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Introduction Fibroadenomas are one of the most common benign breast lesions, however they have also been found on rare occasions elsewhere. These lesions usually arise from mammary-like glands (MLG) of the anogenital region which were first described by van der Putte. Methods This case is about a 51-year-old female who presents with symptomatic hemorrhoids and a 5 cm nodular lesion external to the anal verge. These were removed and examined histo-pathologically. Results Pathology revealed three hemorrhoidal specimens and the nodular lesion which was consistent with a fibroadenoma. Histologically, the nodular lesion demonstrated a benign process with ductal proliferation and estrogen receptors. Conclusions Fibroadenomas in anatomic locations other than the breast are very uncommon. Other sites noted in prior case reports include gallbladder, prostate, arm, eyelid and anogenital region. Most of the anogenital lesions have been found on the vulva, with only six documented cases in the anal region, making this pathology exceedingly rare.

Mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) are rare, potentially curable, mucin-producing neoplasms of the pancreas. We have previously reported PIK3CA (phosphoinositide-3-kinase catalytic subunit, p110α) mutations in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, another mucin-producing neoplasm of the pancreas. In this study, we analyzed the presence of PIK3CA and AKT1/PKB (V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1) hot-spot mutations in MCN specimens.Using the genomic DNA sequencing of tumor tissues isolated by laser capture microdissection, we evaluated 15 well-characterized MCNs for the E542K, E545K (exon 9), and H1047R (exon 20) hot-spot mutations in the PIK3CA gene and the E17K mutation in the AKT1 gene.A hot-spot mutation (E545K) of the PIK3CA gene was detected in 1 of the 15 MCNs and further confirmed by a mutant-enriched method. Interestingly, this mutation was found to be present only in the high-grade but not in low-grade dysplastic epithelium obtained from this neoplasm and coexisted with a KRAS mutation. No mutations were identified in the AKT1 gene.Our data, when combined with previous reports on intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, indicate that oncogenic activation of the PI3K pathway involving PIK3CA gene mutations can contribute to the progression of mucin-producing neoplasms but not pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia. PIK3CA status could be useful for understanding their progression to malignancy.

Background & Aims Lymphocytic enterocolitis is a malabsorptive syndrome characterized by severe small-bowel villous abnormality and crypt hyperplasia and dense infiltrate of lymphocytes throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Methods We present 2 patients with lymphocytic enterocolitis refractory to usual medical therapy who were treated with tumor necrosis factor antagonists. Results Both patients had clinical improvement in diarrheal symptoms and intestinal histologic abnormalities. Conclusions Tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists such as infliximab or adalimumab may be a new treatment option for patients with severe refractory lymphocytic enterocolitis not responding to corticosteroids.

Medication-induced upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract injuries are probably fairly common, yet these injuries are rarely documented in pathology reports. Since these injuries often manifest as non-specific histological changes, making a definitive diagnosis of medication-induced injury can be challenging. Three types of evidence can assist in the establishment of a diagnosis: specific histological patterns, the presence of medication fragments in tissue, and clinical data. Histological patterns may reflect specific tissue responses to medication effects or medication toxicity. Morphological clues of medication use such as pill fragments and crystal deposition may be visible within the tissue itself. Clinical data, including medication history, endoscopic findings, and predisposing conditions can alert the pathologist to situations where medication-induced injury should merit a high ranking on the differential diagnosis list. Except for rare cases where characteristic histological changes can be diagnostic, clinical correlation is essential when diagnosing medication-induced injuries. In this review, key features of the most commonly encountered medication-induced upper GI tract injuries are briefly discussed, and a practical guide to assist the practicing pathologist in the recognition and diagnosis of these injuries is provided.

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) is an important negative regulator of T cell activation, and an increased level of cAMP is associated with T cell hyporesponsiveness in vitro. We sought to determine whether elevating intracellular cAMP levels ex vivo in alloreactive T cells during primary mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR) is sufficient to induce alloantigen-specific tolerance and prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Primary MLRs were treated with exogenous 8Br-cAMP and IBMX, a compound that increases intracellular cAMP levels by inhibition of phosphodiesterases. T cell proliferation and IL-2 responsiveness in the treated primary MLR cultures were greatly reduced, and viable T cells recovered on day 8 also had impaired responses to restimulation with alloantigen compared to control-treated cells, but without an impairment to nonspecific mitogens. Labeling experiments showed that cAMP/IBMX inhibited alloreactive T cell proliferation by limiting the number of cell divisions, increasing susceptibility to apoptosis, and rendering nondeleted alloreactive T cells hyporesponsive to alloantigen restimulation. cAMP/IBMX-treated CD4+ T cells had a markedly reduced capacity for GVHD lethality in major histocompatibility complex class II disparate recipients, but maintained the capacity to mediate other CD4+ T cell responses in vivo. Thus, our results provide the first preclinical evidence of using cAMP-elevating pharmaceutical reagents to achieve long-term alloantigen-specific T cell tolerance that is sufficient to prevent GVHD.

