Prognostic impact of tumor-associated neutrophils in breast cancer.

Objectives: Neutrophils are the most common type of leukocyte in mammals and play an essential role in the innate immune system and anti-cancer responses. However, recent studies identified the presence of tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) as a poor prognostic factor. The present study investigated whether relationships exist between TANs and the clinicopathological factors and genetic status of breast cancer.

Substantial improvement of histopathological diagnosis by whole-slide image-based remote consultation.

Consultation by subspecialty experts is the most common mode of rendering diagnosis in challenging cases in pathological practice. Our study aimed to highlight the diagnostic benefits of whole-slide image (WSI)-based remote consultation. We obtained diagnostically challenging cases from two institutions from the years 2010 and 2013, with histological diagnoses that contained keywords "probable," "suggestive," "suspicious," "inconclusive," and "uncertain.

Changes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Molecular Subtypes in Patients Without Pathologic Complete Response After Neoadjuvant Systemic Chemotherapy.

Purpose: Lehmann et al have identified four molecular subtypes of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)-basal-like (BL) 1, BL2, mesenchymal (M), and luminal androgen receptor-and an immunomodulatory (IM) gene expression signature modifier. Our group previously showed that the response of TNBC to neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy (NST) differs by molecular subtype, but whether NST affects the subtype was unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that in patients without pathologic complete response, TNBC subtypes can change after NST.

Tumor-infiltrating B cells and T cells correlate with postoperative prognosis in triple-negative carcinoma of the breast.

Background: In this study, we investigated CD20+ TILs in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and their relationship with T lymphocyte subsets (CD4+, CD8+, CD25+, and FOXP3+), including their combined prognostic value using an immunohistochemical staining method.

Methods: We investigated 107 patients with TNBC for whom a full-face section stained by hematoxylin and eosin between 2006 and 2018 at Dokkyo Medical University Hospital was available.

Results: The strongest association of infiltrating CD20+ TILs was with CD4+ TILs.

Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating B lymphocytes and plasma cells in triple-negative breast cancer.

Background: Recent investigations have demonstrated that the tumor microenvironment, including tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), is an important factor in tumor growth and development. While the prognostic correlation of tumor-infiltrating T cells has been widely studied in breast cancer, that of tumor-infiltrating B cells and plasma cells has not received so much attention, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Methods: We investigated 114 patients with TNBC who had surgery between 2006 and 2019 at Dokkyo Medical University Hospital.

Targeted next-generation sequencing assays using triplet samples of normal breast tissue, primary breast cancer, and recurrent/metastatic lesions.

Background: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has shown that recurrent/metastatic breast cancer lesions may have additional genetic changes compared with the primary tumor. These additional changes may be related to tumor progression and/or drug resistance. However, breast cancer-targeted NGS is not still widely used in clinical practice to compare the genomic profiles of primary breast cancer and recurrent/metastatic lesions.

Oestrogen receptor-negative/progesterone receptor-positive phenotype of invasive breast carcinoma in Japan: re-evaluated using immunohistochemical staining.

Background: The existence of progesterone receptor (PgR) expression in oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast carcinoma is controversial. Here, we re-evaluated ER-negative/PgR-positive (ER-/PgR+) carcinoma cases by immunohistochemical staining (IHC).

Materials And Methods: We selected patients who underwent surgery for primary breast carcinoma from our databases at Dokkyo Medical University Hospital and Kameda General Hospital.

Whole-slide imaging at primary pathological diagnosis: Validation of whole-slide imaging-based primary pathological diagnosis at twelve Japanese academic institutes.

Several reports have demonstrated the use of whole-slide imaging (WSI) for primary pathological diagnosis, but no such studies have been published from Asia. We retrospectively collected 1070 WSI specimens from 900 biopsies and small surgeries conducted in nine hospitals. Nine pathologists, who participated in this study, trained for the College of American Pathologists guidelines, reviewed the specimens and made diagnoses based on digitized, 20× or 40× optically magnified images with a WSI scanner.

Intranuclear inclusions in epithelial cells of benign proliferative breast lesions.

Aim: To document and clarify the nature of intranuclear inclusions of luminal epithelium in benign proliferative breast lesions.

Methods And Results: Five benign breast lesions were selected which showed intranuclear inclusions within epithelial cells on light microscopy. Following confirmation of their luminal epithelial (non-myoepithelial) localisation by immunohistochemistry, ultrastructural examination was performed with the following observations: (1) presence of deep nuclear indentations occasionally verging on nuclear inclusions; (2) inclusions with features of helioid bodies; and (3) a morphological spectrum of helioid bodies and their focal coexistence.

Histiocytoid breast carcinoma: an enigmatic lobular entity.

Histiocytoid breast carcinoma is an uncommon entity that is mostly regarded as a variant of lobular carcinoma. Its occurrence with apocrine lobular carcinoma in situ and consistent expression of gross cystic disease fluid protein 15 suggest apocrine differentiation. Its recognition is often challenging, particularly when histiocytoid tumour cells occur in a metastatic site before the primary diagnosis of breast carcinoma, or in limited core biopsy or cytology material.

Roles of fine-needle aspiration and core needle biopsy in the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Background: There is controversy regarding which of the two biopsy methods, fine-needle aspiration (FNA) or core needle biopsy (CNB), should be routinely employed for diagnosis of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of FNA compared to CNB and to explore the value of performing both FNA and CNB.

