Search

Objective: To study the clinical and histopathologic features of metanephric adenoma (MA)., Methods: Eight cases of recently diagnosed MA were retrieved from archival file. Immunohistochemical study was carried out. The clinical characteristics, pathologic parameters, differential diagnosis, treatment options and prognosis of MA were analyzed, with literature review., Results: The patients included 6 females and 2 males. The age of patients ranged from 12 to 70 years (mean=43.6 years). Eight cases were located in renal cortex and showed well-defined borders. Histologically, the tumor was composed of tubules lined by small basophilic cells and embedded in an edematous stroma. Papillary structures and psammoma bodies were focally seen. Immunohistochemical study showed that the tumor cells were positive for PAX2 and vimentin in all the 8 cases. WT-1 was positive in 2 cases, focal and weak in 5 cases, and negative in 1 case. CK-Pan was positive in 3 cases. CK7 staining was mostly negative, with focal and weak positivity only in 1 case. The proliferative index, as highlighted by Ki-67 staining, was less than 2% in 7 cases and focally around 5% in 1 case. The expressions of CK20, CD10, RCC, epithelial membrane antigen, CD56, synaptophysin and chromogranin A were negative. Follow-up information from 7 to 57 months was available in all patients; and none of them developed local recurrence or distant metastasis., Conclusions: The diagnosis of MA relies primarily on thorough histologic examination and immunohistochemical study (vimentin and PAX2 positive, WT-1 focally and weakly positive in some cases, and low proliferative index). Correlation with clinical and radiologic findings would also be helpful.

The translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) is an anti-apoptotic protein, which is highly expressed in several human cancer types. However, the role of TCTP in skin cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), has not been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the expression of TCTP in cutaneous SCC samples using immunohistochemistry in two epidermoid SCC cell lines, A431 and SCL-1, using western blot analysis. We further investigated the role of TCTP in skin cancinogenesis by silencing the TPT1 gene using small interfering RNA (siRNA) in the SCC cell line A431. Our results demonstrated that TCTP was overexpressed in cutaneous SCC cells, compared to normal skin keratinocytes. In addition, the expression of TCTP in skin SCC significantly increased with the grade of malignancy. Western blot analysis further confirmed that the expression of TCTP in the cell lines, A431 and SCL-1, was significantly higher compared to that in the normal keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. The expression of TCTP in A431 cells was significantly downregulated by transfection with our specifically designed TCTP siRNA. We found that downregulation of TCTP expression was associated with decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis in A431 cells. These results suggest that the TPT1 gene may be a potential therapeutic target in skin SCC through a siRNA approach.