To evaluate the morphologic findings and their potential pitfalls in fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) of thyroid glands obtained following radioactive iodine (RaI) (131I) treatment for Graves' disease.Study of thyroid FNAB specimens from six patients with prior Graves' disease treated with RaI who developed palpable nodules and had subsequent thyroid resections.The cytologic changes attributed to radiation were quite variable among the six cases and were so pronounced in one case that a false positive diagnosis of papillary carcinoma was made even though a history of RaI had been provided. The FNAB specimen from the second case, submitted without a history of RaI treatment, was diagnosed as suspicious for papillary carcinoma. The smears from patient 3 were signed out descriptively because the pertinent clinical history had not been provided. The FNAB specimens from the last three patients were correctly interpreted because of the history of RaI therapy provided. All six thyroid surgical specimens showed changes consistent with radiation injury, and none contained evidence of malignancy.The study's findings demonstrate that the atypia produced by RaI may be severe, leading to an erroneous diagnosis of malignancy. Provision of the appropriate clinical history of Graves' disease treated with RaI may prevent this pitfall.
Abstract The recently published WHO Reporting System for Pancreaticobiliary Cytopathology (World Health Organization [WHO] System) is an international approach to the standardized reporting of pancreaticobiliary cytopathology, updating the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology System for Reporting Pancreaticobiliary Cytology (PSC System). Significant changes were made to the categorization of benign neoplasms, intraductal neoplasms, mucinous cystic neoplasms, and malignant neoplasms considered low grade. Benign neoplasms, such as serous cystadenoma, categorized as Neoplastic: benign in the PSC system, are categorized as Benign/negative for malignancy in the WHO system. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, solid‐pseudopapillary neoplasm, and gastrointestinal stromal tumor, categorized as Neoplastic: other in the PSC system, are categorized as Malignant in the WHO System in accord with their classification in the 5th edition WHO Classification of Digestive System Tumours (2019). The two new categories of Pancreaticobiliary Neoplasm Low‐risk/grade and Pancreaticobiliary Neoplasm High‐risk/grade are mostly limited to intraductal neoplasms and mucinous cystic neoplasms. Low‐risk/grade lesions are mucinous cysts, with or without low‐grade epithelial atypia. High‐risk/grade lesions contain neoplastic epithelium with high‐grade epithelial atypia. Correlation with clinical, imaging, and ancillary studies remains a key tenet. The sections for each entity are written to highlight key cytopathological features and cytopathological differential diagnoses with the pathologist working in low resource setting in mind. Each section also includes the most pertinent ancillary studies useful for the differential diagnosis. Sample reports are provided for each category. Finally, the book provides a separate section with risk of malignancy and management recommendations for each category to facilitate decision‐making for clinicians.
The evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) for the presence of malignant epithelial cells is essential to the staging of breast cancer patients. Recently, increased attention has focused on the possibility that epithelial cells may reach SLNs by benign mechanical means, rather than by metastasis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that pre-SLN biopsy breast massage, which we currently use to facilitate the localization of SLNs, might represent a mode of benign mechanical transport. We studied 56 patients with invasive and/or in situ ductal carcinoma and axillary SLNs with only epithelial cells and/or cell clusters (< or =0.2 mm in diameter and not associated with features of established metastases) detected predominantly in subcapsular sinuses of SLNs on hematoxylin and eosin- and/or anti-cytokeratin-stained sections. No patient had an SLN involved by either micro- or macro-metastatic carcinoma. Epithelial cells and cell clusters, < or =0.2 mm in size and without features of established metastases, occurred more frequently in the SLNs of patients who underwent pre-SLN biopsy breast massage (P < 0.001, chi2 test). The latter finding supports the hypothesis that pre-SLN biopsy breast massage is a mode of benign mechanical transport of epithelial cells to SLNs.
