Flow cytometry in the diagnosis of cancer.

Flow cytometry has rapidly expanded from basic research to clinical laboratories mainly due to its unique characteristics regarding cell analysis. Among the clinical uses of flow cytometry cancer represents one of the most relevant. Several applications of flow cytometry can currently be applied to the study of cancer, including the detection of tumour cell DNA aneuploidy, the analysis of tumour cell proliferation and the immunophenotyping of leukemias. Although standardized flow cytometry protocols for these applications are scanty, the clinical value has been clearly established. The presence of DNA aneuploidy and a high proportion of S-phase tumour cells have been associated with tumour malignancy and a poor prognosis. The immunophenotype of leukaemia is of great help both for the diagnosis and classification of chronic lymphoproliferative disorders and acute leukaemias, especially in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and the M0, M3-variant, M6 and M7 acute myeloblastic leukaemia subtypes. In addition, it allows the identification of relatively rare leukemia cases such as the biphenotypic and the Nk-cell lineage leukemias. The development of flow cytometry is continuously bringing new applications into the clinical laboratory in the area of cancer diagnosis.

Carcinosarcoma of the stomach with endocrine differentiation. A case report.

An unusual tumor was observed in a 67-year-old man. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of epithelial cells forming glands (CEA, EMA-positive) and spindle-shaped cells (vimentin-positive). A third component was a cell population ultrastructurally characterized by intracytoplasmic granules surrounded by a membrane; these proved to be chromogranin A-positive in the immunoperoxidase study.

Immunohistochemical modifications of "B cells" in experimentally-induced pancreatic cancer--correlation with serum insulin values.

In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma induced in the Syrian hamster by N-nitrosobis (2-oxopropyl) amine (Bop) B cells persisted with focal dispersion in the tumor zone. The localization of these varied depending on whether the animals had initial or long standing tumors. In the animals with initial tumors, immunohistochemical techniques indicated the B cells formed part of the tumoral glands and/or were intimately related to the cells of the walls of the tumor glands or present in the stroma. Insulin values were high in these animals. In the longer-developed tumors, insulin levels tended to be lower and although B cells were seen forming part of the tumor glands, those in the tumoral stroma were predominant.