264 research outputs found
Tussen schijn en werkelijkheid
Het gebeurt niet vaak dat een patholoog contact heeft met patiënten of familie
van patiënten. Enige tijd geleden werd ik gebeld door de vader van een baby die
was geboren met een grote hersentumor die de hersenkamers voor een deel innam.
Op het door de neurochirurg verwijderde weefsel stelde ik de diagnose carcinoom
uitgaande van de plexus chorioideus. De plexus chorioideus is een structuur die in de
hersenkamers thuishoort en het hersenvocht, ook wel de liquor geheten, produceert.
Mijn diagnose was gebaseerd op enige gelijkenis van het tumorweefsel met die
plexus chorioideus. Carcinomen van de plexus chorioideus zijn uitermate zeldzaam.
Hoog in het lijstje van alternatieve diagnoses stond de zogenaamde AT/RT (afkorting
van atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor), een tumor die onduidelijk is gedefi nieerd
en waarvan het microscopisch beeld zeer variabel is. Ik had echter, afgezien van
genoemde gelijkenis van het tumorweefsel met de plexus, nog een aantal argumenten
om de tumor niet als een AT/RT te beschouwen. Omdat de chemotherapie, die wordt
gegeven nadat chirurgische verwijdering heeft plaatsgevonden, anders is in het geval
van een plexuscarcinoom dan van AT/RT begon de druk vanuit de kinderkliniek toe
te nemen om een zekere diagnose te stellen.Rede, in verkorte vorm uitgesproken
ter gelegenheid van het aanvaarden
van het ambt van bijzonder
hoogleraar in de Neuropathologie
aan het Erasmus MC, faculteit van de
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
op 2 oktober 200
Tumor characteristics and biological behavior of oligodendroglioma
Whereas in astrocytomas grading results yielded satisfying clinico-pathological
correlations, grading procedures were without acclaim in the oligodendroglia! tumor
group. The reason for this might be that only small series of this uncommon neoplasm
were studied, and delineation of oligodendroglia! tumors from mixed gliomas or astrocytic
tumors was hampered with difficulties.
In order to study the relationship between tumor size and survival, as well as tumor
size and histopathologic grade, tumor volumes were calculated from the CT-scans of 43
oligodendrogliomas (paper 1). Although a good correlation between grade and survival
was shown, no correlation between tumor size and survival or histopathologic grade was
obtained.
In paper 2 a comparison was made between the traditional grading system of
Kernahan, and the recently developed grading system for oligodendrogliomas of Smith. In
a retrospective study on 72 patients the grading results of both systems were related to the
survival times of the patients. It was found that grading according to both systems yielded
three groups of patients with significant differences in survival. Nevertheless, the grading
system of Smith is preferred because of its lower inter-observer error.
The prognostic value of DNA-flow cytometry and mitotic count was tested
retrospectively on the paraffin-embedded material of 85 oligodendrogliomas (paper 3).
The results of the DNA-flow cytometry neither correlated with survival, nor with the
histopathological grades. The mitotic count, however, had relevance for the prognosis.
Thus, the mitotic count is a valid parameter for grading oligodendrogliomas
Approved CAR T cell therapies
Two autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies (Kymriahâ„¢ and Yescartaâ„¢) were recently approved by the FDA. Kymriahâ„¢ is for the treatment of pediatric patients and young adults with refractory or relapse (R/R) B cell precursor acute ly
The pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma and its differential diagnosis: A study of five cases
__Abstract__
Five brain tumors with the histopathologic features of pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas (PXAs) are presented. Computed tomography scans showed a remarkable homology. Two cases had atypical localizations for a PXA, while one 46-year-old patient did not conform to the normal age distribution of this tumor. Nevertheless, in these cases, the histopathology was always characteristic for PXA, a remarkable pleomorphism, in addition to simultaneous expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and histiocytic markers in the various tumor cells. In one of the presented tumors, however, clusters of neoplastic neuronal cells were also found. In this particular case, differential diagnostic criteria to distinguish between a PXA and a desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma are lacking
Overexpression of Colligin 2 in Glioma Vasculature is Associated with Overexpression of Heat Shock Factor 2
In previous studies we found expression of the protein colligin 2 (heat shock protein 47 (HSP47), SERPINH1) in glioma neovasculature while not in normal brain tissue. Generally, the regulation of heat shock gene expression in eukaryotes is mediated by heat shock factors (HSF). In mammals, three heat shock transcription factors, HSF-1, -2, and -4, have been isolated. Here we investigated the relation between the expression of colligin 2 and these heat shock factors at the mRNA level using real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) in different grades of astrocytic tumorigenesis, viz., low-grade glioma and glioblastoma. Endometrium samples, representing physiological angiogenesis, were included as controls. Since colligin 2 is a chaperon for collagens, the gene expression of collagen I (COL1A1) was also investigated. The blood vessel density of the samples was monitored by expression of the endothelial marker CD31 (PECAM1). Because NG2-immunopositive pericytic cells are involved in glioma neovascularization, the expression of NG2 (CSPG4) was also measured
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Brain Metastasis: The Link between Molecular Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutic Approaches
The prognosis of patients suffering from non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) worsens significantly when brain metastasis occurs. Seeding to the brain usually happens relatively early in the course of disease and therefore, new therapies anticipating this complication would result in considerable improvement in outcomes. In this review, we address recent molecular data of NSCLC with a focus on the risk of the formation of brain metastasis. Included is new data on the involvement of miRNAs and lncRNAs in the rise of the cerebral seeding of NSCLC. We summarize novel therapeutic approaches developed in the light of these recent molecular discoveries
Papillary meningioma with pleural metastasis: Case report and literature review
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
- …