[Epidermal infiltration of melanoma]. / L'infiltrazione epidermica nel melanoma.

The infiltration of the epidermis by malignant melanocytes is a characteristic phenomenon of cutaneous melanoma. A series of consecutive unselected cutaneous melanomas was histologically reviewed in order to study the frequency and the characters of epidermal infiltration. Such a feature was found in 86% of tumors (93% in superficial spreading melanomas); it was extensive in 65% of cases, focal in 35%; topographically, it was central and peripheral in 67%, peripheral in 30%, central in 3%. Results show that epidermal infiltration, albeit inconstant, is a useful feature in the histological diagnosis of melanoma (especially in SSM), provided that it is distinguished from pseudoinfiltration, a histologically similar, but intrinsecally different, feature observed in some benign melanocytic lesions.

Detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA type 6/11 in a conjunctival papilloma by in situ hybridization with biotinylated probes.

Four cases of conjunctival papilloma in two different patients were examined by in situ hybridization for HPV DNA type 6/11, 16/18 and 31/33/51. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues were hybridized by biotinylated probes. One tumor and one of its recurrences showed nuclear positivity for HPV 6/11 in the superficial cells of the epithelium. The results suggest that HPV type 6/11 may be etiologic agent of conjunctival papillomas. The benign behavior of these neoplasms may be related to the etiologic role of this type of HPV.