Primary retroperitoneal masses are a rare but diverse group of benign and malignant processes. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is playing an increasing role in evaluating retroperitoneal soft-tissue masses. Since the MR imaging features of most retroperitoneal soft-tissue masses are nonspecific, prediction of a specific histologic diagnosis remains a challenge for the radiologist. However, there are certain specific MR imaging appearances that are helpful. Dynamic enhancement patterns can reflect the vascularity of masses, differentiating benign from malignant soft-tissue masses. This article pictorially illustrates the MR imaging features of various common and uncommon retroperitoneal masses.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has considerable potential in characterizing pancreatic masses. Certain features can be used by the radiologist to establish a definitive diagnosis for most pancreatic tumors including ductal adenocarcinoma, islet cell tumors, solid and papillary epithelial neoplasms, micro- and macrocystic adenoma, and metastases. Recognition of these tumors on imaging is important since it often changes the treatment approach and may obviate the need for surgery. Recent introduction of 3D gradient recalled echo (GRE) sequence such as volumetric interpolated breath hold examination (VIBE) has dramatically improved MR imaging by providing dynamic enhanced thin-slice images with fat saturation and high signal-to-noise ratio. In this article, special emphasis will be placed on the impact of 3D GRE sequence in the diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasms with pathologic correlation.

We previously reported that interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta treatment of primary mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) cultures resulted in secondary alloantigen-specific hyporesponsiveness and protection from graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) lethality. Here, we report that CD4+ T cells recovered from the IL-10- and TGF-beta-treated primary MLR cultures have immunoregulatory function. Tolerized cells significantly inhibited proliferation of naive alloreactive CD4+ T cells in a primary MLR. Inhibition of the naive alloresponse was observed with as few as 1 tolerized cell to 10 naive responder cells. Tolerized cells were able to significantly reduce GVHD lethality when injected with naive alloreactive CD4+ T cells into major histocombatibility class (MHC) II disparate recipients. Rigorous CD25 depletion of the primary MLR had no effect on generation of a regulatory capacity, suggesting that the regulatory cells likely originated from CD4+CD25- T cells. Immune suppression was mediated independently of IL-10 and TGF-beta production, as neutralizing antibodies for IL-10, IL-10R, and TGF-beta were unable to revert suppression, and IL-10- deficient CD4+ T cells were able to mediate in vitro and in vivo suppression. The generation of immunoregulatory cells from a CD4+CD25- population during tolerization with IL-10 and TGF-beta provides an additional mechanism to prevent GVHD lethality by T cells that may escape full tolerance induction.

Background The most common malignancy to cause gastric outlet obstruction is primary gastric adenocarcinoma and it is followed by carcinoma of the pancreas and gallbladder. Herein, we report a case of gastric outlet obstruction secondary to metastatic lobular breast carcinoma. Case presentation Fifty-seven year old Caucasian female with recently diagnosed metastatic lobular breast carcinoma to skin was referred to gastroenterology for evaluation of dyspepsia and dysphagia. She has past medical history significant for acid reflux and Clostridium difficile colitis. Computed tomography of her abdomen showed diffused bowel wall thickening without evidence of bowel obstruction. Due to persistent abdominal pain, an upper endoscopy was performed. The upper endoscopy showed gastritis and gastric stenosis in the gastric antrum. These lesions were biopsied and dilated with a balloon dilator. The biopsy of the gastric antrum later showed a metastatic carcinoma of breast origin with typical tumor morphology and immune-phenotype. Conclusions Differentiating metastatic breast carcinoma from primary gastric adenocarcinoma cannot be done using histological examination alone. Immunohistochemistry is needed to differentiate the two based on staining for estrogen and progesterone receptors. The presence of gross cystic disease fluid protein 15 is also suggestive of metastatic breast carcinoma. The stomach has a significant capacity to distend (up to 2–4 L of food) and malignant gastric outlet obstruction is often undetected clinically until a high-grade obstruction develops. Our case demonstrates valuable teaching point in terms of broadening our differentials for gastric outlet obstruction. When patients present with gastric outlet obstruction, both non-malignant and malignant causes of gastric outlet obstruction should be considered. Once adenocarcinoma has been determined to be the cause of gastric outlet obstruction, further immunohistochemistry is needed to differentiate breast carcinoma from other carcinomas.

The results show that CD4 T cells specific for a recombinant antigen expressed in Salmonella typhimurium proliferate normally in mice that express the susceptible form of the Ity gene at early times after infection but do not retain the capacity to produce gamma interferon later in the infection.

