Prognostic significance of cytochemical analysis of leukemic M2 blasts

Cytochemical analysis of leukemic blasts from 46 patients with acute myeloblastic M2 leukemia (according to the FAB classification) was performed before and after cytostatic therapy, and compared with findings obtained in 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Cytochemical findings for myeloperoxidase (MPO), Sudan black B, acid phosphatase and alpha-naphthyl-acetate esterase (ANAE) were related to the achievement of the first complete remission (CR),i.e. data were compared after the patients had been divided into CR and non-CR groups. The analysis clearly showed that a high proportion of myeloperoxidase- and, to a lesser extent, Sudan black B-positive blasts before treatment may have constituted a significantly unfavourable prognostic factor.     

Systemic fungal infections in immunocompromised patients

Opportunistic fungal infections are becoming more frequent complications during cancer therapy, after organ transplantation and in AIDS infections, especially after better control of bacterial infections in immunocompromised patients. Periods of prolonged neutropenia with neutrophil count less than 0.5 x 10(9)/L longer than 7 days, are the most important risk factors for the development of systemic fungal infections. Especially susceptible are the patients during treatment of acute leukemia, or after bone marrow transplantation. The most frequent causing agents of systemic fungal infections are Candida and Aspergillus species, than Cryptococcus neoformans and Mucor. Some other unusual species such Fusarium, Trichosporon, non-albicans Candida species of Candida are becoming more frequent, and is frequently resistant to conventional therapy. The difficulties in early and precise diagnosis of fungal infections, and the lack of adequate and efficient drugs are responsible for the high mortality of immunocompromised patients, even in potentially curable diseases. The recognition of risk factors, introduction of prophylactic measures, application of empirical antifungal therapy, are the procedures for the reduction of morbidity and mortality of invasive fungal infections. Fluconazole administration in prevention of systemic fungal infections, has become the standard approach, especially after bone marrow transplantation, while the oral itraconazole solution, has even more extended activity. Fluconazole appears successful also in the treatment of systemic Candidiasis. Conventional amphotericin-B is still the "gold standard" in the treatment of fungal infections. The new lipid formulations of amphotericin-B, intravenous itraconazole, has an identical efficacy, but are less toxic than conventional amphotericin-B. Several new promising agents are in the stage of clinical investigation like voriconazole, caspofungin, mycafungin and some other.     

Biochemical changes in the sublingual and submandibular glands after interruption of chorda tympani

The left chorda tympani nerve was interrupted through meatus acusticus externus in ten dogs. In total, 40 dog salivary glands (20 submandibular and 20 sublingual) innervated via chorda tympani were examined. Twenty glands (10 submandibular and 10 sublingual) on the left side were deprived of parasympathetic innervation by chordectomy, whereas contraleteral glands, on the right side, served as controls. Biochemical analysis showed that the interruption of chorda tympani did not cause any significant changes in the concentrations of eight enzymes investigated, i.e. lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, amylase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyltransferase and creatine kinase. There were no significant changes in the concentrations of most important extracellular ions (sodium, potassium, chloride and phosphorus) in the right glands, but the loss of parasympathetic innervation in the left glands was found to cause a statistically significant decrease in the concentration of potassium as intracellular cation and of phosphorus as extracellular anion.     

Selenium in serum as a possible parameter for assessment of breast disease

Summary The level of selenium in blood serum was determined in 33 patients with breast cancer, 13 women with verified mastopathy, and 43 healthy subjects from the Zagreb area. In the second and third quartiles the values of selenium obtained from sick subjects (41–58µg/L) and healthy subjects (73–89µg/L) differed significantly (P < 0.001). In the group of subjects with mastopathy, serum selenium in the same way ranged from 67–76µg/L and did not differ significantly from the group of healthy women, but differed significantly from the patients with breast cancer (P < 0.001).Such a result leads to the conclusion that determination of selenium in the blood could be used as a non-invasive diagnostic parameter in clinical assessment of malignant breast disease.     

Stomatin‐like protein 2 overexpression in papillary thyroid carcinoma is significantly associated with high‐risk clinicopathological parameters and BRAFV600E mutation

Stomatin‐like protein 2 (SLP‐2), a member of the stomatin protein family, has emerged as a potential molecular hallmark of tumor progression in several human malignancies. The aim of this study was to analyze SLP‐2 expression pattern in benign and malignant thyroid tumors (n = 210) and to examine its relationship with clinicopathological parameters and BRAFV600E mutation in thyroid cancer. SLP‐2 immunohistochemical expression was not detected in benign adenomas and was absent/weak in follicular and anaplastic carcinomas. High expression levels of SLP‐2, found only in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), particularly in the classical variant, were significantly associated with adverse clinicopathological parameters: lymph node metastasis (p = 0.002), extrathyroid invasion (p < 0.001), pT status (p < 0.001), and advanced tumor stage (p = 0.001). Additional genotyping of PTC cases for the BRAFV600E mutation revealed for the first time a close relation between SLP‐2 overexpression and the presence of BRAF mutation (p = 0.02) with high positive rates of lymph node metastasis (70%) and extrathyroid invasion (80%) in these cases. The significant association of SLP‐2 overexpression with unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics and BRAFV600E mutation indicates that SLP‐2 may have a role in aggressiveness of BRAF‐mutated PTC and that SLP‐2 evaluation could be clinically useful in identification of high‐risk PTC patients.