Core Needle Biopsy and Fine Needle Aspiration Alone or in Combination: Diagnostic Accuracy and Impact on Management of Renal Masses.

PURPOSE: Fine needle aspiration with and without concurrent core needle biopsy is a minimally invasive method to diagnose and assist in management of renal masses. We assessed the pathological accuracy of fine needle aspiration compared to and associated with core needle biopsy and the impact on management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a single institution, retrospective study of 342 cases from 2001 to 2015 with small and large renal masses (4 or less and greater than 4 cm, respectively). Diagnostic and concordance rates, and the impact on management were analyzed. RESULTS: Adequacy rates for fine needle aspiration only, core needle biopsy only and fine needle aspiration plus core needle biopsy were 21%, 12% and 8% (aspiration vs aspiration plus biopsy p <0.026). In the aspiration plus biopsy group adding aspiration to biopsy and biopsy to aspiration reduced the inadequacy rate from 23% to 8% and from 27% to 8% for a total reduction rate of 15% and 19%, respectively, corresponding to 32 cases (9.3%). Rapid on-site examination contributed to a 22.5% improvement in fine needle aspiration adequacy rates. In this cohort 30% of aspiration only, 5% of biopsy only and 12% of aspiration plus biopsy could not be subtyped (aspiration vs biopsy p <0.0001, aspiration vs aspiration plus biopsy p <0.0127 and biopsy vs aspiration plus biopsy p = 0.06). The diagnostic concordance rate with surgical resection was 99%. Conversion of an inadequate specimen to an adequate one by a concurrent procedure impacted treatment in at least 29 of 32 patients. Limitations include the retrospective design and accuracy measurement based on surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Fine needle aspiration plus core needle biopsy vs at least fine needle aspiration alone may improve diagnostic yield when sampling renal masses but it has subtyping potential similar to that of core needle biopsy only.

Loss of ACVRIB leads to increased squamous cell carcinoma aggressiveness through alterations in cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion proteins.

Squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC) and esophagus (ESCC) pose a global public health issue due to high mortality rates. Unfortunately, little progress has been made in improving patient outcomes. This is partially a result of a lack of understanding the mechanisms that drive SCC progression. Recently, Activin A signaling has been implicated in a number of cancers, yet the role of this pathway in SCC remains poorly understood. We have previously discovered that the Activin A ligand acts as a tumor suppressor when epithelial Activin receptor type IB (ACVRIB) is intact; however, this effect is lost upon ACVRIB downregulation. In the present study, we investigated the function of ACVRIB in the regulation of SCC. Using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated ACVRIB-knockout and knockdown using siRNA, we found an increased capacity to proliferate, migrate, and invade upon ACRIB loss, as ACVRIB-KO cells exhibited an altered cytoskeleton and aberrant expression of E-cadherin and integrins. Based on chemical inhibitor studies, our data suggests that these effects are mediated through ACVRIB-independent signaling via downstream activation of Smad1/5/8 and MEK/ERK. Overall, we present a novel mechanism of SCC progression upon ACVRIB loss by showing that Activin A can transduce a signal in the absence of ACVRIB.

New and Emerging Diagnostic and Prognostic Immunohistochemical Biomarkers in Prostate Pathology.

