Researchers at the Catholic University of Korea report in Experimental and Molecular Pathology that denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography is a "sensitive, specific, and accurate method for detecting the BRAFV600E mutation" that occurs in many papillary thyroid carcinomas. The researchers compare the accuracy and efficiency of DHPLC in detecting the mutation in FFPE samples to that of direct sequencing, pyrosequencing and colorimetric assay. They report that DHPLC had 100 percent sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. "In addition, it is rapid, simple, easy to perform and usable to screen a large number of samples for clinical diagnostic application," the researchers write.
Also in Experimental and Molecular Pathology, a team at Johns Hopkins Hospital presents its investigation of the utility of LMP2, a subunit of an immunoproteasome, as a diagnostic marker of renal cancer. The immunoproteasome is overexpressed in thyroid cancer, and as renal oncocytic tumors are morphologically similar to thyroid gland oncocytic lesions, the team looked into LMP2 expression in renal cancer. It reports that nuclear expression of LMP2 can distinguish renal oncocytomas from chromophobe renal cell carcinomas. "These results suggest that the nuclear LMP2 expression can be used in clinical scenarios where histological distinction between RO and CHRCC-EO remains challenging," the researchers write.
