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K Gatter

Publications and source records attributed to K Gatter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

SCL/Tal-1 expression in T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an immunohistochemical and genotypic study.

A comparative study of the immunohistochemical (Stem cell leukemia/T-cell acute leukemia [SCL/TAL-1] protein expression) and genotypic (deletions in the SCL/tal-1 gene) findings in T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is presented. Formalin-fixed tissue from 50 cases of T-ALL were stained with a novel monoclonal antibody, 2TL 242, which recognizes SCL/TAL-1 protein. Twenty-four cases showed nuclear immunolabeling of leukemic cells. Nuclear positivity was not evident in any other type of leukemia or lymphoma tested with the antibody. Genotypic analysis of 25 cases of T-ALL showed a deletion involving the SCL/tal-1 gene in nine cases. These results suggest that protein expression is not dependent on derangement of the SCL/tal-1 gene, because immunohistochemical detection of the protein was noted in the presence and absence of a tal-d1 deletion.

Base Sequence↗

TAL1 gene deletions and TAL1 protein expression in sporadic melanoma.

Studies on cytogenetic abnormalities and cell lines have implicated chromosome 1p32 as being important in the pathogenesis of melanoma. Genetic linkage studies have also mapped a melanoma-susceptibility locus to chromosome 1p. The gene TAL1 is present on chromosome 1p32, and deletions within it are the commonest chromosomal abnormality in T-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL). A melanoma cell line harbouring a 1p32 deletion involving the TAL1 gene and the presence of TAL1 protein in developing mouse melanocytes led us to investigate whether TAL1 deletions and/or TAL1 protein expression occur in sporadic melanomas. DNA extracted from 32 fresh melanomas was amplified by standard polymerase chain reaction for the four common deletions of the TAL1 gene that occur in T-ALL. In addition, frozen and paraffin-embedded sections of these melanomas were stained with monoclonal antibodies that detect full-length and truncated TAL1 protein. The results of the study show that deletions of TAL1 do not occur in melanoma. Indeed, full and truncated TAL1 protein also could not be detected immunohistochemically in the paraffin-embedded and frozen sections of the melanomas. We conclude that the TAL1 gene and its protein are probably not directly involved in the oncogenesis of melanomas.

Base Sequence↗

Immunohistochemistry in apparently normal bone marrow trephine specimens from patients with nodal follicular lymphoma.

AIM: To establish the role of immunohistochemistry (using a limited panel of antibodies) in detecting minimal involvement by follicular lymphoma in routinely processed bone marrow trephine specimens, which show no obvious morphological (light microscopic) evidence of lymphoma; to determine whether bcl-2 immunostaining in bone marrow distinguishes between benign and malignant infiltrates in a patient with nodal follicular lymphoma. METHODS: Twenty seven consecutively selected paraffin wax embedded, formalin fixed bone marrow trephine specimens were stained with the following antibodies: anti-bcl-2, anti-CD79a, anti-CD3, and kappa and lambda light chains, using the Streptavidin biotin complex technique. RESULTS: Five of the 27 cases, which showed no evidence of involvement by follicular lymphoma on routine stains, showed monotypic B cells on immunohistochemistry. Two of the cases were diffuse, while the remaining three showed mini-aggregates around bony trabeculae. In all five cases the lymphomatous infiltrates were strongly bcl-2 positive. Reactive B lymphoid nodules did not show the same degree of bcl-2 positivity, and negative cells could be discerned within the reactive nodules. CONCLUSIONS: There is merit in studying so-called negative bone marrows immunohistochemically in order to detect minimal involvement by follicular lymphoma. A limited panel of antibodies including anti-bcl-2, anti-CD79a and anti-CD3 is usually adequate to accomplish this. Strongly bcl-2 positive lymphoid aggregates in the bone marrow of patients with nodal follicular lymphoma are indicative of lymphoma.

Biopsy↗

Nodular lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease. A distinct clinicopathological entity.

