Comparison of Tissue Molecular Biomarker Testing Turnaround Times and Concordance Between Standard of Care and the Biocartis Idylla Platform in Patients With Colorectal Cancer.

Objectives: Management of colorectal cancer warrants mutational analysis of KRAS/NRAS when considering anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapy and BRAF testing for prognostic stratification. In this multicenter study, we compared a fully integrated, cartridge-based system to standard-of-care assays used by participating laboratories.

Methods: Twenty laboratories enrolled 874 colorectal cancer cases between November 2017 and December 2018.

Detection of WA B cells in hepatitis C virus infection: a potential prognostic marker for cryoglobulinemic vasculitis and B cell malignancies.

Objective: An uncommon manifestation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is systemic vasculitis associated with type II cryoglobulinemia (cryoglobulinemic vasculitis), a proliferative B cell disorder that transforms into B cell malignancy in 5-10% of patients. The monoclonal rheumatoid factors (mRF) that bear the WA cross-idiotype (Xid) are responsible for most cases of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis in patients with HCV infection. The purpose of this study was to determine whether WA B cells can be detected in asymptomatic patients with HCV infection, using sequence analysis of B cell clonal expansions (BCEs) to identify the WA Xid.