Current human papillomavirus (HPV)16 DNA testing has high sensitivity but low specificity, while mRNA testing (qualitative) improves the specificity. However, both techniques are not able to discriminate between transient and persistent infections. To overcome the disadvantages, we quantitatively detected E6 and E7 mRNAs by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in cervical brushing cells from 87 HPV16+ and 31 HPV16− patients. Our results showed that the expression levels of E6 mRNA or E7 mRNA were significantly increased in HPV16-positive cases than that in the negative cases. Furthermore, in HPV16+ cases, the expression levels of E6 mRNA were significantly increased in invasive cancer compared with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL; p < 0.01), and HSIL compared with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL; p < 0.01). There were no significant changes between LSIL and benign lesions. The expression levels of E7 mRNA presented no significant difference among the above-mentioned four groups. To test whether qRT-PCR can discriminate between transient and persistent infections, 57 HPV16+ patients were followed up for 1 year, and our results demonstrated that the expression levels of both E6 mRNA and E7 mRNA in the persistent infection group were significantly increased relative to the transient infection group (p < 0.01 or 0.05). Thus, a quantitative detection of the expression levels of E6 mRNA in cervical brushing cells may not only be used as an ancillary tool to cytological diagnosis of cervical neoplasia, but may also help to determine the severity of the lesions and the triage of transient infection.

Detection of VEGF mRNA and SP1 mRNA in bronchial brushing cells may be used as an ancillary tool to cytological diagnosis for detection of early-stage lung cancer. It may also help distinguish tuberculosis from other causes of lung inflammation.

MOC-31 and calretinin are of important clinical value for diagnosing and differentially diagnosing the cancer cells in pleural fluid of patients with lung cancer.

AHNAK nucleoprotein 2 (AHNAK2) has been emerged as a crucial protein for neuroblast differentiation and cell migration, thereby involving in the development of various cancers. However, the specific molecular mechanism of AHNAK2 in lung adenocarcinoma is inconclusive. By accessing to the Oncomine dataset and GEPIA website, a higher expression level of AHNAK2 was observed in lung adenocarcinoma tissue samples. Overall survival (OS) curve plotted by Kaplan-Meier method showed that up-regulation of AHNAK2 was related with poor prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma patients. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis and western blot were conducted to examine the expression level of genes in lung adenocarcinoma cells. Through functional in vitro experiments, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were all suppressed after AHNAK2 knockdown using Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, wound-healing and transwell analysis. Reduction of AHNAK2 decreased the apoptosis rate using flow cytometry analysis. Moreover, the key markers of MAPK pathway, p-MEK, p-ERK and p-P90RSK were decreased due to the transfection of si-AHNAK2 in A549 cells. U0126, a MEK inhibitor, showed the similar effects on MAPK-related protein levels with si-AHNAK2. To sum up, AHNAK2 is significantly increased in lung adenocarcinoma and plays a carcinogenic role by activating the MAPK signaling pathway, providing a novel insight and raising possibility for lung adenocarcinoma treatment.

Patient: Female • 48Final Diagnosis: Breast metaplastic squamous cell carcinomaSymptoms: Palpable massMedication: AnthracyclineClinical Procedure: Right modified radical mastectomySpecialty: OncopathologyObjective:Rare diseaseBackground:Breast metaplastic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a rare primary breast carcinoma, and overexpression of HER2 in this carcinoma is extremely uncommon.Case Report:We presented a case of a 48-year-old Asian female with breast metaplastic SCC. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and core needle biopsy (CNB) of the lesion were taken prior to surgical resection. FNAB smears demonstrated highly atypical squamous cells and a diagnosis positive for malignancy was rendered. CNB and a surgical resection specimen revealed invasive squamous carcinoma with keratin pearl formation and intercellular bridges. Further study demonstrated this was an unusual metaplastic SCC case with basal-HER2 (+) phenotype. HER2 has been linked to poor prognosis and response to therapy.Conclusions:The pathological diagnosis of the breast metaplastic SCC was made initially by FNAB and CNB. Identification of basal-HER2 (+) phenotype was critical for selection of hormonal therapies and chemotherapy.