Ex vivo analysis of DNA repair targeting in extreme rare cutaneous apocrine sweat gland carcinoma

A rare case of primary adenocarcinoma of the eyelid

Introduction. primary mucinous carcinoma of the eyelid skin is a rare adenocarcinoma of skin glands. This tumor rarely metastasizes but frequently recurs.

The study objective is to describe a rare clinical case of primary mucinous carcinoma of the eyelid skin, present macroscopic, histological and immunohistological descriptions of this pathology.

Clinical case. male, 66 years old, sought medical care due to a neoplasm of the lower eyelid. macroscopically a subcutaneous node 1.2 × 1.0 cm was observed, of yellow-brown color, gelatinous in section. microscopic examination showed that the tumor consists of islands of epithelial cells surrounded by mucinous “lakes”. Immunohistochemical examination showed Ck7, estrogen, p53 expression in the tumor cells, as well as absence of Ck20 expression. Based on the data of macro-, microscopic and immunohistochemical examinations, primary mucinous carcinoma of the eyelid skin was diagnosed. Observed morphological signs of this tumor allow to differentiate it from cancer metastasis.

Conclusion. primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin should be differentiated from metastasis of mucinous carcinoma of the breast, lung, colon, et al. macro- and microscopic signs of this tumor are subjective. Immunohistochemical examination is a more reliable diagnostic tool.

Precision oncology using ex vivo technology: a step towards individualised cancer care?

Despite advances in cancer genomics and the increased use of genomic medicine, metastatic cancer is still mostly an incurable and fatal disease. With diminishing returns from traditional drug discovery strategies, and high clinical failure rates, more emphasis is being placed on alternative drug discovery platforms, such as ex vivo approaches. Ex vivo approaches aim to embed biological relevance and inter-patient variability at an earlier stage of drug discovery, and to offer more precise treatment stratification for patients. However, these techniques also have a high potential to offer personalised therapies to patients, complementing and enhancing genomic medicine. Although an array of approaches are available to researchers, only a minority of techniques have made it through to direct patient treatment within robust clinical trials. Within this review, we discuss the current challenges to ex vivo approaches within clinical practice and summarise the contemporary literature which has directed patient treatment. Finally, we map out how ex vivo approaches could transition from a small-scale, predominantly research based technology to a robust and validated predictive tool. In future, these pre-clinical approaches may be integrated into clinical cancer pathways to assist in the personalisation of therapy choices and to hopefully improve patient experiences and outcomes.