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INTRODUCTION Myeloid neoplasm with blasts showing mast cell (MC)-differentiation and MC-component less than 10% of all nucleated cells but not fulfilling the criteria for systemic mastocytosis with associated hematological neoplasm (SM-AHN) or myelomastocytic leukemia (MML) has not been described in the literature. Herein, we report a study of diverse myeloid malignancies with blasts showing MC-differentiation but not meeting the criteria for SM-AHN or MML. We also evaluated the utility of flow-cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI) in the characterization of immature-MCs (iMCs). METHODS We identified nine patients of myeloid neoplasms and studied their morphological, FCI, immunohistochemistry, cytogenetic and molecular characteristics. We also compared the immunophenotypic features of MCs from patient samples with control samples. RESULTS The study included patients with newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (n = 4), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (n = 1), and chronic myeloid leukemia on follow-up (n = 4) showing MC differentiation in leukemic-blasts. These patients had mildly increased MCs (range, 0.5%-3%) in bone-marrow morphology, including immature-forms and did not meet the criteria for either SM-AHN or MML. On FCI, iMCs were positive for bright-CD117, heterogeneous-CD34, dim-to-negative-HLADR, and moderate-CD203c expression. Expression-levels of CD123 and CD38 were higher (p

Measurable/minimal residual disease (MRD) status has been suggested as a powerful indicator of clinical-outcome in T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (T-ALL). Multicolor flow cytometric (MFC)-based T-ALL MRD reports are limited and traditionally based on the utilization of markers-of-immaturity like TdT and CD99. Moreover, studies demonstrating the multicolor flow cytometric (MFC) approach for the assessment of T-ALL MRD are sparse. Herein, we describe an 11-marker, 10-color MFC-based T-ALL MRD method using an "approach of exclusion." Methods The study included 269 childhood T-ALL patients treated with a modified-MCP841 protocol. An 11-marker, 10-color MFC-based MRD was performed in bone marrow (BM) samples at the end-of-induction (EOI) and end-of-consolidation (EOC) time-points using Kaluza-version-1.3 software. Results We studied EOI-MRD in 269 and EOC-MRD in 105 childhood T-ALL patients. EOI-MRD was detectable in 125 (46.5%) samples (median, 0.3%; range, 0.0007-66.3%), and EOC-MRD was detectable in 34/105 (32.4%) samples (median, 0.055%; range, 0.0008-27.6%). Leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (LAIPs) found useful for MRD assessment were dual-negative CD4/CD8 (40.9%), dual-positive CD4/CD8 (23.3%) and only CD4 or CD8 expression (35.8%); dim/subset/dim-negative surface-CD3 (39%), dim/subset/dim-negative/negative CD5 (28.3%), dim/dim-negative/negative/heterogeneous CD45 (44.7%) and co-expression of CD5/CD56 (7.5%). EOI-MRD-positive status was found to be the most-relevant independent factor in the prediction of inferior relapse-free and overall survival. Conclusion We described an 11-marker 10-color MFC-based highly sensitive MRD assay in T-ALL using an approach of exclusion. The addition of CD4 and CD8 to the pan-T-cell markers in a 10-color assay is highly useful in T-ALL MRD assessment and extends its applicability to almost all T-ALL patients.

