Loss of anterior gradient-2 expression is an independent prognostic factor in colorectal carcinomas.

Aims: The human Anterior Gradient-2 (AGR2) protein is strongly expressed in various human cancers, and it has been described to promote aggressive tumour features in some entities. So far, a comprehensive analysis of AGR2 expression in colorectal carcinomas has not been described.

Methods: Normal intestinal cells and colorectal carcinoma cell lines were analysed for AGR2 expression.

Occupational health risks of pathologists--results from a nationwide online questionnaire in Switzerland.

Background: Pathologists are highly trained medical professionals who play an essential part in the diagnosis and therapy planning of malignancies and inflammatory diseases. Their work is associated with potential health hazards including injuries involving infectious human tissue, chemicals which are assumed to be carcinogenic or long periods of microscope and computer work. This study aimed to provide the first comprehensive assessment of the health situation of pathologists in Switzerland.

Expression of histone deacetylases 1, 2 and 3 in histological subtypes of testicular germ cell tumours.

In this study we aimed to evaluate the protein expression of class I histone deacetylases (HDAC) in testicular germ cell tumours (GCT) and to analyse differences between the histological subtypes of testicular GCT. 325 testicular GCT were included in a tissue microarray with each histological subtype of the tumour being separately represented on this array. Expression of class I HDAC isoforms 1, 2 and 3 was assessed by immunohistochemistry.

MAGEC2 is a sensitive and novel marker for seminoma: a tissue microarray analysis of 325 testicular germ cell tumors.

Melanoma-associated gene C2 (MAGEC2) is a recently identified cancer testis antigen expressed in normal testicular and placental tissue. It has been detected in some human carcinomas, but its expression in primary testicular germ cell tumors is unknown. Immunohistochemistry was used to study MAGEC2 protein in 325 primary testicular germ cell tumors, including 94 mixed germ cell tumors.

Silver-enhanced in situ hybridization for detection of polyomavirus DNA in patients with BK virus nephropathy.

BK virus nephropathy is not an infrequent complication of renal transplantation associated with high rates of graft loss. Although antibodies against SV40 antigen detect different viruses of the polyomavirus family, immunohistochemistry is widely used to confirm the diagnosis of BK virus nephropathy in renal biopsies. Here we aimed to validate the novel silver-enhanced in situ hybridization (SISH) technique for the automated detection of BK virus in renal transplant biopsies.

Podoplanin expression correlates with sentinel lymph node metastasis in early squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity and oropharynx.

In patients with early head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), occult lymph node metastasis is difficult to predict by clinical or pathological parameters. However, such parameters are necessary to select patients either for elective neck dissection or the sentinel lymph node (SLN) procedure. The membrane glycoprotein podoplanin is normally expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells.

Radiological and pathological findings of a metastatic composite paraganglioma with neuroblastoma in a man: a case report.

Introduction: Composite tumors of the adrenal medulla or paraganglia are extremely rare and present a diagnostic dilemma. These tumors consist of a neuroendocrine component mixed with a neural component.We describe the imaging characteristics together with the corresponding pathological findings of a composite tumor.

Determination of the Her-2/neu gene amplification status in cytologic breast cancer specimens using automated silver-enhanced in-situ hybridization (SISH).

Silver-enhanced in-situ hybridization (SISH) is an emerging tool for the determination of the Her-2/neu amplification status in breast cancer. SISH is technically comparable to fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) but does not require a fluorescence microscope for its interpretation. Although recent studies on histologic evaluations of SISH are promising, we aimed to evaluate its performance on 71 cytologic breast cancer specimens with the new combined Her-2/Chr17 probe.

Pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma after heart transplantation: a case report.

Introduction: Kaposi's sarcomas have been associated with different conditions of immunosuppression and are also known to be a typical complication of solid organ transplantations.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 65-year-old Turkish man with a history of heart transplantation 10 months ago who presented for clarification of his dyspnea. The patient had a known history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a smoking history of 40 pack years.

Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 3 (IMP3) is overexpressed in prostate cancer and correlates with higher Gleason scores.

Background: The oncofetal protein insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 3 (IMP3) is an important factor for cell-migration and adhesion in malignancies. Recent studies have shown a remarkable overexpression of IMP3 in different human malignant neoplasms and also revealed it as an important prognostic marker in some tumor entities. To our knowledge, IMP3 expression has not been investigated in prostate carcinomas so far.

Periostin is up-regulated in high grade and high stage prostate cancer.

Background: Expression of periostin is an indicator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer but a detailed analysis of periostin expression in prostate cancer has not been conducted so far.

Methods: Here, we evaluated periostin expression in prostate cancer cells and peritumoural stroma immunohistochemically in two independent prostate cancer cohorts, including a training cohort (n = 93) and a test cohort (n = 325). Metastatic prostate cancers (n = 20), hormone refractory prostate cancers (n = 19) and benign prostatic tissues (n = 38) were also analyzed.

KLK15 is a prognostic marker for progression-free survival in patients with radical prostatectomy.

In search of biomarkers for prostate cancer, we evaluated the expression of the human kallikrein-related peptidase KLK15 in samples of prostatic adenocarcinomas from radical prostatectomies. Twenty-five pairs of cancerous and adjacent normal prostatic tissue were selected by laser capture microdissection. The tissue was used for quantification of KLK15 mRNA by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

Expression of the extracellular matrix protein periostin in liver tumours and bile duct carcinomas.

Aims: To study the relevance of periostin, known to be involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), in hepatocellular and bile duct cancer.

