Male breast cancer accounts for only 1% of cancers in men and 1% of breast cancers. Cutaneous metastases occur less than 10% of all patients with visceral malignancies and are considered a rare and late event in progression of metastatic disease. A 45-year-old man presented with a lump in the left breast which was confirmed to be infiltrating ductal carcinoma. He underwent a left mastectomy and axillary clearance followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy to the left chest wall. However, he was non-compliant to adjuvant tamoxifen due to hot flushes. One year later, he presented with biopsy proven cutaneous metastases. Initially he had complete excision of the lesions, however, two months later more skin lesions appeared predominantly over the chest wall and back. Hormonal therapy failed to control the metastases as such he was treated with systemic chemotherapy. He is currently on third line chemotherapy.
Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common thyroid malignancy and frequently metastasizes to regional lymph nodes. Occasionally, metastatic lymph nodes are palpable without the evidence of primary tumour. Papillary thyroid carcinoma of lateral neck cyst is a rare condition. It may arise from thyroid primary which underwent cystic degeneration or true malignant transformation of ectopic thyroid tissue. Herein, we reported two cases with preoperative diagnosis of benign lateral neck cyst but postoperative histopathological results showed primary papillary thyroid carcinoma. Ultrasonography and computed tomography of the neck in both cases showed no significant thyroid lesion. However, the patient in Case 2 was subjected for total thyroidectomy and histopathological results showed the origin of primary tumour. In conclusion, thorough investigations including total thyroidectomy are indicated in cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma of lateral neck cyst. This practice is to ensure that this type of thyroid cancer can be detected earlier because it has a very good prognosis if treated earlier.
Mitochondria play important roles in regulating cell bioenergetics status and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. ROS-induced mitochondrial damage is among the main intracellular signal inducers of autophagy. Autophagy is a cellular catabolic process that regulates protein and organelle turnover, while a selective form of autophagy, mitophagy, specifically targets dysfunctional mitochondrial degradation. This study aims to measure the levels of autophagy, mitophagy, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in invasive breast carcinoma tissues using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Tissue microarrays of 76 patients with breast cancer were stained with six IHC markers (MnSOD, Beclin-1, LC3, BNIP3, Parkin, and cleaved caspase 3). The expression intensity was determined for each tumor tissue and the adjacent tumor-matched control tissues. Intermediate and strong staining scores of MnSOD, Beclin-1, LC-3, BNIP-3, and Parkin were significantly higher in tumor tissues compared to the adjacent matched control. The scoring intensity was further classified into tissues with negative staining and positive staining, which showed that positive scores of Beclin-1 and Parkin were significantly high in tumor tissues compared to other markers. Positive association was also noted between BNIP-3 and Beclin-1 as well as LC-3 and cleaved caspase-3 immunostaining. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies that measure both mitophagy and autophagy in the same breast cancer tissues and the adjacent matched control. The findings from this study will be of great potential in identifying new cancer biomarkers and inspire significant interest in applying anti-autophagy therapies as a possible treatment for breast cancer.