Quantity of nuclear DNA in malignancies and benign lymphadenopathies associated with Epstein-Barr virus.

The quantity of nuclear DNA in 90 tumours with a strong probability of being associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (11 cases with nasopharyngeal carcinomas, seven cases of endemic and 26 of non-endemic Burkitt's lymphoma, and 46 cases of Hodgkin's disease) were analysed by flow cytometry. Twenty three cases with benign lymphadenopathies were analysed in a similar way. Except for endemic Burkitt's lymphoma most of the tumours were diploid. Near-diploid aneuploidy (with a DNA index ranging from 1.06 to 1.26) was also found in endemic Burkitt's lymphoma as well as in six non-endemic Burkitt's lymphomas and in eight cases of Hodgkin's disease but was absent in nasopharyngeal carcinomas. Tetraploid aneuploidy was seen in three cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Five of the 23 cases of lymphadenopathy also showed near-diploid DNA, one of which subsequently developed into a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It is concluded that near-diploid DNA content seems to be associated with the lymphatic origins of the tumours rather than with EBV.

Laminin and type IV collagen in different histological stages of Kaposi's sarcoma and other vascular lesions of blood vessel or lymphatic vessel origin.

Immunohistochemical staining was used to demonstrate basement membrane (BM) laminin and type IV collagen in eight cases of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). These KS were not associated with AIDS and represented different histological stages of the disease: patch (three cases), plaque (one case), and nodule (four cases). Nine cases of benign angiogenic lesions, five of blood vessel origin, and four of lymphatic vessel origin were also studied. An early event in vascular proliferation at the patch stage of KS was an intersection of dermal collagen bundles and the appearance of granular BM material around this space. With the increase of amount and linear arrangement of BM material, well-defined capillaries were formed. Two types of capillary were found in KS lesions. One showed morphological features of blood capillaries, with a round lumen; thick, continuous BM, and occasional pericytes in the wall. The other included irregularly shaped vessels with thin, often disrupted BMs; thus these capillaries morphologically resembled lymphatic capillaries. BM staining also clearly revealed the vascular nature of the nodular lesions of KS, which were composed of a network of slit-like spaces surrounded by BMs. The solid tumor cell areas were sparse; they were composed of spindle-shaped cells surrounded by thin, interrupted basal laminae. By using antibodies against human laminin and human type IV collagen, it was also possible to demonstrate thin, widely disrupted BMs subendothelially in normal dermal lymphatic capillaries. Typically, the BMs in lymphangiomas and lymphangiectasias were continuous and more clearly defined.

Neuropathology of Salla disease.

A neuropathological study was performed on two patients with Salla disease, one male and one female, from different families. They both died at the age of 41 years. Both patients showed increased excretion of free sialic acid in the urine, psychomotor retardation starting in the 1st year of life, ataxia and spasticity. Several family members of both families were affected with the same disease indicating the hereditary character of the disorder. The neuropathological investigation revealed strikingly similar changes in the two cases. Macroscopically the cerebral white matter was severely reduced. Histologically marked loss of axons and myelin sheaths was accompanied by pronounced astrocytic proliferation. The remaining axons frequently showed ovoid swellings surrounded by a myelin sheath. The reduction of the number of myelin sheaths seemed proportional to the numerical reduction of axons. Many cortical nerve cells displayed in relation to age an abnormal amount of lipofuscin. Neurofibrillary tangles were observed in nerve cells of the neo-cortex, nucleus basalis of Meynert and locus ceruleus. Cerebellum showed moderate loss of Purkinje cells. In the spinal cord axonal degeneration was observed in both ascending and descending tracts.

[Desmoplastic trichoepithelioma. Clinical aspects, histology and differential diagnosis]. / Das desmoplastische Trichoepitheliom. Klinik, Histologie und Differentialdiagnose.

Twelve desmoplastic trichoepitheliomas (DT) including one recurrent tumor from 9 patients are described by their clinical and histopathological features with special reference to the differential diagnostic aspects. DT typically appear as dimple lesions with raised edges in the faces of young females and histologically is composed of epithelial sheets and keratinized or calcified cysts in a desmoplastic stroma. A case showing cellular pleomorphism and followed by a relapse may represent an aggressive variant of DT. DT must be distinguished from syringoma, trichoepithelioma and especially basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

Malakoplakia of the pancreas. A case report.

During elective cholecystectomy due to cholelithiasis and chronic cholecystitis of a 76-year old male patient, a nodular soft tumor of 8 cm. in diameter was found in the caudal region of the pancreas. The tumor was suspected for malignancy during surgery. However, during routine microscopical examination of the biopsy specimen, a large number of Michaelis-Guttman bodies were found, thus establishing the diagnosis of classical malakoplakia.

Desmoplastic trichoepithelioma: clinico-pathological features and immunohistochemical study of the basement membrane proteins, laminin and type IV collagen.

Six desmoplastic trichoepitheliomas (DT) from four patients were studied immunohistochemically, using antibodies to the human PI fragment of laminin and the 7S domain of type IV collagen. The staining of the basement membrane around the tumour clusters was distinct and continuous in most areas, but there were discontinuities and a granular appearance of the basement membrane in the areas of keratinized cysts and calcification around some unorganized epithelial cell nests. The discontinuities of the basement membranes may be a sign of epithelial degeneration or altered differentiation rather than malignancy.

Basement membrane laminin and type IV collagen in various benign and malignant adnexal tumors of the skin: an immunohistochemical study.

