Influence of whole arm loss of chromosome 16q on gene expression patterns in oestrogen receptor-positive, invasive breast cancer.

A whole chromosome arm loss of 16q belongs to the most frequent and earliest chromosomal alterations in invasive and in situ breast cancers of all common subtypes. Besides E-cadherin, several putative tumour suppressor genes residing on 16q in breast cancer have been investigated. However, the significance of these findings has remained unclear.

Minimal invasive biopsy results of "uncertain malignant potential" in digital mammography screening: high prevalence but also high predictive value for malignancy.

Purpose: To evaluate the rate, the histological spectrum and the positive predictive value (PPV) for malignancy of minimally invasive biopsies with "uncertain malignant potential (B3)" in digital mammography screening.

Methods And Materials: Consecutive data of 37,178 participants of one digital unit of the German screening program were included.

Results: The B 3 rate was 15.

Calcifications in digital mammographic screening: improvement of early detection of invasive breast cancers?

Purpose: To evaluate the relevance of calcifications for invasive breast cancer detection in population-based digital mammographic screening.

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by an independent ethics committee, and no additional informed consent was required. Prospectively documented radiologic cancer features were correlated with pathologic characteristics in 241 breast malignancies diagnosed in 24067 participating women aged 50-69 years (part of the digital German Screening Program; initial screening rate, 92%; detection rate [DR], 1.

Tiling path genomic profiling of grade 3 invasive ductal breast cancers.

Purpose: To characterize the molecular genetic profiles of grade 3 invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type using high-resolution microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and to identify recurrent amplicons harboring putative therapeutic targets associated with luminal, HER-2, and basal-like tumor phenotypes.

Experimental Design: Ninety-five grade 3 invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type were classified into luminal, HER-2, and basal-like subgroups using a previously validated immunohistochemical panel. Tumor samples were microdissected and subjected to aCGH using a tiling path 32K BAC array platform.

[Diagnostics of microcalcifications from minimally invasive biopsies in mammography screening: results from the prevalence phase].

Background: In mammography screening programmes carried out according to European guidelines, minimally invasive biopsies (MIB) are performed on up to 3% of participants. The aim of this study was to analyse the spectrum of histopathological findings including B categories in MIBs with microcalcifications compared to MIBs without microcalcifications.

Material And Methods: Prospectively collected histological findings of MIBs taken during the period July 2006 to June 2007 were analysed using the Breast Screening Pathology Database of the Reference Centre in Münster.

[Anatomy of the breast].

The human breast consists of lobes with a luminal glandular and a basal myoepithelial layer. Immunofluorescence studies have shown that the breast epithelium contains cytokeratin (CK)5/14-positive precursor cells which give rise to CK8/18-positive glandular or sm-actin-positive myoepithelial cells. Only some of the glandular cells contain estrogen receptors.

[Immunohistochemistry in breast pathology: differential diagnosis of epithelial breast lesions].

Proliferative epithelial breast lesions include a wide variety of benign hyperplastic and noninvasive neoplastic lesions, as well as invasive carcinomas. Mammographically these lesions may show microcalcifications, architectural distortions or mass lesions. The task of the pathologist begins with a preoperative diagnosis by means of minimally invasive biopsy.

[Prognostic and predictive factors of invasive breast cancer: update 2009].

Prognostic factors supply information on the course of a disease (recurrence-free and total survival) and are independent of the therapy. The most important prognostic factors are lymph node status, tumor diameter and histological differentiation stage, lymph and blood vessel invasion as well as staging, factors which can all be determined by pathologists. The Nottingham prognostic index (NPI) combines the strongest prognostic factors and according to study results is a suitable model for prognosis of breast cancer.

[Flat epithelial atypia].

According to the WHO, flat epithelial atypia (FEA) is defined as a neoplastic epithelial proliferation of ductal type in either a single or in multiple terminal duct lobular unit(s) limited to the periphery of the ductules in a clinging growth pattern. The atypical cells may form between one and several layers of epithelial cells that show low grade cytologic atypia. FEA most often presents as mammographic microcalcifications, which are typically round (secretory type and psammomatous calcification in an eosinophilic matrix, so-called ossifying calcifications).

Loss of 16q in high grade breast cancer is associated with estrogen receptor status: Evidence for progression in tumors with a luminal phenotype?

Loss of the long arm of chromosome 16 (16q) is observed in the vast majority of low grade/grade I (GI) invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type (IDC-NSTs), whereas this event is uncommonly seen in high grade/grade III (GIII) IDC-NSTs. Together with data on the pathology and genetics of breast cancer recurrences, this has led to the proposal that GI and GIII breast cancers evolve through distinct genetic pathways and that progression from GI to GIII is an unlikely biological phenomenon. We compared the genomic profiles of GIII-IDC-NSTs with 16q whole arm loss (16qWL) according to estrogen receptor (ER) status.

[Atypical ductal hyperplasia and atypical epithelial proliferation of ductal type].

The definition of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) encompasses qualitative and quantitative criteria. Qualitative criteria include cytological and architectural features similar to those of low grade ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the quantitative criteria are characterized by metric features (2 mm or 2 ductules) or by the confines of lobules. In this article we discuss the morphology of ADH, the status of ADH in the low grade pathway of breast carcinoma development and its clinical significance.

