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A case of ganglioneuroma arising within a cystic mature teratoma of the ovary in a 34-year-old woman is reported. Patient underwent right adnexectomy. The ovary was completely replaced by a bilocular cystic lesion, measuring 8 cm in diameter and filled with adipose tissue and pilosebaceous material. Microscopically the cyst was composed by a mature cystic teratoma containing skin with dermal appendages, fatty tissue and bronchial epithelium. Furthermore a nodule (0.5 cm in size) composed of mature ganglion cells, axons and Schwann cells, was identified. Ganglion cells were positive for NSE and synaptophysin, while Schwann cells stained positively with S100 protein and GFAP. To the best of our knowledgment this is the first reported cases of ganglioneuroma arisen within a cystic mature teratoma of the ovary.

A case of hyperkeratosis follicularis et parafollicularis in cutem penetrans Kyrle's disease in a 41-year-old woman is described. It was a recurrence of a lesion surgically removed and originally diagnosed as invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Kyrle's disease is a rare dermatosis and should not be confused with neoplastic conditions i.e. squamous cell carcinoma. Pathologists should be aware of such conditions in order to avoid misdiagnosis, which can imply over treatment for the patient.

We reviewed 391 cases of salivary gland tumors collected in a 13 year period at the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of the University of Modena, according to the new WHO classification (1991). A diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma was changed in adenoid cystic carcinoma. Within malignant tumors, 16 cases were reclassified, and new entities, such as polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma, papillary cystoadenocarcinoma and salivary duct carcinoma were introduced. Mucoepidermoid carcinomas were subdivised in low-grade and high-grade tumors, but at the follow-up histological grade did not correlate with clinical behaviour of the lesions.

A case of extra-axial chordoma arisen in the soft tissues of the posterior thoracic wall is reported. Immunohistochemistry showed coexpression of low molecular weight keratins, vimentin and S-100 protein in neoplastic cells. Although rare, examples of chordomas developing in extra-axial locations are reported in the literature and need be differentiated from other tumors that can mimic their histopathological features, such as myxoid chondrosarcomas.

The occurrence of human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8) DNA sequences was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction in 36 cases of cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) (classic and associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and in 88 pathologic entities that can histologically mimic KS, such as reactive and neoplastic vascular processes and lesions featuring focal or extensive spindle cell pattern. A positive reaction was detected in 16 (70%) of 23 samples of classic KS and 10 (77%) of 13 KS cases related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In particular, 4 (50%) of 8 samples in the patch stage were found to be positive, whereas in the plaque and nodular stages, HHV-8 DNA sequences were observed in 8 (67%) of 12 and 14 (87%) of 16 cases, respectively. KS cases that had yielded previous negative results were found to be positive for HHV-8 on nested polymerase chain reaction, except two cases of classic KS in the patch stage (6% of the total number of KS, 25% of cases in the patch stage). Reactive and neoplastic vascular processes and cutaneous lesions with a spindle cell component were consistently negative. HHV-8 detection by polymerase chain reaction can represent a valuable method for diagnosing KS, particularly in small skin biopsy samples that might show histologic overlap with non-KS lesions. In early patch stage lesions, however, the diagnostic value of the method is hampered by the occurrence of cases in which HHV-8 sequences are still undetectable.

The quality control scheme in use at the Department of Anatomic Pathology of the University of Bologna-Bellaria Hospital Since 1993 a quality assurance (QA) scheme has been set up in our Department, modified from the protocol in use at the Department of Pathology of Yale University and published by J. Rosai in his textbook. A QA committee has been appointed and each member is responsible for a specific branch of the total workload; the areas involved are: 1. review of frozen section diagnoses with the final diagnoses 2. randomized review of biopsies (1:25) 3. quality control of cytological cases 4. quality control of specimen adequacy 5. quality control of immunohistochemistry and in situ Hybridization 6. quality control of the cytogenetics laboratory 7. quality control of autopsies All data collected from january 1996 to february 1999 have been reviewed and analyzed in order to provide references for other laboratories and for the purpose of monitoring our laboratory' performance.

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Atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) and Lethal giant larvae (Lgl) regulate apical-basal polarity in Drosophila and mammalian epithelia. At the apical domain, aPKC phosphorylates and displaces Lgl that, in turn, maintains aPKC inactive at the basolateral region. The mutual exclusion of these two proteins seems to be crucial for the correct epithelial structure and function. Here we show that a cortical aPKC loading induces Lgl cytoplasmic release and massive overgrowth in Drosophila imaginal epithelia, whereas a cytoplasmic expression does not alter proliferation and epithelial overall structure. As two aPKC isoforms (iota and zeta) exist in humans and we previously showed that Drosophila Lgl is the functional homologue of the Human giant larvae-1 (Hugl-1) protein, we argued if the same mechanism of mutual exclusion could be impaired in human epithelial disorders and investigated aPKCiota, aPKCzeta and Hugl-1 localization in cancers deriving from ovarian surface epithelium. Both in mucinous and serous histotypes, aPKCzeta showed an apical-to-cortical redistribution and Hugl-1 showed a membrane-to-cytoplasm release, perfectly recapitulating the Drosophila model. Although several recent works support a causative role for aPKCiota overexpression in human carcinomas, our results suggest a key role for aPKCzeta in apical-basal polarity loosening, a mechanism that seems to be driven by changes in protein localization rather than in protein abundance.