Expression of lectin, interleukin-2 and histopathologic blood group binding sites in prostate cancer and its correlation with integrated optical density and syntactic structure analysis.

The binding of several biotinylated biologic probes was determined in sections of 20 surgical specimens of prostate cancer and of 21 biopsy specimens of hyperplastic prostate. Whereas neither the immunomodulatory, galactoside-specific lectin from Viscum album nor the human beta-galactoside-specific lectin (M(r) 14 kd) or its specific antibody discerned any remarkable differences, the lectin from Urtica dioica (UDA) and interleukin-2, the in vitro production of which is enhanced by this lectin, exhibited obvious preference for hyperplastic cells. In addition, the presence of binding sites for chemically synthesized blood group determinants was tested. Carcinoma cases revealed a higher percentage of binding of synthetic blood group trisaccharide H than hyperplasia cases. Due to these differences, diverse parameters, derived from measurement of integrated optical density (IOD) and from syntactic structure analysis, were correlated with the extent of binding of these biologic probes for the tumor cases. Primarily, parameters that are related to computation of a minimum spanning tree were significantly different in positive and negative cases for both UDA and interleukin-2. For the binding of blood group trisaccharide H the 5C exceeding rate, the 2CV deviation index and the distance of neighboring tumor cells with an IOD > 5 were clearly dissimilar. Our results thus suggest an extension of the panel of biologic probes for prostate cancer and substantiate the usefulness of correlations of binding of selected biologic probes to features derived from the assessment of IOD and syntactic structure analysis.

Alterations in human lung parenchyma after cytostatic therapy.

Chemotherapy does not only affect the viability of the tumor cell. It may also cause alterations in normal organs. Thus, tumor-free areas within human lung parenchyma of 63 surgical specimens of intrapulmonary metastases were analyzed to assess the extent of morphologic changes in response to previous cytostatic therapy. The material included 34 cases of sarcoma, 20 cases of germ cell tumors, 6 cases of hypernephroid carcinoma, two cases of mammary carcinoma and one case of metastatic melanoma. All patients had received cytostatic therapy in generally applied regimens for more than two years. Morphologic analysis was carried out by routine procedures. In addition to conventional staining procedures including HE, PAS, and Sirius stain, further tools were employed to extend the array of determined characteristics. To evaluate any changes in the tissue in order to specifically recognized carbohydrate structures, labeled neoglycoproteins or proteoglycans with specificity for endogenous receptors that bind to mannose, maltose, L-fucose, lactose, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, and heparin were used. A monoclonal antibody binding the HLA-DR receptor was also included in the study. As a control, sections of 20 cases with intrapulmonary metastases without exposure to previous cytostatic therapy were included. To address the further question whether cytostatic therapy may induces changes in tumor-free lung that show similarities to the organ in question, sections from 18 cases with tuberculosis and from 37 cases suffering from sarcoidosis were similarly examined. Focal interstitial fibrosis was seen in 28/63 (44%) of the patients receiving chemotherapy. In contrast, only 2/20 (10%) patients of the untreated group exhibited this alteration. An active fibrosis with proliferating smooth muscle cells was found in two cases, dysplastic pneumocytes in 10 cases (16%) in the group with cytostatic therapy, but in no cases in the untreated group. Expression of the HLA-DR receptor in the pneumocytes was observed in 27/63 cases (43%) of the cytostatic cohort, in 21/37 (57%) patients of the sarcoidosis cohort, in 15/18 (83%) patients of the tuberculosis cohort, and in 1/20 (5%) of the untreated patients. In contrast to sections from treated patients, binding of neoglycoproteins was low in the untreated cohort. Interestingly, similarities between the tuberculosis cohort and the cytostatic cohort were seen for receptors that are specific for fucose and lactose, respectively. The results suggest that long-lasting cytostatic therapy induces focal fibrosis in 40%-50% of the patients, mainly via unspecific interstitial inflammatory infiltrates. A hypersensitivity reaction or direct toxicity may less frequently lead to pathologic alterations.

Expression of transferrin- and interleukin-2-receptors, and HLA-DR in human lung carcinoma.

