Immunohistochemical identification of primary peritoneal serous cystadenocarcinoma mimicking advanced colorectal carcinoma: a case report

Primary peritoneal cystadenocarcinoma is a rare tumor of similar histogenic origin as primary ovarian carcinoma. We present a case of primary peritoneal serous cystadenocarcinoma mimicking advanced colorectal cancer in a 68 yr-old African American female. Radiology, endoscopy and cytology yielded only inconclusive findings. Immunohistochemical analysis of percutaneously obtained ascitic fluid provided a correct diagnosis of primary peritoneal cystadenocarcinoma. The discovery of serous ascites at the time of laparotomy confirmed a diagnosis of primary peritoneal serous cystadenocarcinoma. Final surgical pathology reconfirmed the diagnosis of primary peritoneal cystadenocarcinoma. This case demonstrates the utility of immunohistochemistry for accurately diagnosing patients with inconclusive findings in the setting of peritoneal carcinomatosis and primary peritoneal cystadenocarcinoma

Whole-body tissue stabilization and selective extractions via tissue-hydrogel hybrids for high-resolution intact circuit mapping and phenotyping

To facilitate fine-scale phenotyping of whole specimens, we describe here a set of tissue fixation-embedding, detergent-clearing and staining protocols that can be used to transform excised organs and whole organisms into optically transparent samples within 1–2 weeks without compromising their cellular architecture or endogenous fluorescence. PACT (passive CLARITY technique) and PARS (perfusion-assisted agent release in situ) use tissue-hydrogel hybrids to stabilize tissue biomolecules during selective lipid extraction, resulting in enhanced clearing efficiency and sample integrity. Furthermore, the macromolecule permeability of PACT- and PARS-processed tissue hybrids supports the diffusion of immunolabels throughout intact tissue, whereas RIMS (refractive index matching solution) grants high-resolution imaging at depth by further reducing light scattering in cleared and uncleared samples alike. These methods are adaptable to difficult-to-image tissues, such as bone (PACT-deCAL), and to magnified single-cell visualization (ePACT). Together, these protocols and solutions enable phenotyping of subcellular components and tracing cellular connectivity in intact biological networks

Addition of taxanes to combination chemotherapy in distal intestinal gastric cancer is more beneficial than proximal ones: A multicenter retrospective study of Turkish oncology group

Purpose: Advanced gastric cancer has a dismal prognosis. Platin/5-fluorouracil (PF) combination chemotherapy is the main treatment modality for metastatic gastric cancer patients. Third drug addition to PF is a controversial issue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive role of tumor localization and histopathology on choosing three- or two-drug combination regimens. Methods: This study was designed as a hospital-based retrospective observational case-series study. A total of 516 patients with advanced gastric cancer has been treated at eight different oncology centers in Turkey between 2006 and 2016. Laboratory results and demographic data were collected and analyzed. Results: The median patient age was 59 years (range 25-85). Proximal intestinal and distal intestinal cancers were found in 357 (69.2 %) and 159 (30.8 %) patients, respectively. 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and cisplatin (PF) and cisplatin+5FU+docetaxel (PFtax, also known as DCF) were administered to 240 (46.5%) and 276 (53.5%) patients, respectively. Median progression free survival (PFS) was 5.0 (95% CI 4.21-5.29) and 8 months (95% CI 7.22-8.77) for PF and PFtax groups, respectively (p<0.01). When tumor localization was used as stratum in PFS survival, PFtax produced significantly higher PFS rates only in distal intestinal type gastric cancer compared to PF (p<0.01). Median overall survival (OS) was 12 (95% CI 9.8-14.2) and 16 months (95% CI 13.6-18.4) for the PF and PFtax groups, respectively (p=0.01). When tumor localization was used as stratum in OS, PFtax showed significantly higher OS rates only in the distal intestinal type gastric cancer compared to PF (p=0.01). Conclusion: Pathology and tumor location in gastric cancer may affect the outcome. Addition of taxanes as a third drug may significantly increase PFS and OS rates only in distal intestinal type gastric cancer but not in patients with proximal type gastric cancer. © 2019 Zerbinis Publications. All rights reserved

