The effect of interleukin-33 expression on prognosis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a newly defined inflammatory cytokine that is a member of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene family. This cytokine is expressed in structural cells, such as the vascular endothelium, bronchial epithelial cells, keratinocytes, epithelial cells of the stomach, and fibroblastic reticular cells of lymphoid tissues. Several studies suggest that IL-33 plays a role in head-and-neck cancer. The aim of this study was to retrospectively examine IL-33 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and to evaluate its relationship between clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. METHODS: In this monocentric, retrospective analysis, the data of 43 cases diagnosed with primary NPC and 20 cases with normal nasopharyngeal tissue (diagnosed between 2014 and 2020) were evaluated regarding the relationship between the immunohistochemically analyzed IL-33 expression status and corresponding clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: The mean age was 56.9 years. The majority (67.4%) of the patients had an early tumor stage (T1-T2). IL-33 expression was positive in 56% of the cases. The five-year overall survival rate was 77% for all patients, 90% for the patients with positive IL-33 expression, and 55% for those without IL-33 expression (p = 0.008, univariate analysis). In multivariate analysis, IL-33 expression was shown to be the only independent prognostic marker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (p = 0.014). CONCLUSION: This retrospective study showed that IL-33 expression could be considered an independent factor affecting positively prognosis in NPC.

The role of cyclin D1, BCL-2, p53 and Ki-67 in epithelial cells in the etiopathogenesis of pterygium.

CONTEXT: Pterygium is a degenerative disease that consists of conjunctival epithelia and fibrovascular tissue. Some studies suggest that there is a defect in the regulation of apoptosis in the epithelial cell cycle characterized by the development of the disease. But, still this matter being debated. AIMS: In this study, the clinical, histopathological data, and the expression of the cell cycle regulator Cyclin D1, anti-apoptotic BCL-2, tumor suppressor p53, and cell proliferation marker Ki-67 were searched in pterygium samples. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study enrolled 62 cases of primary pterygium who underwent excision between 2014 and 2017. Recurrent and pseudo-pterygium cases were excluded from series. The clinical data were obtained from the patient files and the slides were reevaluated for the histopathological data. Slides of all were stained by Cyclin D1, BCL-2, and Ki-67 by the immunohistochemical method. For each immunohistochemical marker, first the staining was determined as negative or positive. Then if there is a staining, the hot zone (the area containing more positive cells) was determined and staining percentage (SP) was assessed by counting positive cells/100 epithelial cells). RESULTS: Solar elastosis, edema, inflammation, and epithelial dysplasia were found statistically different between the control group and the patient group (P value <0.001, <0.001, <0.001 <0.001, respectively). A significant difference was found for staining percentage (SP) of Ki-67, p53, BCL-2 between the control group and the patient group (P values <0.001, 0.002, <0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences in the SP of Cyclin D1 between the two groups (p: 0,133). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate an abnormal expression of p53, BCL-2 and elevated proliferation measured by Ki-67 in pterygium samples when compared to normal conjunctiva. Besides the mesenchymal changes, the increased proliferation and the failure of apoptosis in the epithelial cells participate in the development of pterygium, as well.

FOXA1 is associated with high tumor grade, myometrial invasion and lymph node invasion in endometrial endometrioid carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: FOXA1 expression has been demonstrated in several hormone-dependent cancers. However, data are limited concerning the role of FOXA1 in endometrial cancers. The present study aimed to investigate FOXA1 expression via the microarray technique in benign hyperplasia, endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia, and endometrial endometrioid carcinoma. We also aimed to determine whether there were any associations between FOXA1 expression, tumor grade, myometrial invasion and lymphatic invasion. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Paraffin-embedded sections prepared from samples obtained from 114 patients who underwent surgical hysterectomy or curettage were analyzed. Data were retrieved from digitally-stored medical records. Tissue microarrays were prepared from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. Full tumor sections were used for immunohistochemical analysis performed. RESULTS: Carcinomas with nuclear grade 3 had higher FOXA1 values than others, while grade 2 carcinomas also had higher FOXA1 values relative to grade 1 (p < 0.001). FOXA1 values of FIGO stage III carcinomas were significantly higher than others and stage II values were also significantly higher than stage I FOXA1 values (p < 0.001). Patients with myometrial and lymph node invasion had significantly higher FOXA1 values than others (p < 0.001 and p = 0.047, respectively). FOXA1 had 91.30% sensitivity, 63.60% specificity and 77.78% accuracy for predicting the presence of myometrial invasion with a cut-off value of 9. CONCLUSIONS: FOXA1 expression is higher in endometrial endometrioid carcinoma compared to benign endometrial hyperplasia or intraepithelial neoplasia. In patients with endometrial endometrioid carcinoma, high FOXA1 expression is associated with high tumor grade, myometrial and lymph node invasion. However, FOXA1 expression is not associated with lymphovascular or cervical invasion.

