117 research outputs found

    Growth of children with Langerhans cell histiocytosis

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    Conclusion: GH deficiency is not a common manifestation of LCH in childhood and GH provocation tests are only indicated when there is a poor or decelerating growth rate. In our patients the number of organs involved and/or the treatment modality did not influence the growth in all but one. Diseases in childhood have an impact on growth. The influence of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) on growth has never been studied well. Recently a patient with LCH was treated with human growth hormone (GH) because of severe GH deficiency due to LCH involvement of both the hypothalamus and pituitary. This led us to review our charts from 1971 onward for evaluation of the growth patterns in patients with LCH. Here the long-term growth of 22 patients with LCH is reported, the median follow up being 7 years and 1 month. The height data were converted into standard deviation scores (SDS). At diagnosis the mean SDS of patients with isolated LCH at diagnosis was 0.04 and -0.37 in patients with disseminated LCH. Of the total group, 12 patients did not show any influence from the LCH or therapy on their growth. The remaining 10 patients reached, after a minimum of 3 years, a percentile clearly higher than that at diagnosis. However all the ten above mentioned patients, either isolated or disseminated LCH, had a lesion in the facial side of the skull

    Malignant histiocytosis: A reassessment of cases formerly classified as histiocytic neoplasms and review of the literature

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    Malignant histiocytosis (MH) and true histiocytic lymphoma (THL) are hematopoietic malignancies of the mononuclear phagocytic system distinguished from each other by clinical presentation and presumed cell of origin. THL present as a localized mass derived from the fixed tissue histiocyte which may or may not disseminate. MH originates from the circulating monocyte or tissue macrophage and is characterized by a syndrome of systemic symptoms, pancytopenia, adenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and wasting. The distinction between MH and THL is at times arbitrary and overlap exists between these syndromes. The clinicopathologic studies that defined these entities were performed prior to the development of immunophenotyping and other molecular techniques currently used to ensure proper classification of hematopoietic malignancies. Nine patients from the University of Minnesota originally diagnosed with MH were retrospectively analyzed using a panel of antibodies reactive against T cell, B cell, and myelomonocytic antigens. Only one patient was reclassified as a possible histiocytic malignancy after reevaluation. Similar immunophenotyping studies have also shown cases previously diagnosed as MH or THL express lymphoid antigens, and would now be classified as Ki-1 positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) or some other hematopoietic neoplasm. These results indicate true histiocytic neoplasms are extremely rare, and previous concepts concerning clinical presentation and therapeutic outcome of the entities are inaccurate. In this paper we summarize the results of multiple retrospective analyses of cases previously diagnosed as MH or THL, including our experience at University of Minnesota, to illustrate the overall rarity of these entities. The current literature on malignant histiocytic disorders is reviewed, and the clinical presentation of patients determined to have histiocytic malignancies using contemporary analytical techniques is discussed

    Papillary meningioma with pleural metastasis: Case report and literature review

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    Papillary meningiomas are rare meningeal tumors which are associated with a grim prognosis. These tumors usually recur locally and in some cases they metastasize. The clinical, radiological and histopathological features of a case of a papillary meningioma with a pleural metastasis in a 13-year-old boy are presented. The literature on metastasizing papillary meningiomas is reviewed. Up to now, 131 cases of papillary meningioma have been reported in the literature. Only 8 cases gave rise to metastases outside the central nervous system. The preferential site of metastasis appeared to be the lung. This is the first report of a papillary meningioma giving rise to a metastasis in the pleura