221 Background: While the clinical response from induction chemotherapy followed by stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been reported for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer (BRPC) patients, response from a histopathologic standpoint has not been described. Methods: This single-institution retrospective review evaluated BRPC patients who completed induction gemcitabine-based chemotherapy followed by 5-fraction SBRT. All patients were restaged and underwent resection. A pathologist (B.C.) specializing in pancreatic cancer reviewed each surgical specimen and assigned two Tumor Regression Grade (TRG) scores, one from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and one from the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were correlated to TRG score using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: This study evaluated 35 resected BRPC patients with a median follow up of 13.8 months (range, 6.1-24.8). All received induction gemcitabine-based chemotherapy, most commonly GTX (gemcitabine, docetaxel, capecitabine) (82%), followed by 5-fraction SBRT with a median 35 Gy (range, 30-40). TRG scores according to the CAP were as follows, from best to worst response: 0 (n=3), 1 (n=13), 2 (n=15), and 3 (n=4). TRG scores according to MDACC were as follows, from best to worst response: IV (n=3), III(M) (n=6), IIB (n=11), IIA (n=10), and I (n=5). Any neoadjuvant treatment effect according to MDACC scoring (IIA-IV vs. I) was associated with improved OS and PFS (both p=0.019). Conclusions: This study demonstrated a significant pathologic response with a gemcitabine based neoadjuvant regimen containing SBRT and suggests a survival benefit based on response as measured by the MDACC scoring system.
PreviousworkhasshownthatvitaminE d-tocotrienol(VEDT)prolongssurvivalanddelaysprogressionof pancreatic cancer in theLSL-Kras G12D/þ ;Pdx-1-Cremouse model of pancreatic cancer. However,the effect of VEDT alone or in combination with gemcitabine in the more aggressive LSL-Kras G12D/þ ;LSL-Trp53 R172H/þ ; Pdx-1-Cre (KPC) mouse model is unknown. Here, we studied the effects of VEDT and the combination of VEDT and gemcitabine in the KPC mice. KPC mice were randomized into four groups: (i) vehicle [olive oil, 1.0 mL/kg per os twice a day and PBS 1.0 mL/kg intrapertoneally (i.p.) twice a week], (ii) gemcitabine (100 mg/kg i.p. twice a week), (iii) VEDT (200 mg/kg per os twice a day), and (iv) gemcitabine þ VEDT. Mice received treatment until they displayed symptoms of impending death from pancreatic cancer, at which pointanimalswereeuthanized.At16weeks,survivalwas10%inthevehiclegroup,30%inthegemcitabine group, 70% in the VEDT group (P < 0.01), and 90% in the VEDT combined with gemcitabine group (P < 0.05). VEDT alone and combined with gemcitabine resulted in reversal of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in tumors. Biomarkers of apoptosis (plasma CK18), PARP1 cleavage, and Bax expression were more greatly induced in tumors subjected to combined treatment versus individual treatment. Combined treatment induced cell-cycle inhibitors (p27 Kip1 and p21 Cip1 ) and inhibited VEGF, vascularity (CD31), and oncogenic signaling (pAKT, pMEK, and pERK) greater than individual drugs. No significant differences in body weight gain between drug treatment and control mice were observed. These results strongly support further investigation of VEDT alone and in combination with gemcitabine for pancreatic cancer prevention and treatment. Cancer Prev Res; 6(10); 1074–83. � 2013 AACR.
