Histological transformation of adenocarcinoma to small cell carcinoma lung as a rare mechanism of resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors: Report of a case with review of literature

A subset of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCC) harbor active mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). In these, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are recommended as the first-line treatment. Though drug resistance is inevitable, histological transformation to small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) is a rare mechanism for acquired resistance. Here we report one such rare case of histological transformation of pulmonary adenocarcinoma to small cell lung carcinoma in 46 year old male treated with Gefitinib

Therapy-related acute promyelocytic leukemia following etoposide-based chemotherapy in non-seminomatous germ cell tumor

Therapy related AML (t- AML) accounts for 10-20% of all cases of AML. Cytotoxic agents implicated are alkylating agents, topoisomerase II inhibitors and rarely anti metabolites and anti tubulin agents. A growing incidence of therapy related acute promyelocytic leukemia (t-APL) has been reported over the last few decades in malignant and non malignant conditions. To the best of our knowledge this is the first t-APL case report to be reported in NSGCT post etoposide based therapy

Utility of CD200 expression by flow cytometry in lymphoproliferative disorders and plasma cell dyscrasias

Background: The cluster of differentiation 200 (CD200) is a recently introduced marker, used to differentiate various lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) and is a potential target for chemotherapy. Objective: The objective is to study the utility of CD200 expression by flow cytometry (FC) in various LPDs and plasma cell disorders. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study done over a period of 2 years. The study group included 52 cases with a clinical suspicion of LPD (n = 40) or plasma cell disorder (n = 12). Clinical data, morphological data on peripheral blood, and/or bone marrow examination were analyzed and correlated with the final results on FC. Results: Out of 40 LPDs, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) accounted for a majority of the cases accounting for 57.5% (23 cases). Plasma cell myelomas (PCM) were the most common plasma cell disorders accounting for 75% (nine cases). All cases of CLL showed CD200 expression and the two cases of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) were CD200 negative. Splenic marginal zone lymphomas (MZL) involving marrow showed dim CD200 expression. Bright CD200 expression was also observed in all cases of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and 67% of cases diagnosed as PCM. Conclusion: CD200 is a very useful marker in the diagnosis of various LPDs especially CLL, HCL, and PCMs. It can be used as an additional marker particularly in distinguishing CLL/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) from MCL and atypical CLL from other CD5+ B-cell neoplasms and extranodal MZL

The proportion of different BCR-ABL1 transcript types in chronic myeloid leukemia. An international overview

There are different BCR-ABL1 fusion genes that are translated into proteins that are different from each other, yet all leukemogenic, causing chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Their frequency has never been systematically investigated. In a series of 45503 newly diagnosed CML patients reported from 45 countries, it was found that the proportion of e13a2 (also known as b2a2) and of e14a2 (also known as b3a2), including the cases co-expressing e14a2 and e13a2, was 37.9% and 62.1%, respectively. The proportion of these two transcripts was correlated with gender, e13a2 being more frequent in males (39.2%) than in females (36.2%), was correlated with age, decreasing from 39.6% in children and adolescents down to 31.6% in patients ≥ 80 years old, and was not constant worldwide. Other, rare transcripts were reported in 666/34561 patients (1.93%). The proportion of rare transcripts was associated with gender (2.27% in females and 1.69% in males) and with age (from 1.79% in children and adolescents up to 3.84% in patients ≥ 80 years old). These data show that the differences in proportion are not by chance. This is important, as the transcript type is a variable that is suspected to be of prognostic importance for response to treatment, outcome of treatment, and rate of treatment-free remission