Pathology - Research Publications

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    Osteoclast Inhibitory Lectin, an Immune Cell Product That Is Required for Normal Bone Physiology in Vivo
    Kartsogiannis, V ; Sims, NA ; Quinn, JMW ; Ly, C ; Cipetic, M ; Poulton, IJ ; Walker, EC ; Saleh, H ; McGregor, NE ; Wallace, ME ; Smyth, MJ ; Martin, TJ ; Zhou, H ; Ng, KW ; Gillespie, MT (AMER SOC BIOCHEMISTRY MOLECULAR BIOLOGY INC, 2008-11-07)
    Osteoclast inhibitory lectin (OCIL or clrb) is a member of the natural killer cell C-type lectins that have a described role mostly in autoimmune cell function. OCIL was originally identified as an osteoblast-derived inhibitor of osteoclast formation in vitro. To determine the physiological function(s) of OCIL, we generated ocil(-/-) mice. These mice appeared healthy and were fertile, with no apparent immune function defect, and phenotypic abnormalities were limited to bone. Histomorphometric analysis revealed a significantly lower tibial trabecular bone volume and trabecular number in the 10- and 16-week-old male ocil(-/-) mice compared with wild type mice. Furthermore, ocil(-/-) mice showed reduced bone formation rate in the 10-week-old females and 16-week-old males while Static markers of bone formation showed no significant changes in male or female ocil(-/-) mice. Examination of bone resorption markers in the long bones of ocil(-/-) mice indicated a transient increase in osteoclast number per unit bone perimeter. Enhanced osteoclast formation was also observed when either bone marrow or splenic cultures were generated in vitro from ocil(-/-) mice relative to wild type control cultures. Loss of ocil therefore resulted in osteopenia in adult mice primarily as a result of increased osteoclast formation and/or decreased bone formation. The enhanced osteoclastic activity led to elevated serum calcium levels, which resulted in the suppression of circulating parathyroid hormone in 10-week-old ocil(-/-) mice compared with wild type control mice. Collectively, our data suggest that OCIL is a physiological negative regulator of bone.
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    Axillary lymphoma masquerading as inflammatory breast cancer.
    Taubman, K ; McKay, M (Department of Biomedical Imaging, University of Malaya, Malaysia, 2006-07)
    Primary non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) of the breast, and its extranodal spread to the breast resulting from systemic lymphoma, are recognised albeit uncommon conditions. However, lymphoma involving the axilla, presenting with the clinical appearance of inflammatory breast carcinoma (IBC) without infiltration of breast dermal lymphatics has not been reported previously.As highlighted by the two cases presented here, this entity should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with clinical IBC. The cases highlight the importance of careful histological analysis to distinguish IBC from NHL, since management strategies and prognosis are quite different.
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    Familial occurrence of warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, infections, and myelokathexis (WHIM) syndrome
    Siedlar, M ; Rudzki, Z ; Strach, M ; Trzyna, E ; Pituch-Noworolska, A ; Blaut-Szlosarczyk, A ; Bukowska-Strakova, K ; Lenart, M ; Grodzicki, T ; Zembala, M (SPRINGER BASEL AG, 2008-12)
    INTRODUCTION: Warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, infections, and myelokathexis (WHIM) syndrome is a rare immunodeficiency disorder with an autosomal-dominant pattern of inheritance and low fatality rate but significant lifelong morbidity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 27-year-old mother of two children has been suffering from severe neutropenia and recurrent infections with the diagnosis of sporadic WHIM syndrome established by sequencing the CXCR4 gene and the finding of a heterozygous 1000 C-->T nonsense mutation in the second CXCR4 exon. The first child was an apparently healthy boy delivered at full term. Umbilical cord blood cells were obtained for genetic analysis. Peripheral blood cells were also analyzed at 8 months of life. Both analyses revealed the same mutation as that of his mother. The child was in a good condition, manifesting neutropenia without infections until 11 months of life. He subsequently developed pneumonia requiring a more aggressive treatment. After that, the regular substitution of immunoglobulins (IVIGs) and G-CSF has been preventing serious infections. Six months ago the second boy was delivered who also demonstrated neutropenia without severe infections. Genetic studies using cord blood and also peripheral blood cells in the fourth month showed an identical mutation of the CXCR4 gene as in his mother. Moreover, the mother and her first son demonstrated monocytopenia. RESULTS: The results indicate that genetic defects connected with WHIM syndrome may influence not only the granulocyte, but also the monocytic lineage. Moreover, a perinatal diagnosis of WHIM syndrome made by sequencing the CXCR4 gene should be performed in cases where either parent is known to be affected with this disease. CONCLUSIONS: This would facilitate an earlier detection of the deficiency in children, thereby allowing a more comprehensive follow-up and administration of appropriate therapy.