The diagnosis of minimal prostatic adenocarcinoma can be challenging on prostate needle biopsy, and immunohistochemistry may be used to support the diagnosis of cancer. The International Society of Urologic Pathology currently recommends the use of the basal cell markers high-molecular-weight cytokeraratin and p63, and α-methylacyl-coenzyme-A racemase. However, there are caveats associated with the interpretation of these markers, particularly with benign mimickers. Another issue is that of early detection of presence and progression of disease and prediction of recurrence after clinical intervention. There remains a lack of reliable biomarkers to accurately predict low-risk cancer and avoid over treatment. As such, aggressive forms of prostate cancer may be missed and indolent disease may be subjected to unnecessary radical therapy. New biomarker discovery promises to improve early detection and prognosis and to provide targets for therapeutic interventions. In this review, we present the emerging immunohistochemical biomarkers of prostate cancer PTEN, ERG, FASN, MAGI-2, and SPINK1, and address their diagnostic and prognostic advantages and limitations.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma invasion is inhibited by Activin A in ACVRIB-positive cells.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a global public health issue, as it is the eighth most common cancer worldwide. The mechanisms behind ESCC invasion and progression are still poorly understood, and warrant further investigation into these processes and their drivers. In recent years, the ligand Activin A has been implicated as a player in the progression of a number of cancers. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of Activin A signaling in ESCC. METHODS: To investigate the role Activin A plays in ESCC biology, tissue microarrays containing 200 cores from 120 ESCC patients were analyzed upon immunofluorescence staining. We utilized three-dimensional organotypic reconstruct cultures of dysplastic and esophageal squamous tumor cells lines, in the context of fibroblast-secreted Activin A, to identify the effects of Activin A on cell invasion and determine protein expression and localization in epithelial and stromal compartments by immunofluorescence. To identify the functional consequences of stromal-derived Activin A on angiogenesis, we performed endothelial tube formation assays. RESULTS: Analysis of ESCC patient samples indicated that patients with high stromal Activin A expression had low epithelial ACVRIB, the Activin type I receptor. We found that overexpression of stromal-derived Activin A inhibited invasion of esophageal dysplastic squamous cells, ECdnT, and TE-2 ESCC cells, both positive for ACVRIB. This inhibition was accompanied by a decrease in expression of the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein fibronectin and podoplanin, which is often expressed at the leading edge during invasion. Endothelial tube formation was disrupted in the presence of conditioned media from fibroblasts overexpressing Activin A. Interestingly, ACVRIB-negative TE-11 cells did not show the prior observed effects in the context of Activin A overexpression, indicating a dependence on the presence of ACVRIB. CONCLUSIONS: We describe the first observation of an inhibitory role for Activin A in ESCC progression that is dependent on the expression of ACVRIB.

MAGI-2 in prostate cancer: an immunohistochemical study.

Membrane-associated guanylate kinase, WW and PDZ domain-containing protein 2 (MAGI-2) is a scaffolding protein that links cell adhesion molecules, receptors, and signaling molecules to the cytoskeleton and maintains the architecture of cell junctions. MAGI-2 gene rearrangements have recently been described in prostate cancer. We studied the immunohistochemical expression of MAGI-2 protein in prostate tissue. Seventy-eight radical prostatectomies were used to construct 3 tissue microarrays consisting of 512 cores, including benign tissue, benign prostatic hyperplasia, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN), and adenocarcinoma, Gleason patterns 3 to 5. Immunohistochemistry for phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) and double-stain MAGI-2/p63 was performed and analyzed by visual and image analysis, the latter as percent of analyzed area (%AREA), and mean optical density multiplied by %AREA (STAIN). By visual and image analysis, MAGI-2 was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma and HGPIN compared with benign (benign versus HGPIN P < .001; benign versus adenocarcinoma, P < .001). HGPIN and adenocarcinoma did not significantly differ by either modality. Using visual intensity to distinguish benign tissue and adenocarcinoma, a receiver operating curve yielded an area under the curve of 0.902. A STAIN threshold of 1470 yielded a sensitivity of 0.66 and specificity of 0.96. There was a significant correlation between PTEN and MAGI-2 staining for normal and benign prostatic hyperplasia, but this was lost in HGPIN and cancer. We conclude that MAGI-2 immunoreactivity is elevated in prostate cancer and HGPIN compared with normal tissue, and suggest that MAGI-2 may contribute to prostate carcinogenesis. This is the first report of MAGI-2 staining by immunohistochemistry in prostate cancer.

Urinary oncofetal ED-A fibronectin correlates with poor prognosis in patients with bladder cancer.

The extracellular matrix protein fibronectin (FN) contributes to the structural integrity of tissues as well as the adhesive and migratory functions of cells. While FN is abundantly expressed in adult tissues, the expression of several alternatively spliced FN isoforms is restricted to embryonic development, tissue remodeling and cancer. These FN isoforms, designated ED-A and ED-B, are frequently expressed by cancer cells, tumor-associated fibroblasts and newly forming blood vessels. Using a highly sensitive collagen-based indirect ELISA, we evaluated the correlation of urinary ED-A and ED-B at time of cystectomy with overall survival in patients with high-grade bladder cancer (BCa). Detectable levels of total FN as well as ED-A and ED-B were found in urine from 85, 73 and 51 % of BCa patients, respectively. The presence of urinary ED-A was a significant independent predictor of 2-year overall survival (OS) after adjusting for age, tumor stage, lymph node stage, and urinary creatinine by multivariable Logistic Regression (p = 0.029, OR = 4.26, 95 % CI 1.16-15.71) and improved accuracy by 3.6 %. Furthermore, detection of ED-A in the urine was a significant discriminator of survival specifically in BCa patients with negative lymph node status (Log-Rank, p = 0.006; HR = 5.78, 95 % CI 1.39-24.13). Lastly, multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed that urinary ED-A was an independent prognostic indicator of 5-year OS rate for patients with BCa (p = 0.04, HR = 2.20, 95 % CI 1.04-4.69). Together, these data suggest that cancer-derived, alternatively spliced FN isoforms can act as prognostic indicators and that additional studies are warranted to assess the clinical utility of ED-A in BCa.

