Brazilian researchers report in Modern Pathology on their examination of B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable, a disease that shares characteristics of both diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and classical Hodgkin lymphoma or has features intermediate to those two diseases. The researchers describe the clinicopathological features of 10 cases of B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable. "Our findings show a male preponderance, median age of 37 years and a mediastinal presentation in 80 percent of cases. All cases expressed at least two markers associated with B-cell lineage and good response to combination chemotherapy currently employed for non-Hodgkin lymphomas," the authors say.

Ohio State University researchers describe their laser capture microdissection-mass spectrometry approach to characterizing glomerular diseases in Modern Pathology. With this approach, the researchers examined the proteomes of glomeruli from normal kidneys as well as samples from patients with diabetic nephropathy, lupus nephritis, and fibronectin glomerulopathy. They report that disease-associated glomeruli had increased levels of complement proteins, though decreased number of proteins associated with podocytes and cellular metabolism. "The most interesting findings from this study are the newly discovered changes in protein expression. This demonstrates that our approach is a robust platform that may inform disease pathogenesis," the Ohio State researchers write.

Researchers led by Catherine Alix-Panabières from Saint-Eloi Hospital in Montpellier, France, report in Clinical Chemistry that current approaches for detecting circulating tumor cells can pick up circulating epithelial cells in patients with benign colon disease. They analyzed peripheral blood from 53 patients with benign colon diseases — such as diverticulosis or Crohn's disease, among others — and analyzed it using CellSearch and CK19-EPISPOT. CellSearch identified circulating tumor cells in 11.3 percent of the patients and EPISPOT found circulating tumor cells in 18.9 percent of the patients; the researchers note that after three years of follow up, no patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. "This finding points to the need for further molecular characterization of circulating epithelial cells and has important implications for the use of CTC testing," Alix-Panabières and colleagues write.

FFA Sciences' Andrew Huber and colleagues describe a fluorescence sensor that they have developed to measure free-form bilirubin in plasma. As they report in Clinical Chemistry, their method relies on a fluorescently labeled mutated fatty acid binding protein whose fluorescence is quenched upon binding bilirubin. "The BL22P1B11-Rh probe provides accurate plasma sample Bf concentrations with a single measurement, in one minute with either a handheld Bf meter or a laboratory fluorometer," Huber et al. write.

The College of American Pathologists is teaming up with SoftTech Health to "bring state-of-the-art accreditation management tools to clinical laboratories worldwide," a SoftTech press release says. The organizations are combining CAP's clinical lab guidelines with SoftTech's quality management software to create an accreditation checklist module that can be inserted into SoftTech Health's LabQMS Quality Management Software system, or other document management systems. "The objective of the SoftTech Health/CAP Partnership enables laboratories' regulatory compliance efforts to be strengthened and supported, ultimately improving the quality of patient care," the organizations say in a statement.

The University of California, Davis' Kiho Cho and his colleagues report in Experimental and Molecular Pathology that structural changes occur in the mouse genome that are age-dependent as well as tissue-specific. Cho and his team examined such changes in conjunction with retroelement transposon activity, and found that liver genomes were larger than ones isolated from other organs and that genome size peaked around five weeks of age. "The data from this study provided evidence that there are multiple variant alleles/isoforms of the genome from an individual in association with age and tissue type," they write. "Thus, a new protocol/system, which addresses the dynamic property and/or multiplicity of the genome, needs to be developed to decode and establish the personal genome."

Researchers from Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Neb., report in Experimental and Molecular Pathology that vitamin D receptor expression may be related to esophageal adenocarcinoma tumor progression and response to therapy. They examined 15 samples from patients being treated for esophageal adenocarcinoma and found that elevated expression of vitamin D receptor correlated with tumor non-response to neoadjuvant therapy and decline with de-differentiation of tumors. However, the researchers note that while "it is plausible that the extent of VDR expression is related to tumor progression and response to therapy, ... it is equally as plausible that these data are merely random."

Researchers led by Mauricio Salcedo from the Hospital de Oncologia in Mexico City report in the Journal of Clinical Pathology on NF1 gene expression in sporadic breast cancers. Using a combination of immunohistochemistry, tissue microarrays, and end-point RT-PCR, the researchers examined neurofibromin and RAS expression as well as NF1 and CELF 3-6 RNA expression in sporadic breast cancer, benign lesions, and normal breast tissue. From this, the researchers report that NF1 was expressed in both early- and late-stage tumors, though they note that the isoforms differ between benign and cancerous tissue. "The NF1 expression shift transition of the type II to type I isoforms in breast cancer could be a significant event in the development and progression of sporadic breast cancer, as well as in other human cancers, and that this trend could possibly represent a potential molecular marker in several different cancer types," Salcedo and his colleagues write.

Also in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, a team of researchers in Vancouver presents a method for determining serum aldosterone levels using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The team used AbSciex's API5000 system and a liquid-liquid extraction approach, which it found to have a coefficient of variation that is "comparable with or better than previous reports." The researchers add that "the strength of this method lies in its simplicity and affordability," though they note that the approach has its weaknesses — namely that it needs larger sample volumes and time between injections.

Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Modern Pathology that immunohistochemistry is better for detecting PTEN loss than gene sequencing in endometrial carcinoma. They compared PTEN immunohistochemistry and PTEN sequencing of 154 endometrioid and non-endometrioid endometrial carcinomas to see which approach was best for determining PTEN loss. "We demonstrate a detailed correlation between PTEN sequencing abnormalities and PTEN immunohistochemistry," the researchers write. "PTEN immunohistochemistry is able to identify the majority of cases with genetic PTEN loss and also detects additional cases with functional PTEN loss otherwise undetected by mutational analysis."

Also in Modern Pathology, a team of researchers from Northwestern University and the Ontario Cancer Institute describes its examination of the role of the aldo-keto reductase family 1B10, or AKR1B10, in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The team evaluated AKR1B10 expression in 50 paraffin-embedded clinical pancreatic cancer samples and found that it is "significantly increased in precursor lesions and infiltrating adenocarcinomas of the pancreas." Further, the team reports that AKR1B10 knockdown "was associated with increased apoptosis, decreased protein prenylation, and decreased activation of KRAS and several of its downstream effectors." The team adds that AKR1B10 inhibition "and subsequent inhibition of protein prenylation including KRAS and its downstream pathway, as well as the induction of cell apoptosis, may serve as a highly promising target for future studies focusing on the development of treatment modalities and prevention strategies."