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To find if an association could be established between Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection and oropharyngeal cancers (OPCs) in a group of patients known to be regular users of tobacco, and to determine the impact of HPV status on clinical outcomes.Case records of 212 patients with AJCC-7 (The American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition) stages II–IVB non metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx treated using radical radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy during the years 2015–2018 were retrieved. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks from oropharyngeal biopsies were available for 177 patients and were evaluated for p16 expression by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. More than 50% nuclear staining with or without cytoplasmic staining was considered HPV+. The association between tobacco use and HPV, as well as the influence of HPV status on survival outcomes were assessed. p16 expression was found to be positive in 23(13%) patients. Significant association was found between chewable tobacco usage and HPV positivity (p = 0.051). The median follow up was 20.5 months (range: 3–80). 5-year Overall Survival was 43.4% and 29.8% (p = 0.044) in HPV+ and HPV− patients, respectively. Local control was significantly better in HPV+ patients (38.6% vs. 25.3%, p = 0.049). There was also a trend towards improved Disease-free Survival in HPV+ patients (31 months vs. 15 months, p = 0.078). Though less in prevalence among the Indian population, improved outcomes in HPV+ OPC patients and widely available IHC HPV assays signifies the routine implementation of p16 testing in day-to-day clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viral hepatitis E is an under‐estimated clinical entity with high mortality (20%–30%), especially in the third trimester of pregnancy. As complications due to hepatitis E virus (HEV) in pregnancy is much greater, it is hypothesized that HEV may cross the placenta and replicate in placental tissues even weeks after clearance from the blood, and cytokines may play a role in the immunopathogenesis of HEV in pregnancy. A total of 12 pregnant women with features of acute viral hepatitis/acute liver failure and positive for either HEV‐immunoglobulin M (IgM)/HEV‐RNA and 30 pregnant women negative for HEV RNA/IgM/immunoglobulin G were enrolled as study subjects and healthy controls, respectively. Following delivery, 5 ml blood was collected from the mother for HEV‐RNA. Replicative RNA and viral load in placental tissue were detected through Real‐Time PCR. Placental tissues from the maternal/fetal sides were stained for HEV antigen using HEV‐open reading frame‐2 antibody by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and for histopathological changes by haematoxylin and eosin. Plasma samples were tested for interleukin (IL)‐1β and IL‐18 cytokine levels using Duo‐R&D ELISA kit, whereas peripheral blood mononuclear cells were used to study the inflammasomes and IL‐1β and IL‐18 cytokine genes expression.Of the 10 HEV RNA‐positive sera, 9 had HEV RNA either in the maternal/fetal side of the placenta with the mean viral load of 137.4 IU/ml. Of the 10 HEV RNA‐positive pregnant women, stillbirth in two and fetal and maternal death in one case was reported. IHC revealed strong brownish cytoplasmic staining (HEV antigen) in cytotrophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblast cells in positive samples. The maternal/fetal side of the infected placenta showed irregular intervillous fibrin deposition as well as tissue necrosis. The mean levels of IL‐1β and IL‐18 cytokines in serum of infected subjects were significantly higher than the healthy controls (17.31 ± 4.462 vs. 8.85 ± 4.36 pg/ml; p < 0.0001*** and 2275 ± 536.9 vs. 1085 ± 531.7 pg/ml; p < 0.0001***), respectively. Detecting replicative HEV RNA and HEV antigen in placental tissues indicated the extra‐hepatic replication of HEV. Furthermore, placental tissue necrosis and significant rise of cytokine levels in HEV‐infected pregnant women might be contributing to the HEV pathogenesis in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about the assessment of PD-L1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) across molecular subtypes of triplenegative breast cancer. It mentions that triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) lack actionable targets and show varied responses to chemotherapy influenced by molecular heterogeneity or degree of immune cell (IC) infiltration.

Primary ovarian non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PONHL) is extremely rare, accounting for 0.5% of all NHLs and 1.5% of all ovarian tumors. Establishing an early and accurate clinical as well as histopathological diagnosis, although challenging, is essential for the appropriate management of these patients and to avoid unnecessary surgeries. Furthermore, it is important to exclude secondary involvement of the ovary by disseminated NHL in these patients, as the two entities carry significantly different prognosis. The diagnostic struggle is mainly due to its rarity, morphological similarities with other malignancies and the relative lack of awareness among the histopathologists. In this article, we present a case of primary ovarian diffuse large B cell lymphoma in a young nulliparous female, who was diagnosed based on histopathological and immunohistochemical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives Histopathological distinction of various nodular lesions in liver with sufficient sensitivity and specificity is a challenge even in an expert set up. The panel of immunohistochemical markers composed of glutamine synthetase (GS), Glypican3 (GPC3) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) was recommended by the International Consensus Group for Hepatocellular Neoplasia group for the differentiation of high grade dysplastic nodule and early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The panel has been extensively validated in the western population. This study aims to test this panel on Indian population on resected, explanted and autopsy cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic liver specimens of HCC. Methodology This study was conducted on 39 such liver specimens (12 cirrhotic, 12 pre-cirrhotic and 11 non-cirrhotic, non-fibrotic livers), including 35 cases of HCC over a period of 12 years. Immunohistochemistry was performed with antibodies against GS, GPC3 and HSP70 on the sections containing both malignant and dysplastic nodules. Results The diagnostic yield depended upon the nature of background liver pathology and was found to be high for only those HCCs arising in cirrhotic background, when positivity of any two markers was taken to be in favor of HCC (sensitivity—58.33%; specificity—100%). GS had a sensitivity and Negative predictive value