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Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is associated with RET and NTRK1 rearrangements and BRAF mutations. A series of 60 PTCs collected in a single center from Italian patients were histologically re-examined and subclassified as well differentiated or tall cell variant. The sample collection was analysed for the presence of all the reported PTC-associated genetic alterations through DNA or cDNA amplification, followed by automated sequencing. The analysis of exons 11 and 15 of BRAF gene revealed the T1796A (V599E) mutation in 32%of cases, and this alteration is significantly associated with PTC tall cell variant. Oncogenic rearrangements of RET and NTRK1 receptors were found in 33 and 5%of cases, respectively. No Ras mutations were detected. Overall, genetic alterations were detected in two-thirds of samples, and in no single case more than one mutational event was found simultaneously. Gene expression profiling of a subset of 31 tumors performed using cDNA microarray chips showed no strong differences in global gene expression among the different cases. However, a supervised analysis of the obtained data identified a subset of genes differentially expressed in tumors carrying BRAF mutation or RTK rearrangement.Oncogene (2004) 23, 7436-7440. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1207980 Published online 26 July 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses genetic counseling and clinical management of the treatment of familial breast and ovarian cancer in Italy. Views of Italians on breast prophylactic surgery; Factors which contribute to the reluctance of women at risk of cancer to genetic testing; Locations of the Italian cancer clinical services.

Training through Research Application Italian iNitiative (TRAIN) is a mobility program financed under the EU action called "Cofinancing of regional, national and international programs" (COFUND) of the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP7) - People, and has been designed to encourage the promotion and development of international programs of research through mobility at various stages of research careers. The aim of TRAIN is to improve translational skills in the field of cancer by promoting a three-year international mobility program assigning a total of 51 fellowships subdivided into incoming, outgoing and reintegration fellowships.?The TRAIN proposal has been submitted in February 2009 to the European Commission in reply to the 2008 FP7-PEOPLE-COFUND call and has been successfully evaluated. TRAIN is addressed to postdoctoral scientists or scientists who have at least four years' full-time equivalent research experience and who wish to improve their careers spending one year abroad. The mobility program is open also to non-Italian experienced scientists wishing to spend one year in an Italian research center or private company. Part of the scheme is targeted to experienced Italian scientists who have completed at least three years of research in a foreign country and are interested in returning to Italy.?TRAIN is part of an overall Italian strategy outlined by the International Program of the Italian Cancer Network "Alleanza Contro il Cancro" to promote Italian participation in the building of the European Area for translational cancer research and to enhance the interaction between academy and industry.

Recently, the SNPs rs11614913 in hsa-mir-196a2 and rs3746444 in hsa-mir-499 were reported to be associated with increased breast cancer risk, and the SNP rs2910164 in hsa-mir-146a was shown to have an effect on age of breast cancer diagnosis. In order to further investigate the effect of these SNPs, we genotyped a total of 1894 breast cancer cases negative for disease-causing mutations or unclassified variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2, and 2760 controls from Germany and Italy. We compared the genotype and allele frequencies of rs2910164, rs11614913 and rs3746444 in cases versus controls of the German and Italian series, and of the two series combined; we also investigated the effect of the three SNPs on age at breast cancer diagnosis. None of the performed analyses showed statistically significant results. In conclusion, our data suggested lack of association between SNPs rs2910164, rs11614913 and rs3746444 and breast cancer risk, or age at breast cancer onset.

Aims and Background: Italian performance in cancer research from 2000 to 2007 was assessed and compared to that of the other 19 wealthiest countries in the world which carry out the bulk of cancer research., Methods: Performance was evaluated quantitatively as the number of publications in 125 journals indexed as 'oncological' by Journal Citation Reports and qualitatively as the total impact factor (TIF). Number of publications and TIF were adjusted for the population and gross domestic product (GDP) of each country. The Scopus database was used as publication source., Results: Italy ranked 5th, with the US ranking 1st, over the entire study period for number of cancer publications, which increased over that period. Italy ranked 4th in 2006-2007 for GDP-adjusted and 5th for population-adjusted publication number, loosing ground in the GDP-adjusted ranking and gaining ground in the population-adjusted ranking over the study period. When the quality of research publications was considered, in 2006-2007 Italy was in 5th place for crude TIF (US 1st), in 4th place for GDP-adjusted TIF (Sweden 1st), and in 6th place for population-adjusted TIF (Sweden 1st). Over the study period, Italy was stable for crude and population-adjusted TIF but declined somewhat for GDP-adjusted TIF., Conclusions: Italy's performance in cancer research over the eight years to 2008 was better than expected considering its GDP and population. Nevertheless, the slight decline evidenced by the present study should induce scientists and policy makers to find ways to reverse the situation.