Gluteal mass in a 38-year-old woman.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Antonio Palacín.
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PROBLEM: Whether decidual leukocyte recruitment and/or increase is primarily hormonally regulated or induced mainly by blastocyst implantation is a matter of debate. Thus, this study investigated the number and distribution of leukocyte populations, with emphasis on natural killer (NK) cells of uterine and peripheral type, within decidual tissue from women with decidualized endometrium both related and unrelated to pregnancy and those with ectopic decidua associated with intrauterine pregnancy, as well as in tubal implantation sites. METHOD OF STUDY: Immunohistochemical characterization of immune cells using antibodies to CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD68, CD16, CD56, CD57, in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue, and a quantitative analysis of these subpopulations was conducted in tissue blocks from four groups of patients: (i) 20 women with decidualized endometrium due to progestin therapy (i.e. not associated with gestation) (group Prog-D); (ii) 20 women with intrauterine pregnancy-associated ectopic decidua (seven in the Fallopian tube, five in the ovary, five in the uterine cervix, and three in the omentum) (group Ect-D); (iii) 20 women with spontaneous abortion who had an histologic sample of the decidua at the uterine implantation site (group Uter-D); and (iv) 20 consecutive patients who had had an ectopic tubal pregnancy (group Tub-Preg). Twenty gynecologic specimens with marked inflammatory reaction were used as controls (group Con). RESULTS: CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD68+ cells were detected in all tissue samples investigated. In contrast, CD20+ cells were detected in all samples in group Con, but only in 75%, 25%, 55% and 70% of groups Prog-D, Ect-D, Uter-D and Tub-Preg, respectively. In all tissue samples investigated, CD57+ and CD16+ cells were detected. Conversely, CD56+ cells were completely absent in 15 of 40 cases (37.5%) lacking decidual reaction (group Tub-Preg, 7/20; group Con, 8/20) but were present in all cases showing decidual reaction. In contrast with CD56+ cells, CD57+ NK cells were more abundant in group Con than in the four study groups. CONCLUSIONS: CD56+ NK cells are closely related to decidua irrespective of its eutopic or ectopic location rather than to the implantation site. This suggests that the recruitment and/or increase of uterine NK cells into the uterus is not dependent on the physical presence of an implanting embryo but instead is controlled hormonally.
PURPOSE: Sarcomatoid (S) renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an uncommon subtype of RCC with a poor prognosis because of its local aggressiveness and high metastatic rate. Currently, there is no specific, effective treatment for it. A relatively nontoxic tyrosine kinase inhibitor, imatinib (STI-571) has been approved as a target therapy in neoplasms that express c-Kit. We investigated c-Kit expression in this type of tumor, which to our knowledge has not been previously described. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 215 cases of RCC diagnosed at our department from 1995 to 2002. Of the cases 20 (9.3%) were SRCC. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded material was available in 19 cases. We performed immunohistochemical staining against c-Kit using rabbit polyclonal antihuman antibody (CD117, Dako Corp., Carpinteria, California), diluted 1:100. Its expression was evaluated in the epithelial and the spindle components. RESULTS: Two of the 20 SRCC cases (10%) showed no epithelial differentiation. The epithelial component was conventional RCC in 10 cases (50%), papillary RCC in 5 (25%) and chromophobe RCC in 3 (15%). A total of 16 cases (80%) presented at an advanced stage at diagnosis, namely T3 or T4 and/or metastatic disease. Immunohistochemical study showed positivity in the epithelial component only in the 3 chromophobe SRCCs. The sarcomatoid component was positive for c-Kit in 18 cases (94.7%). CONCLUSIONS: High c-Kit expression in SRCC in our series and the existence of a target therapy, imatinib (STI-571), against cells that express this receptor open the possibility of using this treatment for these tumors, especially in cases of advanced disease.
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The authors reviewed a series of 110 surgical specimens of primary non-small cell lung carcinomas from the Department of Pathology at the Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona Medical School, between 1987 and 1997. The sample included 25 squamous cell carcinomas, 60 adenocarcinomas, 14 large cell carcinomas, and 11 neuroendocrine tumors. Electron microscopic subcellular characteristics of the lung cancer cells were studied to define the squamous, adenoid, or neuroendocrine differentiation in each tumor. An immunohistochemical study for Cyclin D1 was performed in 96 cases. In 71 cases (65%) the author found a single ultrastructural differentiation, and in 30 cases (27%) ultrastructural differentiation was double: 25 adenosquamous and 5 adeno-neuroendocrine. In 3 cases a triple adeno-squamous-neuroendocrine differentiation was found. There were no cases of squamous-neuroendocrine differentiation. In 6 cases no differentiation of any kind could be found. Cyclin D1 overexpression was found in 58% of all tumors. The positive expression rates in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were 72% and 62%, respectively. In purely adenoid-differentiated tumors there was a strong association between high Cyclin D1 overexpression and differentiation (p=.006). In bronchioloalveolar carcinoma the positivity rate was 70%; all were heavy expressers, compared with 25% of heavy expressers in adenocarcinomas as a whole (p<.005). In purely squamous tumors differentiated ultrastructurally no relationship was found between high Cyclin D1 expression and degree of differentiation (p=.08). Lung cancers are morphologically and molecularly heterogeneous, and certain molecular alterations are related to specific subcellular characteristics.