Thorax computed tomography findings and anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G levels in polymerase chain reaction-negative probable COVID-19 cases.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels after 6 months of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) negativebut assumed to be COVID-19 positive cases to investigate the relationship between IgG levels and thoracic computed tomography (CT) findings.METHODS: This was a single-center study that included patients whose PCR test results were negative at least three times using nasopharyngealswabs but had clinical findings of COVID-19 and thoracic CT findings compatible with viral pneumonia. Six months after discharge, the IgG antibodieswere analyzed. The cutoff value for negative and positive serology was defined as &lt;1.4 (index S/C) and ≥1.4 (index S/C), respectively. In addition, thepatients were categorized according to their thoracic CT findings as high (typical) and low (atypical). Also, the patients were grouped into classes as&lt;5% lung involvement versus ≥5% lung involvement.RESULTS: The patients’ mean age was 49.78±12.96 years. PCR was negative, but patients with COVID-19 symptoms who had SARS-CoV-2 IgGpositive were 81.9% (n=95). The antibody titer and lung involvement ≥5% were statistically significantly higher in SARS-CoV-2 IgG positive cases(p&lt;0.001 and p=0.021). Age and chest CT findings were the risk factors for lung involvement (OR=1.08, p&lt;0.001 and OR=2.19, p=0.010, respectively).CONCLUSION: This study is valuable because increasing severity (≥5%) of lung involvement appears to be associated with high and persistent IgGantibody titers. In probable cases of COVID-19, even if the PCR test is negative, high IgG titers 6 months after discharge can predict the rate of lungparenchymal involvement

Fatty Acid Profile and Biological Data of Four Endemic Cephalaria Species Grown in Turkey

WOS: 000299683800008The fatty acid compositions of the n-hexane extracts of the aerial parts of four Turkish Cephalaria species (C. paphlagonica, C. stellipilis, C. davisiana and C. elazigensis var. purpurea) were analyzed by GC-MS for the first time. The oil yields of these species were determined as ranging from 0.07% to 0.36 %. Seventeen fatty acids as methyl esters were identified. All extracts were found to contain significant quantities of palmitic, linoleic (LA), stearic and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). ALA was the most abundant fatty acid in all species (29.00%, 30.51%, 32.49% and 34.87% for C. stellipilis, C. elazigensis, C. davisiana and C. paphlagonica, respectively). Other dominant fatty acid was palmitic acid, which ranged from 19.10% to 28.23% for all species. LA was detected in a considerable amount of 19.44 % for C. paphlagonica. The n-hexane extracts of the plants were also checked for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities.TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [107T028]The authors acknowledge to TUBITAK for financial support (107T028) and also Hygiene Center of Izmir for GC-MS analyses

Results of liquid biopsy studies by next generation sequencing in patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer: Single center experience from Turkey

Several studies demonstrated the utility of plasma-based cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ccfDNA) in determination of mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to report our results of next generation sequencing (NGS) using liquid biopsy in patients with NSCLC. Patients with advanced stage NSCLC were enrolled and their genomic profiling results were recorded. Next generation sequencing targeted panel includes 19 hot-spot genes. The plasma was separated from the peripheral blood sample and ccfDNAs were isolated for NGS. We performed genomic profiling in 100 patients (20 females and 80 males) with a median age of 59.3 (range 26-79). A second liquid biopsy was performed in eight patients who developed progressive disease after the first treatment. The study population had adenocarcinoma (AC) (n = 73), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (n = 14), or NSCLC-NOS (not otherwise specified) (n = 13). In the SCC group, three of 14 patients had variants on EGFR and MET genes. In the AC and NSCLC-NOS groups, 39 out of 86 patients (45.3%) had variants. The most common one was in the EGFR gene (n = 27, 31.4%) including seven mutations related to drug resistance and two were polymorphisms. Three patients had both driver and resistance mutations (EGFR T790M, n = 2; KRAS exon 2 G12S and MET exon 14 E1012K, n = 1). Fifteen patients (17.4%) had an activating EGFR mutation and eight patients (9.3%) had variants in the KRAS gene. We reported our results regarding genomic profiling related to treatment using liquid biopsy in patients with NSCLC. Advantages of this method are the non invasiveness and reproducibility