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    Molecular characteristics of screen-detected vs symptomatic breast cancers and their impact on survival
    Dawson, SJ ; Duffy, SW ; Blows, FM ; Driver, KE ; Provenzano, E ; LeQuesne, J ; Greenberg, DC ; Pharoah, P ; Caldas, C ; Wishart, GC (NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, 2009-10-13)
    BACKGROUND: Several recent studies have shown that screen detection remains an independent prognostic factor after adjusting for disease stage at presentation. This study compares the molecular characteristics of screen-detected with symptomatic breast cancers to identify if differences in tumour biology may explain some of the survival benefit conferred by screen detection. METHODS: A total of 1379 women (aged 50-70 years) with invasive breast cancer from a large population-based case-control study were included in the analysis. Individual patient data included tumour size, grade, lymph node status, adjuvant therapy, mammographic screening status and mortality. Immunohistochemistry was performed on tumour samples using 11 primary antibodies to define five molecular subtypes. The effect of screen detection compared with symptomatic diagnosis on survival was estimated after adjustment for grade, nodal status, Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) and the molecular markers. RESULTS: Fifty-six per cent of the survival benefit associated with screen-detected breast cancer was accounted for by a shift in the NPI, a further 3-10% was explained by the biological variables and more than 30% of the effect remained unexplained. CONCLUSION: Currently known biomarkers remain limited in their ability to explain the heterogeneity of breast cancer fully. A more complete understanding of the biological profile of breast tumours will be necessary to assess the true impact of tumour biology on the improvement in survival seen with screen detection.
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    Membrane-bound Fas ligand only is essential for Fas-induced apoptosis
    Reilly, LAO ; Tai, L ; Lee, L ; Kruse, EA ; Grabow, S ; Fairlie, WD ; Haynes, NM ; Tarlinton, DM ; Zhang, J-G ; Belz, GT ; Smyth, MJ ; Bouillet, P ; Robb, L ; Strasser, A (NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, 2009-10-01)
    Fas ligand (FasL), an apoptosis-inducing member of the TNF cytokine family, and its receptor Fas are critical for the shutdown of chronic immune responses and prevention of autoimmunity. Accordingly, mutations in their genes cause severe lymphadenopathy and autoimmune disease in mice and humans. FasL function is regulated by deposition in the plasma membrane and metalloprotease-mediated shedding. Here we generated gene-targeted mice that selectively lack either secreted FasL (sFasL) or membrane-bound FasL (mFasL) to resolve which of these forms is required for cell killing and to explore their hypothesized non-apoptotic activities. Mice lacking sFasL (FasL(Deltas/Deltas)) appeared normal and their T cells readily killed target cells, whereas T cells lacking mFasL (FasL(Deltam/Deltam)) could not kill cells through Fas activation. FasL(Deltam/Deltam) mice developed lymphadenopathy and hyper-gammaglobulinaemia, similar to FasL(gld/gld) mice, which express a mutant form of FasL that cannot bind Fas, but surprisingly, FasL(Deltam/Deltam) mice (on a C57BL/6 background) succumbed to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-like autoimmune kidney destruction and histiocytic sarcoma, diseases that occur only rarely and much later in FasL(gld/gld) mice. These results demonstrate that mFasL is essential for cytotoxic activity and constitutes the guardian against lymphadenopathy, autoimmunity and cancer, whereas excess sFasL appears to promote autoimmunity and tumorigenesis through non-apoptotic activities.
