Publications by authors named "Pinkus G"

Lymphocytic lobulitis (LL) is characterized by prominent lymphocytic infiltrates centered on lobules. Sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis (SCLL) associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) or autoimmune disease (AI) was the first type to be described. Subsequently, non-sclerosing LL (NSCLL) was reported as an incidental finding in prophylactic mastectomies due to high risk germline mutations or a family history of breast cancer.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzed skin and blood/bone marrow samples from 17 patients with various cutaneous neoplasms, primarily focusing on cutaneous acute myeloid leukemia (c-AML) and different types of dendritic cell neoplasms.
  • - A significant finding was that many c-AML patients had shared clonal mutations between their skin and bone marrow, with 70% also showing mutations like NPM1 and KMT2A rearrangements.
  • - The results indicate that cutaneous and myeloid neoplasms share common genetic mutations, enhancing the understanding of the relationship between these skin manifestations and underlying blood disorders.
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Background: Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on tumor cells engages the PD-1 receptor on T cells, inhibiting anti-tumor responses. PD-L1 has been detected in cases of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) but reports are limited. Here we examine PD-L1 expression and evaluate for clinical correlations.

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  • The study evaluated an algorithmic testing approach in hematopathology to enhance cost-effectiveness in test selection at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, especially for expensive molecular assays.
  • Researchers developed standard ordering protocols (SOPs) for 17 disease categories, comparing data from six months of beta testing to actual testing practices, along with two years of prospective data from a community site.
  • Results showed a massive improvement in test concordance after implementing SOPs, with a decrease in overordered tests and significant potential annual savings of over $1.3 million, indicating that algorithmic testing can streamline procedures without compromising vital information.
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Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) is a B-cell-derived lymphoma that classically displays a bimodal age distribution. CHL typically involves the mediastinum, lymph nodes, and other visceral organs. CHL is characterized histologically by the presence of a relatively paucicellular neoplastic cell population composed of large atypical cells (including Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg forms) in a reactive mixed inflammatory background, often with prominent necrosis.

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  • The study focuses on the identification of haemophagocytosis in bone marrow and lymph nodes of patients who died from severe COVID-19, revealing it as a common finding in autopsy results.
  • Autopsy specimens from patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were examined, with findings showing haemophagocytic patterns in 36% of bone marrow samples, linked to prolonged hospital stays and certain blood parameters.
  • Results indicate that while few patients met the full criteria for haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), the presence of haemophagocytic macrophages suggests a broader inflammatory response rather than definitive HLH.
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Myeloid sarcoma (MS) is currently considered equivalent to de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML); however, the relationship between these entities is poorly understood. This retrospective multi-institutional cohort study compared 43 MS with mutation to 106 AML with mutation. Compared to AML, MS had more frequent cytogenetic abnormalities including complex karyotype ( = .

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  • Targeted therapies for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) face challenges in distinguishing it from similar reactive plasmacytoid dendritic cells due to overlapping immunoprofiles, highlighting the need for new diagnostic markers.!*
  • A study involving 50 BPDCN cases and various controls utilized double-staining methods to evaluate immunohistochemical markers such as SOX4/CD123 and TCF4/CD56 for accurate diagnosis.!*
  • Results showed that SOX4/CD123 provided 100% sensitivity and 98% specificity for identifying BPDCN, while TCF4/CD56 also proved highly effective, establishing these as reliable markers for confirming BPDCN and detecting minimal disease
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Thromboembolic phenomena are an important complication of infection by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Increasing focus on the management of the thrombotic complications of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to further investigation into the role of platelets, and their precursor cell, the megakaryocyte, during the disease course. Previously published postmortem evaluations of patients who succumbed to COVID-19 have reported the presence of megakaryocytes in the cardiac microvasculature.

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Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8) is a member of the IRF family that is specific to the hematopoietic cell and is involved in regulating the development of human monocytic and dendritic-lineage cells, as well as B-cells. Because its utility as a sensitive and specific monoblast marker in the context of acute monocytic leukemias has been recently demonstrated, we hypothesized that it may also be useful as a novel immunohistochemical marker in myeloid sarcomas and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasms (BPDCNs) with respect to their differential diagnoses. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the IHC expression pattern of IRF8 in 385 patient samples across 30 types of cancers, referenced to their mRNA expression data available through The Cancer Genome Atlas.