Methods: Two hundred eighty-one patients with breast cancer received FNA alone (group 1: n = 182), CNB alone (group 2: n = 56), or a combination of FNA and CNB (group 3: n = 43).

Aberrant expression of TFF1, TFF2, and PDX1 and their diagnostic value in lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia.

Lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH) is a distinct benign glandular lesion expressing gastric gland mucous cell-type mucin (N-acetylglucosaminα1 → 4galactose → R [GlcNAcα1 → 4Gal → R]). To investigate histogenesis and diagnostic markers of LEGH, we examined the immunohistochemical expression profile of gastric surface mucous cell (MUC5AC and TFF1), gastric gland mucous cell (MUC6, TFF2, and GlcNAcα1 → 4Gal → R), gastric pyloric epithelial cell (PDX1), and endocervical cell (keratan sulfate) markers in normal endocervix samples and benign glandular lesions (nabothian cysts, tunnel clusters, and LEGHs). MUC5AC and MUC6 were expressed in normal endocervical mucosa and benign glandular lesions.

The role of trophinin, an adhesion molecule unique to human trophoblasts, in progression of colorectal cancer.

Trophinin is a unique adhesion molecule expressed by human trophoblastic cells. Its activity and in vivo expression pattern implicate trophinin in the initial attachment of trophectoderm cells to maternal epithelia. Subsequent to apical adhesion, trophoblasts aggressively invade maternal tissue to form the placenta, a process resembling tumor invasion.

Preferential induction of peripheral lymph node addressin on high endothelial venule-like vessels in the active phase of ulcerative colitis.

Objectives: In the colonic mucosa with ulcerative colitis (UC), it has been suggested that L-selectin-peripheral lymph node addressin (PNAd) interaction plays a role in lymphocyte recruitment, which requires PNAd induction on high endothelial venule (HEV)-like vessels. The present study was undertaken to elucidate how these HEV-like vessels participate in the pathogenesis of UC and also to determine whether the presence of such vessels is correlated with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Biopsy specimens composed of active (N = 32) and remission (N = 12) phases of UC were subjected to immunohistochemistry for CD34, MECA-79, and HECA-452, and the immunostained sections were quantitatively analyzed.

Esophageal gland duct adenoma: immunohistochemical comparison with the normal esophageal gland and ultrastractural analysis.

Esophageal gland duct adenomas are extremely rare tumors. Here, we report the case of a 75-year-old Japanese man who had undergone total gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Esophageal gland duct adenoma was incidentally found in the lower esophagus.

Female adnexal tumor of probable wolffian origin: morphological, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural study with c-kit gene analysis.

Female adnexal tumors of probable wolffian origin (FATWO) are rare neoplasms believed to originate from mesonephric (wolffian) remnants. Rarity and variable location of FATWO make the diagnosis difficult. Although most cases follow a benign clinical course, approximately 10% of them either recur or metastasize and are thought to be resistant to chemoradiation therapy.

Clinical utility of quantitative RT-PCR targeted to alpha1,4-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase mRNA for detection of pancreatic cancer.

alpha1,4-N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase (alpha4GnT) is a glycosyltransferase responsible for the biosynthesis of alpha1,4-GlcNAc-capped O-glycans, and is frequently expressed in pancreatic cancer cells but not peripheral blood cells. In the present study, we tested the clinical utility of alpha4GnT mRNA expressed in the mononuclear cell fraction of peripheral blood as a biomarker of pancreatic cancer. Total RNA isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 55 pancreatic cancer patients, 10 chronic pancreatitis patients, and 70 cancer-free volunteers was analyzed quantitatively by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for alpha4GnT, and the expression level of alpha4GnT mRNA relative to that of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was measured.

Malignant myoepithelioma (myoepithelial carcinoma) of soft tissue.

Malignant myoepithelioma of soft tissue is extremely rare. Presented herein is a case arising in a 17-year-old man. The tumor was initially noticed as a painless deep soft-tissue mass in the right forearm when the patient was aged 3 years.

Localization and function in endoplasmic reticulum stress tolerance of ERdj3, a new member of Hsp40 family protein.

Heat shock protein 40 (Hsp40) family proteins are known to bind to Hsp70 through their J-domain and regulate the function of Hsp70 by stimulating its adenosine triphosphatase activity. In the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), there are 5 Hsp40 family proteins known so far, 3 of which were recently identified. In this report, one of the novel Hsp40 cochaperones, ERdj3, was characterized in terms of its subcellular localization, stress response, and stress tolerance of cells.

Immunohistochemical localization of sodium-potassium ATPase in human normal stomach and gastric adenocarcinomas.

We studied the expression pattern of Na, K-ATPase beta 1 subunit in human normal stomachs and in gastric adenocarcinomas by using anti-Na, K-ATPase beta 1 subunit-specific monoclonal antibody. Tissue samples were processed in formalin solution or in a cold acetic acid-ethanol solution, routinely processed, embedded in paraffin, and an immunoperoxidase method for Na, K-ATPase beta 1 subunit was performed. After antigen retrieval using a steamer in citrate buffer (pH 6.

Lymphangioma of the kidney.

Lymphangiomas are rare benign tumors that are congenital malformations of the lymphatic system. Most cases present in children as a soft, cystic mass in the neck and the axilla. Primary renal lymphangioma is exceedingly rare, with only 35 cases reported so far.