An RI of 0.70 or higher is predictive of an unfavorable outcome in patients with chronic nephropathies.

BackgroundMantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is currently an incurable entity, and new therapeutic approaches are needed. We have applied a high-throughput phospho-proteomic technique to MCL cell lines to identify activated pathways and we have then validated our data in both cell lines and tumor tissues.MethodsPhosphoScan analysis was performed on MCL cell lines. Results were validated by flow cytometry and western blotting. Functional validation was performed by blocking the most active pathway in MCL cell lines.ResultsPhosphoScan identified more than 300 tyrosine-phosporylated proteins, among which many protein kinases. The most abundant peptides belonged to proteins connected with B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling. Active BCR signaling was demonstrated by flow cytometry in MCL cells and by western blotting in MCL tumor tissues. Blocking BCR signaling by Syk inhibitor piceatannol induced dose/time-dependent apoptosis in MCL cell lines, as well as several modifications in the phosphorylation status of BCR pathway members and a collapse of cyclin D1 protein levels.ConclusionOur data support a pro-survival role of BCR signaling in MCL and suggest that this pathway might be a candidate for therapy. Our findings also suggest that Syk activation patterns might be different in MCL compared to other lymphoma subtypes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13402-011-0019-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Undifferentiated carcinoma with osteoclast-like giant cells (UCOGC), a variant of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), has a striking genetic similarity to PDAC but a significantly improved overall survival. We hypothesize that this difference could be due to the immune response to the tumor, and as such, we investigated the expression of PD-1, PD-L1, and CD163 in a series of UCOGC. To this aim, 27 pancreatic UCOGCs (11 pure and 16 PDAC-associated), 5 extrapancreatic tumors with osteoclast-like giant cells and 10 pancreatic anaplastic carcinomas were immunostained using antibodies against PD-1, PD-L1, and CD163. In pancreatic UCOGCs, PD-L1 was expressed in neoplastic cells of 17 (63%) of 27 cases, more often in cases with an associated PDAC (P = .04). Expression of PD-L1 was associated with poor prognosis, confirmed by multivariate analysis: patients with PD-L1-positive UCOGCs had a risk of all-cause mortality that was 3 times higher than did patients with PD-L1-negative UCOGCs (hazard ratio, 3.397; 95% confidence interval, 1.023-18.375; P = .034). PD-L1 expression on tumor cells was also associated with aberrant P53 expression (P = .035). PD-1 was expressed on rare lymphocytes in 12 UCOGCs (44.4%), mainly located at the tumor periphery. CD163 was expressed on histiocytes, with a diffuse and strong staining pattern in all UCOGCs. Extrapancreatic tumors with osteoclast-like giant cells showed very similar staining patterns for the same proteins. Anaplastic carcinomas have some similarities to UCOGCs, but PD-L1 has no prognostic roles. Our results may have important implications for immunotherapeutic strategies in UCOGCs; these tumors may also represent a model for future therapeutic approaches against PDAC.

We investigated the usefulness of interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis to differentiate between 11 chromophobe renal carcinomas and 12 renal oncocytomas, showing different clinical outcomes, when compared with conventional metaphase cytogenetics by karyotyping. Karyotypically, 3 chromophobe renal cell carcinomas showed losses of chromosomes, 3 were polyploid, 1 was normal, and 4 failed to grow. Of 12 oncocytomas, 5 showed a normal numeric karyotype and 6 additional structural rearrangements. FISH on chromophobe renal cell carcinomas showed a high percentage of cases (10/11 [91%]) with multiple numeric losses among chromosomes 1, 2, 6, 10, and 17; this interphase pattern was observed irrespective of the 3 different metaphase karyotypes. Of 12 oncocytomas, 11 (92%) revealed a normal numeric chromosomal status showing at least 2 chromosomes without aneusomy by interphase FISH. The study demonstrates that indeed FISH performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue can provide clinically useful information more reliably than karyotyping of most of these tumors.

The present research establishes standard two-dimensional (2-D) maps for control, reactive lymph node and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (mantle cell lymphoma, MCL). Medium sensitivity, mass spectrometry compatible colloidal Coomassie has revealed a total of ca. 750 spots in each of the maps. Comparison of 2-D maps by statistical packages, such as the PDQuest, established up- and downregulation of a total of ca. 145 spots, with positive variations of up to 10-folds and negative variations of up to 13-folds in both MCL biopsies' protein extracts. Qualitative and quantitative variations in the two lymphoma samples are consistent. More than 20 proteins have been so far identified by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight (MALDI-TOF)-mass spectrometry, with an additional five spots, which gave very good spectra but could not be matched to any of the presently available databases. Some of the spots, such as the 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein precursor and the glutathione S-transferase P, appear to be in common with other tumors, such as lung adenocarcinoma. Others may simply reflect overall changes in cellular metabolism and growth rate that occur during malignancy and thus might turn out to be in common with any cell population receiving any kind of stress. Some (notably T-cell leukemia/lymphoma protein 1A, TCL1, found to be 10-fold overexpressed) appear to be specific of the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma here studied. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses were applied to obtain further information about stathmin (Op18) and TCL1, respectively.