The genomic profile of HER2-amplified breast cancers: the influence of ER status.

Expression profiling studies have suggested that HER2-amplified breast cancers constitute a heterogeneous group that may be subdivided according to their ER status: HER2-amplified ER-positive breast carcinomas that fall into the luminal B cluster; and HER2-amplified ER-negative cancers which form a distinct molecular subgroup, known as the erbB2 or HER2 subgroup. ER-negative breast cancer differs significantly from ER-positive disease in the pattern, type, and complexity of genetic aberrations. Here we have compared the genomic profiles of ER-positive and ER-negative HER2-amplified cancers using tiling path microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH).

[Early loss of heterozygosity on chromosome arm 16q in flat epithelial atypia of the breast. Detection by microsatellite analyses].

With the improvement of breast carcinoma screening, pre-malignant cell lesions such as flat epithelial atypia (FEA) are detected more frequently. Several studies have demonstrated that FEA show features of a ductal neoplasia, but is it really a precursor lesion? We have started a comparative genetic analysis of a panel of nine microsatellite markers on six different chromosomal regions to investigate whether FEAs show the same characteristic genetic alterations as ductal carcinomas in situ (DCISs) and invasive carcinoma of the breast. FEAs, DCISs and invasive carcinomas of the same patients were microdissected using PALM micro laser technology.

[Salivary duct carcinomas comprise phenotypically and genotypically diverse high grade neoplasms].

Salivary duct carcinomas (SDC) are high grade neoplasms morphologically reminiscent of breast ductal carcinomas. Whereas the latter are well characterized, the body of immunophenotypic and cytogenetic data on SDC is limited. We studied 23 SDC by conventional histology, immunohistology, in situ hybridization, and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH).

[Papillary tumors of the breast].

The term papilloma applies to benign proliferative epithelial breast lesions with a papillary architecture. The papillae in such lesions contain an arborizing fibrovascular core, glandular surface epithelium and a basal myoepithelial layer. A basement membrane encloses these structures.

[The significance of "normal tissue" in the development of breast cancer: new concepts of early carcinogenesis].

Only little information on the primary molecularbiological events involved in early breast is available. In particular, the definition of postulated precursor lesions of invasive breast cancer, such as ductal hyperplasia or ductal carcinoma in situ, is under an intense, controversial discussion in terms of pathogenesis and tumor biology. The most recent research on biological regulation mechanisms and genetic alterations in morphologically normally appearing breast tissue give rise for a reinterpretation for the most common progression models of breast cancer.

Adenomyoepithelial tumours and myoepithelial carcinomas of the breast--a spectrum of monophasic and biphasic tumours dominated by immature myoepithelial cells.

Background: Adenomyoepithelial tumours and myoepithelial carcinomas of the breast are primarily defined by the presence of neoplastic cells with a myoepithelial immunophenotype. Current classification schemes are based on purely descriptive features and an assessment of individual prognosis is still problematic.

Methods: A series of 27 adenomyoepithelial tumours of the breast was analysed immunohistochemically with antibodies directed against various cytokeratins, p63, smooth muscle alpha-actin (SMA) and vimentin.

[Salivary duct carcinoma].

This tutorial focuses on salivary duct carcinoma (SDC), a rare, high grade neoplasm mainly of major salivary glands. The clinical course of these tumors is characterised by extended local disease, early distant metastasis, and poor outcome. The morphology of SDC is reminiscent of breast ductal carcinomas and may occasionally cause diagnostic problems.

[Myoepthelial tumors of salivary glands].

This tutorial focuses on myoepithelial tumors of salivary glands, an entity with heterogeneous cytomorphology and inconsistent immunophenotype. Moreover, the clinical course cannot be predicted reliably from cytomorphological and immunophenotypic analysis. This heterogeneity causes problems in routine diagnostic, so that diagnosis ultimately rests on conventional histology.

The origin of vimentin expression in invasive breast cancer: epithelial-mesenchymal transition, myoepithelial histogenesis or histogenesis from progenitor cells with bilinear differentiation potential?

Vimentin expression is a rather rare finding in invasive breast cancer, and is associated with high tumour invasiveness and chemoresistance. It is currently explained by two different biological theories: direct histogenetic derivation from myoepithelial cells, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) reflecting the end-stage of breast cancer dedifferentiation. In this study we aimed to obtain further insights into the biological hallmarks of these vimentin-expressing breast cancers.

Relative paucity of gross genetic alterations in myoepitheliomas and myoepithelial carcinomas of salivary glands.

The diagnosis of salivary gland myoepithelioma, an entity with heterogeneous cytomorphology and inconsistent immunophenotype, rests on conventional histology. However, the clinical course cannot be predicted reliably from cytomorphological and immunophenotypic analysis. The present study determined the immunophenotype of a representative series of 12 myoepitheliomas and 21 malignant myoepitheliomas.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus keratitis after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy1.

A 43-year-old woman in good health was admitted to the hospital 3 days after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in the left eye with postoperative bandage contact lens application. She had developed a severe keratitis with ulceration and hypopyon. Upon the patient's admission to the hospital, the contact lens was removed.