RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Over a century ago, German ophthalmologist Hermann Wilbrand reported inferonasal crossing fibers within the chiasm curve anteriorly into the contralateral optic nerve. This anatomic bend, "Wilbrand knee," is classically cited as the explanation for the "junctional scotoma," a contralateral superotemporal visual field defect associated with lesions affecting the optic nerve at its junction with the chiasm. More recent reports have called into question the existence of Wilbrand knee or suggested that it may simply be an artifact. METHODS: Four human optic chiasms (obtained from cadaver donors with no reported premortem visual pathology) and 2 monkey chiasms were fixed and thin sectioned (40 µm), then examined using anisotropic scattering imaging, a novel technique that takes advantage of the fact that light reflects off well-defined linear structures (i.e., axonal tracts) in a predictable manner based on their orientation. Using this technique, tissue structures oriented in different directions can be distinguished at high resolution without the need for tissue staining. RESULTS: In all 4 human optic chiasms, thin fiber tracts consistent with, but less prominent than, those Wilbrand had described were observed. No such tracts were found in the monkey chiasms. CONCLUSIONS: Wilbrand knee exists in humans but is modest in its anterior projection. Wilbrand knee does not seem to be present in monkeys, however, which may explain conflicting reports in the literature regarding its existence.
RESUMO
Immune cells that infiltrate a tumor may be a prognostic factor for patients who have had surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The density of intratumoral total (CD3(+)) and cytotoxic (CD8(+)) T lymphocytes was measured in the tumor interior and in the invasive margin of 65 stage I to IV HCC tissue specimens from a single cohort. Immune cell density in the interior and margin was converted to a binary score (0, low; 1, high), which was correlated with tumor recurrence and relapse-free survival (RFS). In addition, the expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) was correlated with the density of CD3(+) and CD8(+) cells and clinical outcome. High densities of both CD3(+) and CD8(+) T cells in both the interior and margin, along with corresponding Immunoscores, were significantly associated with a low rate of recurrence (P = 0.007) and a prolonged RFS (P = 0.002). In multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for vascular invasion and cellular differentiation, both CD3(+) and CD8(+) cell densities predicted recurrence, with odds ratios of 5.8 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.6-21.8] for CD3(+) and 3.9 (95% CI, 1.1-14.1) for CD8(+) Positive PD-L1 staining was correlated with high CD3 and CD8 density (P = 0.024 and 0.005, respectively) and predicted a lower rate of recurrence (P = 0.034), as well as prolonged RFS (P = 0.029). Immunoscore and PD-L1 expression, therefore, are useful prognostic markers in patients with HCC who have undergone primary tumor resection. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(5); 419-30. ©2016 AACR.