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    Heterogeneity of breast cancer associations with five susceptibility loci by clinical and pathological characteristics
    Garcia-Closas, M ; Hall, P ; Nevanlinna, H ; Pooley, K ; Morrison, J ; Richesson, DA ; Bojesen, SE ; Nordestgaard, BG ; Axelsson, CK ; Arias, JI ; Milne, RL ; Ribas, G ; Gonzalez-Neira, A ; Benitez, J ; Zamora, P ; Brauch, H ; Justenhoven, C ; Hamann, U ; Ko, Y-D ; Bruening, T ; Haas, S ; Doerk, T ; Schuermann, P ; Hillemanns, P ; Bogdanova, N ; Bremer, M ; Karstens, JH ; Fagerholm, R ; Aaltonen, K ; Aittomaki, K ; Von Smitten, K ; Blomqvist, C ; Mannermaa, A ; Uusitupa, M ; Eskelinen, M ; Tengstrom, M ; Kosma, V-M ; Kataja, V ; Chenevix-Trench, G ; Spurdle, AB ; Beesley, J ; Chen, X ; Devilee, P ; Van Asperen, CJ ; Jacobi, CE ; Tollenaar, RAEM ; Huijts, PEA ; Klijn, JGM ; Chang-Claude, J ; Kropp, S ; Slanger, T ; Flesch-Janys, D ; Mutschelknauss, E ; Salazar, R ; Wang-Gohrke, S ; Couch, F ; Goode, EL ; Olson, JE ; Vachon, C ; Fredericksen, ZS ; Giles, GG ; Baglietto, L ; Severi, G ; Hopper, JL ; English, DR ; Southey, MC ; Haiman, CA ; Henderson, BE ; Kolonel, LN ; Le Marchand, L ; Stram, DO ; Hunter, DJ ; Hankinson, SE ; Cox, DG ; Tamimi, R ; Kraft, P ; Sherman, ME ; Chanock, SJ ; Lissowska, J ; Brinton, LA ; Peplonska, B ; Klijn, JGM ; Hooning, MJ ; Meijers-Heijboer, H ; Collee, JM ; Van den Ouweland, A ; Uitterlinden, AG ; Liu, J ; Lin, LY ; Yuqing, L ; Humphreys, K ; Czene, K ; Cox, A ; Balasubramanian, SP ; Cross, SS ; Reed, MWR ; Blows, F ; Driver, K ; Dunning, A ; Tyrer, J ; Ponder, BAJ ; Sangrajrang, S ; Brennan, P ; Mckay, J ; Odefrey, F ; Gabrieau, V ; Sigurdson, A ; Doody, M ; Struewing, JP ; Alexander, B ; Easton, DF ; Pharoah, PD ; Leal, SM (PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2008-04)
    A three-stage genome-wide association study recently identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five loci (fibroblast growth receptor 2 (FGFR2), trinucleotide repeat containing 9 (TNRC9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 K1 (MAP3K1), 8q24, and lymphocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1)) associated with breast cancer risk. We investigated whether the associations between these SNPs and breast cancer risk varied by clinically important tumor characteristics in up to 23,039 invasive breast cancer cases and 26,273 controls from 20 studies. We also evaluated their influence on overall survival in 13,527 cases from 13 studies. All participants were of European or Asian origin. rs2981582 in FGFR2 was more strongly related to ER-positive (per-allele OR (95%CI) = 1.31 (1.27-1.36)) than ER-negative (1.08 (1.03-1.14)) disease (P for heterogeneity = 10(-13)). This SNP was also more strongly related to PR-positive, low grade and node positive tumors (P = 10(-5), 10(-8), 0.013, respectively). The association for rs13281615 in 8q24 was stronger for ER-positive, PR-positive, and low grade tumors (P = 0.001, 0.011 and 10(-4), respectively). The differences in the associations between SNPs in FGFR2 and 8q24 and risk by ER and grade remained significant after permutation adjustment for multiple comparisons and after adjustment for other tumor characteristics. Three SNPs (rs2981582, rs3803662, and rs889312) showed weak but significant associations with ER-negative disease, the strongest association being for rs3803662 in TNRC9 (1.14 (1.09-1.21)). rs13281615 in 8q24 was associated with an improvement in survival after diagnosis (per-allele HR = 0.90 (0.83-0.97). The association was attenuated and non-significant after adjusting for known prognostic factors. Our findings show that common genetic variants influence the pathological subtype of breast cancer and provide further support for the hypothesis that ER-positive and ER-negative disease are biologically distinct. Understanding the etiologic heterogeneity of breast cancer may ultimately result in improvements in prevention, early detection, and treatment.
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    Detection of 100% of mutations in 124 individuals using a standard UV/Vis microplate reader: a novel concept for mutation scanning
    Tabone, T ; Sallmann, G ; Webb, E ; Cotton, RGH (OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2006)
    We report the development of a simple and inexpensive assay for the detection of DNA polymorphisms and mutations that is based on the modification of mismatched bases by potassium permanganate. Unlike the chemical cleavage of mismatch assay, which also exploits the reactivity of potassium permanganate to detect genomic variants, the assay we describe here does not require a cleavage manipulation and therefore does not require expensive or toxic chemicals or a separation step, as mismatches are detected using direct optical methods in a microplate format. Studies with individual deoxynucleotides demonstrated that the reactivity with potassium permanganate resulted in a specific colour change. Furthermore, studies with synthetic oligonucleotide heteroduplexes demonstrated that this colour change phenomenon could be applied to detect mismatched bases spectrophotometrically. A collection of plasmids carrying single point mutations in the mouse beta-globin promoter region was used as a model system to develop a functional mutation detection assay. Finally, the assay was validated as 100% effective in detecting mismatches in a blinded manner using DNA from patients previously screened for mutations using established techniques, such as sequencing, SSCP and denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) analysis in DNA fragments up to 300 bp in length.
