Considering the need to treat advanced TC more effectively, disparate findings in predictive molecular markers (eg, KIT mutations in TSCC, but not in thymomas) suggest that targeted treatments will have to be different in thymomas and TC.
Apart from their different morphology, TC and thymomas differ also in functional terms (TC, in contrast to thymomas, have lost the capacity to promote the maturation of intratumorous lymphocytes), have different genetic features (discussed in this review), a different immunoprofile (most TC overexpress c-KIT, whereas thymomas are consistently negative), and different clinical features (TC, in contrast to thymomas, are not associated with paraneoplastic myasthenia gravis).
In summary, COX-2 is expressed in all subtypes of thymomas and thymic carcinomas and thus represents, in addition to EGFR and KIT, a potential therapeutic target.
Imatinib upregulates compensatory integrin signaling in a mouse model of gastrointestinal stromal tumor and is more effective when combined with dasatinib.
Genetic evaluation revealed a heterozygote mutation in the HRAS gene in both the keratinocytic epidermal nevus and thymoma but not in DNA extracted from blood lymphocytes, thus establishing the mutation as postzygotic.
This study was conducted to find the impact of genetic variations in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)/phosphatase and tensin homologue(PTEN)/v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homologue(AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) pathway on the risk of distant metastasis in NPC.
The PC-9-derived NSCLC cell lines PC-9ER and PC-9ZD, resistant to EGFR-TKI due to v-crk avian sarcoma virus CT10 oncogene homolog-like (CRKL) amplification-induced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT) activation and an EGFR T790M mutation, respectively, were used.
The past few years have witnessed a dramatic leap in our understanding of the molecular basis of brain overgrowth, particularly the identification of mosaic (or post-zygotic) mutations in core components of key cellular pathways such as the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-vakt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT)-mTOR pathway.
Genome-wide expression profiling of in vitro Mφ- and CD40L-stimulated CLL cells indicated activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-V-Akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT)-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, which was confirmed in ex vivo CLL LN material.
Expression of apoptosis-associated proteins (including cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved poly-ADP ribose polymerase [PARP]) and activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homologue 1 (AKT) signalling pathway were detected by Western blotting.