Hypothalamic papillary tumor in a patient with tuberous sclerosis.

We here report an unusual tumor of the suprasellar region featuring a papillary growth pattern and cytokeratin expression in a 10-year-old boy with tuberous sclerosis. This hitherto undescribed low-grade hypothalamic tumor extends the spectrum of tumors associated with the tuberous sclerosis complex.

Central nervous system metastasis of a cutaneous epitheliotropic lymphosarcoma in a dog.

This report describes an uncommon case of a cutaneous epitheliotropic T-cell lymphosarcoma with central nervous system (CNS) manifestations in a 9-year-old mixed breed German shepherd dog. The animal had a history of sudden blindness, pyrexia and multifocal areas of hyperaemia in the oral mucosa. A biopsy from the muco-cutaneous junction of the lips led to the diagnosis of an epitheliotropic lymphosarcoma and the animal was humanely destroyed. At necropsy, hyperaemia in the oral mucosa was no longer detectable. In the brain, a mass effacing the optic chiasm and invading the hypothalamic area was found; histological examination revealed lymphoid tumour cell infiltration. In the epithelium of the oral mucosa, intra-epithelial lymphoid tumour cells, sometimes arranged in small clusters (Pautrier's microabscesses), in combination with a mild inflammation in the superficial dermis were observed. Skin and brain tumour cells expressed CD3 antigen, indicating their T-cell origin. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of a cutaneous epitheliotropic lymphosarcoma with CNS metastasis in a dog.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, -II and IGF-binding proteins in the cyst fluid of a patient with astrocytoma.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, -II and IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) were demonstrated in the cyst fluid of a patient with a hypothalamic astrocytoma. The astrocytoma cyst fluid was subjected to gel chromatography at low pH and the IGF-I and IGF-II levels were measured by specific radioimmunoassays. Immunoreactive IGF-I and IGF-II levels were 19 ng/ml and 78 ng/ml respectively. Several-fold higher IGF-II values were obtained when cyst fluid was not extracted or was extracted with acid ethanol before radioimmunoassay analysis. The immunoreactive IGFBP-1 concentration was 26 ng/ml. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and subsequent Western ligand blotting with [125I]IGF-II revealed bands at approximately 200, 34.5, 29.5, 24 and 21 kD as visualized by autoradiography. Binding studies demonstrated that these binding proteins bind specifically [125I]IGF-I and [125I]IGF-II. These observations suggest that IGFs as well as IGF-binding proteins are produced by astrocytoma cells and may act in a paracrine or autocrine fashion capable of modulating the growth of astrocytoma tumours.