The extent of cyclin D1 expression in endometrial pathologies and relevance of cyclin D1 with the clinicopathological features of endometrioid endometrial carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Cyclin D1, a member of the cyclin protein family, is instrumental in the cell cycle due to its influence on the progression from G1 to the S phase. Its overexpression causes reduced doubling time and is also associated with clonogenic growth. The purpose of the present study was to assess cyclin D1 expression in patients with simple hyperplasia (SH), endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN) and endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, and to evaluate whether there was an association between cyclin D1 expression and the clinicopathological features of endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. METHODS: Retrospective data were available for 193 patients (30 SH, 40 EIN, and 123 endometrioid endometrial carcinoma cases). To detect cyclin D1 expression, immunohistochemistry staining was performed with tissue microarrays. RESULTS: The percentage of cases with positive cyclin D1 staining were 30%, 60% and 78%, for SH, EIN and endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, respectively (P < 0.001). Carcinomas with higher nuclear grade, histological grade, and FIGO grade displayed higher mean cyclin D1 expression compared to lower grade carcinomas. In addition, patients with lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.006), myometrial invasion (P < 0.001) and lymph node invasion (P < 0.001) had higher mean cyclin D1 expression compared to those without invasion. There was a significant correlation between cyclin D1 expression and clinicopathological features of endometrioid endometrial carcinoma including tumor grade, FIGO grade, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node invasion and myometrial invasion (P < 0.05 for each). CONCLUSION: Cyclin D1 expression is significantly higher in patients with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma compared to that of the SH and EIN. The extent of cyclin D1 expression is strongly correlated with nuclear and histological grade, myometrial invasion, lymphovascular invasion and lymph node invasion in patients with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. These findings contribute in several ways to our understanding of cyclin D1 expression and provide a basis for future research on this topic.

The risk of malignancy according to Milan reporting system of salivary gland fine-needle aspiration with Becton Dickinson SurePath liquid-based processing.

BACKGROUND: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a noninvasive, safe, cost-effective, diagnostic procedure for the evaluation of salivary gland lesions and the selection of patients for surgery. The aim of this study was to analyze the risk of malignancy (ROM) according to the Milan reporting system of salivary gland FNA specimens using a liquid-based cytology (LBC) technique. METHODS: The cytological diagnosis of 459 cases between 2014 and 2017 was revised according to the Milan reporting system. The FNAC results of 129 cases with a histological diagnosis were compared with respect to the final diagnosis. The ROM for each category calculated. RESULTS: The ROM was high in the indeterminate and malignant categories, while the ROM in the benign neoplasm category was low. Sensitivity and specificity analyzed in two different ways were 95.1% and 88.8%, 81%, and 77.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: When salivary gland lesions are evaluated together with clinical and radiological data, the LBC technique can be applied to salivary gland specimens based on the high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in liquid-based samples reported according to the Milan system.

The diagnostic significance of trophoblast cell-surface antigen-2 expression in benign and malignant thyroid lesions.