BackgroundRecently, anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody (Mab) therapy has become a focus of attention as an additional/alternative option for many hematological neoplasms including T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). It has been shown that antitumor efficacy of anti-CD38-Mab depends on the level of CD38 expression on tumor cells. Reports on CD38 expression in T-ALL are scarce, and data on the effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy on CD38 expression are limited to very few samples. Moreover, it lacks entirely in refractory disease and in adult T-ALL. We report the flow cytometric evaluation of CD38 expression in T-ALL blasts at diagnosis and the effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy on its expression in measurable residual disease (MRD), refractory disease (MRD≥5%), and relapsed disease in a large cohort of T-ALL.MethodsThe study included 347 samples (188 diagnostic, 100 MRD, 24 refractory and 35 relapse samples) from 196 (children: 85; adolescents/adults: 111) patients with T-ALL. CD38-positive blasts percentages (CD38-PBPs) and expression-intensity (mean fluorescent intensity, CD38-MFI) were studied using multicolor flow cytometry (MFC). MFC-based MRD was performed at the end-of-induction (EOI-MRD, day 30–35) and end-of-consolidation (EOC-MRD, day 78–85) subsequent follow-up (SFU-MRD) points.ResultsPatients were classified into early thymic precursor subtype of T-ALL (ETPALL, 54/188, 28.7%), and non-ETPALL (134/188, 71.3%). Of 188, EOI-MRD assessment was available in 152, EOC-MRD was available in 96 and SFU-MRD was available in 14 patients. CD38 was found positive in 97.9% (184/188) of diagnostic, 88.7% (110/124) MRD (including 24-refractory) and 82.9% (29/35) relapsed samples. Median (95% CI) of CD38-PBPs/MFI in diagnostic, MRD, refractory, and relapsed T-ALL samples were, respectively, 85.9% (82.10%–89.91%)/4.2 (3.88–4.47), 74.0% (58.87%–83.88%)/4.6 (3.67–6.81), 79.6% (65.25%–96.11%)/4.6 (3.33–8.47) and 85.2% (74.48%–93.01%)/5.6 (4.14–8.99). No significant difference was noted in CD38 expression between pediatric versus adult and patients with ETPALL versus non-ETPALL. No change was observed in CD38-MFI between diagnostic versus MRD and diagnostic versus relapsed paired samples. However, we noticed a mild drop in the CD38-PBPs in MRD samples compared with the diagnostic samples (p=0.016).ConclusionWe report an in-depth analysis of CD38 expression in a large cohort of T-ALL at diagnosis, during chemotherapy, and at relapse. Our data demonstrated that CD38 is robustly expressed in T-ALL blasts with a little effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy making it a potentially effective target for antiCD38-Mab therapy.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare neoplastic lesion with tendency toward local aggressive behavior and recurrence. It is primarily a visceral and soft tissue tumor; however, involvement of pancreas is extremely unusual. A localization in the pancreas needs differentiation from other tumors and chronic pancreatitis. We report a case of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor arising in pancreatic head in a 32-year-old female who underwent Whipple's procedure.

Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the correlation/diagnostic accuracy of cytology and frozen section (FS) preparations in the intraoperative diagnoses of central nervous system (CNS) lesions. Materials and Methods: A total of 63 cases of CNS lesions were included in the study from July 2012 to January 2015 at a tertiary care referral hospital. Intraoperative specimens were used for crush/squash smears and FS and correlated with the final histopathological diagnosis. Results: Majority of the patients (73.02%) were presenting in the age range of 21–50 years. There was a slight female preponderance with male-to-female ratio of 1:1.1. Two out of 63 cases were excluded from the cytology correlation analysis due to inadequate materials and 3 out of 63 cases were excluded from the FS correlation analysis due to freezing artifacts. The diagnostic accuracy of cytological preparation was 80.33% for complete correlation with histopathology and was increased to 93.44% for adding the partial correlations. The corresponding figures for FS were 81.67% and 93.33%, respectively, and the difference was insignificant (P = 0.971). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value in detecting neoplastic condition on cytology were 94.4%, 85.7%, 98.07%, and 66.67%, respectively, and that of FS were 96.15%, 75%, 96.15%, and 75%, respectively. The corresponding P = 0.872, 0.652, 0.986, and 0.561, respectively. Conclusion: Crush and FS preparation are considered as effective diagnostic procedures for rapid intraoperative diagnosis in CNS lesions without any significant difference in results and when applied simultaneously can produce a higher diagnostic accuracy complementing each other's results.