PD-1 expression in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes as a prognostic marker in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Programmed death ligand - 1 (PD-L1) expression is a well-established predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Programmed death - 1 (PD-1) serves as the target protein to PD-L1 and their interaction serves as a crucial pathway for immune evasion. This study aimed to investigate the expression pattern of PD-1 on Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in early-stage NSCLC, and its potential role as prognostic biomarker.

The role of pathologists in the diagnosis of occupational lung diseases: an expert opinion of the European Society of Pathology Pulmonary Pathology Working Group.

Occupational lung/thoracic diseases are a major global public health issue. They comprise a diverse spectrum of health conditions with complex pathology, most of which arise following chronic heavy workplace exposures to various mineral dusts, metal fumes, or following inhaled organic particulate reactions. Many occupational lung diseases could become irreversible; thus accurate diagnosis is mandatory to minimize dust exposure and consequently reduce damage to the respiratory system.

MesoGraph: Automatic profiling of mesothelioma subtypes from histological images.

Mesothelioma is classified into three histological subtypes, epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic, according to the relative proportions of epithelioid and sarcomatoid tumor cells present. Current guidelines recommend that the sarcomatoid component of each mesothelioma is quantified, as a higher percentage of sarcomatoid pattern in biphasic mesothelioma shows poorer prognosis. In this work, we develop a dual-task graph neural network (GNN) architecture with ranking loss to learn a model capable of scoring regions of tissue down to cellular resolution.

Assessing the role of phosphorylated S6 ribosomal protein in the pathological diagnosis of pulmonary antibody-mediated rejection.

Background: Pulmonary antibody-mediated rejection is still a challenging diagnosis as C4d immunostaining has poor sensitivity. Previous studies have indicated that the phosphorylated S6 ribosomal protein, a component of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, is correlated with de novo donor-specific antibodies in lung transplantation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the phosphorylation of S6 ribosomal protein as a surrogate for antibody-mediated rejection diagnosis in lung transplant patients.

Malignant Mesothelioma subtyping via sampling driven multiple instance prediction on tissue image and cell morphology data.

Malignant Mesothelioma is a difficult to diagnose and highly lethal cancer usually associated with asbestos exposure. It can be broadly classified into three subtypes: Epithelioid, Sarcomatoid, and a hybrid Biphasic subtype in which significant components of both of the previous subtypes are present. Early diagnosis and identification of the subtype informs treatment and can help improve patient outcome.

COPD lung studies of Nrf2 expression and the effects of Nrf2 activators.

Background: Nrf2 regulates cellular antioxidant defence in lung cells, including epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages (AM). The Nrf2/Keap-1 pathway can be modulated by activators with different modes of action; electrophilic compounds and protein-protein interaction (PPI) inhibitors. We assessed Nrf2 and Keap-1 protein and gene levels in COPD compared to controls and the effect of Nrf2 activators on COPD AM.

Red Blood Cell-Derived Iron Alters Macrophage Function in COPD.

Lung macrophage iron levels are increased in COPD patients. Lung macrophage iron levels are thought to be increased by cigarette smoke, but the role of red blood cells (RBCs) as a source of iron has not been investigated. We investigate RBCs as a potential source of alveolar iron in COPD, and determine the effect of RBC-derived iron on macrophage function.

Renal hemofiltration prevents metabolic acidosis and reduces inflammation during normothermic machine perfusion of the vascularized composite allograft: A preclinical study.

Introduction: Recent experimental evidence suggests normothermic machine perfusion of the vascularized composite allograft results in improved preservation compared to static cold storage, with less reperfusion injury in the immediate post-operative period. However, metabolic acidosis is a common feature of vascularized composite allograft perfusion, primarily due to the inability to process metabolic by-products. We evaluated the impact of combined limb-kidney perfusion on markers of metabolic acidosis and inflammation in a porcine model.

Histopathology features of the lung in COVID-19 patients.

