Recommendations for the supervision of pathology assistants: association of directors of anatomic and surgical pathology.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Barry R DeYoung.
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Giant cell tumor is an aggressive benign neoplasm of bone. A number of adjuvant agents have been used to supplement intralesional curettage to reduce the otherwise high local recurrence rate. High concentration ethanol is more readily available and less toxic to use than some common alternatives. No report on its use in a group of patients with giant cell tumor is available. Records were retrospectively reviewed for all giant cell tumors treated by intralesional curettage and high concentration ethanol irrigation as the only chemical adjuvant. Twenty-five primary excisional curettages and 12 repeat curettages for giant cell tumors of bone were performed in 31 patients. Patients were followed for a mean of three years and 10 months. There were five recurrences after primary excision procedures, and three after repeat excisions. Only use of a high-speed burr and lower Campanacci staging correlated with reduced recurrence rate, and these were not statistically significant. Most defects were filled with allograft or calcium sulfate. In the 11 patients treated primarily with curettage using a high-speed burr and adjuvant ethanol with minimum two-year follow-up, only one stage 3 lesion in a distal radius recurred. Multiple washes with high concentration ethanol, when used in conjunction with aggressive curettage including high-speed burring, is an effective and safe adjuvant. The necessity of any chemical adjuvant after appropriately aggressive curettage and burring can only be definitively demonstrated with a prospective, randomized, multi-center trial. Until such evidence becomes available, the use of adjuvant ethanol offers a compromise between higher toxicity adjuvants and no chemical adjuvant at all.
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Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that is activated by integrin clustering. There are limited data regarding the functional role of FAK in ovarian cancer migration and invasion. In the current study, FAK expression was evaluated in ovarian cell lines (nontransformed and cancer), 12 benign ovarian samples, and in 79 invasive epithelial ovarian cancers. All three ovarian cancer cell lines overexpressed FAK compared to the nontransformed cells. The dominant-negative construct called FAK-related nonkinase (FRNK) was introduced into two ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and 222). FRNK promoted FAK dephosphorylation without changing total FAK levels in these cell lines. Furthermore, FRNK decreased the in vitro invasive ability of ovarian cancer cells by 56 to 85% and decreased migration by 52 to 68%. FRNK-transfected cells also displayed poor cell spreading. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the surface epithelium from all benign ovarian samples had weak FAK expression. In contrast, 68% of invasive ovarian cancers overexpressed FAK. FAK overexpression was significantly associated with high tumor stage, high tumor grade, positive lymph nodes and presence of distant metastasis (all P values <0.05). FAK overexpression was also associated with shorter overall survival (P = 0.008). Multivariate analysis revealed that FAK overexpression and residual disease >1 cm were independent predictors of poor survival. These data indicate that FAK is overexpressed in most invasive ovarian cancers and plays a functionally significant role in ovarian cancer migration and invasion. Thus, FAK may be an important therapeutic target in ovarian carcinoma.
Expression of the telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit telomerase reverse transcriptase gene is associated with most human malignancies. Because telomerase reverse transcriptase is rarely expressed in normal tissue, its presence in pathologic specimens is considered a marker of transformed cells. Moreover, high levels of expression have been correlated with poor prognosis in many cancers. Although telomerase activity has been found in chondrosarcomas, its prognostic significance in these malignant cartilage tumors is unknown. Malignancy in cartilage-derived tumors is assessed routinely by histomorphologic grading, but even well differentiated, low-grade lesions can metastasize. This unpredictable behavior greatly complicates the clinical treatment of cartilage tumors, making better prognostic indicators desirable. To address this issue we used immunohistochemistry to compare telomerase reverse transcriptase expression in a collection of 61 tumors consisting of malignant chondrosarcomas of varying grade and benign enchondromas. Associated case histories were reviewed to test the hypothesis that telomerase reverse transcriptase expression levels correlated with subsequent tumor recurrence. We found that the relative abundance of telomerase reverse transcriptase-expressing cells correlated significantly with grade and recurrence. These findings indicate that telomerase reverse transcriptase immunostaining may be a useful adjunct to the conventional three-level grading system.
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PURPOSE: Although survival with a p53 missense mutation is highly variable, p53-null mutation is an independent adverse prognostic factor for advanced stage ovarian cancer. By evaluating ovarian cancer survival based upon a structure function analysis of the p53 protein, we tested the hypothesis that not all missense mutations are equivalent. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The p53 gene was sequenced from 267 consecutive ovarian cancers. The effect of individual missense mutations on p53 structure was analyzed using the International Agency for Research on Cancer p53 Mutational Database, which specifies the effects of p53 mutations on p53 core domain structure. Mutations in the p53 core domain were classified as either explained or not explained in structural or functional terms by their predicted effects on protein folding, protein-DNA contacts, or mutation in highly conserved residues. Null mutations were classified by their mechanism of origin. RESULTS: Mutations were sequenced from 125 tumors. Effects of 62 of the 82 missense mutations (76%) could be explained by alterations in the p53 protein. Twenty-three (28%) of the explained mutations occurred in highly conserved regions of the p53 core protein. Twenty-two nonsense point mutations and 21 frameshift null mutations were sequenced. Survival was independent of missense mutation type and mechanism of null mutation. CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesis that not all missense mutations are equivalent is, therefore, rejected. Furthermore, p53 core domain structural alteration secondary to missense point mutation is not functionally equivalent to a p53-null mutation. The poor prognosis associated with p53-null mutation is independent of the mutation mechanism.