ALCAM/CD166 is a TGF-ß-responsive marker and functional regulator of prostate cancer metastasis to bone.

The dissemination of prostate cancer to bone is a common, incurable aspect of advanced disease. Prevention and treatment of this terminal phase of prostate cancer requires improved molecular understanding of the process as well as markers indicative of molecular progression. Through biochemical analyses and loss-of-function in vivo studies, we demonstrate that the cell adhesion molecule, activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM), is actively shed from metastatic prostate cancer cells by the sheddase ADAM17 in response to TGF-ß. Not only is this posttranslational modification of ALCAM a marker of prostate cancer progression, the molecule is also required for effective metastasis to bone. Biochemical analysis of prostate cancer cell lines reveals that ALCAM expression and shedding is elevated in response to TGF-ß signaling. Both in vitro and in vivo shedding is mediated by ADAM17. Longitudinal analysis of circulating ALCAM in tumor-bearing mice revealed that shedding of tumor, but not host-derived ALCAM is elevated during growth of the cancer. Gene-specific knockdown of ALCAM in bone-metastatic PC3 cells greatly diminished both skeletal dissemination and tumor growth in bone. The reduced growth of ALCAM knockdown cells corresponded to an increase in apoptosis (caspase-3) and decreased proliferation (Ki67). Together, these data demonstrate that the ALCAM is both a functional regulator as well as marker of prostate cancer progression.

Integrin-free tetraspanin CD151 can inhibit tumor cell motility upon clustering and is a clinical indicator of prostate cancer progression.

Normal physiology relies on the organization of transmembrane proteins by molecular scaffolds, such as tetraspanins. Oncogenesis frequently involves changes in their organization or expression. The tetraspanin CD151 is thought to contribute to cancer progression through direct interaction with the laminin-binding integrins α3ß1 and α6ß1. However, this interaction cannot explain the ability of CD151 to control migration in the absence of these integrins or on non-laminin substrates. We demonstrate that CD151 can regulate tumor cell migration without direct integrin binding and that integrin-free CD151 (CD151(free)) correlates clinically with tumor progression and metastasis. Clustering CD151(free) through its integrin-binding domain promotes accumulation in areas of cell-cell contact, leading to enhanced adhesion and inhibition of tumor cell motility in vitro and in vivo. CD151(free) clustering is a strong regulator of motility even in the absence of α3 expression but requires PKCα, suggesting that CD151 can control migration independent of its integrin associations. The histologic detection of CD151(free) in prostate cancer correlates with poor patient outcome. When CD151(free) is present, patients are more likely to recur after radical prostatectomy and progression to metastatic disease is accelerated. Multivariable analysis identifies CD151(free) as an independent predictor of survival. Moreover, the detection of CD151(free) can stratify survival among patients with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels. Cumulatively, these studies demonstrate that a subpopulation of CD151 exists on the surface of tumor cells that can regulate migration independent of its integrin partner. The clinical correlation of CD151(free) with prostate cancer progression suggests that it may contribute to the disease and predict cancer progression.

Elevated ALCAM shedding in colorectal cancer correlates with poor patient outcome.

