Soft tissue sarcomas are aggressive tumors representing <1% of all adult neoplasms. Aim of our study was to evaluate promyelocytic leukemia gene expression value as prognostic factor and as a factor predicting response to alkylating agents/antracycline-based first line therapy. One hundred eleven patients affected by locally advanced and metastatic soft tissue sarcoma were selected. PML express...

Head and neck sarcomas are a rare and heterogeneous group of tumors that pose management challenges. We report our experience with these tumors. Forty consecutive patients treated for 44 head and neck sarcomas between 1997 and 2014 were culled from our prospectively maintained head and neck database. Five patients were excluded. The adult cohort consisted 29 (83%) patients of a mean age of 57.7...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary sarcomas are uncommon accounting for 0.5 % of all primary lung cancers. Undifferentiated sarcomas account for up to 20 % of soft tissue sarcomas. A lung tumor revealed to be an undifferentiated sarcoma with epithelioid features has never been reported in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION A 61-year-old white Moroccan man presented with 2 months' history of hemoptysis and d...

AIMS To obtain further information regarding the frequency and degree of positivity for smooth muscle markers in a large number of malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs), as an aid to accurate diagnosis. METHOD The immunohistochemical features of 100 MFHs were studied and the results were compared with those for 30 leiomyosarcomas. Eighteen cases of MFH with smooth muscle actin (SMA) positivi...

CASE REPORT A 27-year-old female presented to us with a complaint of proptosis of her right eye. Imaging tests showed an extraconal mass in the medial orbital wall, which affected the medial rectus. The tumor was removed and adjuvant radiotherapy was required. The histological examination showed an undifferentiated high-grade pleomorphic sarcoma of the orbit. There has not been recurrence after...

BACKGROUND Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma is a rare entity and requires extensive immunohistochemical markers to differentiate it from other tumors of the breast. CASE PRESENTATION We present a 29-year-old female with a left breast lump for 2 months. Initial diagnosis of malignant spindle cell tumor was done on core biopsy following which total mastectomy was done. After extensive sampl...

UNLABELLED Intratumoral hypoxia and expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) correlate with metastasis and poor survival in patients with sarcoma. We show here that hypoxia controls sarcoma metastasis through a novel mechanism wherein HIF-1α enhances expression of the intracellular enzyme procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase 2 (PLOD2). We show that loss of HIF-1α or PLOD2 ...

BACKGROUND Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is a sarcoma of uncertain origin that can be found both in soft tissues and in bones. It is currently called undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma not otherwise specified and it represents a final common pathway in several tumors that are subject to the progress of dedifferentiation. Local recurrence of the tumor in the same location where it was origina...