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, unknown before the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. COVID-19 is a pandemic, infectious disease that has simultaneously affected many countries globally. The leading cause of dead in patients with COVID-19 is hypoxic respiratory failure from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Interaction between the promoter polymorphism and mucin expression: is there a difference according to ILD subtype?

The promoter variant rs35705950 is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). MUC5B glycoprotein is overexpressed in IPF lungs. We examined immunohistochemical expression of MUC5B in different interstitial lung disease patterns according to rs35705950 T-allele carriage.

Effects of corticosteroids on COPD lung macrophage phenotype and function.

The numbers of macrophages are increased in the lungs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. COPD lung macrophages have reduced ability to phagocytose microbes and efferocytose apoptotic cells. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) are widely used anti-inflammatory drugs in COPD; however, their role beyond suppression of cytokine release has not been explored in COPD macrophages.

Alveolar Septal Widening as an "Alert" Signal to Look Into Lung Antibody-mediated Rejection: A Multicenter Pilot Study.

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) plays an important role in allograft dysfunction. Acute lung injury (ALI), endotheliitis, capillary inflammation, and C4d positivity have been described as morphological features conventionally associated with lung AMR. A multidisciplinary, international task force reviewed AMR cases in the context of four face-to-face meetings.

Molecular profiling of colorectal pulmonary metastases and primary tumours: implications for targeted treatment.

This study aimed to molecularly characterise colorectal pulmonary metastases (PM) and investigate whether their molecular profiles were concordant with those of the primary tumour. Clinical data and archival formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue samples were retrospectively collected from patients who underwent ≥ 1 pulmonary metastasectomies for colorectal cancer between 1997-2012. Primary tumour and metastatic samples were analysed using a targeted capture sequencing panel of 46 cancer-associated genes.

Inertia based microfluidic capture and characterisation of circulating tumour cells for the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Background: Routine clinical application of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) for blood based diagnostics is yet to be established. Despite growing evidence of their clinical utility for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring, the efficacy of a robust platform and universally accepted diagnostic criteria remain uncertain. We evaluate the diagnostic performance of a microfluidic CTC isolation platform using cytomorphologic criteria in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery.

Diagnostic Utility of Unbiased Circulating Tumour Cell Capture through Negative Depletion of Peripheral Blood Cells.

Objectives: Cytological analysis of peripheral blood circulating tumour cells (CTCs) is a potential method of confirmatory clinical diagnosis of cancer. However, cell capture methods tend to be biased and captured cells are not usually portable resulting in difficulties in pathology reporting. We evaluated unbiased cell capture through depletion of unwanted normal cells and conventional clinical analyses of captured cells.

Circulating tumor DNA outperforms circulating tumor cells for KRAS mutation detection in thoracic malignancies.

Background: Circulating biomarkers, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), are both considered for blood-based mutation detection, but limited studies have compared them in a head-to-head manner. Using KRAS (Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog), we performed such a comparison in patients who underwent surgery for suspected lung cancer.

Methods: We recruited 93 patients, including 82 with lung cancer and 11 with benign diseases of the lung.

Little things make big things happen: angiolymphatic invasion and tumor necrosis prognosticate the outcome of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with a prior induction therapy.

Objectives: Size, invasion of thoracic structures, and ipsilateral mediastinal lymph node involvement (pN2) are well-known prognostic factors that configure the staging of resectable, locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC). The prognostic impact of angiolymphatic invasion (ALI) and tumor necrosis (TN) has been barely explored in LA-NSCLC treated with prior induction therapies.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 47 resected LA-NSCLCs treated with a prior platin-based chemotherapy or chemoradiation.

Pleural epithelioid hemangioendothelioma in an elderly patient. A case report and review of the literature.

Pleural epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a really rare tumor of vascular origin and potentially aggressive behavior. We report the case of an 85 years old male patient diagnosed of pleural epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, taking advantage to review exhaustively literature and therapy for the disease.