CONTEXT: Thyroid cancers are the most common malignancy of the endocrine system. Over-expression of trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP-2) in various tumors has been found to correlate with poor prognosis and aggressive tumor behavior. AIMS: The aim of this study was to evaluateTROP-2 expression in thyroid neoplasms. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study contained 152 cases, including 48 follicular nodular disease (FND), 29 follicular adenoma (FA), 57 papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), 12 follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), 3 medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), 2 poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) and 1 undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma (UDTC). TROP-2 expression was investigated via immunohistochemistry in sections prepared from paraffin blocks of the cases. RESULTS: The cases comprised 32 (21%) males and 120 (79%) females with a mean age of 46.8 years (range, 15-85 years). TROP-2 expression was observed in 74.6% of the malignant lesions of the thyroid except for medullary carcinoma, poorly differentiated and undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma. Immunoreactivity was 3.4% in FA, 41.7% of cases with FTC and 81.8% in PTC follicular variant (PTC fv). The difference between FA/FTC and FA/PTC follicular variant were both significant (P < 0.005, P < 0.001, respectively). There was no difference between FTC/PTC fv (P = 0.089). CONCLUSION: TROP-2 can be considered a useful marker for distinguishing PTC fv cases from follicular nodular disease and follicular adenoma cases because of its high sensitivity in the identification of papillary carcinomas of the thyroid.

The Role of CD34 and D2-40 in the Differentiation of Dermatofibroma and Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans.

OBJECTIVE: Dermatofibroma (DF) is a benign fibrohistiocytic tumor whereas dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) has intermediate malignant potential. CD34 is the most commonly used antibody in differentiating these tumors. Various studies have stated the rates of D2-40 expression as 0-50% in DFSPs and 86-100% in DFs. Our aim in this study was to determine the expression of CD34 and D2-40 in DFs and DFSPs and the possible use of D2-40 in the differential diagnosis of these lesions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is a retrospective study including 30 DF and 15 DFSP cases which were reevaluated for epidermal changes, the presence of a transmission zone (Grenz zone), infiltration of soft tissues, infiltration pattern and histologic subtypes in addition to cellular pleomorphism, nuclear atypia, and necrosis. A manual immunohistochemistry procedure was performed with D2-40 and CD 34 antibodies using a representative paraffin block. RESULTS: The average age was 37.36 and 42.86 years in the DF and DFSP cases. The average diameter was 0.9 and 5.03 cm, respectively, for the DFs and DFSPs. There was a significant correlation between the two entities for sex, localization and diameter of the lesion. A significant difference was found between the positivity of CD34 and D2-40 in DFs and DFSPs. CONCLUSION: Additional immunohistochemical markers may be needed in DFs with CD34 positivity. Our results showed the additional helpful role of this marker in problematic cases.

The importance of EZH2 and MOC-31 expression in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant effusions.

BACKGROUND: All malignant tumors may spread throughout the pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial cavities. The presence of tumor cells in serosal fluid is a poor prognostic indicator. It may be difficult to differentiate nuclear atypia of mesothelial cells due to injury of serosal surfaces from mesothelioma or malignant epithelial tumor cells. Epithelial and mesothelial immunohistochemical markers can be used in such conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of two immunohistochemical markers (MOC-31 and EZH2) in serosal effusions. METHODS: The study included a total of 142 patients diagnosed with benign or malignant cytology between January 2012 and April 2014. MOC-31 and EZH2 were applied to the cell blocks of 53 patients with benign cytology and 89 patients with malignant cytology determined based on the clinical, radiological data, histopathology diagnosis, and clinical follow-up in the absence of any surgical material of the patient in the hospital archive system. RESULTS: None of the benign cases showed MOC-31 and EZH2 expression, although these markers were positive in 96 and 93% respectively of the malignant cases. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, it could be considered cost-effective to use a double immunohistochemical antibody kit for these two markers, MOC-31 membranous and EZH2 nuclear staining, in the diagnosis of malignant effusions. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:118-124. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hormone receptor, HER2/NEU and EGFR expression in ovarian carcinoma--is here a prognostic phenotype?

PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the effects of hormone receptor, HER2, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) prognosis and investigate whether or not phenotypic subtypes might exist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 82 patients who were diagnosed with EOC between 2003 and 2012 and treated by platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively evaluated. Expression of EGFR, oestrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and cerbB2 (HER2) receptors were assessed immunohistochemically on paraffin-embedded tissues of these patients. Three phenotypic subtypes were defined according to ER, PR, and HER2 expression and associations of these with EGFR expression, clinicopathologic features, platinum sensitivity, and survival were investigated. RESULTS: When we classified EOC patients into three subtypes, 63.4% had hormone receptor positive (HR(+)) (considering breast cancer subtypes, luminal A), 18.3% had triple negative, and 18.3% had HER2(+) disease. EGFR positivity was observed in 37 patients (45.1%) and was significantly more frequent with advanced disease (p=0.013). However, no significant association with other clinicopathologic features and platinum sensitivity was observed. HER2(+) patients had significantly poorer outcomes than HER2(-) counterparts (triple negative and HR positive patients) (p=0.019). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the strongest risk factor for death was residual disease after primary surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Triple negative EOC may not be an aggressive phenotype as in breast cancer. The HER2 positive EOC has more aggressive behaviour compared to triple negative and HR(+) phenotypes. EGFR expression is more frequent in advanced tumours, but is not related with poorer outcome. Additional ovarian cancer molecular subtyping using gene expression analysis may provide more reliable data.

Primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast with amplification of the HER2 gene confirmed by FISH - case report and review of the literature.

Fifty five-years-old woman was presented to the general surgery upon the palpation of a mass in her left breast. In the excisional biopsy performed, partially cystic tumor of 2 × 1 cm with solid areas was macroscopically observed. After through microscopic examination, the patient was diagnosed as invasive mucinous cystadenocarcinoma and the tumor was found to be ER- and PR-negative and C-erbB2 (2+). In the fluorescent in situ hybridization, HER2/neu gene amplification was observed. Here, we present the clinical, cytological, morphological and immunohistochemical features of a very rare type of breast carcinoma, mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast, with the review of the relevant literature.

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of urinary bladder; case presentation.

Large cell neuroendocrine tumor of the urinary bladder is very rare. It is a type of neuroendocrine carcinoma that is morphologically different from small cell carcinoma. This manuscript describes a 67-year-old man who presented with hematuria. Ultrasonogrophic and computer tomography revealed a 5 cm mass in right posterolateral wall of the bladder that invaded perivesical tissue and he subsequently underwent transurethral resection. Microscopic examination showed a tumor with a sheet-like and trabecular growth pattern comprising necrotic areas which infiltrated the muscularis propria. Tumoral cells had coarse chromatin, prominent nucleoli, moderate amount of cytoplasm and immunohistochemically stained strongly positive with synaptophysin, chromogranin and CD56. There are only few case reports of large cell neuroendocrine tumor of the urinary bladder so the biological behavior and the treatment protocol of these tumors are still obscure. Appropriate management protocols and prognostic estimation could be achived by the increased number of cases being reported. Therefore in a case of a poorly differentiated tumor in bladder, although rare, it is important to consider large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma in differential diagnosis.

The enigmatic role of nucleophosmin in malignant melanoma: does it have an effect?

BACKGROUND: Melanoma is quite a heterogeneous group of diseases of the skin. Prognostic markers of tumor behavior are important to precisely assign individual patients for appropriate treatment protocols. AIM: The aim of our first study was to investigate nucleophosmin expression in melanoma patients and to determine its relationship with the tumor characteristics and patient prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of nucleophosmin in 55 melanoma patients. The immunostaining pattern was classified into two groups: Diffuse nuclear and nucleolar relocalization. We also investigated the relationship between the expression of nucleophosmin and the clinicopathological parameters such as Clark level, tumor thickness, stage, histological type, location, and survey. RESULTS: In all cases the neoplastic cells were strongly positive for nucleophosmin (14 cases diffuse nuclear, 41 cases nucleolar relocalization). No correlation was demonstrated between the expression pattern of nucleophosmin and the clinicopathological parameters and survey. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of our results, nevertheless, are that the immunohistochemical detection of nucleophosmin is not a valuable tool for predicting the outcome of patients with melanoma or identifying subgroups of patients who may be at a higher risk.