A rare renal malakoplakia mimicking renal tumor presenting with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary embolism in a 58-year-old woman.

Malakoplakia is an uncommon chronic inflammatory disease that appears as soft plaques in various organs and results from defective macrophage function, which tends to affect immunocompromised and debilitated patients. The pseudotumoral form presentation is rare especially with para-neoplastic syndrome. Preoperative diagnosis of renal malakoplakia in appropriate clinical settings can prevent unnecessary surgery.

High ratio of interfollicular CD8/FOXP3-positive regulatory T cells is associated with a high FLIPI index and poor overall survival in follicular lymphoma.

Several studies have highlighted the importance of the microenvironment in the behaviour of follicular lymphoma (FL). We conducted an immunohistochemical analysis to assess the role of different cell subpopulations, i.e.

[Adenocarcinomas of nasal cavities and paranasal sinuses: Diagnostic pitfalls in sinonasal glandular lesions].

Among primitive adenocarcinoma of nasal cavity and paranasal sinus, the 2005 WHO classification distinguishes two main categories: intestinal type adenocarcinoma (ITAC) and low-grade non-intestinal adenocarcinoma, entities with different clinical and epidemiological characteristics. Low-grade adenocarcinoma shows a respiratory type phenotype (CK20-/CK7+/CDX2-/villin-) and ITACs, an intestinal type profile (CK20+/CK7-/CDX2+/villin+). Because of histological, ultrastructural and phenotypical similarities between ITAC and colorectal adenocarcinomas, several studies have discussed a possible common pathway in carcinogenesis.

[A preemptive combined liver-kidney transplantation in Aalpha fibrinogen chain renal amyloidosis].

The predominant cause of hereditary renal amyloidosis is a mutation of the fibrinogen Aalpha chain (AFib), the most common being the E526V mutation. The evolution towards terminal renal insufficiency is constant and raises the question of renal transplantation and the risk of recurrence. We describe the case of a Portuguese woman with the E526V mutation without any renal or hepatic history in her family which developed a nephrotic syndrome at the age of 35, followed by stage 5 renal insufficiency.

T-cell lymphoid aggregates in bone marrow after rituximab therapy for B-cell follicular lymphoma: a marker of therapeutic efficacy?

Rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is widely used in the treatment of B-cell lymphoma. Some reports have outlined histologic modifications in bone marrow specimens from patients treated with this antibody, notably the presence of CD3(+) lymphoid aggregates morphologically mimicking residual lymphoma. To gain insight into the significance of such infiltrates, serial BM trephines obtained in 39 patients with B-cell follicular lymphoma treated by rituximab and enrolled in the GOELAMS-GELA intergroup FL2000 protocol were reexamined.

Heparanase influences expression and shedding of syndecan-1, and its expression by the bone marrow environment is a bad prognostic factor in multiple myeloma.

The heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycan, syndecan-1, plays a major role in multiple myeloma (MM) by concentrating heparin-binding growth factors on the surface of MM cells (MMCs). Using Affymetrix microarrays and real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we show that the gene encoding heparanase (HPSE), an enzyme that cleaves HS chains, is expressed by 11 of 19 myeloma cell lines (HMCLs). In HSPE(pos) HMCLs, syndecan-1 gene expression and production of soluble syndecan-1, unlike expression of membrane syndecan-1, were significantly increased.

Cancer/testis genes in multiple myeloma: expression patterns and prognosis value determined by microarray analysis.

Cancer-testis (CT) Ags are expressed in testis and malignant tumors but rarely in nongametogenic tissues. Due to this pattern, they represent attractive targets for cancer vaccination approaches. The aims of the present study are: 1) to assess the expression of CT genes on a pangenomic base in multiple myeloma (MM); 2) to assess the prognosis value of CT gene expression; and 3) to provide selection strategies for CT Ags in clinical vaccination trials.

RCL2, a new fixative, preserves morphology and nucleic acid integrity in paraffin-embedded breast carcinoma and microdissected breast tumor cells.

Methacarn and RCL2, a new noncrosslinking fixative, were compared to formalin-fixed or frozen tissue samples of the same invasive breast carcinoma and were evaluated for their effects on tissue morphology and immunohistochemistry as well as DNA and RNA integrity. The histomorphology of methacarn- or RCL2-fixed paraffin-embedded tumors was similar to that observed with the matched formalin-fixed tissues. Immunohistochemistry using various antibodies showed comparable results with either fixative, leading to accurate breast tumor diagnosis and determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors, and HER2 status.

[Foot tumor and diffuse pain: a case of oncogenic osteomalacia].

Oncogenic osteomalacia is a rare clinicopathologic entity, linked to a mesenchymal tumor which overexpresses a hypophosphatemic factor, supposed to be the FGF-23. To date, about 100 cases have been published. We report the case of a 40-year-old man who presented an osteomalacic syndrome with no classical etiological diagnosis.

[How can the diagnostic value of head and neck biopsies be increased in Wegener's granulomatosis: a clinicopathologic study of 49 biopsies in 21 patients].

Head and neck biopsies usually have a low diagnostic value in Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). On the basis of 49 biopsies obtained from 21 WG patients at diagnosis from various sites, i.e.

Comparison of gene expression profiling between malignant and normal plasma cells with oligonucleotide arrays.

The DNA microarray technology enables the identification of the large number of genes involved in the complex deregulation of cell homeostasis taking place in cancer. Using Affymetrix microarrays, we have compared the gene expression profiles of highly purified malignant plasma cells from nine patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and eight myeloma cell lines to those of highly purified nonmalignant plasma cells (eight samples) obtained by in vitro differentiation of peripheral blood B cells. Two unsupervised clustering algorithms classified these 25 samples into two distinct clusters: a malignant plasma cell cluster and a normal plasma cell cluster.