Publications by authors named "Isabela W Cunha"

Article Synopsis
  • * A transcriptome analysis of 14 pediatric hepatoblastoma samples revealed 1,492 genes with altered expression, highlighting important biological processes and known cancer-associated genes as well as some novel gene discoveries.
  • * The study identified significant changes in gene expression linked to processes like cell differentiation and metabolism, and noted a large number of dysregulated non-coding RNAs, suggesting their potential role in hepatoblastoma biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Adrenal myelolipomas (AML) are composed of mature adipose and hematopoietic components. They represent approximately 3 percent of adrenal tumors and are commonly found in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). CAH provides a unique environment to explore AML pathogenesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The initial approach to the treatment of desmoid tumors has changed from surgical resection to watchful waiting. However, surgery is still sometimes considered for some patients, and it is likely that a few patients would benefit from tumor removal if the likelihood of local recurrence could be predicted. However, to our knowledge, there is no tool that can provide guidance on this for clinicians at the point of care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

PD-L1 immunohistochemistry has been approved as a diagnostic assay for immunotherapy. However, an international comparison across multiple cancers is lacking. This study aimed to assess the performance of PD-L1 diagnostic assays in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and urothelial cancer (UC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ultrarare hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common pediatric liver cancer. HB risk is related to a few rare syndromes, and the molecular bases remain elusive for most cases. We investigated the burden of rare damaging germline variants in 30 Brazilian patients with HB and the presence of additional clinical signs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Most succinate dehydrogenase (SDH)-deficient renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) demonstrate stereotypical morphology characterized by bland eosinophilic cells with frequent intracytoplasmic inclusions. However, variant morphologic features have been increasingly recognized. We therefore sought to investigate the incidence and characteristics of SDH-deficient RCC with variant morphologies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neuromuscular choristoma (NMC) are lesions of the peripheral nervous system characterized by an admixture of skeletal muscle fibers and nerves fascicles that are frequently associated with desmoid fibromatosis (DF). Mutations in CTNNB1, the gene for β-catenin protein, are common in DF and related to its pathogenesis. They are restricted to exon 3, with 3 point mutations: T41A, S45F, and S45P.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Adrenocortical hyperplasia and adrenal rest tumor (ART) formation are common in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Although driven by excessive corticotropin, much is unknown regarding the morphology and transformation of these tissues. Our study objective was to characterize CAH-affected adrenals and ART and compare with control adrenal and gonadal tissues.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pseudoangiosarcomatous squamous cell carcinoma, also called pseudovascular, pseudoangiomatoid or adenoid pseudovascular carcinoma, is an uncommon and highly aggressive variant of squamous cell carcinoma. Histologically, it is characterized by proliferation of atypical keratinocytes with acantholysis and formation of pseudovascular spaces, forming anastomosed channels lined with neoplastic cells that invade the dermis. These cells are positive for cytokeratin and negative for vascular markers such as CD31 and CD34.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic impact of immunohistochemical expression of SETD2 in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

Patients And Methods: A total of 662 patients with primary or metastatic ccRCC were evaluated. Two genitourinary pathologist reviewed all of the cases for uniform reclassification and determined the selection of the most representative tumor areas for construction of the tissue microarray (TMA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Genitourinary Pathology Society (GUPS) reviewed recent advances in renal neoplasia, particularly post-2016 World Health Organization (WHO) classification, to provide an update on existing entities, including diagnostic criteria, molecular correlates, and updated nomenclature. Key prognostic features for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remain WHO/ISUP grade, AJCC/pTNM stage, coagulative necrosis, and rhabdoid and sarcomatoid differentiation. Accrual of subclonal genetic alterations in clear cell RCC including SETD2, PBRM1, BAP1, loss of chromosome 14q and 9p are associated with variable prognosis, patterns of metastasis, and vulnerability to therapies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Genitourinary Pathology Society (GUPS) undertook a critical review of the recent advances in renal neoplasia, particularly focusing on the newly accumulated evidence post-2016 World Health Organization (WHO) classification. In the era of evolving histo-molecular classification of renal neoplasia, morphology is still key. However, entities (or groups of entities) are increasingly characterized by specific molecular features, often associated either with recognizable, specific morphologies or constellations of morphologies and corresponding immunohistochemical profiles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatoblastomas exhibit the lowest mutational burden among pediatric tumors. We previously showed that epigenetic disruption is crucial for hepatoblastoma carcinogenesis. Our data revealed hypermethylation of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, a highly expressed gene in adipocytes and hepatocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To survey urologic clinicians regarding interpretation of and practice patterns in relation to emerging aspects of prostate cancer grading, including quantification of high-grade disease, cribriform/intraductal carcinoma, and impact of magnetic resonance imaging-targeted needle biopsy.

Materials And Methods: The Genitourinary Pathology Society distributed a survey to urology and urologic oncology-focused societies and hospital departments. Eight hundred and thirty four responses were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Approximately 60% of lung adenocarcinomas (LAs) carry mutations that can guide treatment with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI) and other targeted therapies. Data on activating mutations in and other tyrosine-kinase receptor (TKR) genes in highly admixed populations, such as that of Brazil, are scarce. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the actionable alteration profile of LA in Brazilian patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tumor DNA has been detected in body fluids of cancer patients. Somatic tumor mutations are being used as biomarkers in body fluids to monitor chemotherapy response as a minimally invasive tool. In this study, we evaluated the potential of tracking somatic mutations in free DNA of plasma and urine collected from Wilms tumor (WT) patients for monitoring treatment response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Controversies continue in prostate cancer grading, prompting an update on recommendations based on literature and surveys of pathologists and clinicians.
  • The updated guidelines include the reporting of percent Gleason pattern 4 (%GP4) and adjustments to how grade patterns are described in biopsy results and radical prostatectomy cases.
  • Specific findings to report include cribriform carcinoma and intraductal carcinoma (IDC-P), alongside the need for a global score when multiple biopsies are involved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hepatoblastoma is a very rare embryonal liver cancer supposed to arise from the impairment of hepatocyte differentiation during embryogenesis. In this study, we investigated by exome sequencing the burden of somatic mutations in a cohort of 10 hepatoblastomas, including a congenital case. Our data disclosed a low mutational background and pointed out to a novel set of candidate genes for hepatoblastoma biology, which were shown to impact gene expression levels.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In Brazil, penile cancer (PC) is not uncommon. The highest incidence of PC is in the North and Northeast of the country. In addition to phimosis, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Epstein-Baar Virus (EBV) infections are also related as risk factors for PC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The oncogene brachyury (TBXT) is a T-box transcription factor that is overexpressed in multiple solid tumors and is associated with tumor aggressiveness and poor patient prognosis. Gliomas comprise the most common and aggressive group of brain tumors, and at the present time the functional and clinical impact of brachyury expression has not been investigated previously in these neoplasms. Brachyury expression (mRNA and protein) was assessed in normal brain (n = 67), glioma tissues (n = 716) and cell lines (n = 42), and further in silico studies were undertaken using genomic databases totaling 3115 samples.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To analyze possible clinical-pathological parameters and predictors of lymph node metastasis and evaluate the impact of lymphadenectomy in the survival of these patients.A retrospective study of patients diagnosed with penile cancer and submitted to regional lymphadenectomy at two reference hospitals in Maranhão, Northeast, Brazil, an area where the disease has a high incidence. We described here clinical and histopathological characteristics of patients diagnosed between January 2009 and September 2017.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Inguinal lymph node involvement is the main prognostic factor in patients with penile cancer. However, there is a lack of marker/s for lymph node metastasis. microRNAs have been investigated as potential markers for prognosis of various types of cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF