Does the calcification of adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma resemble the calcium deposition of osteogenesis/odontogenesis?

AIMS: Calcification in adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is troublesome for surgical intervention. The aim of this study was to examine the osteogenic proteins that play important roles in the calcium deposition of the odontogenic/osteogenic tissues in craniopharyngioma. METHODS AND RESULTS: Craniopharyngiomas (n = 89) were investigated for the presence and expression pattern of the osteoinductive/odontoinductive factor bone morphogenetic protein-2 (Bmp2) and two osteoblastic differentiation makers, Runt-related transcription factor-2 (Runx2) and Osterix, using immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Our results showed that Bmp2, Runx2 and Osterix levels increased in cases with high calcification and correlated positively with the degree of calcification in ACP, whereas they showed little or no expression in squamous papillary craniopharyngioma. In ACP, Bmp2 was expressed primarily in the stellate reticulum and whorl-like array cells; Runx2 and Osterix tended to be expressed in calcification-related epithelia, including whorl-like array cells and epithelia in/around wet keratin and calcification lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated, for the first time, that osteogenic factor Bmp2 may play an important role in the calcification of ACP via autocrine or paracrine mechanisms. Given the presence of osteogenic markers (Runx2 and Osterix), craniopharyngioma cells could differentiate into an osteoblast-like lineage, and the process of craniopharyngioma calcification resembles that which occurs in osteogenesis/odontogenesis.

Co-expression of CD99/MIC2 and ALK in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma tissues and its significance / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate co-expression of CD99/MIC2 and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) protein in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) tissues and Karpas 299 cells and its significance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical prognoses and ALK protein expressions of 25 cases of ALCL were reviewed retrospectively, the median duration of survival was analyzed for patients with ALK(+) ALCL and ALK(-) ALCL. Histological and immunohistochemical staining were applied to other 25 cases of ALCL and paraffin-embedded tissue from human anaplastic large-cell lymphoma Karpas 299 cells to detect the protein of CD99 and ALK.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of former 25 cases of ALCL, median duration of survival for ALK(+) patients was 59 months, whereas 20 months for ALK(-) patients. The prognosis of ALK(+) group was better than that of ALK(-) group, survival curves of these two groups showed statistically significant (P < 0.05). CD99 was positive in 18 cases (72.0%) while negative in 7 cases (28.0%) of the latter 25 ALCL, ALK was positive in 19 cases (76.0%) while negative in 6 cases (24.0%); Of 19 ALK(+) ALCL, 16 (84.2%) cases co-expressed CD99-ALK; and in 6 ALK(-) ALCL, 2(33.3%) were CD99-ALK double negative, the expression of CD99 protein strongly correlated with that of ALK protein (P < 0.05). ALK and CD99 protein expressed in Karpas 299 cells with diffuse distribution.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>CD99 highly expressed in ALCL, and showed high rate of co-expression with ALK. CD99 protein expression could be considered as a helpful diagnostic and prognostic factor of ALCL, especially for ALK(+) ALCL.</p>

Relationship between lymphocyte immunophenotypes and histologic subtypes of Hodgkin's lymphoma and its significance / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between immunophenotype of the background lymphocytes and histological subtype of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), and its significance. The relative protein expressions of background lymphocytes were detected in 37 HL specimens on the basis of instant-rapid MaxVision(TM) immunohistochemical method and assessed quantitatively with image analysis software IPP6.0. The adoptive antibody included anti-CD3/CD45RO, anti-CD20/CD79a, anti-CD4, anti-CD8, anti-GrB, anti-TIA-1. The results indicated that out of 37 cases 4 were NLPHL, 33 were CHL including 6 of MCHL, 14 of NSHL, 13 of LRHL. In addition, 10 cases (1 was NLPHL, 4 were NSHL, 5 were LRHL) were involved in the analysis of T/B ratios. The ratio of T/B in NLPHL was 0.28 +/- 0.07, in CHL 4.34 +/- 2.45 (p = 0.001), in CHL the ratio was LRHL > NSHL > MCHL (p = 0.649); CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratio in NLPHL was 4.55 +/- 1.28, in CHL 4.10 +/- 1.50 (p = 0.574), in CHL it was MCHL > NSHL > LRHL (p = 0.037); GrB(+)/TIA-1(+) ratio in NLPHL was 0.71 +/- 0.57, in CHL 0.74 +/- 0.39, it was MCHL > NSHL > LRHL (p > 0.05). It is conduced that immune cell composition of the diagnostic HL lymph node represents the immune microenvironment. It is different between NLPHL and CHL in terms of the T- and B-lymphocyte distribution. NLPHL is of unique feature. The subtypes of CHL are of peculiar. The T/B ratio is in order as LRHL > NSHL > MCHL, but CD4(+)/CD8(+) and GrB(+)/TIA-1(+) ratios are in the opposite order. Combining with prognosis of subtypes of CHL i.e, LRHL > NSHL > MCHL, these data suggest that low ratio of T/B with high ratios of CD4(+)/CD8(+) and GrB(+)/TIA-1(+) may represent biological markers predicting an unfavorable outcome of CHL subtypes.