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Background: Infections are common with significant mortality and morbidity in patients with graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an advantageous treatment option for patients with GvHD because it is not immunosuppressive. The objective of this study was to assess the rate of infections and to determine risk factors in patients with GvHD., Materials and Methods: In a single-center cohort, we retrospectively collected data on infectious episodes by evaluating the clinical records of patients with GvHD treated by ECP since 2011., Results: A total of 47 patients were included in this study. At ECP initiation, there were 10 patients with acute GvHD and 37 with chronic GvHD. At the final follow-up, 200 infectious episodes were diagnosed in 91.5% of patients with an average follow-up of 25.9 months (ie, 1.97 infections per patient per year). Most episodes had positive outcomes as there was no death related to infections, and only six infections required long-term treatment. Higher dose of corticosteroids at the initiation of ECP was significantly associated with a shorter onset of the first infection (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.17, 3.57]; P = .013). Unrelated donor transplants were significantly associated with a lower rate of infection (HR = 0.61; 95% CI [0.39, 0.95]; P = .028)., Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that ECP is associated with a low infection rate and an optimal clinical efficacy. Thus, ECP is still a suitable treatment for GvHD. Yet, a future study with a larger cohort will be necessary to deepen the identification of risk factors for infection., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: The STAT6 pathway is implicated in the pathogenesis of various lymphomas; however, its immunohistochemical expression has not been fully investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of the two forms of STAT6, phosphorylated or not, in a series of systemic lymphomas., Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of two antibodies, STAT6 (clone YE361) and pSTAT6 (clone Y641), which recognise the phosphorylated form of the molecule was studied in 60 lymphomas., Results: STAT6 YE361 expression was cytoplasmic, with 23.3% of the cases showing high expression. pSTAT6 Y641 expression was mostly nuclear and found in 45% of the cases. pSTAT6 Y641 nuclear expression was associated with the lymphoma type (p < 0.0001), as it was seen mostly in follicular, Hodgkin and angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphomas. STAT6 YE361 cytoplasmic expression was also associated with lymphoma type (p = 0.001), as it was mostly found in diffuse large B cell and marginal B cell lymphomas. No association with PD-L1 expression, other clinicopathological data or prognosis was found., Conclusion: The two STAT6 clones are differentially expressed between lymphoma types., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Ovarian borderline tumors can show histologic features, such as different degrees of cellular proliferation, eosinophilic cells, autoimplants, and adenofibromatous architecture, the importance of which is not known. The aim of the study was to describe these features and correlate them with clinical characteristics. Eighty-three ovarian borderline tumors were studied for the aforementioned features. These were correlated with clinicopathologic features. Epithelial proliferation was associated with the T stage in serous tumors (P=0.0009), but not in mucinous tumors (P=0.97). It was positively associated with bilateral tumors (P=0.01) and the presence of autoimplants (P<0.0001). It was associated with the presence of eosinophilic cells, as tumors with extensive eosinophilic cells had a mean proliferation of 80.7%, for those with no such cells it was 23.8% (P<0.0001), and for those with a limited presence of eosinophilic cells it was 48.7% (P=0.03). Cellular proliferation was not associated with the size of the tumor. An adenofibromatous architecture was associated with unilateral tumors (P=0.02) and showed a trend (P=0.08) with regard to T stage in serous tumors. It was not associated with the size of the tumor. The presence of autoimplants was marginally associated (P=0.07) with bilateral tumors and it was not associated with the size of the tumor or the T stage. The presence of eosinophilic cells was not associated with the T stage, the size of the tumor, or bilateral tumors. The degree of epithelial proliferation, autoimplants, adenofibromatous architecture, and the presence of eosinophilic cells are important features in ovarian borderline tumors.

Background: Seromucinous ovarian tumors are rare and not adequately described in the literature and this is especially true for seromucinous carcinomas., Aim of the Study: To describe histological and clinical features of these tumors in comparison with the rest of ovarian epithelial tumors., Materials and Methods: Two hundred and forty one (241) ovarian tumors, borderline (n=92) or malignant (n=149), treated surgically without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, were examined., Results: Seromucinous borderline (SMBT) and malignant tumors (SMC) comprised 7.8% (n=7) and 4% (n=6) of all borderline tumors and carcinomas, respectively, studied. Mean age of diagnosis was 63.2 and 68.3years and mean size was 6.4cm and 12cm for SMBT and SMC, respectively. Seromucinous tumors were associated with endometriosis in 23.1% of the cases and they were bilateral in 30.8%. Microscopically, variety in cellular composition, papillary architecture and development into thick walled, occasionally muscular, cysts were the main findings. Medullary/paraovarian/tubal or deeply cortical localization was also characteristic. Stage predicted overall and progression-free survival (p<0.0001 and p=0.03, respectively). Five-year survival was 62% for patients with high grade serous carcinoma, 55% for seromucinous carcinoma, 100% for endometrioid carcinoma, 75% for clear cell carcinoma, and 80% for patients with mucinous carcinoma. Differences were not however statistically significant., Conclusion: Seromucinous tumors have unique features that support their classification as a different entity. Their localization and their often thick fibrous or/and muscular wall provides further evidence for an histogenesis from the secondary Müllerian system or vestigial structures., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)