Pathogenic microbes may colonize the female genital tract via sexual transmission and cause health issues like inflammation or malignancy, summarized as sexually transmitted disease (STD). A major ...representative of such pathogens is
Trichomonas vaginalis
(T.v.), whose role in the etiology of cervical cancer remains elusive. Traditional morphologic screening of cervical smears is able to detect T.v., although its identification may be complicated by look-alikes such as degenerated granulocytes and basal cells. In addition, the parasite’s endosymbiont
Mycoplasma hominis
(M.h.) cannot be detected in the Pap test. This investigation was aimed at designing a PCR-based method to detect specific pathogenic germs by using cervical cytology slides to overcome morphologic uncertainty and increase diagnostic accuracy. To test our molecular screening method on T.v., M.h., and HPV in archival smears, we elaborated a multiplex PCR approach based on microdissection. This assay was applied to a minute quantity of starting material which harbored or was suspected to harbor T.v.; the resulting isolated DNA was used for subsequent molecular analyses of T.v., M.h., and HPV. We clarified the diagnosis of genital T.v. infection in 88 and 1.8% of morphologically suspicious and T.v.-negative cases, respectively. We also revealed a tendency of M.h. co-infection in high-risk HPV cases. In conclusion, a microdissection-based approach to detect pathogenic microbes such as T.v., HPV, and M.h. is a molecular tool easy to implement and may help to better understand the interactivity of these germs with respect to pathogenesis.
Oesophageal adenocarcinomas often show resistances to chemotherapy (CTX), therefore, it would be of high interest to better understand the mechanisms of resistance. We examined the expression of ...heat-shock proteins (HSPs) and glucose-regulated proteins (GRPs) in pretherapeutic biopsies of oesophageal adenocarcinomas to assess their potential role in CTX response.
Ninety biopsies of locally advanced adenocarcinomas before platin/5-fluorouracil (FU)-based CTX were investigated by reverse phase protein arrays (RPPAs), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative RT-PCR.
CTX response strongly correlated with survival (P=0.001). Two groups of tumours with specific protein expression patterns were identified by RPPA: Group A was characterised by low expression of HSP90, HSP27 and p-HSP27((Ser15, Ser78, Ser82)) and high expression of GRP78, GRP94, HSP70 and HSP60; Group B exhibited the inverse pattern. Tumours of Group A were more likely to respond to CTX, resulting in histopathological tumour regression (P=0.041) and post-therapeutic down-categorisation from cT3 to ypT0-T2 (P=0.040). High HSP60 protein (IHC) and mRNA expression were also associated with tumour down-categorisation (P=0.016 and P=0.004).
Our findings may enhance the understanding of CTX response mechanisms, might be helpful to predict CTX response and might have translational relevance as they highlight the role of potentially targetable cellular stress proteins in the context of CTX response.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a disease with different clinical presentations and a wide spectrum of organ involvements. Rarely Langerhans cell histiocytosis can involve the gastrointestinal tract ...of adult patients. A case of infiltration of gastric mucosa by Langerhans cell histiocytosis is presented. The neoplastic nature of this infiltrate is underlined by the detection of a BRAF-V600E-mutation. Additionally, an overview of the so far 5 cases published in the English literature is provided. The published clinical experience indicates a benign curse of the disease.
Electron microscopic studies of the viruses in two hot springs (85 degrees C, pH 1.5-2.0, and 75-93 degrees C, pH 6.5) in Yellowstone National Park revealed particles with twelve different ...morphotypes. This diversity encompassed known viruses of hyperthermophilic archaea, filamentous Lipothrixviridae, rod-shaped Rudiviridae, and spindle-shaped Fuselloviridae, and novel morphotypes previously not observed in nature. Two virus types resembled head-and-tail bacteriophages from the families Siphoviridae and Podoviridae, and constituted the first observation of these viruses in a hydrothermal environment. Viral hosts in the acidic spring were members of the hyperthermophilic archaeal genus Acidianus.
A 69-year-old man presented for endoscopic examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract because of dysphagia for solid food and unintended weight loss. Several months before, he had noticed ...brownish-gray skin lesions in the neck, in the thorax and in both axillae. A dermatological consultant expressed the suspicion of a paraneoplastic disease. Endoscopic examination revealed an adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction as well as multiple small polyps in the middle and the lower thirds of the esophagus. Histological examination showed papilloma-like proliferations without atypia, which were diagnosed as acanthosis nigricans of the esophagus. After completion of the staging investigation regarding the cardiac carcinoma, combination chemotherapy was started because of the presence of liver metastases. Subsequently, partial regression of the carcinoma as well as of the dermal and esophageal lesions was noted. Acanthosis nigricans is a rare paraneoplastic disease of the esophagus. As an indicator lesion, its detection should prompt a search for a malignant tumor in the gastrointestinal tract.
BACKGROUND: Molecular testing for MGMT promoter methylation has become of clinical importance in the diagnostic assessment of malignant gliomas since test results may guide therapeutic decision ...making, in particular in elderly patients with glioblastoma. However, the patterns and extent of MGMT promoter methylation may vary from tumor to tumor, and standardized approaches for its routine diagnostic assessment are lacking. Thus, external quality assessment (EQA) measures are required to ensure accuracy and reproducibility of results across different laboratories. METHODS: We performed an interlaboratory comparison of MGMT promoter methylation analysis involving twenty-three academic institutions in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Two different test rounds were carried out, the first one using high molecular weight DNA extracted from frozen tissue samples of 20 tumors and the second one using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 16 tumors. All samples were centrally retrieved from the CNS tumor tissue bank at Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf. Each participating center evaluated the same set of samples using the locally established methods. Results were centrally collected, together with information on the individual assays and the number of tests carried out per year. RESULTS: Methylation specific-PCR was the most commonly used method at the participating centers. Other less common techniques included pyrosequencing of bisulfite-modified DNA, MethyQESD (methylation-quantification of endonuclease-resistant DNA), MLPA (Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification), and PCR-based fragment analysis. MGMT testing results showed a good overall concordance across the participating laboratories for those tumors that either had strongly methylated or clearly unmethylated MGMT promoter sequences. However, poor concordance was obtained for cases with only weak or partial MGMT promoter methylation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides an overview of the current practice of MGMT testing in glioma diagnostics in a large number of different institutions. The results underscore the importance of EQA measures to assure optimal quality and interlaboratory reproducibility of test results in order to avoid wrong treatment decisions. The assessment of tumors with only partialy or weakly methylated MGMT promoter sequences is problematic and may need to be improved by testing algorithms involving more than a single technique. SECONDARY CATEGORY: Clinical Neuro-Oncology.
We describe a novel virus, AFV1, of the hyperthermophilic archaeal genus
Acidianus. Filamentous virions are covered with a lipid envelope and contain at least five different proteins with molecular ...masses in the range of 23–130 kDa and a 20.8-kb-long linear double-stranded DNA. The virus has been assigned to the family
Lipothrixviridae on the basis of morphotypic characteristics. Host range is confined to several strains of
Acidianus and the virus persists in its hosts in a stable carrier state. The latent period of virus infection is about 4 h. Viral DNA was sequenced and sequence similarities were found to the lipothrixvirus SIFV, the rudiviruses SIRV1 and SIRV2, as well as to conjugative plasmids and chromosomes of the genus
Sulfolobus. Exceptionally for the linear genomes of archaeal viruses, many short direct repeats, with the sequence TTGTT or close variants thereof, are closely clustered over 300 bp at each end of the genome. They are reminiscent of the telomeric ends of linear eukaryal chromosomes.
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