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Argyrophilic cells have been found in 2 different basal cell carcinomas (BCC), and membrane-bound endocrine-like granules, in the carcinoid range, have been observed in 4 consecutive cases of such tumors. It is postulated that BCC can occasionally display cells showing an endocrine differentiation.

Primary sarcoma tumours of the prostate are rare and are classified, according to their histology, as stromal tumours of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP) and stromal prostatic sarcoma (PS; low and high grade). We describe a case of a 71-year-old man that developed progressive urinary obstruction symptoms and was subjected to a transurethral prostatic resection (TURP). Histologically, there is a diffuse proliferation of epithelioid and spindle cells that showed rare atypical mitotic figures. Immunohistochemically, the neoplastic cells express diffusely CD34 and focally progesterone whereas no immunoreactivity was seen for cytocheratin, desmin, S-100, Bcl-2, chromogranin, CD117, and actin smooth muscle. A final diagnosis of low-grade prostatic stromal sarcoma (LG-PS) was made. This is a really rare neoplasm; in the literature, in fact, to our knowledge, only 6 cases are described and all of these were alive and free of disease at followup. Our patient too is free of disease at 15 months from the diagnosis.

Seventy-six specimens of normal breast tissue and benign and malignant breast lesions were studied to assess the mean area occupied by silver-stained proteins of the nucleolar organizer regions (MNORA) of the nucleolus. The assessment was performed with a computer-assisted image analyzer. The results indicate that only 30% of malignant lesions have a MNORA value greater than that of normal breast tissue or benign lesions. On the other hand, MNORA values of ductal carcinoma in situ were significantly greater than those of epitheliosis (papillomatosis). MNORA values were also significantly different in grade I and grade III invasive ductal carcinomas, the latter exhibiting the highest MNORA values of all the cases observed. Evaluation of MNORA values may therefore help in differentiating benign epithelial proliferations from ductal carcinomas in situ. Furthermore, because there is evidence that MNORA values are indicative of the cell duplication rate, MNORA values may ultimately be considered an objective prognostic parameter in addition to grading for invasive ductal carcinomas.

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