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Benno Mann

Publications and source records attributed to Benno Mann.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Serum calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) constitute about 5 to 7% of thyroid neoplasms. They originate from parafollicular C cells which produce Calcitonin, a hormone which has an impact on calcium metabolism and represents the biochemical activity of MTC. In rare cases pre-operative serum calcitonin can be negative. CASE PRESENTATION: We report on a 73-year-old female patient with a rare case of a serum calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma who suffered fulminant post-operative course and died of multiple metastasis. CONCLUSION: This case shows that in very rare cases MTCs do not secrete calcitonin making diagnosis and tumour follow-up difficult. To this date, only few reports describing this combination of circumstances were found in the English literature.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Transcriptional census of 36 microdissected colorectal cancers yields a gene signature to distinguish UICC II and III.

UICC stage II and III colorectal cancers (CRC) differ fundamentally in prognosis and therapeutic concepts. To analyze differential gene expression between both stages and to establish a relationship between molecular background and clinical presentation, tumor material from 36 unselected consecutive patients presenting with sporadic CRC, 18 UICC stage II and 18 UICC stage III, were laser microdissected to separate epithelial tumor cells. Gene expression levels were measured using U133A Affymetrix gene arrays. Twelve CRC associated signal transduction pathways as well as all 22,000 probe sets were screened for differential gene expression. We identified a signature consisting of 45 probe sets that allowed discrimination between UICC stage II and stage III with a rate of correct classification of about 80%. The most distinctive elements in this signature were the gene GSTP-binding elongation factor (GSPT2) and the transcription factor HOXA9. Differential expression of these genes was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (p(HOXA9) = 0.04, p(GSTP2) = 0.02). Despite the reliability of the presented data, there was no substantial differential expression of genes in cancer-related pathways. However, the comparison with recently published data corroborates the 45 gene signature showing structural agreement in the direction of fold changes of gene expression levels for our set of genes chosen to discriminate between both stages.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

A genome-wide map of aberrantly expressed chromosomal islands in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Cancer development is accompanied by genetic phenomena like deletion and amplification of chromosome parts or alterations of chromatin structure. It is expected that these mechanisms have a strong effect on regional gene expression. RESULTS: We investigated genome-wide gene expression in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and normal epithelial tissues from 25 patients using oligonucleotide arrays. This allowed us to identify 81 distinct chromosomal islands with aberrant gene expression. Of these, 38 islands show a gain in expression and 43 a loss of expression. In total, 7.892 genes (25.3% of all human genes) are located in aberrantly expressed islands. Many chromosomal regions that are linked to hereditary colorectal cancer show deregulated expression. Also, many known tumor genes localize to chromosomal islands of misregulated expression in CRC. CONCLUSION: An extensive comparison with published CGH data suggests that chromosomal regions known for frequent deletions in colon cancer tend to show reduced expression. In contrast, regions that are often amplified in colorectal tumors exhibit heterogeneous expression patterns: even show a decrease of mRNA expression. Because for several islands of deregulated expression chromosomal aberrations have never been observed, we speculate that additional mechanisms (like abnormal states of regional chromatin) also have a substantial impact on the formation of co-expression islands in colorectal carcinoma.

Chromosome Aberrations↗
PubMed2004

[Endocrinology--I].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗
PubMed2004

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR for detection of disseminated tumor cells in peripheral blood of patients with colorectal cancer using different mRNA markers.

The detection of disseminated tumor cells in peripheral blood from colorectal cancer patients by RT-PCR could be an attractive method for selecting patients for adjuvant therapy. We here report on real-time RT-PCR assays (LightCycler) to quantitate potential mRNA markers. We investigated specimens from colon carcinoma and normal colon mucosa tissues, cell lines, blood samples from 129 patients with colorectal cancer (all stages) and 58 reference blood samples (healthy donors, persons suffering from inflammatory bowel or infectious diseases). The expression profile in tissues showed high values for CEA and CK20, whereas in cell lines ProtM was predominant. All markers were detected in reference and patient blood samples (ProtM, 22, 17%; CEA, 84, 86%; CK20, 85, 88%). After quantitative analysis, the definition of cutoff values for each marker and the combination of markers, 13% of patients were judged to have elevated marker concentrations in their blood, from which only 6 had values significantly differing from cutoff value. There were no differences between stages of disease. In the case of 19 patients, investigated prior to and 1 week after surgery, 2 samples revealed a significant postoperative increase in CEA or CK20 mRNA concentration. In spite of high expression levels in tissues and cell lines, we were not able to differentiate satisfyingly mRNA markers originating from tumor cells and those from illegitimate transcription in hematopoetic cells in blood. We conclude that either copy numbers of analyzed markers in circulating tumor cells are not sufficient for detection or, more probably, peripheral blood is not a suitable compartment for detection of tumor cells in colorectal cancer.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed2003

Pelvic sidewall involvement in recurrent rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The lateral pelvic sidewall is an area not routinely dissected during standard operative procedures in surgery for rectal cancer in Western countries. This study analyzed data to evaluate the pattern of recurrence in rectal cancer with special emphasis on lateral tumor extension in a recently treated patient population. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a multicenter retrospective study 123 patients were evaluated by our own CT-based three-dimensional datafile system and an extensive questionnaire. Patients had histological confirmation, clear bone destruction, a positive PET scan, and at least three minor criteria: progressive soft tissue mass, invasion of adjacent organs on follow-up CT or MRI, rising tumor markers, and typical appearance in cross-sectional imaging. Clinical or serological signs of inflammation were exclusion criteria. Initially 54% of the evaluated patients were N0, and the others were distributed evenly between N1 and N2; initial T stage was T1 in 2%, T2 in 24%, T3 in 60%, and T4 in 13%. RESULTS: . Recurrent tumors were situated mainly in the posterior part of the bony pelvis. The pelvic side wall was a rare site of recurrence and involved in fewer than 5%. When abdominoperineal resection was compared to low anterior resection as primary operation, there was a significant difference in extension of recurrent tumors in the inferior parts of the pelvis; no significant differences were found in superior or lateral parts of the pelvis. CONCLUSION: Because most tumor recurrences arise in the central pelvis, extending surgery to include dissecting the iliac vessels would probably offer only a moderate benefit, which must be balanced against potential side effects.

Adult↗