Editor's Pick of the Papers

Each quarter, the Editor-in-Chief of the EJC, Lex Eggermont, picks his favourite papers from the journal. Lex's 'Pick of the Papers' are free to access.

Molecular profiling of signalling pathways in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded cancer tissues

My first Pick of the Papers for 2010 is a paper by Daniela Berg et al, Issue 46:1 - 2010 - Pages 47-55, Molecular profiling of signalling pathways in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded cancer tissues.

One of the great excitements and challenges of developing personalised cancer treatments is to develop robust, but simple technologies to study the molecular pathology of individual patient tumours. In this review from the Technische University in unchen, Germany, Berg and colleagues describe the use reverse-phase protein array as a promising new technology for investigating formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues which are of course widely available.

Diagnosis and treatment of melanoma: European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline

This Current Perspective by Claus Garbe et al, Issue 46:2 - 2010 - Pages 270-283, contains guidelines written under the auspices of the European Dermatology Forum, The European Association of Dermato- Oncology and the EORTC to help clinicians treating melanoma throughout Europe.

This will be of particular value to those working in countries where national guidelines are not available.

Prostate cancer mortality in screen and clinically detected prostate cancer: Estimating the screening benefit

In this paper, Issue 46:2 - 2010 - Pages 377-383, P J van Leeuwen et al. report on a very large study of the value of prostate-specific antigen screening on the development of prostate cancer.

In a study with a total of 11970 men aged 55-74 years in an interventional arm compared with a control population of 133 287 men of the same age, where the study was initiated in 1997 and concluded at the end of 2006.

After 8 and half years of observation there was a relative reduction in prostate cancer metastasis of 53% and mortality of 37%, but the discussion includes important aspects of over diagnosis and cost effectiveness, cautioning against the universal adoption of population-based PSA screening.

VEGF signalling inhibition-induced proteinuria: Mechanisms, significance and management

This paper by Hassane Izzedine et al, Issue 46:2 - 2010 - Pages 439-448, reports a Medline search to investigate the recognised dose-related side effect of proteinuria in association with inhibitors of VEGF signalling.

Izzedine and his colleagues from Paris report on the varying severity of proteinuria and recommend periodic monitoring of urinary protein in all patients on anti-VEGF treatment.