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Objective: To explore the spectrum of skeletal muscle and nerve pathology of patients who died after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and to assess for direct viral invasion of these tissues.

Methods: Psoas muscle and femoral nerve sampled from 35 consecutive autopsies of patients who died after SARS-CoV-2 infection and 10 SARS-CoV-2-negative controls were examined under light microscopy. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained by chart review.

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Objectives: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) is a self-limited lymphadenitis of unclear etiology. We aimed to further characterize this disease in pediatric patients, including evaluation of the CD123 immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and investigation of potential immunologic and infectious causes.

Methods: Seventeen KFD cases and 12 controls were retrospectively identified, and the histologic and clinical features were evaluated.

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Background: Patients with mast cell (MC) activation symptoms and elevated baseline serum tryptase level (MCAS-T) may not necessarily have a clonal MC disorder. Many are diagnosed with hereditary α-tryptasemia (HαT), a genetic trait characterized by autosomal dominant inheritance of multiple copies of TPSAB1 encoding α-tryptase and increased risk for severe anaphylaxis.

Objective: The aim of our study was to identify and characterize bone marrow MC histopathologic features specific for MCAS-T.

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A patient with a novel homozygous mutation in presented with autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome, and had impaired TCR-driven Fas ligand upregulation, providing a mechanism for the T cell lymphoproliferation.

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Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Donor T cells are key mediators in pathogenesis, but a contribution from host T cells has not been explored, as conditioning regimens are believed to deplete host T cells. To evaluate a potential role for host T cells in GVHD, the origin of skin and blood T cells was assessed prospectively in patients after HSCT in the absence of GVHD.

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Ancillary testing during the initial workup of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is largely performed using aspirated materials. We utilized multiplex immunofluorescence (MIF) imaging with digital image analysis to perform an in situ analysis of the microenvironment in NPM1-mutated AML using diagnostic bone marrow biopsy tissues (N = 17) and correlated these findings with diagnostic next-generation sequencing (NGS, N = 17), flow cytometry (FC, N = 14), and first remission (CR1) NPM1-specific molecular MRD (n = 16) data. The total CD3-positive T-cell percentages correlated positively between FC and MIF (r = 0.

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Chromosome 13q deletion [del(13q)], harboring the miR-15a/16-1 cluster, is one of the most common genetic alterations in mature B-cell malignancies, which originate from germinal center (GC) and post-GC B cells. Moreover, miR-15a/16 expression is frequently reduced in lymphoma and multiple myeloma (MM) cells without del(13q), suggesting important tumor-suppressor activity. However, the role of miR-15a/16-1 in B-cell activation and initiation of mature B-cell neoplasms remains to be determined.

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Greater than 90% of cases of systemic mastocytosis (SM) harbor pathogenic KIT mutations, particularly KIT. Prognostically-significant pathogenic KIT mutations also occur in 30-40% of core binding factor-associated acute myeloid leukemia (CBF-AML), but are uncommonly associated with concurrent SM. By comparison, the occurrence of SM in other myeloid neoplasms bearing pathogenic KIT mutations, particularly those with a chronic course, is poorly understood.

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MYD88 L265P is the most common mutation in lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström macroglobulinemia (LPL/WM) and one of the most frequent in poor-prognosis subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Although inhibition of the mutated MYD88 pathway has an adverse impact on LPL/WM and DLBCL cell survival, its role in lymphoma initiation remains to be clarified. We show that in mice, human MYD88L265P promotes development of a non-clonal, low-grade B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder with several clinicopathologic features that resemble human LPL/WM, including expansion of lymphoplasmacytoid cells, increased serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) concentration, rouleaux formation, increased number of mast cells in the bone marrow, and proinflammatory signaling that progresses sporadically to clonal, high-grade DLBCL.

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Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with mutated NPM1 is a newly recognized separate entity in the revised 2016 WHO classification, and is associated with a favorable prognosis. While previous studies have evaluated NPM1 in a binary fashion, we recently demonstrated a significant independent negative prognostic effect of high NPM1 mutant allele burden (VAF) at diagnosis in a cohort of de novo AML patients. Although the importance of minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring in NPM1-mutated AML has been well characterized, the potential relationship between diagnostic allele burden and MRD is unknown.

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