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E Prete

Publications and source records attributed to E Prete.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis and Muir-Torre syndrome linked to compound biallelic constitutional MYH gene mutations.

Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis and Muir-Torre syndrome linked to compound biallelic constitutional MYH gene mutations.Peculiar dermatologic manifestations are present in several heritable gastrointestinal disorders. Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS) is a genodermatosis whose peculiar feature is the presence of sebaceous gland tumors associated with visceral malignancies. We describe one patient in whom multiple sebaceous gland tumors were associated with early onset colon and thyroid cancers and attenuated polyposis coli. Her family history was positive for colonic adenomas. She had a daughter presenting with yellow papules in the forehead region developed in the late infancy. Skin and visceral neoplasms were tested for microsatellite instability and immunohistochemical status of mismatch repair (MMR), APC and MYH proteins. The proband colon and skin tumors were microsatellite stable and showed normal expression of MMR proteins. Cytoplasmic expression of MYH protein was revealed in colonic cancer cells. Compound heterozygosity due to biallelic mutations in MYH, R168H and 379delC, was identified in the proband. The 11-year-old daughter was carrier of the monoallelic constitutional mutation 379delC in the MYH gene; in the sister, the R168H MYH gene mutation was detected. This report presents an interesting case of association between MYH-associated polyposis and sebaceous gland tumors. These findings suggest that patients with MTS phenotype that include colonic polyposis should be screened for MYH gene mutations.

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli↗

Interlaboratory reproducibility of semiautomated cell cycle analysis of flow cytometry DNA-histograms obtained from fresh material of 1,295 breast cancer cases.

Conflicting prognostic results have been published as to the DNA variables, such as DNA ploidy, DNA index, and % S-phase cells for breast cancer patients. These variables can be obtained by interpreting DNA histograms by cell cycle analysis. Explanations for these conflicting results might be found on the level of the interpretation of the DNA histograms. In a previous study, the semi automated cell cycle analysis computer program MultiCycle (Phoenix Flow Systems, San Diego, CA) showed high intralaboratory reproducibility. However, what types of DNA histograms may cause disagreements was still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the interlaboratory reproducibility of MultiCycle-based cell cycle analysis of 1,295 flow cytometric DNA histograms derived from fresh frozen breast cancer material and to clarify potential sources of interobserver variation when analyzing DNA histograms. DNA ploidy classification into diploid, hyperdiploid, tetraploid, hypertetraploid, and multiploid showed an interlaboratory agreement of 94% (kappa value = 0.92). The 6% discrepancies (n = 74) were caused by tetraploid peaks, as established in one laboratory, which shifted outside the tetraploid region on reanalysis by the other laboratory (37%), shoulders sometimes interpreted as peaks (24%), small peaks not always recognized as such (24%), fitting failures (10%), and overlooking of tetraploid peaks (5%). Furthermore, the cell cycle analysis variables showed variable reproducibility. The % S-phase cells of the first, second, and third cell cycle showed overall a moderate reproducibility (0.62 < or = R < or = 0.79), but the average % S-phase cells and the average aneuploid % S-phase cells were more reproducible with correlation coefficients of 0.89 and 0.81, respectively. The coefficient of variation of the G0/G1 peak of the first cell cycle, the DNA indices and the % diploid cells were highly reproducible (R > or = 0.94), and the % G2/M-phase cells of the first, second, and third cell cycle were poorly reproducible (0.22 < or = R < or = 0.68). When a cut-point was used at the mean value of 7% for the average % S-phase cells, the number of "threshold discrepancy cases" was 6%. Sources of variation for cell cycle analysis were variations in the debris correction procedures, disagreement about the modes of the aneuploid peaks, disagreement about small peaks, shoulders sometimes interpreted as peaks, and overlooking of tetraploid peaks.

Autoanalysis↗

Androgen-deprived prostate adenocarcinoma: evaluation of treatment-related changes versus no distinctive treatment effect with a Bayesian belief network. A methodological approach.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and test a Bayesian belief network (BBN) for the identification of prostatic adenocarcinomas (PACs) with combination endocrine therapy (CET) changes from PACs with poor to no treatment CET effect and from untreated PACs. METHODS: A network was designed with a decision node containing three diagnostic alternatives (PAC with CET effect, PAC with poor to no treatment effect, and untreated PAC) and seven first-level evidence nodes for the diagnostic features: nuclear enlargement; frequency of prominent nucleoli; cell cytoplasm vacuolization; shrunken acini; individual infiltrating tumor cells; WHO prostate cancer pattern recognition, and amount of interstitial tissue stroma. Three prototype cases, one for each diagnostic alternative, were used to develop the BBN. The BBN performance was then evaluated in 40 prostatectomies for PAC, consisting of 20 CET treated and 20 untreated cases. RESULTS: The results obtained with the three prototypes showed that the network can identify the diagnostic alternatives with certainty when seven features are polled. When the performance was evaluated in the 40 PACs, the belief values were 1.0 or close to it in most of the cases (the value range is 0.0-1.0; the closer to 1.0, the greater the belief). Moreover, the BBN allowed an identification with high certainty of PACs with treatment-related changes from those either with poor to no treatment effect or untreated. CONCLUSIONS: A BBN for the evaluation of androgen-deprived PAC offers a descriptive classifier which is readily implemented and allows the use of descriptive, linguistic terms.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Effects of combination endocrine treatment on normal prostate, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and prostatic adenocarcinoma.

