Renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma with a negative premelanosome marker immunoprofile: a case report and review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: The rare variant of renal epithelioid/pleomorphic angiomyolipoma has been reported in approximately 120 cases. One of the most important characteristics to differentiate these tumors from other renal cell neoplasms is their typical reactivity to premelanosome antigens. If such a tumor does not stain for HMB-45 or Melan-A, a specific diagnosis of epithelioid pleomorphic angiomyolipoma cannot be made with certainty. CASE PRESENTATION: We present here what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of epithelioid/pleomorphic angiomyolipoma of the kidney in a 50-year-old Caucasian man with no history of tuberous sclerosis, and with a tumor marker profile negative for several premelanosome antigens. The tumor was composed of sheets of pleomorphic, round to polygonal epithelioid cells with prominent eosinophilic cytoplasm, large nuclei, many multinucleated, and very prominent nucleoli. There were prominent vessels and rare interspersed smooth muscle fibers, but adipocytes were not identified. A tumor marker profile showed tumor cell reactivity for CD68, calponin and focally for CD10. Intervening smooth muscle was reactive with smooth muscle actin. The tumor lacked reactivity for melanin-associated antigens HMB-45 and Melan-A, and for CD31, pan-cytokeratin (AE1/3) and desmin. Electron microscopic examination of tumor cells confirmed the presence of premelanosome-like granules. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the characteristic microscopic appearance of this tumor, and its overall tumor marker profile, we concluded this was a renal epithelioid/pleomorphic angiomyolipoma with a negative premelanosome antigen phenotype.

p16(INK4a) is superior to high-risk human papillomavirus testing in cervical cytology for the prediction of underlying high-grade dysplasia.

BACKGROUND: The primary goal of this study was to compare the clinical performance of an optimized and rigorously controlled immunocytochemical (ICC) assay for p16(INK4a) to high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as diagnostic adjuncts for cytology specimens from colposcopy patients. METHODS: : The study included 403 cervical cytology specimens collected within 3 months of colposcopy. The colposcopic impression and cervical biopsy diagnosis served as the standards for correlation with cytological, p16(INK4a), and HPV data. p16(INK4a) was evaluated using an immunoperoxidase-based assay that was linear over 4 logs for the detection of HeLa-spiked positive control cytology specimens, using a threshold for positive test results that was based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. HR-HPV was detected by multiplex PCR using genotype-specific primers. RESULTS: : In all combined diagnostic categories (negative for intraepithelial lesion and malignancy, atypical glandular cells, atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, atypical squamous cells cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion), the p16(INK4a) ICC and HR-HPV assays, respectively, had sensitivity of 81.7% and 83.3% (P = .81) and specificity of 78.1% and 50.9% (P < .001) for the detection of underlying > or =grade 2 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) lesions on biopsy. Furthermore, the positive predictive value of p16(INK4a) ICC was greater than that of HR-HPV for patients with biopsies > or =CIN-2 (41.2% and 24.2%, respectively, P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: : This p16(INK4a) immunocytochemical assay has superior specificity but similar sensitivity to HR-HPV testing to predict underlying high-grade dysplastic lesions in patients who are referred for colposcopy. The determination of the overall performance characteristics of p16(INK4a) immunocytochemistry, as an independent test or in combination with HPV testing in low-risk screening populations, however, will require subsequent large-scale prospective clinical trials.

Validation of a novel immunocytochemical assay for topoisomerase II-alpha and minichromosome maintenance protein 2 expression in cervical cytology.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cytopathology has limited specificity for the detection of underlying clinically significant lesions in cases with low-grade cytologic abnormalities. The current study evaluated the performance of a novel immunocytochemical test (ProEx C) for topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) and minichromosome maintenance protein 2 (MCM2) in normal versus high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and positive control (SiHa) pooled cytology preparations and in a pilot series of prospectively collected patient specimens. METHODS: TOP2a and MCM2 were detected as markers of aberrant S-phase induction in SurePath cervical cytology specimens by an indirect polymer-based immunoperoxidase method (ProEx C, TriPath Oncology, Burlington, NC). Slides were scored based on specimen adequacy, the presence of nuclear stain in epithelial cells, and the association of nuclear staining with cytologic atypia (>/=atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance [ASC-US] or atypical glandular cells [AGC]). RESULTS: Intense nuclear staining was detected in cytologically abnormal cells but not in most normal squamous and glandular cells. Slides were scored positive in pooled samples in 1 of 40 (2.5%) cases that were negative for intraepithelial neoplasia or malignancy (NIL), in 40 of 40 (100%) SiHa-spiked NIL, and in 40 of 40 (100%) HSILs. There was 100% concordance in test classification of 20 slides between 2 pathologists. Subsequent evaluation of prospectively collected patient specimens was positive for ProEx C in none of 10 NIL (0%), 2 of 10 ASC-US (20%), 5 of 10 low-grade SIL (LSIL) (50%), and in 10 of 10 (100%) HSILs. CONCLUSIONS: The ProEx C test showed almost no variability with regard to scoring and staining reproducibility and was consistently positive in HSIL. Further studies are indicated to evaluate the potential role of ProEx C as a diagnostic adjunct for the triage of ASC-US/LSIL.