Solid and papillary epithelial neoplasm arising in heterotopic pancreatic tissue of the mesocolon

Aim—Solid and papillary epithelial neoplasm (SPEN) is an uncommon pancreatic tumour. Very rarely it has also been described outside the pancreas, usually arising from heterotopic pancreatic tissue. This report summarises all the published extrapancreatic SPENs and documents the sixth such case arising from heterotopic pancreatic tissue of the transverse mesocolon in a 15 year old girl. Methods/Results—Histological and immunohistochemical examination revealed typical papillary and solid areas composed of columnar, cuboidal, and round cells, which were focally positive for vimentin, cytokeratin, neurone specific enolase, carcinoembryonic antigen, α1-antitrypsin, α1-antichymotrypsin, and negative for neuroendocrine markers (neurofilament, PGP 9.5, chromogranin A, synaptophysin, and S100), p53, and oestrogen and progesterone receptors. Electron microscopy showed scant zymogen but no neurosecretory granules. In agreement with the flow cytometric result of diploidy, comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) did not reveal loss or gain of genetic material, and the in situ hybridisation analysis of the RB1 and p53 genes revealed no abnormality in the 13q and 17p arms. Conclusions—Immunohistochemical and electron microscopic data support exocrine differentiation. The CGH and the flow cytometric results suggest a subtle, yet unknown genetic change, rather than a large genetic alteration. RB1 and p53 in situ hybridisation ruled out the role of deletion at these sites in the pathogenesis of SPEN. Interestingly, review of the published and the present heterotopic pancreatic SPENs identified the mesocolon as the most common anatomical site (four of six), despite the very rare occurrence of ectopic pancreatic tissue at this site. Key Words: solid papillary epithelial neoplasm • heterotopic/ectopic pancreas • mesocolo

Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification and fluorescence in situ hybridization are complementary techniques to detect cytogenetic abnormalities in multiple myeloma

Cancer Signaling networks and Molecular Therapeutic

High-Throughput Copy Number Profiling by Digital Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification in Multiple Myeloma

Cancer Signaling networks and Molecular Therapeutic

An extensive quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) program significantly improves inter-laboratory concordance rates of flow-cytometric minimal residual disease assessment in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: An I-BFM-FLOW-network report

Monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry (FCM) is a powerful prognostic tool for predicting outcomes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To apply FCM-MRD in large, collaborative trials, dedicated laboratory staff must be educated to concordantly high levels of expertise and their performance quality should be continuously monitored. We sought to install a unique and comprehensive training and quality control (QC) program involving a large number of reference laboratories within the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (I-BFM) consortium, in order to complement the standardization of the methodology with an educational component and persistent quality control measures. Our QC and quality assurance (QA) program is based on four major cornerstones: (i) a twinning maturation program, (ii) obligatory participation in external QA programs (spiked sample send around, United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS)), (iii) regular participation in list-mode-data (LMD) file ring trials (FCM data file send arounds), and (iv) surveys of independent data derived from trial results. We demonstrate that the training of laboratories using experienced twinning partners, along with continuous educational feedback significantly improves the performance of laboratories in detecting and quantifying MRD in pediatric ALL patients. Overall, our extensive education and quality control program improved inter-laboratory concordance rates of FCM-MRD assessments and ultimately led to a very high conformity of risk estimates in independent patient cohorts