of 100% for HCCs arising in cirrhotic livers. Conclusions Strong positivity for GS is a highly sensitive marker for HCC in a cirrhotic background regardless of the differentiation of the tumor in Indian population. This may be due to preferential activation of Wnt pathway in Indian patients with cirrhosis. The sensitivity of the panel was too low for detecting HCCs arising in non-cirrhotic livers, even in the pre-cirrhotic chronically inflamed livers, even though the specificity was high. GPC3 and HSP70 appear to be useful as individual markers for HCCs arising in non-cirrhotic livers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Villous adenoma and urothelial carcinoma with villoglandular differentiation (UCVGD) are rare urothelial tumours showing villous morphology, the former being a preneoplastic entity and the latter being a malignant one. The detailed immunohistochemistry of these entities is previously not described in the literature. Moreover, a limited biopsy sample of UCVGD or a villous adenoma with or without adenocarcinoma may be difficult to distinguish on the basis of the histomorphology alone. An immunohistochemical panel comprising of GATA3, p63, β‐catenin, CK7 and CK20 was performed on five cases of UCVGD and three cases of villous adenoma with the aim of studying the expression of the proteins thereby aiding in the diagnosis of these entities in a limited surgical pathology specimen. The mean age of UCVGD was 66.8 years and all the patients were male. All the cases of UCVGD were associated with high grade papillary urothelial carcinoma with lamina propria invasion. The immunohistochemical panel showed strong nuclear GATA3 expression in the urothelial component of UCVGD. Interestingly, the high grade and the low grade villoglandular components of UCVGD also expressed GATA3 (nuclear) with a progressive loss of expression from the high grade to the low grade component. The villous adenomas showed negativity or aberrant cytoplasmic positivity for GATA3. The β‐catenin showed a gradual loss of membranous expression from villous adenoma to low grade and high grade villoglandular components of UCVGD with a patchy membranous expression in the urothelial component of the UCVGD. p63 showed strong nuclear positivity in the urothelial component and uniform negativity in the villous adenoma and villoglandular component of UCVGD irrespective of its grade, thereby distinguishing the villoglandular component from the urothelial component. The urothelial component of UCVGD showed strong membranous CK7 expression and was higher than the CK20 expression in the urothelial component. In contrast, CK20 expression was higher in villous adenoma as compared to CK7. There was no difference in the expression of CK7 and CK20 in the villoglandular components and low grade and high grade villoglandular areas. The above‐mentioned immunohistochemical pattern may help to distinguish the UCVGD from the villous adenoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALK gene rearrangement in the lung adenocarcinomas is the second most common (1.6-11.7% of NSCLC) targetable genomic change after EGFR mutations. However, the prevalence and clinicopathological features of ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinomas from North India are lacking. A total of 240 cases of lung adenocarcinoma were screened for EGFR mutations and for ALK expression. Smoking status, TNM stage, and treatment response were recorded in all cases. Out of 240 cases screened, 37 cases were positive for EGFR mutations and 17 cases (7.08%) showed ALK positivity with immunohistochemistry and break-apart FISH. On excluding 37 EGFR mutation-positive cases, the incidence of ALK-positive adenocarcinoma appears to be higher (17/203 cases, 8.03%). Eight were men and nine were women with mean age of 51.7 years. Majority (62.5%) were non-smokers and had unresectable disease (70.6% stage IV, 17.6% IIIB). The morphological patterns noted were solid (12 cases), papillary (four cases), and micropapillary (one case). Signet ring (two cases) and clear cell change (one cases) were noted. Out of five patients who received crizotinib, three had partial response and two had stable disease. ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinomas account for a minor proportion of NSCLC with prevalence similar to that reported in literature. However, as contrast to published data in our series, patients were in older age group and had solid and papillary pattern on morphology with an aggressive course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimen is challenging and requires ancillary testing. Aim: The feasibility of flow cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI) along with cell block immunocytochemistry (CB-ICC) as adjunct techniques in the diagnosis of NHL as per the current World Health Organization (WHO) classification was evaluated. Materials and Methods: All cases of suspected lymphoma underwent FNA, and the sample was triaged for light microscopic evaluation, FCI, and CB-ICC, and each case was classified as per the current WHO classification. Results: A total of 65 cases was analyzed which included 40 B-cell, 21 T-cell, and 4 unclassifiable lymphomas. Of 61 cases, FCI alone was contributory in 74% (45/61) cases whereas CB-ICC alone was contributory in 65.5% (40/61) cases in typing the lymphoma. In 11.4% (7/61) cases, the lymphoma could not be classified by either technique. Thus, in a total of 88.5% (54/61) cases a combination of FCI and CB-ICC from FNA enabled a diagnosis of lymphoma with its subtyping. Conclusion: Flow cytometric immunophenotyping and ICC on CBs are feasible on FNA material and are very useful in a suspected case of NHL especially when a biopsy may not be possible or feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhabdoid tumours are one of the most aggressive childhood neoplasms associated with high mortality. The commonest age group affected is children less than five years of age. Rhabdoid tumour presenting as an endoluminal tracheal mass leading to central airway obstruction has not been previously reported. We describe the case of a 17-year-oldmale patient where malignant rhabdoid tumour masqueraded as bronchial asthma leading to a delayed diagnosis of upper airway obstruction by tracheal growth. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry confirmed the diagnosis of malignant rhabdoid tumour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 52-year-old man with abdominal pain associated with palpable lump in right upper abdomen. Topics include diagnosed with gallstone-related acute necrotising pancreatitis and undergone surgical necrosectomy, positive plasma cells of a rare disease IgG4 after immunohistochemistry (IHC) and reporting of rare benign lesion of the liver IgG4-related inflammatory pseudotumor (IP) in patients with sclerosing cholangitis (SC) or autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP).