Different response rates to chemotherapy between Japanese and German esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: patients may be influenced by ERCC1 or ABCB1

Aim: To find out differences in biomarkers between Japanese and German patients responsible for response after neoadjuvant radio/chemotherapy and survival for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Materials & methods: A total of 60 patients from Japan and 127 patients from Germany with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were analyzed according to three SNPs by real-time PCR. Results: The distribution of the genotypes of ERCC1 rs16115 and ABCB1 C3435T rs1045642 was significantly different between both patients’ groups. Japanese patients had significantly less good response to 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin chemotherapy. The influence of the three SNPs on response varied between patients from Japan and Germany. Conclusion: Different expressions of ERCC1 and ABCB1 SNPs of Japanese patients compared with the German patients partially explain the different response.

Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor of the Adrenal Gland: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Malignant rhabdoid tumor was first thought to be a subtype of wilm’s tumor, which was later disproven by Haas et al. and was categorized as a separate entity. Malignant rhabdoid tumors are mainly present in the kidneys of children, however, cases of extra renal malignant rhabdoid tumor were reported in the literature. In this report we describe a case of extra renal malignant rhabdoid tumor in the adrenal gland. Malignant rhabdoid tumor is a highly aggressive neoplasm with very poor prognosis. Due to the rarity of the disease, no universal treatment regimen has been developed yet, where treatment options include the surgical removal of the tumor, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a multimodality approach of management. In this report we present a case of 21-year-old lady with MRT in the adrenal gland, who had neoadjuvant radio-chemotherapy followed by laparoscopic adrenalectomy.