The expression of HLA-DR and of the receptors for transferrin and interleukin-2 was histochemically analyzed for 27 human lung carcinomas, 3 mesotheliomas, and 3 thymomas by use of the monoclonal antibodies CLONAB Tf-R, Il-2R, and LN3. In addition, a pan B-cell antibody (CD-19) and a pan T-cell antibody (CD3) were applied. The transferrin receptor was found to be expressed in all cases of adenocarcinoma, in 12/17 cases of epidermoid carcinoma, and in a similar percentage of the thymoma cases (2/3). The interleukin-2 receptor specific antibody stained positively only for 3 cases (1 mesothelioma, 1 adenocarcinoma, and 1 epidermoid carcinoma). The expression of HLA-DR could be demonstrated in a similar small percentage of adenocarcinoma and of epidermoid carcinoma, however in 2/3 cases of mesothelioma and thymoma, respectively. The CD-19 antibody stained negatively for all tumor cases, the pan T-antibody positive in 2/10 adenocarcinoma and in 1/3 thymoma. The data suggest that the transferrin receptor may play an important role in human lung tumor growth. In addition, it may be used as diagnostic aid for distinguishing mesothelioma from metastatic adenocarcinoma of lung into the pleura.

Microwave-assisted staining procedures in routine histopathology.

The use and practicability of microwave-assisted staining procedures in routine histopathology over more than three years has been evaluated. A domestic microwave oven was used to speed up the following staining procedures: Haematoxylin-Eosin (for frozen sections), Romanowsky-Giemsa, Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Ziehl-Neelson, Papanicolaou, Feulgen and Grocott--stain on buffered formalin fixed sections or cytologic smears. These staining procedures can be made highly reproducible providing; (1) Staining vessels are placed in the same position inside the oven; (2) Accurate timing in seconds is observed. Microwave-assisted staining procedures are equal to or even superior to those of the standard methods. Staining times can be reduced to 2%-10% of the conventional staining procedures. The basic staining protocols are presented.

Differentiation-related expression of epidermal growth factor receptors in human lung carcinoma demonstrated histochemically by biotinylated epidermal growth factor.

Biotin-labeled epidermal growth factor (EGF) was applied to routinely processed sections of 64 cases of human lung carcinoma as a histochemical tool for demonstrating EGF-specific receptors. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were deparaffinized and incubated with the labeled EGF (10 micrograms/ml) for 60 min at room temperature. The specific binding of the growth factor to its receptor was visualized by the avidin-biotin complex (ABC) technique. Positive binding capacities were obtained for the following cases: 15/16 epidermoid carcinoma; 13/15 adenocarcinoma; 2/11 large cell anaplastic carcinoma; 12/20 small cell anaplastic carcinoma; 0/11 normal lung tissue; 0/6 main bronchi; 0/1 hamartoma; 0/1 primary fibrosarcoma of lung. In addition, a strong positive reaction was seen for neutrophilic granulocytes present within the tumorous tissue. Data indicate that EGF receptors are frequently expressed in more differentiated carcinoma in comparison with anaplastic carcinoma of lung.

Combined morphometrical and syntactic structure analysis as tools for histomorphological insight into human lung carcinoma growth.

Histological sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue comprising 60 surgical specimens of human lung carcinoma were Feulgen stained. The histomorphological images were transferred to an automated image analysing system (VISIAC) and analysed as follows. The geometrical centers of tumor cell nuclei were defined as vertices, and the minimum spanning tree (MST) was calculated based on the two-dimensional distance between the vertices. Segmentation of the images was performed semiautomatically by interactive definition of nuclei of interest and automated detection of nuclear boundaries. Several morphometric features of tumor cell nuclei were measured including size, DNA-content (extinction), and form factor, and were set in relation to parameters of the MST. The following results were obtained: DNA-content and tumor cell nucleus size ('center cell') of different microscopic tumor growth patterns are related to the number of nearest neighboring cells. No relation was found in the neighboring (surrounding) cells. The different cell types of lung carcinoma, i.e., the different microscopic tumor textures expressed the relation of center cell features to the parameters of MST. A high amount of DNA content in branching points of the MST for epidermoid carcinoma may be interpreted as carcinoma growing in epidermoid textures tend to proliferate from tumor cell nuclei related to at least one neighboring cell. The opposite was found for large cell anaplastic carcinoma (no perceptible microscopic textures of the tumors) which showed the highest DNA content in tumor cell nuclei but which was not related to any neighboring cells. This technique allows analysis of growth centers and microenvironment conditions in human lung cancer in relation to tumor texture at the light microscopy level.

