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Chandrika J Piyathilake,1 Suguna Badiga,1 Samuel G Borak,2 Janaka Weragoda,1 Sejong Bae,3 Roland Matthews,4 Walter C Bell,2 Edward E Partridge5 1Department of Nutrition Sciences, 2Department of Pathology, 3Department of Medicine, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 5Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA Background: Even though novel therapies based on aberrant DNA methylation could be of particular importance for the treatment of cervical cancer (CC) because the oncoproteins E6/E7 of high-risk human papillomaviruses, the causative agents for developing CC, have the capacity to bind and upregulate DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), to our knowledge, no previous studies have evaluated the expression of this enzyme in CC in relation to survival outcomes. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the expression of DNMT1 in CC and its association with survival outcomes.Methods: The study population consisted of 76 women treated for primary CC and followed up by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) cancer registry. The expression of DNMT1 was examined using immunohistochemistry, and the degree of expression of DNMT1 was expressed as a percentage of cells positive for DNMT1 and its intensity. Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the relationship between the degree of expression of DNMT1 and overall survival after adjusting for relevant covariates.Results: The expression of DNMT1 was significantly higher in CC cells compared to that in the normal cervical epithelium. A higher percentage of cells positive for DNMT1 and a higher intensity score for DNMT1 were significantly associated with poor survival outcome (hazard ratio [HR] =4.3, P=0.03 and HR =4.9, P=0.02, respectively).Conclusion: Our findings suggested that the degree of expression of DNMT1 could be considered as a target in the epigenetic treatment of CC. Replication of our results in other study populations with CC could create the opportunity of using DNMT inhibitors to treat CC. Keywords: DNMT1, cervical cancer, survival outcome&nbsp

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare and highly aggressive hematological malignancy derived from precursors of plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Very few cases of BPDCN have been described with lack of skin manifestations at the time of diagnosis. Here we report two rare non-cutaneous presentations of BPDCN without obvious skin lesions at our institution and also the literature review. Our first patient had a unique presentation of BPDCN confined to the sinonasal region with central nervous system involvement. The second patient we report is also atypical with regard to widespread disease that uncharacteristically spared the skin and bone marrow. BPDCN is a rare hematological malignancy involving immature plasmacytoid dendritic cells. It poses a diagnostic challenge requiring multidisciplinary approach to manage this disease. It is important to identify effective therapies for both cutaneous and non-cutaneous presentations of BPDCN, since most cases are uniformly fatal with conventional chemotherapy alone. High-dose induction therapy based on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) regimens, to achieve complete remission followed by allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from related or unrelated donors is recommended to improve long-term survival in these patients. Larger scale studies are warranted to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and the important prognostic indicators for optimal management. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Granular cell tumors involving the female reproductive tract are rare, with only a small number of cases described. Of the reported cases, none are documented within an ovarian mature cystic teratoma (MCT). This report documents a case of a granular cell tumor, incidentally discovered within an ovarian MCT in a 50-yr-old woman undergoing a supracervical hysterectomy and left salpingo-oophorectomy. Although malignant transformation and other secondary ovarian neoplasms in MCT have been well documented, synchronous nonovarian benign neoplasms are reported much less frequently. The histogenesis of secondary tumors arising in MCT is incompletely understood, and the current case provides additional insight, especially pertaining to schwannian and neuroectodermal tumors arising in this setting. The current case, to the best of our knowledge, represents the first report of a granular cell tumor involving a mature teratoma of any site, with the diagnosis being supported by morphologic and immunohistochemical staining characteristics.