The impact of malignant nipple discharge cytology (NDc) in surgical management of breast cancer patients.

Background: The role of nipple discharge cytology (NDc) in the surgical management of breast cancer patients is unclear. We aimed: (i) to evaluate the effect of malignant NDc on the surgical approach to the nipple-areola complex, and (ii) to verify the association between malignant NDc and nipple malignancy.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a case series of 139 patients with NDc who underwent breast surgery.

Chimeric rat/human HER2 efficiently circumvents HER2 tolerance in cancer patients.

Purpose: Despite the great success of HER2 vaccine strategies in animal models, effective clinical results have not yet been obtained. We studied the feasibility of using DNA coding for chimeric rat/human HER2 as a tool to break the unresponsiveness of T cells from patients with HER2-overexpressing tumors (HER2-CP).

Experimental Design: Dendritic cells (DCs) generated from patients with HER2-overexpressing breast (n = 28) and pancreatic (n = 16) cancer were transfected with DNA plasmids that express human HER2 or heterologous rat sequences in separate plasmids or as chimeric constructs encoding rat/human HER2 fusion proteins and used to activate autologous T cells.

Approaching heterogeneity of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 in surgical specimens of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer shows intratumoral heterogeneity for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression. We evaluated whether the number of tissue blocks analyzed or the antibodies used may influence the immunohistochemical results in gastrectomy specimens. Clinicopathologic data from 148 patients receiving gastric surgery for cancer were collected.

HER2-positive breast cancer cells resistant to trastuzumab and lapatinib lose reliance upon HER2 and are sensitive to the multitargeted kinase inhibitor sorafenib.

Trastuzumab has changed the prognosis of HER2 positive breast cancers. Despite this progress, resistance to trastuzumab occurs in most patients. Newer anti-HER2 therapies, like the dual tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) lapatinib, show significant antitumor activity, indicating that HER2 can be still exploited as a target after trastuzumab failure.

Role of CD31/platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 expression in in vitro and in vivo growth and differentiation of human breast cancer cells.

Breast ductal carcinoma in situ is an intraductal proliferation of malignant epithelial cells that diffuse within the ductal system without stromal invasion. Our finding that a subset of these tumors express CD31/platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 suggests that breast cancer represents an informative model for studying the involvement of the molecule in the morphogenesis, differentiation, and diffusion of this disease. Transfection of CD31 in MDA-MB-231 cells caused reduction in growth, loss of CD44, and acquisition of a ductal morphology.

E2F-1 transcription factor is overexpressed in oxyphilic thyroid tumors.

In thyroid tumors, several cell cycle regulators have been found to be altered or overexpressed, but no data exist on E2F transcription factors. Such factors (E2F-1 in particular) act as the final effectors in the retinoblastoma pathway but are also involved in apoptosis. To analyze E2F-1 expression in thyroid neoplasms, we investigated 73 thyroid tumors, including 28 oxyphilic and 45 nonoxyphilic lesions, by immunohistochemistry, in parallel with other cell cycle-related proteins (p27, pRb, p53, and Ki67).

Steroid hormone receptor in pleural solitary fibrous tumours and CD34+ progenitor stromal cells.

Solitary fibrous tumours (SFT), originally described in the pleura, were subsequently recognized in numerous extrapleural sites. This suggests that a common stem cell, present in various organs and tissues, may be at the origin of SFT and that specific factors may be involved in the proliferation of such cells. Recently it has been described that steroid hormone receptors, progesterone receptors in particular, are expressed by extrapleural SFT.

[Rapid immunohistochemistry applied to intraoperative diagnosis: a critical analysis].

A series of 1378 intra-operative frozen diagnoses performed in our department over two years (1998-1999) was studied in order to assess the agreement with the diagnosis on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections. In selected cases, a rapid immunostaining (IS) method was applied on frozen sections to solve diagnostic problems. Rapid IS allowed us to determine the histotype of poorly differentiated neoplasms, the origin of lung nodules and the presence of nests of neoplastic cells on resection margins.

Immunohistochemical detection of somatostatin receptor types 1-5 in medullary carcinoma of the thyroid.

Background: We have analysed the distribution of the five somatostatin receptors (sst1-5) by immunohistochemistry in a large retrospective series of 51 medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MCT) specimens and correlated the pattern of sst expression with expression of somatostatin (SRIF) peptide, tumour pathology and clinical outcome.

Measurements: Immunohistochemistry was performed with rabbit polyclonal antipeptide antibodies directed against the extracellular domains or cytoplasmic tail of human (h) sst1-5. SRIF immunoreactivity was investigated in parallel paraffin sections.

Correlative immunohistochemical and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis of somatostatin receptor type 2 in neuroendocrine tumors of the lung.

Somatostatin receptors type 2 (sst2) have been frequently detected in neuroendocrine tumors and bind somatostatin analogues, such as octreotide, with high affinity. Receptor autoradiography, specific mRNA detection and, more recently, antisst2 polyclonal antibodies are currently employed to reveal sst2. The aim of the present study was to investigate by three different techniques the presence of sst2 in a series of 26 neuroendocrine tumors of the lung in which fresh frozen tissue and paraffin sections were available.

The Pathology of Medullary Carcinoma of the Thyroid: Review of the Literature and Personal Experience on 62 Cases.

The aim of the present review is to analyze the numerous pathological patterns of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid (MCT) and discuss the problems of differential diagnosis with other thyroid and nonthyroid tumors. In addition, morphological parameters and phenotypic features were related to the clinical outcome. The recent literature was reviewed and compared with the features of 62 MCTs observed at our institution.