    Acute leukemia in association with Langerhans cell histiocytosis

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    Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and malignancy occurring in the same individual is unusual and has generally been the subject of isolated case reports. To better define the occurrence of these events a registry of cases with synchronous or asynchronous LCH and malignancy was developed with the cooperation of the Histiocyte Society. In 1991 the Histiocyte Society surveyed its members requesting information on cases in which LCH was associated with malignancy. The questionnaire was mailed to all members of the society and specifically requested information on the clinical and laboratory features of the cases, disease evolution, and response to therapy. Retrospective reporting was allowed. With this initial data, an ongoing registry of LCH patients with associated malignancy was begun of such cases, including evolution and response to therapy. Twenty-seven patients were enrolled during the first year of the registry, of whom 4 patients had the association of LCH with a malignant lymphoma and 10 cases had an association of LCH with other types of solid tumor. The remaining 13 patients had the association of LCH with acute leukemia. In five cases, LCH was associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia FAB L1 (ALL). In four cases the ALL preceded the LCH by 6 months to 1 year. In four of five patients the LCH was localized; in two instances the LCH was treated with chemotherapy. In all cases the leukemia was treated according to local standard ALL protocols and in one case autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) was performed at relapse. Three patients are free of leukemia, one of whom has persistent localized LCH of the skin. Two patients died of the ALL, one of whom was free of the LCH at the time of death. In eight instances LCH was reported in association with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Six of these patients had a generalized form of LCH. In seven the diagnosis of LCH preceded the diagnosis of leukemia by more than 2 years (median 4 years). In the remaining patient both diagnoses were made concurrently. In all seven cases in whom LCH was the initial diagnosis the treatment consisted of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Seven patients died from the AML, five without evidence of LCH. The temporal patterns of the LCH-ALL and LCH-AML associations are distinct with ALL usually preceding the diagnosis of LCH and AML succeeding it. Such a pattern is suggestive that in cases of ALL the LCH may be a reactive process while in cases of AML occurring after LCH the primary LCH therapy may play an inductive role in the leukemia. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc

    Allelic loss of chromosome 1p as a predictor of unfavorable outcome in patients with neuroblastoma

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    Background. Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumor derived from cells of the neural crest, with a widely variable outcome. Differences in the behavior and prognosis of the tumor suggest that neuroblastoma can be divided into several biologic subgroups. We evaluated the most frequent genetic abnormalities in neuroblastoma to determine their prognostic value. Methods. We used Southern blot analysis to study the allelic loss of chromosomes 1p, 4p, 11q, and 14q, the duplication of chromosome 17q, and the amplification of the N-myc oncogene in 89 neuroblastomas. We also determined the nuclear DNA content of the tumor cells. Results. Allelic loss of chromosome 1p, N-myc amplification, and extra copies of chromosome 17q were significantly associated with unfavorable outcomes. In a multivariate analysis, loss of chromosome 1p was the most powerful prognostic factor. It provided strong prognostic information when it was included in multivariate models containing the prognostic factors of age and stage or serum ferritin level and stage. Among the patients with stage I, II, or IVS disease, the mean (±SD) three-year event-free survival was 100 percent in those without allelic loss of chromosome 1p and 34±15 percent in those with such loss; the rates of three- year event-free survival among the patients with stage III and stage IV disease were 53±10 percent and 0 percent, respectively. Conclusions. The loss of chromosome 1p is a strong prognostic factor in patients with neuroblastoma, independently of age and stage. It reliably identifies patients at high risk in stages I, II, and IVS, which are otherwise clinically favorable. More intensive therapy may be considered in these patients. Patients in stages III and IV with allelic loss of chromosome 1p have a very poor outlook, whereas those without such loss are at moderate risk

    Mesenchymal stromal cells of osteosarcoma patients do not show evidence of neoplastic changes during long-term culture

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    Background: In vitro expanded mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are increasingly used as experimental cellular therapy. However, there have been concerns regarding the safety of their use, particularly with regard to possible oncogenic transformation. MSCs are the hypothesized precursor cells of high-grade osteosarcoma, a tumor with often complex karyotypes occurring mainly in adolescents and young adults.Methods: To determine if MSCs from osteosarcoma patients could be predisposed to malignant transformation we cultured MSCs of nine osteosarcoma patients and five healthy donors for an average of 649 days (range 601679 days). Also, we compared MSCs derived from osteosarcoma patients at diagnosis and from healthy donors using genome wide gene expression profiling.Results: Upon increasing passage, increasing frequencies of binucleate cells were detected, but no increase in proliferation suggestive of malignant transformation occurred in MSCs from either patients or donors. Hematopoietic cell specific Lyn substrate 1 (HLCS1) was differentially expressed (fold change 0.25, P value 0.0005) between MSCs of osteosarcoma patients (n = 14) and healthy donors (n = 9).Conclusions: This study shows that although HCLS1 expression was downregulated in MSCs of osteosarcoma patients and binucleate cells were present in both patient and donor derived MSCs, there was no evidence of neoplastic changes to occur during long-term culture
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