0000000000207881

AUTHOR

Matilde Cacciatore

Challenges and new prospects in hepatosplenic γδ T-cell lymphoma.

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a heterogeneous group of lymphoid neoplasms characterized by aggressive clinical behavior and dismal prognosis. Hepatosplenic γδ T-cell lymphoma (γδ-HSTL) is a particular form of PTCL that arises from a small subset of γ/δ T-cell receptor-expressing lymphocytes. γδ-HSTL has a rapidly progressive course and poor outcome due also to its refractoriness to conventional chemotherapy regimens. The very low incidence of γδ-HSTL, along with its propensity to mimic different pathological entities, makes this lymphoma a true diagnostic challenge. In this review, we highlight the biological and clinical features of γδ-HSTL that contribute to making this lymphoma…

research product

Splenic Littoral Cell Hemangioendothelioma in a Patient With Crohn's Disease Previously Treated With Immunomodulators and Anti-TNF Agents: A Rare Tumor Linked to Deep Immunosuppression

Th e risk of malignancy in Crohn ’ s disease (CD) has been well described. Moreover, immunomodulators, uch as azathioprine (AZA) and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP), and biological agents, such as infl iximab and adalimumab, may promote carcinogenesis ( 1 – 3 ). Splenic littoral cell tumors are recently described tumors of vascular origin composed of endothelial cells, with typical microscopic and immunohistochemical features of splenic sinus lining cells ( 4 ). Clinical findings are not specific, and outcome is unpredictable but usually benign, although a few cases with a malignant behavior have been reported ( 5,6 ). We report a 58-year-old Caucasian man with a long history of ileocolonic CD.

research product

Histological features and ki-67 index in cervical atypical lesions

One of the most frequent challenges in routine diagnostic assessment of cervical biopsies consists of some lesions in which histological features of HPV infection are either inconsistently present or only mildly/focally evident. We named them Atypical Lesions (AL) because differential diagnosis with metaplastic/reactive lesions and LSIL is difficult. It would be important to identify among them those lesions that are really HPV-associated. We studied 52 AL cases to evaluate whether the morphological features and the proliferation index, assessed by Mib1 (Ki67) immunostaining, would be useful to better understand the real nature of AL, with relation to the HPV presence and to the proliferati…

research product

Stromal SPARC contributes to the detrimental fibrotic changes associated with myeloproliferation whereas its deficiency favors myeloid cell expansion.

Abstract In myeloid malignancies, the neoplastic clone outgrows normal hematopoietic cells toward BM failure. This event is also sustained by detrimental stromal changes, such as BM fibrosis and osteosclerosis, whose occurrence is harbinger of a dismal prognosis. We show that the matricellular protein SPARC contributes to the BM stromal response to myeloproliferation. The degree of SPARC expression in BM stromal elements, including CD146+ mesenchymal stromal cells, correlates with the degree of stromal changes, and the severity of BM failure characterizing the prototypical myeloproliferative neoplasm primary myelofibrosis. Using Sparc−/− mice and BM chimeras, we demonstrate that SPARC contr…

research product

‘Pyogenic granuloma-like Kaposi's sarcoma’ on the hands: immunohistochemistry and human herpesvirus-8 detection

Letter to Editor

research product

Late, giant brachial artery aneurysm following hemodialysis fistula ligation in a renal transplant patient: case report and literature review.

Brachial artery aneurysm (BAA) following long-standing arteriovenous fistula ligation after renal transplantation is uncommon. Herein, we describe the case of a 64-year-old man who developed a giant symptomatic BAA 21 years after ligation of the fistula. He was submitted to surgical excision of the aneurysm followed by interposition prosthetic graft.

research product

PDGFRβ and FGFR2 mediate endothelial cell differentiation capability of triple negative breast carcinoma cells

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a very aggressive subgroup of breast carcinoma, still lacking specific markers for an effective targeted therapy and with a poorer prognosis compared to other breast cancer subtypes. In this study we investigated the possibility that TNBC cells contribute to the establishment of tumor vascular network by the process known as vasculogenic mimicry, through endothelial cell differentiation. Vascular-like functional properties of breast cancer cell lines were investigated in vitro by tube formation assay and in vivo by confocal microscopy, immunofluorescence or immunohistochemistry on frozen tumor sections. TNBCs express endothelial markers and acquire th…

research product

Microenvironment-centred dynamics in aggressive B-cell lymphomas.

Aggressive B-cell lymphomas share high proliferative and invasive attitudes and dismal prognosis despite heterogeneous biological features. In the interchained sequence of events leading to cancer progression, neoplastic clone-intrinsic molecular events play a major role. Nevertheless, microenvironment-related cues have progressively come into focus as true determinants for this process. The cancer-associated microenvironment is a complex network of nonneoplastic immune and stromal cells embedded in extracellular components, giving rise to a multifarious crosstalk with neoplastic cells towards the induction of a supportive milieu. The immunological and stromal microenvironments have been cl…

research product