The clonal expansion and anatomic location of microbe-specific CD4+ Th cells was studied by tracking the fate of adoptively transferred DO11.10 TCR transgenic T cells specific for OVA peptide 323–339/I-Ad in BALB/c mice infected s.c. with Escherichia coli expressing a MalE-OVA fusion protein. After infection, the DO11.10 T cells accumulated in the T cell-rich paracortical regions of the draining lymph nodes, proliferated there for several days, and then moved into the B cell-rich follicles before they slowly disappeared from the lymph nodes. These changes occurred despite the fact that viable organisms were never found in the lymph nodes. The DO11.10 T cells also accumulated in the s.c. infection site, but about 1 day later than in the draining lymph nodes. Injection of purified MalE-OVA fusion protein alone induced a transient accumulation of DO11.10 T cells in the paracortical regions, but these T cells never entered follicles and the mice did not produce anti-OVA antibodies. The DO11.10 T cells that survived in animals injected with MalE-OVA alone were hyporesponsive to in vitro Ag restimulation and did not produce IL-2 and IFN-γ, whereas DO11.10 T cells from mice infected with MalE-OVA-expressing bacteria produced both lymphokines. These results suggest that Ag-specific T cells are first activated in secondary lymphoid organs following primary bacterial infection and then migrate to the infection site. Furthermore, productive activation of the T cells during the primary response is dependent on bacterial components other than the Ag itself.

Objective To present a unique case of pelvic pain. Design Case report. Setting Academic institution. Patient(s) Thirty-nine year-old with history of endometriosis presented with pelvic pain and possible adnexal mass. Intervention(s) Imaging results were not consistent and suggested possible adnexal mass and hydrosalpinx in different studies. Physical exam was concerning for a vaginal mass that was felt not to be contiguous with the adnexa. At laparoscopy, a 3cm pararectal mass was identified immediately lateral to the uterosacral ligament and medial to the ureter. This mass was completely resected laparoscopically. Main Outcome Measure(s) Resolution of pelvic pain. Result(s) Pathologic diagnosis was ganglioneuroma. Postoperatively, the patient had resolution of her pelvic pain. Conclusion(s) Pelvic ganglioneuromas are a very rare entity but emphasize the importance of a broad differential for pelvic pain.

Pyloric gland adenoma (PGA) is a rare neoplasm demonstrating gastric epithelial differentiation. In this series, we studied 41 PGAs from 36 patients. We compared them to 28 gastric foveolar type gastric adenomas (GTAs) from 25 patients. PGAs occurred in an older population with a mean age of 73 compared with 48 in GTAs (P

This paper deals with the design of radar target tracking and GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation based on the ANFIS (adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system) aided adaptive Kalman filtering approach. To achieve good filtering solutions, the Kalman filter designers are required to have good knowledge on both dynamic process and measurement models, in addition to the assumption that both the process and measurement are corrupted by zero-mean Gaussian white sequences. To prevent divergence problem when the Kalman assumptions are violated, the ANFIS is employed as the dynamic model corrector. The performance improvement will be demonstrated and discussed based on the proposed method.

The induction of anergy in T cells, although widely accepted as critical for the maintenance of tolerance, is still poorly understood at the molecular level. Recent evidence demonstrates that in addition to blockade of costimulation using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against cell surface determinants, treatment of mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) cultures with interleukin 10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) results in induction of tolerance, rendering alloreactive murine CD4+ T cells incapable of inducing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after in vivo transfer to histoincompatible recipients. The present study, using these cells prior to adoptive transfer, determined that IL-10 + TGF-β–tolerant CD4+ T cells exhibit an altered pattern of T-cell receptor (TCR) + CD28-mediated signaling and are incapable of progressing out of the G1 phase of the cell cycle during stimulation with HLA class II disparate antigen-presenting cells. TGFβ + IL-10–tolerant cells were incapable of phosphorylating TCR-ζ, or activating ZAP-70, Ras, and MAPK, similarly to T-cell tolerized by blockade of B7/CD28 and CD40/CD40L pathways. Moreover, these cells were incapable of clonal expansion due to defective synthesis of cyclin D3 and cyclin A, and defective activation of cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk)4, cdk6, and cdk2. These cells also exhibited defective down-regulation of p27kip1 cdk inhibitor and lack of cyclin D2-cdk4 activation, Rb hyperphosphorylation, and progression to the S phase of the cell cycle. These data link anergy-specific proximal biochemical alterations and the downstream nuclear pathways that control T-cell expansion and provide a biochemical profile of IL-10 + TGF-β–tolerant alloreactive T cells that do not induce GVHD when transferred into MHC class II disparate recipients in vivo.