Thirty benign and seven malignant adnexal tumors of the skin and one lymph node metastasis were stained for laminin and type IV collagen with rabbit antibodies against the human basement membrane (BM) proteins using the immunoperoxidase technique. Fifteen of the benign sweat gland, sebaceous gland, and hair follicle tumors showed a continuous and distinct BM around the tumor aggregates. The cylindromas and eccrine spiradenomas seemed to produce excessive amounts of BM material, part of which was seen as amorphic patches within the tumor cell clusters, whereas the trichofolliculomas, trichoepitheliomas, and pilomatrixomas showed an absence of BM from many areas. In syringomas, in addition to the tubular structures surrounded by a continuous BM, undifferentiated cell nests containing granular BM material were present. They probably represent primitive structures obtaining during early development into tubules. The seven malignant tumors and the only metastasis studied here all contained small, narrow strips of BM material extracellularly between the infiltrating tumor clusters. Only in two cases was faint staining for laminin found within the cells. The pepsin pretreatment of the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples had most probably degraded the intracytoplasmic BM material in most cases. The BM defects were found to be associated with malignancy and low differentiation of the adnexal skin tumors, as reported previously for other tumor types, but a partial loss of BM was also associated with high differentiation in some benign adnexal tumors.

Discontinuity of the basement membrane in fibrosing basocellular carcinomas and basosquamous carcinomas of the skin: an immunohistochemical study with human laminin and type IV collagen antibodies.

Thirteen basocellular carcinomas (BCC) of different histologic types and 5 basosquamous carcinomas (BSC) of the skin were stained for laminin and type IV collagen with rabbit antibodies against the human basement membrane (BM) proteins, using an immunoperoxidase technique. The BM around the tumor aggregates contained both laminin and type IV collagen, and was continuous and distinct in all the nonfibrosing BCCs but indistinct or interrupted in the fibrosing BCCs and BSCs. The BM was not influenced by the focal adnexal differentiation of the BCC cells. The disintegrity of the BM in the fibrosing BCCs and BSCs may reflect some kind of disturbance in the interaction between the neoplastic epithelium and the connective tissue stroma, and be connected with the more aggressive nature of these tumors compared with ordinary BCCs. Thus local aggressive behavior seems to be accompanied by defects in the BM.

beta-2-microglobulin in benign and malignant adnexal skin tumors and metastasizing basocellular carcinomas.

Immunostaining for beta-2-microglobulin (beta-2m) was performed on various benign and malignant adnexal skin tumors and 3 cases of metastasizing basocellular carcinomas. All the tumors and their metastases, with the exception of 2 basocellular carcinomas gave evidence of beta-2m. Most tumors contained both stained and unstained cells. The stained cells showed differentiation, the unstained ones appeared to be undifferentiated and basal-like in character. The staining of cutaneous tumors for beta-2m may offer a tool for investigating tumor differentiation, but seems not to be of much value in distinguishing malignant from benign lesions.

Occurrence of acid and neutral cysteine proteinase inhibitors in epidermal malignancies: immunohistochemical study.

Acid cysteine proteinase inhibitor ( ACPI ) and neutral cysteine proteinase inhibitor ( NCPI ) were localized in human epidermal malignancies by the unlabelled peroxidase-antiperoxidase complex method. Basaliomas did not contain ACPI or NCPI . In spinous, metatypic , and clear cell carcinomas of the epidermis, both inhibitors were located in the cytoplasm and sometimes on the cell membranes of the differentiated carcinoma cells. The inhibitors were not seen in the 1 or 2 most "basal" cells layers of the carcinoma islets. The locations of both inhibitors were similar, and the staining for ACPI was usually more intense than staining that NCPI .

beta-2-Microglobulin in primordial and differentiated basocellular carcinomas and basosquamous carcinomas.

27 cases of basocellular carcinomas and basosquamous carcinomas of the skin were classified into primordial and differentiated basocellular carcinomas and basosquamous carcinomas and stained for beta-2-microglobulin using the immunoperoxidase technique. All the differentiated basocellular carcinomas and some of the basosquamous carcinomas contained beta-2-microglobulin, but none was found in the primordial basocellular carcinomas. Staining of basal cell tumors for beta-2-microglobulin may be helpful in interpreting adnexoid and epidermoid differentiation in skin tumors.

Immunoreactive glucagon in neurons of various parts of the human brain. Demonstration by immunofluorescence technique.

The presence of glucagon-like immunoreactivity in nerve cells of different parts of the human brain was demonstrated by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. A bright fluorescent reaction was observed in the pyramidal cells of lamina V of the Neocortex. Less prominent concentrations of the glucagon-like material were detected in a few pyramidal cells of the Hippo-campus and in some neurons of the Presubiculum and Subiculum. Within the Corpus amygdaloideum, only a few magnocellular neurons showed a positive reaction. The Hypothalamus was evidenced by a moderate, but widely distributed, reaction in magnocellular and medium-sized nerve cells in different nuclei (especially Nuc. ventromedialis and Nuc. arcuatus). A strong immunofluorescence was localized to some neurocytes in the Nuc. amibigus, and Nuc. n. hypoglassi. The Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex were free from immunoreactive material, but fluorescence occurred in some very small nerve cells of the Cerebellum (probably granular cells). A dependence of the strength of immunofluorescence of the time delay between autopsy and death is shown.

Scleroedema (Buschke). A case report.

A case of scleroedema is reported in a 28-year-old man with severe neuromuscular involvement. Failure in neural conduction as well as muscular degeneration and necrosis were seen. Histopathological study showed resorption and formation of scar tissue probably secondary to ischaemia. In addition there was increase in neutral, sulphated and non-sulphated mucosubstances in the dermal and endomysial connective tissue.