Clonal nature of sclerosing polycystic adenosis of salivary glands demonstrated by using the polymorphism of the human androgen receptor (HUMARA) locus as a marker

Sclerosing polycystic adenosis (SPA) is a recently described, rare lesion of the salivary glands that bears a resemblance to epithelial proliferative lesions of the breast. The true nature of the lesion is unknown, but up to now it has been generally believed to represent a pseudoneoplastic sclerosing and inflammatory process. However, local recurrence developed in about one-third of the cases. Superimposed dysplastic changes ranging from low-grade dysplasia to carcinoma in situ were described in SPA. Although no metastases-related and/or disease-related patient deaths were documented, these clinical and histopathologic features raise the possibility that SPA might represent a neoplastic lesion. Polymorphism of the human androgen receptor locus is most frequently used to assess whether the pattern of X-chromosome inactivation is random or nonrandom, the latter strongly indicating clonality. In this study, the assay was applied to tissue from 12 examples of SPA. Three cases (males) were noninformative and 3 cases (females) could not be analyzed owing to poor quality of DNA, but all the remaining 6 lesions satisfied the criteria for monoclonality. We therefore conclude that the findings in the present study are further supporting evidence that SPA is a neoplasm, and not just a reactive process.     

Survivin inhibits apoptosis induced by TRAIL, and the ratio between survivin and TRAIL receptors is predictive of recurrent disease in neuroblastoma

Purpose

Novel treatment strategies for high-risk and disseminated neuroblastoma (NB) are actively sought because of the dismal prognosis of advanced stage disease. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a recently identified member of the tumor necrosis factor family. TRAIL is capable of inducing apoptosis in multiple tumor cell types, with little or no cytotoxicity against normal cells.

Experimental Design

We examined the activation and regulation of TRAIL-induced apoptosis in several human NB cell lines. The effect of TRAIL was examined in the context of TRAIL receptor (TRAIL-R) and survivin (an antiapoptotic protein) expression in the cell lines. The ratio of survivin/TRAIL-R messenger RNA was determined and evaluated as a marker of recurrent disease in patients with NB.

Results

TRAIL induced apoptotic cell death of NB with variable sensitivities among the cell lines tested. Compared with a sensitive cell line (early passage NB16), the resistant cell lines (NB7 and late passage NB16) expressed lesser amounts of the death-inducing TRAIL-R1 and R2, and greater levels of survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis. TRAIL sensitivity was enhanced in resistant cell lines by treating with etoposide that concomitantly increased TRAIL-R expression and diminished survivin expression. Survivin overexpression in a TRAIL-sensitive NB line (early passage NB16) rendered it less sensitive to treatment with TRAIL. Conversely, inhibiting survivin expression in NB3 by antisense oligonucleotides enhanced TRAIL sensitivity. A high survivin/TRAIL-R ratio accurately predicted risk for recurrent disease in primary tumor specimens tested.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that TRAIL therapy in combination with specific chemotherapeutic agents may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for NB. The cell's sensitivity to TRAIL is at least partially governed by both TRAIL-R and survivin expression, whereas the ratio between these 2 factors appears to have prognostic value in patients with this disease.     

Maxillary sinus metastasis of renal cell carcinoma

Paranasal sinuses and nose metastasis are very uncommon tumors, about 50 have been reported. Renal cell carcinoma is the primary neoplasm which most frequently metastasizes in the nasosinusal region, followed by breast and lung. Symptoms are unspecific, but the epistaxis constitutes the most common sign due to the significant vascularizations of the tumor. Prognosis is poor. The survival rate fluctuates between 15-30% at 5 years. Surgery is the elective treatment.     

Didelphic uterus coexisting with bladder exstrophy

Congenital anomalies of structures originating from Mullerian ducts are important gynecological problem. They often coexist with malformations of urinary tract. In this report we describe the case of 31 year old women with didelphus and bladder extrophy. The surgical treatment consisted on transabdominal total hysterectomy due to endometriosis IV (rAFS) narrowing ureteroenterostomy.