Adoptive transfer of TCR-transgenic T cells uniformly expressing an identifiable TCR of known peptide/MHC specificity can be used to monitor the in vivo behavior of antigen-specific T cells. We have used this system to show that naive T cells are initially activated within the T-cell zones of secondary lymphoid tissue to proliferate in a B7-dependent manner. If adjuvants or inflammatory cytokines are present during this period, enhanced numbers of T cells accumulate, migrate into B-cell-rich follicles, and acquire the capacity to produce IFN-gamma and help B cells produce IgG2a. If inflammation is absent, most of the initially activated antigen-specific T cells disappear without entering the follicles, and the survivors are poor producers of IL-2 and IFN-gamma. Our results indicate that inflammatory mediators play a key role in regulating the anatomic location, clonal expansion, survival and lymphokine production potential of antigen-stimulated T cells in vivo.

e15554 Background: Many pts receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors for RCC manifest stable disease as their best response by RECIST criteria. We hypothesized that tumor necrosis by DCE and DW-MRI after brief treatment with neoS may correlate with pathologic findings. We investigated in a pilot study whether these MRI changes may serve as an imaging biomarker predictive of clinical outcome. Methods: Pts with locally advanced or metastatic clear cell RCC undergoing nephrectomy or metastastectomy were treated with neoS 400mg PO bid for 28 days prior to surgery. The feasibility and safety of neoS was determined. Tumor necrosis detected by DCE and DW MRI’s pre- and post-neoS were compared and correlated with survival and pathologic findings at surgery. RECIST/WHO criteria were also compared. Results: 9 pts were enrolled, and all underwent surgery after neoS, 4 weeks (n=7) or less for toxicity (n=2). Clear cell/sarcomatoid histology was noted in 8 pts, and papillary in 1. All pts had T3 or T4 disease. 7 had M1 disease. No surgical complications occurred. 7 pts (78%) experienced Grade 3 toxicities, including hypertension (n=1), pancreatitis (n=1), hand-foot syndrome (n=1), hyponatremia (n=2), and rash (n=2). No grade 4 or 5 toxicities were observed. 4 of 8 clear cell/sarcomatoid pts (50%) have died, 3 due to progressive disease and 1 of unrelated causes. DCE and DW MRI’s with direct surgical pathological correlation were available in 7 of these pts. The mean ADC DW MRI changes in the renal lesion of 4 longer term survivors (median survival = 43 months) was +.22 vs. –0.07 in the 3 short term survivors (median survival = 13 months). RECIST/WHO criteria did not correlate with response. Evaluation of lack of enhancement on DCE MRI and increase in ADC on DW MRI were seen and correlated with necrosis on pathologic specimens. Conclusions: Four weeks of neoS is associated with significant necrosis that correlates with DCE-MRI and DW-MRI. There may be a trend in survival with greater necrosis, suggesting a role for these imaging biomarkers to assess early benefits of therapy. Clinical trial information: NCT00727532.

466 Background: Many pts receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors for RCC manifest stable disease as their best response by RECIST criteria. We hypothesized that tumor necrosis by DCE and DW-MRI after brief treatment with neoS may correlate with pathologic findings. We investigated in a pilot study whether these MRI changes may serve as an imaging biomarker predictive of clinical outcome. Methods: Pts with locally advanced or metastatic clear cell RCC undergoing nephrectomy or metastastectomy were treated with neoS 400mg PO bid for 28 days prior to surgery. The feasibility and safety of neoS was determined. Tumor necrosis detected by DCE and DW MRI’s pre- and post-neoS were compared and correlated with survival and pathologic findings at surgery. RECIST/WHO criteria were also compared. Results: 9 pts were enrolled, and all underwent surgery after neoS, 4 weeks (n=7) or less for toxicity (n=2). Clear cell/sarcomatoid histology was noted in 8 pts, and papillary in 1. All pts had T3 or T4 disease. 7 had M1 disease. No surgical complications occurred. 7 pts (78%) experienced grade 3 toxicities, including hypertension (n=1), pancreatitis (n=1), hand-foot syndrome (n=1), hyponatremia (n=2), and rash (n=2). No grade 4 or 5 toxicities were observed. 4 of 8 clear cell/sarcomatoid pts (50%) have died, 3 because of progressive disease and 1 of unrelated causes. DCE and DW MRI’s with direct surgical pathological correlation were available in 7 of these pts. The mean ADC DW MRI changes in the renal lesion of 4 longer term survivors (median survival = 43 months) was +.22 vs. –0.07 in the 3 short term survivors (median survival = 13 months). RECIST/WHO criteria did not correlate with response. Evaluation of lack of enhancement on DCE MRI and increase in ADC on DW MRI were seen and correlated with necrosis on pathologic specimens. Conclusions: Four weeks of neoS is associated with significant necrosis that correlates with DCE-MRI and DW-MRI. There may be a trend in survival with greater necrosis, suggesting a role for these imaging biomarkers to assess early benefits of therapy. Clinical trial information: NCT00727532.