OBJECTIVE: Tumor microvessel density, measured by CD31 immunohistochemistry, correlates with survival in patients with ovarian cancer. CA 125 is secreted by most ovarian cancers, and we have previously shown that the rate of decline of CA 125 is also predictive of ovarian cancer survival. Because increased tumor vascularity may allow metastases on one hand, while facilitating the delivery of chemotherapy on the other, we investigated the relationship of tumor microvessel density to preoperative CA 125, residual disease, and the initial response to treatment. METHODS: FIGO stage, grade, age, residual disease, and CD31 microvessel density count were correlated with consecutive patients (n = 202) diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer who met entry criteria. The relationship of CD31 staining to preoperative CA 125, and the rate of decline in CA 125 (slope) as a measure of initial response to therapy, was also evaluated based on complete CA 125 data. Spearman correlation and the Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for bivariate analyses. Linear and logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: There were 21 stage I, 14 stage II, 125 stage III, and 42 stage IV patients diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer included in the study. More than half (N = 126) of the patients were optimally cytoreduced. Elevated microvessel density was associated with advanced stage of disease (P = 0.0453), grade (P = 0.0002), and an increased amount of residual disease (P = 0.0144). CA 125 values were higher in patients with residual disease versus patients without residual disease (P = 0.0357), and the decline in the CA 125 (slope) was less steep in patients without residual disease versus patients with residual disease (P = 0.0003). However, the initial response to chemotherapy was unrelated to the microvessel density count as measured by CD31 antibody staining (P = 0.7911). In multivariate analyses, CD31 counts remained significant in relationship to grade. Nonideal slopes, indicating decreased response, were associated with increasing age (P = 0.0008) and residual disease (P = 0.0035). CONCLUSION: Elevated ovarian cancer microvessel density count is related to advanced stage and grade of disease, and compromised potential for cytoreduction. Residual disease is associated with higher CA 125 levels and faster CA 125 decline rates. The rate of decline of CA 125 during the initial response to treatment cannot be predicted based on CD31 counts, confirming a complex relationship between tumor vascularity, metastasis, and response to treatment.
Antibodies directed against alpha-inhibin have been previously reported as staining both sex cord-stromal neoplasms as well as adrenal cortical tumors. This relatively restricted immunoreactivity pattern is useful in the assessment of retroperitoneal masses, especially in a setting of limited tissue (e.g., needle biopsy). However, no study to date has evaluated alpha-inhibin immunoreactivity in soft-tissue neoplasms, which frequently enter the differential diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses. We investigate the incidence of alpha-inhibin staining in a variety of soft-tissue neoplasms by using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 282 previously classified soft-tissue neoplasms with anti-alpha-inhibin (Serotec, 1:75). A modified avidin-biotin complex method was used after heat-induced epitope retrieval. Cytoplasmic granular staining was considered positive. Of the 282 tumors studied, a total of 8 (2.8%) demonstrated positive staining with anti-alpha-inhibin antibody. These included 4 of 25 liposarcomas (16%), 2 of 18 angiosarcomas (11%), 1 of 48 lipomas (2.1%), and 1 of 1 rhabdomyoma (100%). Negative staining was noted among hemangiomas (0/28), schwannomas (0/32), leiomyomas (0/16), fibrosarcomas (0/2), fibromas (0/11), dermatofibromas (0/9), neurofibromas (0/6), synovial sarcomas (0/15), rhabdomyosarcomas (0/10), Triton tumors (0/2), and malignant fibrous histiocytomas (0/59). We conclude that rare soft-tissue tumors, especially those exhibiting either lipomatous or vascular differentiation, demonstrate alpha-inhibin immunoreactivity. These findings re-emphasize the need for a well-construed antibody panel when immunohistochemical methods are employed in the evaluation of retroperitoneal neoplasms. However, the rarity of alpha-inhibin expression by soft-tissue neoplasms provides further support for its overall specificity as a marker of adrenal cortical differentiation in the biopsy evaluation of a retroperitoneal mass.
PURPOSE: p21 is a direct p53 response gene. Although several studies have correlated p21 and p53 expression, only one has evaluated p21 expression as a function of sequenced p53 gene mutation. We hypothesize that such an analysis may be useful in prognosticating outcome for individuals diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: DNA from the primary ovarian cancers of 267 patients was studied. p53 mutations were directly sequenced. Two percent or greater nuclear staining with WAF1/CIP1 monoclonal antibody was determined by a hazard ratio analysis to constitute positive p21 expression. RESULTS: Positive p21 nuclear staining occurred more frequently in p53 wild-type ovarian tumors than tumors found to have a p53 mutation (P = 0.001). Positive p21 staining conferred an overall survival advantage (P = 0.02). p21 expression in cancers with p53 missense mutations was not prognostic but did show a strong trend toward significance in the wild-type p53 subset (P = 0.056). Surprisingly, positive p21 staining reflected compromised survival for individuals with p53-null ovarian cancers (P = 0.005). The mean expression level for p21-positive stains in the wild-type group was greater than in null p53 cancers (23 versus 11%; P = 0.001). A Cox multivariable analysis revealed p21 to be a strong independent prognostic factor in p53-null ovarian cancer (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: p21 expression is closely related to sequenced p53 mutations. This is the first study of positive p21 staining as an independent poor prognostic factor in p53-null ovarian cancer. A dual role for p21 activity, dependent on levels of expression, appears to explain these paradoxical results and is consistent with a complex model for regulation of p21.