[Hematologic or hemostaseologic "paraneoplastic syndromes" as prognostic factors?]

Macrophage Identification In Situ

Understanding the processes of inflammation and tissue regeneration after injury is of great importance. For a long time, macrophages have been known to play a central role during different stages of inflammation and tissue regeneration. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which they exert their effects are as yet mostly unknown. While in vitro macrophages have been characterized, recent progress in macrophage biology studies revealed that macrophages in vivo exhibited distinctive features. Actually, the precise characterization of the macrophages in vivo is essential to develop new healing treatments and can be approached via in situ analyses. Nowadays, the characterization of macrophages in situ has improved significantly using antigen surface markers and cytokine secretion identification resulting in specific patterns. This review aims for a comprehensive overview of different tools used for in situ macrophage identification, reporter genes, immunolabeling and in situ hybridization, discussing their advantages and limitations.

Fibrinolytic mechanisms in tumor growth and spreading

The high prevalence of hypercoagulative states in cancer patients has been known for more than a century. Venous thrombosis in gastric cancer was described by Trousseau in 1865 [55]. In 1878, Billroth observed intravascular thrombus formation in association with metastasis [4]. Thrombohemorrhagic complications regularly occur in patients with disseminated malignancy and are related to an increase in fibrinogen and fibrin turnover. During the past decade, clinicians have witnessed considerable advances in the understanding of fibrinolysis. Initially centered on the role as part of a dynamic, hemostatic balance, research began to unravel the pathophysiological contribution of fibrinolysis to tumor progression. The mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastasis formation in cancer are of critical importance, since metastasis is the major cause of treatment failure and death. It has been suggested that cell-associated proteolytic enzymes contribute to tumor aggressiveness [11, 22, 23]. Fibrinolytic mechanisms are involved in a number of physiological processes in which tissue degradation and remodeling occurs. These include disruption of the ovarian follicle during ovulation and blastocyst implantation. These events in part resemble the invasive growth of cancer [37, 47]. Inspired by this hypothesis, the role of fibrinolytic processes in tumor invasion is under intensive study.