Glioma, the most common human primary brain tumor, is characterized by invasive capabilities and angiogenesis. Vasorin (VASN), a transmembrane protein, is reported to be associated with vascular injury repair and is overexpressed in some human tumors. However, its role in tumor progression and angiogenesis in glioma is unknown. In this study, VASN was shown to be overexpressed in high‐grade gliomas, and the expression level correlated with tumor grade and microvessel density in glioma specimens. Glioma patients with high VASN expression had a shorter overall survival time. Knockdown of VASN in glioma cells by shRNA significantly inhibited the malignancy of glioma, including cell proliferation, colony formation, invasion, and sphere formation. Ectopic expression of VASN increased glioma progression in vitro. The expression of VASN correlated with the mesenchymal type of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) subtyped by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Our results showed that the concentration of VASN was increased in the conditioned medium (CM) from glioma cells with VASN overexpression, and the CM from glioma cells with knockdown or overexpressed VASN inhibited or promoted HUVEC migration and tubulogenesis in vitro, respectively. Glioma growth and angiogenesis were stimulated upon ectopic expression of VASN in vivo. The STAT3 and NOTCH pathways were found to be activated and inhibited by VASN overexpression. Our findings suggest that VASN stimulates tumor progression and angiogenesis in glioma, and, as such, represents a novel therapeutic target for glioma.

Malignant renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) is rare, and currently there is no malignant criteria for its pathological diagnosis. In the present study, the case of a patient who suffered malignant renal EAML and underwent nephrectomy is reported. The histological patterns of the tumor were composed of sheets or nests of large polygonal epithelioid cells and thick-walled blood vessels, with clear mitoses. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the epithelioid and smooth muscle cells characteristically expressed human melanoma black-45, epithelial membrane antigen and actin. Pathological evaluation revealed malignant EAML with regional lymph node metastases. Magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray examination identified multiple liver and lung nodules at 16 months post-surgery. Since the patient did not respond to the initial treatment with doxorubicin and cisplatin, sorafenib was subsequently administered. However, the treatment was not effective, and the patient succumbed to multiple metastases six months later.

Background Malignant triton tumor (MTT) is a rare and histological complexity characterized by a mixture of peripheral nerve sheath tumors and with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation. It follows a particularly malignant course. Case presentationIn the present study, we report the first MTT of epididymis. The patient is a 22-year-old male presented with swelling in the left scrotum over a 2-month period. He did not have the history or symptoms of neurofibromatosis type 1. A mass measured about 3 cm × 4 cm was found in the left epididymis by ultrasound and CT scan. It was diagnosed as epididymis tumor and underwent exploration; intraoperative frozen section was diagnosed malignant tumor and treated with radical orchidoepididymectomy. The pathological report was malignant triton tumor. Despite taken high-dose radiation therapy and followed by chemotherapy for four cycles, he was died of progressive disease with multiple metastases 26 months after surgery. The clinic pathologic characteristics and optimal treatment strategy are reviewed.

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies. Vasorin (VASN) has been reported to be critical in tumor development and angiogenesis. However, VASN has not been reported in CRC, and its role is unclear. In this study, VASN expression is upregulated in CRC compared with the normal tissues, and VASN expression positively correlates with N stage and poor overall survival by analysis of different datasets and 32 CRC clinicopathologic samples. Overexpression of VASN significantly promotes CRC cell progression, including proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT), while knockdown of VASN inhibits CRC progression. We found that VASN was associated with the YAP/TAZ and PI3K/AKT pathways by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and gene ontology (GO) analysis. Notably, western blotting, immunofluorescence staining and co‐immunofluorescence (co‐IP) confirmed that VASN could interact with YAP and activate the YAP/TAZ and PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathways, and knockdown of YAP reversed this effect. Importantly, our findings indicate that VASN interacts with YAP to inhibit YAP phosphorylation and stimulates CRC proliferation, migration, and invasion through activation of the YAP/TAZ‐TEAD target gene CTGF and PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathways. Our results also show that knockdown of YAP reverses the cellular phenotype induced by increased VASN. In conclusion, our study reveals that VASN acts as an oncogene to stimulate tumor progression in CRC, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms of CRC development and representing a possible novel biomarker for CRC.