Molecular biomarkers of cancer are needed to assist histologic staging in the selection of treatment, outcome risk stratification, and patient prognosis. This is particularly important for patients with early-stage disease. We show that shedding of the extracellular domain of activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) is prognostic for outcome in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Previous reports on the prognostic value of ALCAM expression in CRC have been contradictory and inconclusive. This study clarifies the prognostic value of ALCAM by visualizing ectodomain shedding using a dual stain that detects both the extracellular and the intracellular domains in formalin-fixed tissue. Using this novel assay, 105 patients with primary CRCs and 12 normal mucosa samples were evaluated. ALCAM shedding, defined as detection of the intracellular domain in the absence of the corresponding extracellular domain, was significantly elevated in patients with CRC and correlated with reduced survival. Conversely, retention of intact ALCAM was associated with improved survival, thereby confirming that ALCAM shedding is associated with poor patient outcome. Importantly, analysis of patients with stage II CRC showed that disease-specific survival is significantly reduced for patients with elevated ALCAM shedding (P = 0.01; HR, 3.0), suggesting that ALCAM shedding can identify patients with early-stage disease at risk of rapid progression.

Losartan slows pancreatic tumor progression and extends survival of SPARC-null mice by abrogating aberrant TGFß activation.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a desmoplastic disease, is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world due, in large part, to locally invasive primary tumor growth and ensuing metastasis. SPARC is a matricellular protein that governs extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and maturation during tissue remodeling, particularly, during wound healing and tumorigenesis. In the present study, we sought to determine the mechanism by which lack of host SPARC alters the tumor microenvironment and enhances invasion and metastasis of an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. We identified that levels of active TGFß1 were increased significantly in tumors grown in SPARC-null mice. TGFß1 contributes to many aspects of tumor development including metastasis, endothelial cell permeability, inflammation and fibrosis, all of which are altered in the absence of stromal-derived SPARC. Given these results, we performed a survival study to assess the contribution of increased TGFß1 activity to tumor progression in SPARC-null mice using losartan, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist that diminishes TGFß1 expression and activation in vivo. Tumors grown in SPARC-null mice progressed more quickly than those grown in wild-type littermates leading to a significant reduction in median survival. However, median survival of SPARC-null animals treated with losartan was extended to that of losartan-treated wild-type controls. In addition, losartan abrogated TGFß induced gene expression, reduced local invasion and metastasis, decreased vascular permeability and altered the immune profile of tumors grown in SPARC-null mice. These data support the concept that aberrant TGFß1-activation in the absence of host SPARC contributes significantly to tumor progression and suggests that SPARC, by controlling ECM deposition and maturation, can regulate TGFß availability and activation.

Lack of host SPARC enhances vascular function and tumor spread in an orthotopic murine model of pancreatic carcinoma.

Utilizing subcutaneous tumor models, we previously validated SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) as a key component of the stromal response, where it regulated tumor size, angiogenesis and extracellular matrix deposition. In the present study, we demonstrate that pancreatic tumors grown orthotopically in Sparc-null (Sparc(-/-)) mice are more metastatic than tumors grown in wild-type (Sparc(+/+)) littermates. Tumors grown in Sparc(-/-) mice display reduced deposition of fibrillar collagens I and III, basement membrane collagen IV and the collagen-associated proteoglycan decorin. In addition, microvessel density and pericyte recruitment are reduced in tumors grown in the absence of host SPARC. However, tumors from Sparc(-/-) mice display increased permeability and perfusion, and a subsequent decrease in hypoxia. Finally, we found that tumors grown in the absence of host SPARC exhibit an increase in alternatively activated macrophages. These results suggest that increased tumor burden in the absence of host SPARC is a consequence of reduced collagen deposition, a disrupted vascular basement membrane, enhanced vascular function and an immune-tolerant, pro-metastatic microenvironment.

SPARC: a matricellular regulator of tumorigenesis.

Although many clinical studies have found a correlation of SPARC expression with malignant progression and patient survival, the mechanisms for SPARC function in tumorigenesis and metastasis remain elusive. The activity of SPARC is context- and cell-type-dependent, which is highlighted by the fact that SPARC has shown seemingly contradictory effects on tumor progression in both clinical correlative studies and in animal models. The capacity of SPARC to dictate tumorigenic phenotype has been attributed to its effects on the bioavailability and signaling of integrins and growth factors/chemokines. These molecular pathways contribute to many physiological events affecting malignant progression, including extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis, immune modulation and metastasis. Given that SPARC is credited with such varied activities, this review presents a comprehensive account of the divergent effects of SPARC in human cancers and mouse models, as well as a description of the potential mechanisms by which SPARC mediates these effects. We aim to provide insight into how a matricellular protein such as SPARC might generate paradoxical, yet relevant, tumor outcomes in order to unify an apparently incongruent collection of scientific literature.