Immunoglobulin light chain transcript detection by ultrasensitive RNA in situ hybridization for B-cell lymphoma diagnosis.

Evaluation of B-cell clonality can be challenging in the interpretation of lymphoid infiltrates on tissue sections. Clonality testing based on IG gene rearrangements analysis by PCR (IG-PCR) is the gold standard. Alternatively, B-cell clonality can be assessed by the recognition of immunoglobulin light chain (IgLC) restriction, by immunohistochemistry (IHC), chromogenic in situ hybridization (ISH) or flow cytometry (FC).

Unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer: could durvalumab be safe and effective in real-life clinical scenarios? Results of a single-center experience.

Introduction: The standard of care for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by consolidation durvalumab as shown in the PACIFIC trial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes and toxicities regarding the use of durvalumab in a real clinical scenario.

Methods: A single-center retrospective study was conducted on patients with a diagnosis of unresectable stage III NSCLC who underwent radical CRT followed or not by durvalumab.

Gastroblastoma in Adulthood-A Rarity among Rare Cancers-A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Gastroblastoma (GB) is a rare gastric epithelial-mesenchymal neoplasm, first described by Miettinen et al. So far, all reported cases described the tumor in children or young adults, and similarities with other childhood blastomas have been postulated. We report a case of GB in a 43-year-old patient with long follow up and no recurrence up to 100 months after surgery.

Protein drug target activation homogeneity in the face of intra-tumor heterogeneity: implications for precision medicine.

Introduction: Recent studies indicated tumors may be comprised of heterogeneous molecular subtypes and incongruent molecular portraits may emerge if different areas of the tumor are sampled. This study explored the impact of intra-tumoral heterogeneity in terms of activation/phosphorylation of FDA approved drug targets and downstream kinase substrates.

Material And Methods: Two independent sets of liver metastases from colorectal cancer were used to evaluate protein kinase-driven signaling networks within different areas using laser capture microdissection and reverse phase protein array.

Pathological response after neoadjuvant bevacizumab- or cetuximab-based chemotherapy in resected colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) prior to liver resection is advantageous for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CLM). Bevacizumab- or cetuximab-based NACT may affect patient outcome and curative resection rate, but comparative studies on differential tumour regression grade (TRG) associated with distinct antibodies-associated regimens are lacking. Ninety-three consecutive patients received NACT plus bevacizumab (n = 46) or cetuximab (n = 47) followed by CLM resection.

TP53 mutations in advanced colorectal cancer: the dark side of the moon.

Background: Evidence for TP53 mutations as biomarker in colorectal cancer (CRC) is conflicting.

Methods: We assessed TP53 mutations in 51 patients with advanced CRC enrolled into a phase II, randomised trial of first-line tegafur-uracil (UFT)/leucovorin (LV) plus irinotecan (n = 23) versus UFT/LV plus oxaliplatin (n = 28).

Results: Non-functional TP53 mutations were found in 35% of patients.

Role of BAX for outcome prediction in gastrointestinal malignancies.

Our group and numerous others have shown in both preclinical and clinical studies that the proapoptotic mediator BAX may be deregulated through gene mutation or loss of protein expression, affecting resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in several cancer types. However, BAX is also involved in cancer development and may related to prognosis, independently of treatment outcome. The clinical impact of BAX status in gastrointestinal malignancies remains controversial, although it is generally hypothesized that high expression may be a positive prognostic factor and predict increased efficacy of chemotherapy (with particular regard to platinum derivatives).

A modified vimentin histological score helps recognize pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma in small biopsy samples.

Background: As pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinomas (PSCs) are life-threatening tumors, an improvement in their recognition in small-sized tumor samples is clinically warranted.

Materials And Methods: Preoperative biopsy samples and paired surgical specimens from 20 pleomorphic carcinomas, two pulmonary blastomas and one carcinosarcoma (training set) were studied for vimentin immunohistochemistry. A modified vimentin histologic score (M-VHS) was devised by multiplying three independently assessed parameters, i.

Succinate dehydrogenase B subunit immunohistochemical expression predicts aggressiveness in well differentiated neuroendocrine tumors of the ileum.

Immunohistochemical loss of the succinate dehydrogenase subunit B (SDHB) has recently been reported as a surrogate biomarker of malignancy in sporadic and familial pheocromocytomas and paragangliomas through the activation of hypoxia pathways. However, data on the prevalence and the clinical implications of SDHB immunoreactivity in ileal neuroendocrine tumors are still lacking. Thirty-one consecutive, advanced primary midgut neuroendocrine tumors and related lymph node or liver metastases from 24 males and seven females were immunohistochemically assessed for SDHB.