Faculty Bibliography

Pneumocystis pneumonia is typically life-threatening in immunocompromised patients. It is relatively uncommon in patients with lung cancer. We report a case of pneumocystis pneumonia in a patient with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following treatment with concurrent chemoradiation with a pemetrexed containing regimen. To our knowledge, this is the first report on pneumocystis pneumonia following administration of pemetrexed containing regimen.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the ninth most common cancer in women. Bladder is not a common site for metastasis of cancer and often goes undiagnosed in the clinical follow up of cancer patients. We reviewed the literature for published reports on metastatic cancer involving bladder. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:We searched MEDLINE, PubMed and OVID from 1953 to June 2005 for published reports on metastatic cancer involving bladder. They key words used were bladder, cancer and metastatic. A total of 2405 abstracts were reviewed. All relevant articles reporting metastatic cancer to the bladder were reviewed. RESULTS:We found 264 cases of metastasis to the bladder from various primary foci. We found that a majority of these malignancies had primary foci in the genitourinary tract and the colon and rectum. Of the malignancies arising from distant foci, melanomas appear to be the most common followed by breast and gastric carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS:The definitive diagnosis of metastatic bladder cancers is often difficult, and poses a significant challenge to the physician, pathologist and the radiologist alike. Bladder adenocarcinomas are uncommon and any adenocarcinoma of the bladder should be viewed with a high index of suspicion for a metastatic cancer from a distant focus.

Signaling pathways responsible for embryogenesis play a critical role in the maintenance of stem cells in adult life and cellular responses to injury. Dysfunction of the developmental signaling pathways during adult homeostasis leads to various events resulting in the development of neoplasia. We review the biology of the hedgehog signaling pathway and its potential role in the development of lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Despite the availability of several cytotoxic and a few molecularly targeted agents, the outlook for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer continues to be dismal. Novel approaches are desperately needed. The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway plays an important role in a number of human malignancies contributing to unregulated cell proliferation. The IGF pathway has several targets for therapeutic intervention. Preclinical studies of IGF inhibitors have demonstrated synergism when combined with chemotherapy agents and radiation. Clinical studies are currently ongoing to investigate the safety and efficacy of IGF inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy agents. In this review, we discuss the biology of the IGF pathway and various potential targets for therapy.