This article reviews the evidence that the nodular form of lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease ("nodular paragranuloma") should be recognised as a distinct clinico-pathological entity. The disease is characterised histologically by very large primary lymphoid follicles, containing polytypic small B lymphocytes and extensive meshworks of follicular dendritic cells. The "L and H" or "popcorn" cells scattered within the nodules show clear differences from classical Reed-Sternberg cells, both in their cytological appearance and in their marker profile, being frequently negative for CD15 and for the EBV genome, but often positive for B cell antigens, CD45 (leucocyte common antigen), CDw75 (LN1), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and J chain. These findings suggest that L and H cells may be Ig-synthesising monoclonal B cells. Nodular lymphocyte predominance Hodgkin's disease pursues a much more indolent courses that classical Hodgkin's disease, and long term survival is common. It has other distinctive clinical features, e.g. a unimodal age distribution, a predilection to involve single lymph nodes, and a very low incidence of thymic involvement. There is a tendency for diffuse large cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, usually of B cell type, to develop during the course of the disease. This type of Hodgkin's disease thus has many features that distinguish it from the nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity varieties, and it is hoped that future studies will gather more information on its clinical behavior and on the nature of the putative neoplastic cells, as well as exploring different protocols for its treatment.

Hodgkin Disease↗

VS38: a new monoclonal antibody for detecting plasma cell differentiation in routine sections.

AIMS: To characterise a new mouse monoclonal antibody, VS38, which recognises an intracytoplasmic antigen of 64 kilodaltons present in normal and neoplastic plasma cells; and to establish its value as a diagnostic reagent for routine pathological practice. METHODS: A range of normal and neoplastic tissue sections, both frozen and routinely fixed, were immunostained, using the microwave method of antigen retrieval for routinely fixed specimens. The antibody was also tested on blood and bone marrow specimens and a range of human cell lines. The molecular weight of the antigen recognised by the antibody was obtained by western blot analysis. FACS analysis was used to demonstrate the cellular location of the antigen and its presence on tonsil cell suspensions and myeloma cases. RESULTS: VS38 recognised normal and neoplastic plasma cells in all of the tissues, including all routinely fixed plasma cell neoplasms tested. The antibody also weakly stained epithelial elements within the tissue but was absent from haemopoietic cells of other lineages. CONCLUSION: Antibody VS38 is of potential value in identifying myeloma or plasmacytoma in bone marrow or other tissues. It differentiates lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma from lymphocytic and follicular lymphoma. It also subdivides large cell lymphomas into two groups which may be a more reliable method of separating these tumours than morphology alone.

Animals↗

The influence of high dose hydroxyurea on the incorporation of 5-iodo-2-deoxyuridine (IUdR) by human bone marrow and tumour cells in vivo.

Resistance to cytotoxics precludes the successful treatment of many solid tumours. Inhibition of DNA synthesis in normal tissues with antimetabolites such as hydroxyurea (HU) may be a useful means of improving the selective uptake of toxic thymidine analogues by the relatively resistant tumour cells. HU also inhibits DNA repair by the critical depletion of intracellular deoxyribonucleotides. Twenty-five patients with various malignancies received 5-iodo-2-deoxyuridine (IUdR) 100 mg m-2 as a 20 min i.v. infusion and the uptake of IUdR was determined 1 h later immunocytochemically. Of these patients, 14 received IUdR 23 h from the start of a continuous i.v. infusion of HU (36 g over 36 h). Uptake of IUdR was equally suppressed in bone marrow and tumour aspirates, 0.1% (+/- 0.2%) of marrow precursor cells and 0.5% (+/- 0.4%) of tumour cells respectively, in patients who received HU compared to the uptake of IUdR in 11 patients who were not given HU 6.8% (+/- 1.1%) and 12.2% (+/- 1.8%) respectively. Mean HU plasma concentrations at the time of IUdR administration was 1.7 +/- 0.2 mM. The growth fraction of tumour cells (using Ki67 labelling) was not changed after treatment with HU. It is concluded that (1) since DNA synthesis is effectively inhibited by HU in tumour cells, differential uptake of radiolabelled IUdR by those cells will not be feasible using the current schedule of HU administration, (2) HU may be used as an inhibitor of DNA repair in vivo since the degree of inhibition correlates with that required to inhibit repair experimentally and that (3) Ki67 labelling index is not useful in studying cell kinetics in patients treated with HU.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Intramural platelet deposition in cerebral vasculopathy of systemic lupus erythematosus.

AIMS: To test the hypothesis that fragments of platelet thrombi and vascular endothelium are incorporated into the walls of small cerebral vessels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: Six varied necropsy cases of central nervous system (CNS) SLE and 15 controls were studied. The controls were selected to represent a wide range of diseases in which the cerebral circulation is compromised. Tissue sections were stained by standard histochemical and immunocytochemical methods, the latter using antibodies to platelet membrane glycoprotein IIIa (CD61), and vascular endothelium (CD31). RESULTS: In four of six cases of CNS SLE characterised by small vessel hyalinization and thickening, fragments of platelet membrane were found in the walls of small cortical and meningeal vessels. Similar findings were not evident in two other SLE cases that were characterised by relatively short clinical histories and an acute vasculitis. One control case of severe polyarteritis nodosa showed platelet fragment deposition in arteries larger than the vessels so affected in SLE. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies have suggested that neuropsychiatric symptoms in SLE may be related to repeated episodes of vasculitis in small cerebral vessels that are triggered by antiphospholipid antibodies. Concurrent thrombus formation might facilitate the incorporation of platelet fragments into small vessel walls. This process contributes to the thickening and irregularity of small vessels, a major feature of longstanding cases of CNS SLE.