[Vertical transmission of hepatitis B in infancy by asymptomatic HBs-antigen positive mothers]. / Vertikal übertragene Säuglingshepatitis B bei asymptomatischer HBs-AG-positiver Mutter.

Two cases of Hepatitis B in the infant period are presented. Both mothers were chronic asymptomatic HBsAntigen Carriers at the time of delivery. The high frequency of the HBs Antigen in pregnant women in a pilot-study in our area forces us to examinate the serum of each pregnant for HBs Antigen as a routine examination. Extended immunological diagnostics for the other hepatitis B antigens are recommended by each HBs-Antigen positive women. The prophylactic use of hyperimmunserum-globulin by such risk newborns is discussed.

Grading of transitional cell tumours of the urinary tract by urinary cytology.

1122 cytological diagnoses have been made on 2500 Papanicolaou stained cytological slides from Patients with urothelial carcinomas. The cytological accuracy was 78% for G1 tumours, 94% for G2 and 96% for G3 carcinomas. A histologically diagnosed G1 carcinoma was cytologically G1 in 81% of cases, a G2 carcinoma was recognized in 64% and G3 carcinoma in 48%.

[Morphologic consideration of heart failure (author's transl)]. / Morphologische Aspekte der Herzinsuffizienz.

The left ventricle in left heart failure can be elliptical, spherical or funnel shaped. There is no firm correlation between the different shapes and the hemodynamics. Left ventricular failure results in dilatation, deformation and loss of funnel function of the left atrium. In more advanced stages of left ventricular failure the pulmonary veins become coiled, dilated and narrow stepwise instead of the normal harmonic narrowing to the periphery. The pulmonary parenchyma exhibits fibrosis and septal siderosis at that stage. Heart failure cells can be observed frequently. In later stages, when pulmonary arteries and the right ventricle is involved, secondary global heart failure develops. Right ventricular failure may lead to necrosis of liver cells with jaundice and elevated levels of liver specific enzyms. Primary global failure has no hemodynamic consequences on the pulmonary circulation, as long as left and right ventricular failure are of equal severity. If one form prevails, the clinical picture will be that of left or right ventricular failure respectively.

[Functional and morphological studies on diverticulosis of the large bowel]. / Funktionelle und morphologische Untersuchungen zur Divertikelerkrankung des Dickdarms.

In comparison to the normal colon, longitudinal and circular musculature in diverticular disease (DD) was investigated--regarding motility and morphology--and a comparative measurement between musculature and mucosa was also performed with following results: 1. Only the tenia in DD revealed a spastically contracted muscle. 2. There was a ribbon formation due to contraction only in tenias of DD, although there was hypertrophy in both muscle groups. 3. The longitudinal muscle in DD was found to be shortened.

Therapy of urothelial bladder tumors. Results of a retrospective study of 615 cases.

615 urothelial bladder tumors are evaluated retrospectively after reclassification of histological and cytological specimens according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (1973) and International Union Against Cancer (1974). The reason for a subdivision of the T1 category for exophytic noninfiltrating carcinomas is discussed. The importance of stage and grade is demonstrated as well as the different prognosis of patients with primary or recurrent tumors of the same T category. The results of the study demand a differentiated therapeutic regimen for urothelial bladder tumors.

[Animal experiments on the modification of fracture healing by growth hormone (STH)]. / Tierexperimentelle Untersuchungen über die Beeinflussbarkeit der Knochenbruchheilung durch Wachstumshormon (STH).

Human growth hormone seems to improve fracture healing. Using rat experiments, the clinical experiences of other authors were reviewed critically. Examination of metabolic parameters showed no useful results. Measurement of bone length and circumference and comparison of radiographs, scintigraphs, and histologic examinations indicated positive results with regard to the improvemnt of osseous consolidation when influenced by growth hormone.