells. Further, global keratin profiling was performed after high salt keratin extraction. K5/K14 pair was found to be significantly downregulated, both at protein and mRNA levels upon vimentin downregulation. The previous study from our laboratory has shown a role of the K5/K14 pair in proliferation and differentiation of squamous epithelial cells. Vimentin depleted cells showed an increase in the differentiation state, marked by an increase in the levels of differentiation specific markers K1, involucrin, filaggrin and loricrin while its proliferation status remained unchanged. Rescue experiments with the K5/K14 pair overexpressed in vimentin knockdown background resulted in decreased differentiation state. ΔNp63 emerged as one of the indirect targets of vimentin, through which it modulates the expression levels of K5/K14. Further, immunohistochemistry showed a significant correlation between high vimentin-K14 expression and recurrence/poor survival in oral cancer patients. Thus, in conclusion, vimentin regulates the differentiation switch via modulation of K5/K14 expression. Moreover, vimentin-K14 together may prove to be the novel markers for the prognostication of human oral cancer.

Diagnosis and Management of Rhabdomyosarcoma in Children and Adolescents: ICMR Consensus Document

Abstract: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly malignant tumor which is thought to originate from the pluripotent mesenchyme. It is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma of childhood. This review article summarizes the recent and older published literature and gives an overview of management of RMS in children. RMS can arise in a wide variety of primary sites, some of which are associated with specific patterns of local invasion, regional lymph nodal spread, therapeutic response and long term outcome, hence requiring physicians to be familiar with site-specific staging and treatment details. Most common primary sites include the head and neck region, genitourinary tract, and extremities. Prognosis for children and adolescents with RMS has recently improved substantially, especially for patients with local or locally extensive disease because of the development of multi-modal therapy incorporating surgery, dose-intensive combination chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Despite aggressive approaches the outcome for patients who present with metastatic disease remains unsatisfactory. Clinical trials are ongoing to reduce toxicity and improve outcomes of such patients; newer agents in combination are being investigated.

Treatment and outcome in cancer cervix patients treated between 1979 and 1994: A single institutional experience

Abstract: Introduction: A retrospective review in patients with carcinoma cervix to evaluate the changes and trends in demographics, evolution of protocols, and outcome analysis over 16 years. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of 6234 patients with carcinoma of the cervix treated with radical intent between 1979 and 1994. All the work-up, staging investigations, treatment details, radiation protocols, outcomes, and toxicities were noted, compiled, and analyzed. Results: With a mean age of 46 years (range: 18-90 years; median: 45 years), 669 (11%) patients were in stage Ib, 284 (5%) were in stage IIa, 1891 (30%) were in stage IIb, 69 (1%) were in stage IIIa, and 3321 (53%) were in stage IIIb. With a median follow-up of 68 months (57-79 months) for the entire group, there was no significant difference in the outcome of 953 patients with international federation of gynecology and obstetrics (FIGO) Ib-IIa treated after radical surgery, pre-operative radiation therapy (pre-op RT) + Sx or after radical radiation; their disease-free survival (DFS) was 60-62% at 8 years. In our series of 1891 patients with stage IIb and 3321 with stage IIIb, a respective DFS of 56% and 40% was achieved at 8 years. Conclusion: Over the last two decades, with the acquisition of newer facilities and inception of Joint Clinics, there has been a significant refinement in the treatment protocols and outcome. Improving radiation strategies to improve therapeutic ratio is the key to success.