Methods And Results: Immunohistochemical periostin expression was semiquantitatively analysed in normal liver tissue (n = 20), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; n = 91), liver-cell adenoma (n = 9), focal nodular hyperplasia (n = 13) and bile duct carcinomas (BDC; n = 116) using tissue microarrays. Normal bile ducts, gallbladder epithelium and hepatocytes showed weak cytoplasmic periostin expression.

Pathological processing techniques and final diagnosis of breast cancer sentinel lymph nodes.

Background: Recommendations for intraoperative and postoperative breast sentinel lymph node (SLN) processing differ widely. Micrometastases and isolated tumor cells (ITC) have recently been proposed as prognostically and therapeutically relevant. We compared 3 SLN protocols with regard to intraoperative and postoperative diagnosis.

Class I histone deacetylases 1, 2 and 3 are highly expressed in classical Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Objective: HDAC inhibitors (HDI) are anti-neoplastic drugs with preliminary successful clinical applications in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Systematic investigations of HDAC expression in HL, based on histology and immunohistochemistry are yet rare.

Research Design/methods: We investigated the expression of HDAC1, 2 and 3 in 283 HL on tissue microarrays.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of T-cell receptor gamma alternative reading frame protein (TARP) expression in prostate cancer.

T-cell receptor gamma chain alternative reading frame protein (TARP) has recently been proposed as being up-regulated in prostate cancer (PCA). Additionally, TARP has been proposed as a potential therapeutic target for cancer therapy. We analysed the protein expression of TARP in a large well characterised prostate cancer cohort to assess its diagnostic and prognostic value.

GOLPH2 expression may serve as diagnostic marker in seminomas.

Background: GOLPH2 (Golgi phosphoprotein 2) is a novel Golgi membrane protein. Despite its unknown physiologic function, however, it has been proposed as a biomarker for hepatocellular and prostate carcinoma due to its upregulation in those cancer entities. Whether the overexpression of GOLPH2 is tumour specific or a generic parameter of malignancy and whether this finding is true for additional carcinomas has not been determined.

Prevalence of TMPRSS2-ERG and SLC45A3-ERG gene fusions in a large prostatectomy cohort.

The majority of prostate cancers harbor recurrent gene fusions between the hormone-regulated TMPRSS2 and members of the ETS family of transcription factors, most commonly ERG. Prostate cancer with ERG rearrangements represent a distinct sub-class of tumor based on studies reporting associations with histomorphologic features, characteristic somatic copy number alterations, and gene expression signatures. This study describes the frequency of ERG rearrangement prostate cancer and three 5 prime (5') gene fusion partners (ie, TMPRSS2, SLC45A3, and NDRG1) in a large prostatectomy cohort.

Down-regulation of the pro-apoptotic XIAP associated factor-1 (XAF1) during progression of clear-cell renal cancer.

Background: Decreased expression of the interferon-stimulated, putative tumour suppressor gene XAF1 has been shown to play a role during the onset, progression and treatment failure in various malignancies. However, little is yet known about its potential implication in the tumour biology of clear-cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC).

Methods: This study assessed the expression of XAF1 protein in tumour tissue obtained from 291 ccRCC patients and 68 normal renal tissue samples, utilizing immunohistochemistry on a tissue-micro-array.

Prognostic significance of AGR2 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Background/aims: The human Anterior Gradient-2 (AGR2) is strongly upregulated in various human cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), but its prognostic value in PDAC has not yet been studied.

Methods: We analysed 19 microdissected PDAC cases at the mRNA level, and also 148 cases at the protein level by immunohistochemistry based on tissue microarray, using a monoclonal AGR2 antibody, and statistical analyses were applied to test for prognostic associations.

Results: Overexpression of AGR2 mRNA was found to be elevated in most pancreatic cell lines and in microdissected pancreatic cancer compared to microdissected normal ductal cells.

IMP3 expression in lesions of the biliary tract: a marker for high-grade dysplasia and an independent prognostic factor in bile duct carcinomas.

The oncofetal protein IMP3 (insulin-like growth factor II mRNA binding protein 3) is expressed during embryogenesis and carcinogenesis. Various tumor types have been analyzed for IMP3 expression, which was exclusively found in tumor cells and correlated with increased tumor aggressiveness and reduced overall survival. To our knowledge, IMP3 expression has not been investigated in bile duct carcinomas.

Large mixed germ cell tumor in a young patient presenting as an intrapulmonary mass.

We present the case of a 26-year-old man with a bland medical history, who presented to the general practitioner because of severe cough and dyspnea. The chest X-ray revealed a massive organ-displacing tumor in the right chest not delineable from the mediastinum. The subsequent needle core biopsy was diagnostic for a mixed germ cell tumor comprising immature teratoma and seminoma.

Class I histone deacetylases 1, 2 and 3 are highly expressed in renal cell cancer.

Background: Enhanced activity of histone deacetylases (HDAC) is associated with more aggressive tumour behaviour and tumour progression in various solid tumours. The over-expression of these proteins and their known functions in malignant neoplasms has led to the development of HDAC inhibitors (HDI) as new anti-neoplastic drugs. However, little is known about HDAC expression in renal cell cancer.

GOLPH2 expression in renal cell cancer.

Background: Renal cell carcinomas (RCC) are among the most common and most lethal genitourinary malignancies. GOLPH2 (golgi phosphoprotein 2, GOLM1) has recently been proposed as a biomarker for hepatocellular and prostate cancer. In this study we analysed the expression patterns and the prognostic and diagnostic value of GOLPH2 in RCC.