Subject(s)
Leishmaniasis, Visceral/diagnosis , Still's Disease, Adult-Onset/complications , Adult , Bone Marrow/pathology , Cyclosporine/administration & dosage , Diagnosis, Differential , Humans , Leishmaniasis, Visceral/pathology , Macrophage Activation Syndrome/diagnosis , Male , Prednisone/administration & dosage , Still's Disease, Adult-Onset/drug therapyABSTRACT
Numerous studies have demonstrated that the levels of cyclooxygenase (COX), the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H(2), and of prostaglandins are higher in various tumors and cells during inflammation than in normal tissues. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether COX-2 isoform expression was noticeably higher in fine-needle aspirates (FNA) from breast carcinoma than in FNA from fibroadenoma and fibrocystic breast tissue. COX-2 expression was detected by immunocytochemical (IC) staining and was analyzed by microscopic scoring and computer gray-scale analysis. Evaluation of COX-2 IC positivity in FNA from three groups of patients (nine with breast carcinoma, nine with fibroadenoma, eight with fibrocystic breasts) revealed high COX-2 IC positivity in the majority of patients with breast carcinoma and low or absent COX-2 IC positivity in patients with fibrocystic breast changes. In addition, low or medium COX-2 IC positivity was found in the majority of patients with fibroadenoma, only three of these patients having high COX-2 IC positivity.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Fibroadenoma/metabolism , Fibrocystic Breast Disease/metabolism , Isoenzymes/biosynthesis , Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases/biosynthesis , Adult , Biopsy, Fine-Needle , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Cyclooxygenase 2 , Female , Fibroadenoma/pathology , Fibrocystic Breast Disease/pathology , Humans , Membrane Proteins , Middle AgedABSTRACT
Cytomorphologic and cytochemical bone marrow analysis is essential in the diagnosis of acute leukemia. Immunophenotyping and conventional cytogenetics, just as fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) are other diagnostic procedures, as well as genome analysis by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). PCR is inevitable in searching for minimal residual disease, because it may detect very small amount of malignant hematopoietic cells even when a patient is in complete remission (less than 5% malignant cells in bone marrow and disappearance from peripheral blood) which helps better monitoring of patients. By in situ hybridization (ISH) it is possible to associate specific cell type with genome alteration, but the method is not sensitive enough. By combining ISH and PCR a novel technique with increased sensitivity was developed, PCR in situ, which enables nucleic acid amplification in an intact cell. In this case report we present two patients whose bone marrow aspirates were analyzed also by PCR in situ.
