[Clinicopathological characteristics of goblet cell adenocarcinoma of the appendix].

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of goblet cell adenocarcinoma (GCA) of the appendix. Methods: Seven cases of GCA were collected at the First Hospital of Peking University, Beijing, China from 2015 to 2018. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical studies (EnVision method) were carried out on all cases. Three cases were examined using electron microscopy. Results: Based on the review of 7 patients with GCA, the mean age of presentation for GCA of the appendix was 58 years with 2 men and 5 women, including 3 cases of grade 1, 3 cases of grade 2 and 1 case of grade 3 GCAs. Six GCAs had a prominent pattern of submucosal growth and lacked the formation of a well-defined tumor border. One of the 7 tumors was located in the distal segment of the appendix. Perineural involvement and lymphatic invasion were seen in 6 tumors and 1 tumor, respectively. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were diffusely or focally positive for chromogranin A, synaptophysin, CD56, cytokeratin, carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin 20, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2, while the Ki-67 index ranged from 5% to 50%.The expression levels and positive cell numbers of p53 in high-grade GCAs were higher than those in low-grade GCAs. In the 7 patients with available follow-up information (14‒46 months), 1 patient died and the other 6 were alive at the end of the follow-up. Conclusions: GCA of the appendix is a rare neoplasm that shares histological features of both adenocarcinoma and carcinoid tumor. Its biological behavior ranges from indolent to highly aggressive.

[Characteristic and clinical significance of DNA methyltransferase 3B overexpression in endometrial carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinicopathological significance of the DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) overexpression in endometrial carcinomas and to evaluate its correlation with hormone receptor status. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess the expression of DNMT3B and hormone receptors in 104 endometrial carcinomas. RESULTS: DNMT3B overexpression occurred frequently in endometrioid carcinoma (EC, 54.8%) more than in nonendometrioid carcinoma (NEC, 30.0%) with statistical significance (P=0.028). Furthermore, there was a trend that EC with worse clinico-pathological variables and shorter survival had a higher DNMT3B expression, and the correlation between DNMT3B and tumor grade reached statistical significance (P=0.019).A negative correlation between DNMT3B and estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) expression was found in EC. NMT3B overexpression occurred frequently in the ER or PR negative subgroups (78.9%, 86.7%) more than in the positive subgroups (47.7%, 47.8%) with statistical significance (P=0.016, P=0.006). In addition, the DNMT3B overexpression increased in tumors with both ER and PR negative expression (92.9%, P=0.002). However, no such correlation was found in NEC (P>0.05). Sequence analyses demonstrated multiple ER and PR binding sites in the promoter regions of DNMT3B gene. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the expression of DNMT3B in EC and NEC was different. DNMT3B overexpression in EC was associated with the worse clinicopathological variables and might have predictive value. The methylation status of EC and NEC maybe different. In addition, in EC, DNMT3B overexpression negatively correlated with ER or PR expression. In NEC, the correlation between DNMT3B and ER or PR status was not present.