Glial choristoma of the ventral part of the tongue: first report in an elderly patient.

INTRODUCTION: The aims of this report are to illustrate the first case of glial and adipose tissue choristoma at the ventral part of the tongue in an elderly patient, to discuss the possible differential diagnoses and to speculate about its pathogenesis. CASE REPORT: A 65-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with a swelling at the base of the tongue. MRI revealed an oval lesion with indistinct borders without contrast enhancement. The patient underwent surgical complete excision and grossly, the specimen consisted of a gray-white mass measuring 25 mm in its great diameter. Microscopically the lesion contained fibrocollagenous stroma, mature adipose tissue and mature astrocytes. In the absence of cellular atypia, mitoses and necrosis a diagnosis of adipose and glial choristoma was performed. The patient is healthy 18 months postoperatively. DISCUSSION: Choristomas are cohesive tumor-like masses histologically composed by normal tissue occurring in an unusual anatomical location and mainly affecting children during the first years of life. Glial choristomas are considered malformations of the central nervous system and their localization in the tongue is exceptional. However they carry a favourable prognosis so it is of paramount importance to histologically diagnose them correctly.

Role of biopsy in low-grade laryngeal chondrosarcoma: report of two cases.

Laryngeal chondrosarcomas are rare tumours that account for less than 1% of all sarcomas and originate principally from the crycoid cartilage. We report two cases: the former arising from thyroid cartilage in an 85-year-old male presenting with a palpable neck mass and hoarseness, dyspnoea and dysphagia; the other in a 54-year-old male with a mass growing from crycoid cartilage, who underwent biopsy followed by total laryngectomy. We discuss the peculiarity of the site of origin and the role of biopsy, the clinical presentation of the former case and the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of the latter. Since it is a rare form of sarcoma arising in the larynx, we discuss the role of biopsy as a crucial although still controversial diagnostic tool.

A solitary polypoid gastric metastasis 20 years after renal cell carcinoma: an event to be considered, and a brief review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of gastric metastasis is 2.6%. Although all primary neoplasms can metastasize to the stomach, most originate from melanoma or breast and lung cancer. Their most common endoscopic appearance is a "volcano-like" polypoid mass covered by normal mucosa that may show a central ulceration. Renal cell carcinoma, clear cell type, is known to spread hematogenously, and isolated metastasis to the stomach is a rare event. CASE PRESENTATION: In this report, we describe a gastric recurrence of RCC, clear-cell type, in a 80-year-old patient who had undergone nephrectomy 20 years before. We also performed a brief review of the literature to update the number of cases described to date. CONCLUSION: Metastatic involvement of the stomach should be suspected in any patient with a previous history of renal cell carcinoma, clear cell type, presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms, even if many years after nephrectomy. The peculiarity of our case is due to the very late presentation of the gastric metastasis. Only two cases of very late gastric metastases from RCC, clear cell type, have been described in the literature, to date.

Thrombospondin-1 is downregulated by anoxia and suppresses tumorigenicity of human glioblastoma cells.

Angiogenesis, the sprouting of new capillaries from preexisting blood vessels, results from a disruption of the balance between stimulatory and inhibitory factors. Here, we show that anoxia reduces expression of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a natural inhibitor of angiogenesis, in glioblastoma cells. This suggests that reduced oxygen tension can promote angiogenesis not only by stimulating the production of inducers, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, but also by reducing the production of inhibitors. This downregulation may significantly contribute to glioblastoma development, since we show that an increase in TSP-1 expression is sufficient to strongly suppress glioblastoma cell tumorigenicity in vivo.

Identification of the putative brain tumor antigen BF7/GE2 as the (de)toxifying enzyme microsomal epoxide hydrolase.