556 Background: First line therapy for advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is currently gemcitabine and cisplatin. However, survival rarely exceeds one year with this regimen. PI3K/AKT activation has been shown to increase resistance to chemotherapy in CCA; therefore, inhibiting this pathway may improve chemotherapy’s efficacy. This phase II study evaluated the safety and efficacy of copanlisib, a potent and reversible pan-class I PI3K inhibitor, with gemcitabine and cisplatin in advanced CCA. Methods: Between July 2016 and April 2019, pts with histologically confirmed advanced/unresectable CCA received cisplatin (25 mg/m 2 ), gemcitabine (1000mg/m 2 ), and copanlisib 60mg on day 1 and 8, every 21 days as first line treatment. The primary endpoint was PFS at 6 months. Secondary endpoints were RR, median OS and PFS, and safety profile. A single-arm Simon’s two-stage minimax design with one-sided 10% type I error and 80% power was used. Based on ABC-01 and ABC-02 studies, PFS6 for gemcitabine and cisplatin were 57.1% and 59.3%, respectively. Therefore, PFS6 of 57% was considered not to warrant further study and ≥72% to warrant further investigation. Results: Twenty-four pts received at least one dose of the study drug (62.5% female, median age 64 years), with 70.8% intrahepatic, 16.7% extrahepatic, and 12.5% gallbladder cancer. For all pts, median OS was 13.9 months (95% CI: 6.8-17.9) and median PFS was 6.2 months (95% CI: 1.3-11.1). PFS at 6 and 12 months was 57.0% and 42.2%, and 6 and 12-month OS was 73.9% and 53.2%, respectively. Only 19 pts were considered evaluable for RR. Five pts were either lost to follow up, withdrew consent, or died before a second scan was done. Six pts achieved PR (31.5%) and 11 (57.9%) had SD. Grade 3 or higher adverse events (AE) occurred in 75% of pts. The most common grade 3/4 AEs were decreased neutrophil count (40%) and increased lipase (20%). Treated related AEs led to drug discontinuation for 3 pts (12.5%) and dose modification for 7 pts (29.2%). Conclusions: Gemcitabine, cisplatin, and copanlisib in combination did not meet the primary endpoint of 6-month PFS. However, additional correlative work is ongoing to identify a possible biomarker for copanlisib. Clinical trial information: NCT02631590.
Abstract Background: The human cellular apoptosis susceptibility protein (hCAS) is a Ran- binding protein playing a role as mitotic spindle checkpoint regulator and as nuclear export factor. hCAS expression is frequently altered in metastatic cancers. To date the role of hCAS in pancreatic cancer is unknown. Therefore this study aimed to investigate the role of hCAS in human pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo. Methods: The hCAS protein expression was determined using Western immunoblotting in human pancreatic cancer cell lines (AsPc-1, BxPc-3, Capan-2, MiaPaCa-2, Panc-1, and SW1990) and immortalized normal human pancreatic ductal epithelial cell (HPNE) and HPNE-Kras. siRNA induced hCAS knockdown pancreatic cancer cells were compared to scrambled siRNA cells with regard to proliferative (MTT assay), cell death, cell cycle (Trypan blue and Flow cytometry), malignant transformation (colony formation assay) and protein expression (Western and confocal microscopy). hCAS KD MiaPaCa-2 cells were xenografted in SCID nude mice. Tumor growth, expression of hCAS, proliferation index (Ki-67), and caspase-3 were immunostained in tumor tissues and compared with scr siRNA MiaPaCa-2 cells. Expression of hCAS was determined in human pancreatic tumor tissues using immunohistochemical stain. Results: hCAS protein expression was low in HPNE cells compared to HPNE-Kras. Lowest expression of hCAS noted in BxPc-3 cells compared to other pancreatic cancer cells. When compared to Scr-MiaPaCa-2, KD-MiaPaCa-2 cells demonstrated lower proliferation, G2/M phase cell cycle arrest, increased apoptosis, as well as inhibition of malignant transformation. Pancreatic ductal carcinomas (PCA) were hCAS strongly positive. Normal pancreatic ducts (ND) were hCAS weakly positive. hCAS KD-MiaPaCa-2 tumor growth was retarded in mice compared to Scr-MiaPaCa-2 tumors. hCAS KD-MiaPaCa-2 tumors showed hCAS depletion, lower proliferative index, increased caspase-3 immunostaining and PARP1 cleavage. Conclusion: This is the first report of hCAS expression in human pancreatic cancer. Our data suggest that hCAS is a regulator of cell proliferation, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. hCAS may represent a potential chemopreventive and therapeutic target for human pancreatic cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1667. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1667
