1/6. Sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma: ultrastructural and immunohistochemical evidence of neuroectodermal origin.The authors report a case of sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma in a 37-year-old man, which was located in the anterior skull base and extended to the right nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. The tumor was surgically resected twice, but it could not be removed completely. Microscopically, it was mainly composed of primitive cell nests within a moderately cellular stroma. The components of squamous cell epithelia with focal teratoid appearance and adenocarcinomatous differentiation were observed. There were many rhabdomyoblasts scattered in the nests and stroma. Ultrastructurally, the primitive cells had many neural processes with parallel microtubules, resembling olfactory neuroblastoma. Rhabdomyoblasts showed various degrees of skeletal muscle differentiation. Some of the stromal spindle cells had actin filaments with dense patches and dense core granules. Immunohistochemically, the primitive cells were positive for epithelial markers, neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin, and myogenic regulatory proteins. The rhabdomyoblasts showed immunoreactivity for myoid markers, cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, and synaptophysin. Most of the stromal spindle cells were positive for smooth muscle actin, neuron-specific enolase and synaptophysin. The immunohistochemical and ultrastructural findings suggest that primitive cells had the most primitive phenotype of placodes, and support the possibility that sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma is essentially a neuroectodermal tumor with divergent differentiation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/6. Pigmented intraosseous odontogenic carcinoma of the maxilla: a pediatric case report and differential diagnosis.We report a pigmented intraosseous odontogenic carcinoma of the maxilla occurring in a 6-year-old Japanese boy. Grossly, the tumor showed solid, gray-yellow, and markedly pigmented appearance. histology showed neoplastic growths of atypical epithelial cells that occasionally contained melanin pigments. melanocytes with dendritic processes were often found in the tumor cell clusters, and solitary or aggregated melanophages were scattered within the dense fibrovascular stroma. The tumor cells were diffusely positive for cytokeratins and epithelial membrane antigen, and focally positive for vimentin, neuron specific enolase, neurofilament protein, carcinoembryonic antigen, and amelogenin. Ultrastructural studies showed well-developed intercellular junctions, mainly desmosomes, and glycogen particles. In addition, some tumor cells contained melanosomes and/or a few neurosecretory granules. We consider that the present tumor suggests a close association of ectoderm, mesenchyma, and neuroectoderm in embryogenesis of the tooth, and can raise a diagnostic confusion with melanotic neuroectodermal tumor.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/6. Cerebellar degeneration and autoimmunity to zinc-finger proteins of the cerebellum.The serum of a patient with subacute cerebellar dysfunction was used to probe a cDNA expression library and isolate two genes: Zic1 (zinc-finger of the cerebellum) and Zic4. The patient had intrathecal synthesis of Zic antibodies, suggesting that the Zic proteins were autoantigens of the neurologic disorder. The Zic proteins are involved in cerebellar development and are reported as being preferentially expressed by medulloblastomas. It was found that the expression of Zic proteins is enriched in, but not limited to, medulloblastomas and primitive neuroectodermal tumors.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/6. A poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma (SYT/SSX1) expresses neuroectodermal markers: a xenografts and in vitro culture study.Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a neoplasm that poses diagnostic problems, due to its histologic heterogeneity. The poorly differentiated variant, in particular, may be histologically indistinguishable from other small round cell tumors. Detection of the synovial sarcoma-associated t(X;18) or SYT-SSX fusion transcripts may be necessary to confirm the diagnosis of SS in difficult cases. Most of SS carry a t(X;18) in about one third of cases as the sole cytogenetic abnormality. We evaluated a case of poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma and their derived tumors in nude mice xenografts and cell cultures. We used a panel of antibodies (including those to intermediate filament, nerve-sheath associated markers, and neuronal and neuroectodermal related antigens) to better establish the immunophenotype, supported by the ultrastructural evaluation. The tumor exhibited the distinctive cytogenetic abnormality t(X;18), together with a der(1)t(1;22)(p36;q12). Present results show that this poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma not only expresses conventional biologic and genetical markers for SS but also neuroectodermal features when transplanted into nude mice and cultured in vitro.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/6. Primary intestinal aspergillosis after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell rescue.Primary invasive aspergillosis of the gut is a rare event and is associated with high mortality. We report for the first time on a patient who had isolated aspergillosis of the small bowel after autologous stem cell transplantation. Diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis of the gut was based on abdominal pain, galactomannan antigenemia and isolation of aspergillus fumigatus from the stool and was later confirmed by pathohistologic examination. No other site of invasive aspergillosis was evident. The patient was successfully treated with early surgery and combination antifungal therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/6. Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the median nerve. Case report with cytogenetic analysis.The authors describe a malignant peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) that originated in the median nerve in an elderly adult. After the diagnosis was made by biopsy, the patient underwent radical local resection with interpositional vein grafting of the brachial artery. The tumor had the typical appearance of a primitive neural tumor with small, round cells forming rosettes. It stained positively for both the Ewing's sarcoma/peripheral PNET antigen (HBA-71) and neuron-specific enolase, confirming its neural origin. Ultrastructural examination revealed dense core granules and suggested neural differentiation of the neoplasm. cytogenetic analysis suggested a chromosome (11;22) translocation typical of peripheral PNET. Early reports consisted of tumors arising solely in peripheral nerves, but recent series have focused mainly on tumors arising in the soft tissues other than nerves. There are no other cases of true PNET of peripheral nerve in the modern literature that have been fully characterized by immunohistochemical, ultrastructural, and cytogenetic criteria. Although peripheral PNETs occur more commonly in children, this unusual neoplasm should be considered in the differential diagnosis of peripheral nerve neoplasms in adults. early diagnosis is desirable because of its aggressive nature and poor outcome.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = antigen (Clic here for more details about this article) |