Malignant gliomas are the main cause of death from primary brain tumors. Despite surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, patients have a median survival of less than a few years; therefore, it is clearly imperative to investigate new ways of treatment. The development of new therapeutic strategies for brain tumors is dependent on a better understanding of the differences between normal and tumoral brain cells. Our group had described previously a Mr 48,000 antigen defined by reactivity with two monoclonal antibodies (GE2 and BF7) obtained by immunization of mice with human glioblastoma cells. Here, we describe the identification of the GE2/BF7 antigen as microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEH), a drug-metabolizing enzyme that is involved both in toxification and detoxification of carcinogens. We initially used immunoaffinity purification using GE2 and BF7 and analyzed the purified proteins by microsequencing. Edman degradation identified 15 amino acids of the NH2-terminal sequence that were 100% identical to mEH. To further confirm the identity of the BF7/GE2 antigen as mEH, we showed that the protein immunopurified with GE2 and BF7 was recognized by an anti-mEH antibody and that in vitro and in vivo synthesized human mEH is recognized by BF7 and GE2 antibodies. Furthermore, anti-mEH antibody recognizes an antigen expressed both in gliomas and reactive astrocytes, as do BF7 and GE2. Finally, we demonstrate that in contrast to what has been reported in rat embryo fibroblasts, p53 does not regulate mEH mRNA expression in glioma cells.

Genetic instability leads to loss of both p53 alleles in a human glioblastoma.

Little is known about the relationship between genetic recombination mechanisms and loss of tumour suppressor genes in solid tumours. Here, we demonstrate deletion and truncation of both p53 alleles in a primary human glioblastoma and a derived cell line as the combined result of a t(17;20) reciprocal translocation and a 1.1 Mbp genomic deletion on chromosome 17p, starting in intron 4 of the p53 gene and ending at the telomeric CA-repeat marker D17S960. These results (i) suggest that genetic instability can lead to loss of tumour suppressor gene function in solid cancers, (ii) provide mapping of one such recombination event at the nucleotide level, and (iii) establish the orientation of the p53 gene on chromosome 17 as: centromere 5'-3'-telomere.

Evaluation of nucleolar organizer region-associated proteins in endometrial pathology.

In the current study the argyrophil staining technique for NOR proteins (Ag-NORs) has been performed on cases of different endometrial lesions, trying to find an aid in differentiating atypical hyperplasia from well differentiated carcinoma in biopsy specimens. We conclude that the Ag-NOR count, even though in endometrial carcinoma is significantly exceeding that of atypical hyperplastic endometrium, could be a misleading discriminator, because of a wide overlap of values in individual cases.

[An in-vitro test procedure for evaluating dental restoration systems. 2. Toothbrush/toothpaste abrasion and chemical degradation]. / In-vitro-Testverfahren zur Evaluation dentaler Restaurationssysteme. 2. Zahnbürsten-/Zahnpastaabrasion und chemische Degradation.

The development of an in-vitro test for evaluation of dental restorative systems comprised primarily the construction of a chewing simulator, which was able to produce occlusal mechanical load and thermal cycling. This machine was described in a previous publication. Additionally, chemical disintegration and toothbrush/toothpaste abrasion have to be included in the cycle. The aim of the present study was to develop appropriate test methods to simulate the two letter parameters and to integrate these methods in the in-vitro test cycle. The results indicated, that the toothbrush/toothpaste abrasion did not show any significant effect in the occlusal contact area. Chemical cycling induced a generalized swelling of the composite samples and a modified wear curve. The toothbrush/toothpaste abrasion led to a rough composite surface in the contact-free area.

[An in vitro test procedure for evaluating dental restoration systems. 1. A computer-controlled mastication simulator]. / In-vitro-Testverfahren zur Evaluation Dentaler Restaurationssysteme. 1. Computergesteuerter Kausimulator.

This article describes the development and testing of a computer-controlled chewing simulator which is able to simulate the wear mechanisms and temperature changes that can occur in the mouth. It was further evaluated if the opposing cusps used in this chewing simulator should be metallic or if natural enamel was preferential. The results indicated that the machine fulfilled the parameters concerning chewing motion and thermal changes reported in the literature. Furthermore it was shown that natural enamel cusps must be used as the opposing dentition. The chewing simulator will form a part of an in-vitro test, which will allow the evaluation of dental restorative systems under clinically relevant conditions.