Sporadic oncocytic tumors with features intermediate between oncocytoma and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: comprehensive clinicopathological and genomic profiling.

Morphology, clinical behavior, and genomic profiles of renal oncocytoma (RO) and its malignant counterpart chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) are distinctly different. However, there is a substantial group of sporadic oncocytic tumors with peculiar hybrid phenotypes as well as a perplexing degree of morphologic and immunohistochemical overlap between classic RO and ChRCC with eosinophilic cytoplasm. The aim of this study is to provide detailed characterization of these hybrid tumors.

Mitochondrial DNA Mutations are Associated with Ulcerative Colitis Preneoplasia but Tend to be Negatively Selected in Cancer.

The role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in cancer remains controversial. Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that increases the risk of colorectal cancer and involves mitochondrial dysfunction, making it an ideal model to study the role of mtDNA in tumorigenesis. Our goal was to comprehensively characterize mtDNA mutations in ulcerative colitis tumorigenesis using Duplex Sequencing, an ultra-accurate next-generation sequencing method.

Concordance study of PD-L1 expression in primary and metastatic bladder carcinomas: comparison of four commonly used antibodies and RNA expression.

Therapy with anti-PD-L1 immune check-point inhibitors is approved for several cancers, including advanced urothelial carcinomas. PD-L1 prevalence estimates vary widely in bladder cancer, and lack of correlation between expression and clinical outcomes and immunotherapy response may be attributed to methodological differences of the immunohistochemical reagents and procedures. We characterized PD-L1 expression in 235 urothelial carcinomas including 79 matched pairs of primary and metastatic cancers using a panel of four PD-L1 immunoassays in comparison with RNAscope assay using PD-L1-specific probe (CD274).

Serous versus high-grade endometrioid endometrial carcinoma: immunohistochemistry of RFP is not useful for differentiation.

We evaluated the immunohistochemical expression of ret finger protein (RFP) along with conventional immunohistochemical markers in endometrioid and serous carcinomas of the endometrium. A total of 124 endometrial carcinoma cases (24 grade 1 endometrioid, 60 grade 3 endometrioid, 40 serous) were retrieved from pathology archives. Tissue microarrays were constructed.

Clonal expansions and short telomeres are associated with neoplasia in early-onset, but not late-onset, ulcerative colitis.

Background: Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are at risk of developing colorectal cancer. We have previously reported that cancer progression is associated with the presence of clonal expansions and shorter telomeres in nondysplastic mucosa. We sought to validate these findings in an independent case-control study.

Mitochondria and tumor progression in ulcerative colitis.

Background: The role of mitochondria in cancer is poorly understood. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that predisposes to colorectal cancer and is an excellent model to study tumor progression. Our goal was to characterize mitochondrial alterations in UC tumorigenesis.

Prognostic value of ERG oncoprotein in prostate cancer recurrence and cause-specific mortality.

Background: ETS-related gene (ERG) protein is present in 40-70% of prostate cancer and is correlated with TMPRSS2-ERG gene rearrangements. This study evaluated ERG expression at radical prostatectomy to determine whether it was predictive of earlier relapse or prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM).

Methods: One hundred patients who underwent radical prostatectomy at Virginia Mason in Seattle between 1991 and 1997 were identified.

Stem cell-related markers in primary breast cancers and associated metastatic lesions.

It has been reported previously that: (1) normal-breast epithelial cells that are CD24-/44+ express higher levels of stem/progenitor cell-associated genes; (2) cancer cells that have undergone epithelial to mesenchymal transition display CD24-/44+ cell-surface expression, a marker for breast cancer stem cells; (3) loss of E-cadherin is a preliminary step in epithelial to mesenchymal transition; and (4) vimentin is a marker of mesenchymal phenotype. We hypothesized that stem cell subpopulations would be more frequent in metastatic than in primary tumors. Therefore we assessed by immunohistochemical analysis, tissue microarrays containing tissue from primary and associated metastatic breast cancers for expression of CD24, CD44, E-cadherin and vimentin to evaluate candidate cancer-initiating cell populations in breast cancer subtypes and metastatic lesions.