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We report a case of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the prostate in a 54-year-old Caucasian male who presented with urinary retention and benign prostatic hyperplasia. We discuss the rare presentation of this disease and its clinicopathologic features and review the literature for up-to-date information on the diagnosis and clinical management. Despite the low incidence of lymphoma involving the prostate gland, it should always be considered as part of the differential diagnosis in cases of prostate gland enlargement with urinary tract obstructive symptoms resistant to medical therapy. Treatment modalities for this rare disease are also discussed.

Purpose Successful immuno-oncology research over the past few decades has driven the widespread clinical application of immune checkpoint inhibition, the activation of the bodies’ immune system to combat malignant tumor cells, in the management of various cancers. The utilization of the checkpoint inhibition mechanism in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) became the standard second-line therapy in 2015 with the FDA approval of Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab. Design This review provides a synopsis of the existing knowledge of the role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of malignant tumors and examines the mechanism of action of immune therapies, as well as discussing the data from the clinical studies responsible for the approval of immune checkpoint inhibition in the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Results Three recently-approved drugs: Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab and Atezolizumab, and Durvalumab, currently under FDA review, have shown favorable overall survival, overall response rate, duration of response and/or toxicity/safety profiles in a number of single agent and combination therapy clinical trials compared to standard of care platinum-based doublet chemotherapies for advanced NSCLC patients who have metastatic disease, have failed standard-of-care therapy, or are treatment-naive. Conclusion Current and future research will focus on novel immunotherapeutic agents and additional drug combination trials, as well as investigating tumor-specific biomarkers, including PD-L1 expression and other immune signatures, to predict which patients may best benefit from the new checkpoint inhibition drug regimens. In the near future, clinicians will have more choices of potential first line treatment regimens for NSCLC patients, and eventually targeted therapies and immunotherapy may prove more efficacious and safer than current platinum-based chemotherapy.

Background Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) genes are associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers in women. The cancer characteristics of men with BRCA1/2 mutations are less well studied. This study describes the unique cancer characteristics of male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers at our institution. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review on male patients who were seen between January 2004 and December 2014 and tested positive for a BRCA1/2 mutation. We evaluated clinical characteristics, pathology findings, treatment selection and survival. Results A total of 102 male patients were identified who tested positive for a BRCA1/2 deleterious mutation. Of these 102 patients, 33 (32%) had a diagnosis of cancer. Of these 33 patients with cancer, the majority (20 patients) were found to carry a BRCA2 mutation. Median age of cancer diagnosis was 65 years (Range: 35-75 years). Of the 33 patients diagnosed with cancer, 8 had two or more cancers, including 1 patient who had 4 cancers. Prostate cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer, seen in 13 patients, 11 of whom were BRCA2 positive. These cancers tended to have higher Gleason scores and elevated PSA levels. The majority of these prostate cancer patients were alive and disease free at a median follow-up of 7.4 years. Male breast cancer was the second most common cancer seen in 9 patients, all of whom were BRCA2 positive. The majority of these cancers were high grade, hormone receptor positive and associated with lymph node metastases. There were no breast cancer related deaths. Other cancers included bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers. Conclusions This study describes the cancer characteristics and outcomes of male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. A third of male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers had a diagnosis of cancer. A significant number of patients (mostly BRCA2 mutation positive) developed multiple cancers, which may have important implications for cancer screening and prevention. Despite having high grade histology and advanced stage at diagnosis, male BRCA1/2 mutation carriers with breast and prostate cancer demonstrated a favorable 5-year survival.

We report a case of a small-cell variant of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, with an unusual clinical presentation mimicking sepsis and a fulminant clinic course, in a 48-year-old Caucasian female. In this report, we discuss the diagnostic challenge, histopathologic features, and unique cytogenetic features of this case, in order to raise awareness of this rare presentation and emphasize the importance of meticulous peripheral smear examination and early bone marrow evaluation.

CONTEXT Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is a clonal proliferation of small mature B-cell lymphocytes diagnosed clinically when the peripheral blood clonal B lymphocyte count is persistently >5,000/mcL with distinctive immunological markers defined by co-expression of CD5 and CD23 with additional expression of CD19, CD20 (weak) with weak surface immunoglobulin expression, usually IgM heavy chain. Expression of CD79b and FMC7 is typically negative to weakly positive. With the recent advancement in cancer genetics and the continued understanding of the transforming events in CLL, the importance of the various somatic genomic aberrations has been well documented. Multiple studies have shown the clinical implications of these aberrations in terms of their prognostic and predictive relevance in clinical practice and these genomic aberrations are usually assessed clinically by cytogenetic analysis and FISH. OBJECTIVE We proposed this study to determine the incidence of the genomic aberrations in the CLL patients diagnosed at the Rose Cancer Treatment Center of the William Beaumont Hospital between 2010 and 2015 and to determine their impact on survival among the patients diagnosed during the study period. STUDY DESIGN A retrospective review of all the patients diagnosed with CLL between 2010 and 2015 at the Rose Cancer Treatment Center was conducted with the assistance of the staff in the William Beaumont cancer registry office. We determined the demographic variables and analyzed the incidence of CLL among the subjects diagnosed within the study period. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 21 and Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for survival analysis and log rank (Mantel-Cox) was used to compare these curves. 12-Month and 36-Month overall survival rates were analyzed by actuarial method. The distribution of the various genomic aberrations was determined using descriptive statistical analysis. RESULTS A total of 151 patients were identified at the Rose Cancer Center of the William Beaumont Hospital during the study period. The median age at diagnosis was 74 years (range 38-101) of which 90 were male (59.6%) and 61 female (40.4%). One-hundred and twenty-four (82.1%) patients were white, six patients (4.0%) were African American, two patients (1.3%) were Asian and nineteen (12.6%) patients declined to identify their race. Analysis of cytogenetic distribution showed that, twenty patients (13.2%) had normal cytogenetic, eleven patients (7.3%) had del(13q) alone, eight (5.3%) had both del(13q) and del(11q), four patients (2.6%) had del(13q) plus trisomy 12 aberrations, ten (6.6%) patients had del(13q) and other karyotypes (TP53, RB1, trisomy 1q, del(6q23), unmutated IGHV). Thirteen patients (8.6%) had trisomy 12 abnormality, five patients (3.3%) had del(11q), three patients (2.0%) had del(17p), twenty-five patients (16.6%) had complex cytogenetic abnormalities and fifty-two (34.4%) patients cytogenetic were not checked (see Fig.1). The median follow-up duration for the cohort was 22.5 months (range 0 to 70 months). The survival rates at 12 months and 36 months for the cohorts based on cytogenetic are described in table 1 and fig.2. CONCLUSION Our study showed that majority of our patients (34.4%) did not have their cytogenetics checked at diagnosis, patients with del(13q) abnormality alone had the most favorable 36-Month overall survival rate and those with del(17p) fared worst with the most unfavorable outcome followed by patients with complex cytogenetic abnormalities. Presence of del(13q) with either del(11q) or trisomy 12 abnormalities appeared to ameliorate their poor and intermediate adverse prognostic effects, respectively. Figure 2 Figure 2. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.