Lymphocyte-to-Monocyte Ratio May Serve as a Better Prognostic Indicator Than Tumor-associated Macrophages in DLBCL Treated With Rituximab.

There are multiple prognostic indicators for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) including the international prognostic index (IPI), and gene expression profiling (GEP) to classify the disease into germinal center B-cell and activated B-cell subtypes, the latter harboring inferior prognosis. More recently, tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) were found to have prognostic implications in DLBCL. However, consensus is yet to be reached in terms of the significance of each.

Predicting degree of benefit from adjuvant trastuzumab in NSABP trial B-31.

Background: National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trial B-31 suggested the efficacy of adjuvant trastuzumab, even in HER2-negative breast cancer. This finding prompted us to develop a predictive model for degree of benefit from trastuzumab using archived tumor blocks from B-31.

Methods: Case subjects with tumor blocks were randomly divided into discovery (n = 588) and confirmation cohorts (n = 991).

Tumor associated macrophages in relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.

Background: Growing evidence demonstrates that an increased number of CD68 positive tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) is associated with decreased survival in patients with newly diagnosed classic Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). However, the impact of TAM in relapsed and refractory disease is unknown.

Design And Methods: To investigate whether the presence of elevated CD68 retains its prognostic significance in the relapsed and refractory setting, we analyzed pre-salvage biopsy specimens of 81 patients with relapsed and refractory HL using a tissue microarray.

Acute myeloid leukemia with t(9;11) (p22;q23) and synchronous Langerhans cell histiocytosis.

We present here the first report of an adult patient with simultaneous LCH and AML with t(9;11).5.

Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder complicating hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a patient with dyskeratosis congenita.

Dyskeratosis congenita (DC) is a rare inherited disorder characterized by bone marrow failure and cancer predisposition. We present a case of a 28-year-old woman with DC who was admitted for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for aplastic anemia and who developed acute myeloid leukemia with complex genetic karyotype abnormalities including the MLL (11q23) gene, 1q25, and chromosome 8. After transplantation, a monomorphic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) negative posttransplant-associated lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was discovered involving the liver, omental tissue, and peritoneal fluid samples showing additional MLL (11q23) gene abnormalities by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Pulmonary artery sarcoma with angiosarcoma phenotype mimicking pleomorphic malignant fibrous histiocytoma: a case report.

Primary sarcomas of the major blood vessels can be classified based on location in relationship to the wall or by histologic type. Angiosarcomas are malignant neoplasms that arise from the endothelial lining of the blood vessels; those arising in the intimal compartment of pulmonary artery are rare. We report a case of pulmonary artery angiosarcoma in a 36-year old female with pulmonary masses.

Estrogen receptor (ESR1) mRNA expression and benefit from tamoxifen in the treatment and prevention of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Purpose: Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain tamoxifen resistance of estrogen receptor (ER) -positive tumors, but a clinically useful explanation for such resistance has not been described. Because the ER is the treatment target for tamoxifen, a linear association between ER expression levels and the degree of benefit from tamoxifen might be expected. However, such an association has never been demonstrated with conventional clinical ER assays, and the ER is currently used clinically as a dichotomous marker.

Unusual ovarian stromal tumor with radiation changes mimicking carcinoma.

Radiation-related changes including fibrosis, nuclear enlargement, hyperchromasia and cytoplasmic vacuolization may alter the appearance of normal ovarian tissue and ovarian tumors. We describe radiation-related changes in ovarian stromal neoplasm with mixed features of sclerosing stromal tumor and fibrothecoma. The right ovarian mass was discovered in a 38 year-old woman with past history of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix treated with cone biopsy and brachytherapy.

Urinary bladder paraganglioma in childhood: a case report and review of the literature.

Bladder paraganglioma (BP) is a rare entity and is exceedingly uncommon in childhood. Pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas are components of several hereditary cancer syndromes, and up to 30% may be associated with germ-line mutations of genes, including VHL, RET, and SDH. We present a 16-year-old female who was admitted with macroscopic hematuria and anemia.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the small bowel mesentery: an unusual cause of abdominal pain and uveitis.

Introduction: An inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) of the small bowel mesentery with diffuse immunohistochemical staining for the anaplastic lymphoma kinase 1 gene is reported in a patient who presented with abdominal pain and uveitis.

Discussion: To our knowledge, only seven cases of IMT affecting the small bowel mesentery have previously been reported in the English literature. The association of IMT and uveitis is a rare phenomenon, previously reported in patients with IMT affecting the head and neck.

Trabecular and psammomatoid juvenile ossifying fibroma of the skull base mimicking psammomatoid meningioma.

Ossifying fibroma (OF) is a fibro-osseous tumor that usually occurs in young people and arises in the craniofacial bones. We report a case of a 15-year-old boy who developed progressive proptosis and hypertelorism and was found to have a mid-face and skull base tumor, initially diagnosed as psammomatoid meningioma. The tumor recurred and the resected specimen revealed a unique OF having trabecular and psammomatoid features.

Basal cell carcinoma of the prostate gland: a case report and brief review of the basal cell proliferations of the prostate gland.

Basal cell proliferations within the prostate gland encompass a group of benign and malignant entities. Although basal cell hyperplasia is a common finding, basal cell carcinoma of the prostate gland is a rare tumor that can be mistaken by a benign condition and represents a diagnostic problem in genitourinary pathology. We report a case of basal cell carcinoma in a previously healthy 65-year-old man with urinary symptoms and low prostate-specific antigen.

p16INK4a expression in basal-like breast carcinoma.

BLBC represents a distinctive group of invasive breast carcinomas with specific genotype and immunoprofile. BLBC is usually defined by gene expression profiling and is currently associated with poor outcome. BLBCs are estrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PgR) negative, HER2 negative, and usually show a variable expression of basal cytokeratins (CKs), EGFR and CD117.

Tumor-to-tumor metastasis: Renal cell carcinoma metastatic to papillary carcinoma of thyroid-report of a case and review of the literature.

Metastatic disease to thyroid gland is a rare event. Although renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been reported to metastasize the thyroid gland, metastatic RCC to a thyroid neoplasm is very unusual. We report a case of a 68-year-old man with history of RCC who presented with a 2.

Biomarker profile in breast carcinomas presenting with bone metastasis.

Bone is the most preferred site for metastatic dissemination in breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression of a set of antibodies that could serve as predictive biomarkers associated with breast cancer metastasis in a subset of sixteen (16) breast cancer patients who developed bone metastasis. The clinical and pathologic data were obtained, and tissue microarrays were constructed.

Identification of human papillomavirus in esophageal squamous papillomas.

Aim: To investigate the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in esophageal squamous papilloma (ESP) and determine p16, p53 and Ki67 expression in a Mexican cohort.

Methods: Nineteen cases diagnosed as ESP, corresponding to 18 patients were reviewed; nineteen cases of normal esophageal mucosa were used as negative controls. HPV detection was performed by amplified chromogenic in situ hybridization (ACISH) using a wide spectrum-cocktail probe and PCR.

Chemosensitivity and stratification by a five monoclonal antibody immunohistochemistry test in the NSABP B14 and B20 trials.

Purpose: To test the association between risk stratification and outcome in a prospectively designed, blinded retrospective study using tissue arrays of available paraffin blocks from the estrogen receptor-expressing, node-negative samples from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B14 and B20 tamoxifen and chemotherapy trials.

Experimental Design: Tissue arrays were stained by immunohistochemistry targeting p53, NDRG1, SLC7A5, CEACAM5, and HTF9C. Risk stratification was done using predefined scoring rules, algorithm for combining scores, and cutoff points for low-risk, moderate-risk, and high-risk patient strata.

Cutaneous Langerhans cell sarcoma: a case report and review of the literature.

Langerhans cell sarcoma (LCS) is a neoplastic proliferation of Langerhans cells that occurs in lymph nodes, liver, skin, spleen, lung, and bone. We report a case of LCS in a 47-year-old man with a 6-month history of scalp mass and cervical lymphadenopathy. Clinical and pathologic data were available.