AIMS: To investigate the effect of combination endocrine treatment (CET) or luteinising hormone releasing hormone agonist and flutamide on non-neoplastic prostate, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and prostatic adenocarcinoma. METHODS: The morphology, including the mitotic activity, of 12 radical prostatectomies from patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma pretreated for three months with CET was evaluated in haematoxylin and eosin stained sections and compared with an untreated age and stage matched control group. RESULTS: A differential effect on the non-neoplastic prostate was observed. In fact, the transition zone of the treated prostate showed simplification of the glandular lobules: the ducts and acini were small without undulations of the epithelial border and with a prominent basal cell layer. Within the peripheral zone there was inconspicuous branching of the ducts and acini which looked dilatated and lined by flattened atrophic epithelium. Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia occurred in scattered ducts and acini in the peripheral zone of 10 of the 12 patients. The epithelial cell lining showed a prominent basal cell layer. A certain degree of secretory cell type stratification was always present. However, crowding was less evident than in the untreated prostate because of cytoplasmic clearing and enlargement as a result of coalescence of vacuoles. The treated adenocarcinomas had neoplastic acini which looked small and shrunken, and areas of individual infiltrating tumour cells separated by abundant interglandular connective tissue. The secretory cells of the nonneoplastic, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and prostatic adenocarcinoma lesions had inconspicuous nucleoli, nuclear shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and cytoplasmic clearing. Apoptotic bodies were easily identifiable in all the cell layers. The lumina were rich in macrophages, sloughed secretory cells with degenerative features, and apoptotic bodies. Mitoses were not observed in any of the treated non-neoplastic prostate, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, or prostatic adenocarcinomas, whereas the mitotic frequency increased from non-neoplastic prostate through prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia up to prostatic adenocarcinomas in the untreated specimens. CONCLUSIONS: CET before radical prostatectomy causes regressive epithelial changes together with enhanced apoptosis and blocked mitotic activity.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Up-date on quantitative grading systems and prognosis.

Several subjective grading systems have been proposed for different premalignant and malignant lesions with varying emphasis on the nuclear component. However, all subjective grading systems are prone to a significant degree of observer error because the subjective evaluation of nuclear features like size and staining density may be inaccurate and not reproducible. Therefore, quantitation-based methods are to be preferred to evaluate accurately the cell and its architectural features and to eliminate the subjective element of microscopy. The problems which have so far been considered and solved in some quantitation-based grading systems are as follows: 1. feature evaluation, selection and combination into indices and grading systems; 2. number of grades to be identified; 3. degree of certainty in the grading systems; 4. quality control and standardisation of the grading systems; 5. routine application of the grading systems and their efficacy in predicting tumour progression and/or regression (also in response to treatment); 6. current and future aims in researching new grading systems and improving the current ones. The solution of these problems has allowed the grading to be accurately evaluated; thus avoiding the poor reproducibility observed when features have been subjectively investigated.

Humans↗

Effect of microwave oven heating times on androgen receptor antigen retrieval from paraffin-embedded prostatic adenocarcinoma.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of microwave oven heating for antigen retrieval on the immunoreactivity of human prostate carcinoma androgen receptor (AR) in tissue sections. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were microwaved at 5-min intervals for a total of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 minutes at maximum power (700W). The monoclonal antibody F39.4.1 directed against human AR was used at a 1:10 dilution. Without microwave oven heating, prostatic tissue did not exhibit any AR immunoreactivity. Moderate positivity appeared after three 5-minute cycles of microwave heating. The intensity of immunoreactivity improved progressively with heating times of 20 and 25 min up to an optimum time of 30 minutes, when nuclear staining was most intense with the absence of background staining and without loss of morphological details. While antigen retrieval is effective in restoring antigenicity in a variety of setting, the length of time prostate tissue is exposed to microwave radiation is critical in order to obtain optimal AR immunostaining. AR immunostaining reliably permitted evaluation of the distribution and intensity of positively stained nuclei and the distinction of the various cell types in archival material.

Adenocarcinoma↗