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    The Breast Cancer Family Registry: an infrastructure for cooperative multinational, interdisciplinary and translational studies of the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer
    John, EM ; Hopper, JL ; Beck, JC ; Knight, JA ; Neuhausen, SL ; Senie, RT ; Ziogas, A ; Andrulis, IL ; Anton-Culver, H ; Boyd, N ; Buys, SS ; Daly, MB ; O'Malley, FP ; Santella, RM ; Southey, MC ; Venne, VL ; Venter, DJ ; West, DW ; Whittemore, AS ; Seminara, D (BMC, 2004)
    INTRODUCTION: The etiology of familial breast cancer is complex and involves genetic and environmental factors such as hormonal and lifestyle factors. Understanding familial aggregation is a key to understanding the causes of breast cancer and to facilitating the development of effective prevention and therapy. To address urgent research questions and to expedite the translation of research results to the clinical setting, the National Cancer Institute (USA) supported in 1995 the establishment of a novel research infrastructure, the Breast Cancer Family Registry, a collaboration of six academic and research institutions and their medical affiliates in the USA, Canada, and Australia. METHODS: The sites have developed core family history and epidemiology questionnaires, data dictionaries, and common protocols for biospecimen collection and processing and pathology review. An Informatics Center has been established to collate, manage, and distribute core data. RESULTS: As of September 2003, 9116 population-based and 2834 clinic-based families have been enrolled, including 2346 families from minority populations. Epidemiology questionnaire data are available for 6779 affected probands (with a personal history of breast cancer), 4116 unaffected probands, and 16,526 relatives with or without a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer. The biospecimen repository contains blood or mouthwash samples for 6316 affected probands, 2966 unaffected probands, and 10,763 relatives, and tumor tissue samples for 4293 individuals. CONCLUSION: This resource is available to internal and external researchers for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and translational studies of the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer. Detailed information can be found at the URL http://www.cfr.epi.uci.edu/.
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    Chemical cleavage reactions of DNA on solid support: application in mutation detection.
    Bui, CT ; Lambrinakos, A ; Babon, JJ ; Cotton, RGH (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2003-05-13)
    BACKGROUND: The conventional solution-phase Chemical Cleavage of Mismatch (CCM) method is time-consuming, as the protocol requires purification of DNA after each reaction step. This paper describes a new version of CCM to overcome this problem by immobilizing DNA on silica solid supports. RESULTS: DNA test samples were loaded on to silica beads and the DNA bound to the solid supports underwent chemical modification reactions with KMnO4 (potassium permanganate) and hydroxylamine in 3M TEAC (tetraethylammonium chloride) solution. The resulting modified DNA was then simultaneously cleaved by piperidine and removed from the solid supports to afford DNA fragments without the requirement of DNA purification between reaction steps. CONCLUSIONS: The new solid-phase version of CCM is a fast, cost-effective and sensitive method for detection of mismatches and mutations.
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    A heparin binding synthetic peptide from human HIP / RPL29 fails to specifically differentiate between anticoagulantly active and inactive species of heparin.
    Hoke, DE ; Carson, DD ; Höök, M (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2003-02-25)
    Despite extensive progress in determining structures within heparin and heparan sulfate (Hp/HS) and the discovery of numerous proteinaceous binding partners for Hp/HS so far; the only detailed characterization of a specific protein-glycosaminoglycan interaction is antithrombin III (ATIII) binding to a Hp pentasaccharide containing a unique 3-O-sulfated glucosamine residue. Previously, it was reported from our laboratories that a 16 amino acid synthetic peptide derived from the C-terminus of human HIP/RPL29 (HIP peptide-1) enriched for ATIII-dependent anticoagulant activity, presumably by specifically binding the ATIII pentasaccharide. Herein, we demonstrate that HIP peptide-1 cannot enrich ATIII-dependent anticoagulant activity from a starting pool of porcine intestinal mucosa Hp through a bio-specific interaction. However, a HIP peptide-1 column can be used to enrich for anticoagulantly active Hp from a diverse pool of glycosaminoglycans known as Hp byproducts by a mechanism of nonspecific charge interactions. Thus, HIP peptide-1 cannot recognize Hp via bio-specific interactions but binds glycosaminoglycans by non-specific charge interactions.