Adult↗

ICAM-3 expression on endothelium in lymphoid malignancy.

Intercellular adhesion molecule-3 (ICAM-3), the third receptor for lymphocyte function-associated antigen molecule-1 and a new member of the immunoglobulin superfamily has been recently characterized using specific monoclonal antibodies. In the present study, we show immunocytochemically that ICAM-3 is present on T and B cells in the mantle zones and on a subpopulation of follicular center cells in reactive lymph nodes and only occasionally in endothelium. In 52 cases of Hodgkin's disease, ICAM-3, although present on the majority of the reactive lymphoid cells, was absent from the Reed-Sternberg cells and their variants. However, in 28 cases (54%), there was prominent endothelial staining in small vessels. Similar findings were noted in 16 out of 49 cases (33%) of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. This finding suggests that analogous to ICAM-1 and ICAM-2, ICAM-3 expression can be induced on endothelial cells in lymphoid neoplasms, probably by an as yet unidentified cytokine-mediated mechanism.

Antigens, CD↗

Heterogeneous Epstein-Barr virus infection patterns in peripheral T-cell lymphoma of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type.

In this study, 32 cases of T-cell lymphoma of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type (AILD-TCL) were investigated for their association with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). For this purpose, three different approaches were applied: polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of EBV-DNA, in situ hybridization (ISH) for EBV-encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBER), and immunohistology for EBV-encoded latent membrane protein (LMP). PCR and EBER-ISH produced almost identical results, showing that all but one case of AILD-TCL contained EBV genomes. Three distinctive patterns of EBV infection were observed after immunophenotypical characterization of EBER-positive cells: (1) in 26% of the cases, B and T cells were infected, the majority of which were B cells of immunoblastic morphology located in the remnants of lymphoid follicles; (2) in 42% of the cases, the vast majority of infected cells were neoplastic T cells diffusely distributed in the lymph nodes, but infected B cells were also present; and (3) in 32% of the cases, there were only a few infected small lymphoid cells. Detectable LMP was frequent in cases exhibiting patterns 1 and 2. These findings suggest that in AILD-TCL patients, B cells and especially T cells are highly susceptible to a persistent EBV infection, which often leads to a growth advantage of the infected cells. Thus EBV, in conjunction with genetic abnormalities and selective defects of the immune system, might be involved in the pathogenesis of AILD-TCL.

Base Sequence↗

Characterization of a 4.8kb transcript from the Duchenne muscular dystrophy locus expressed in Schwannoma cells.

The 14kb dystrophin transcript from the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) locus, which encodes a 427kDa protein, is differentially spliced at the amino terminal end giving rise to alternative transcripts expressed in muscle and brain. Here we present evidence for a 4.8kb transcript from the DMD locus which is ubiquitously expressed but is particularly abundant in Schwannoma cells where dystrophin could not be detected. The hybridisation of Western blots with dystrophin antibodies also identifies a protein of approximately 80kDa of variable abundance in different human and mdx tissues. Immunocytochemistry studies confirm the expression of this protein in nerve cells, a tissue in which full length dystrophin is not detected. Sequencing of the 5' end of a clone isolated from a rat Schwannoma cDNA library, shows that the 4.8kb transcript shares exons with the carboxy terminal end of dystrophin but the 5' untranslated region is not contained within the dystrophin transcript. We propose that the 4.8kb gene product be called apodystrophin-1 as its expression is distinct from the dystrophin 14kb mRNA but it is transcribed from the same locus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Characterization of the inflammatory reaction in the peripheral airways of cigarette smokers using immunocytochemistry.

Lung tissue from 20 patients undergoing resection for a peripheral carcinoma was studied using monoclonal antibodies to identify inflammatory cell types in the peripheral airways and to determine the location of the bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT). The patients were grouped according to their percent predicted FEV1 (%FEV1) into obstructed (%FEV1 less than 80%) and control (%FEV1 greater than 80%). The resected lungs were filled with dilute cryoembedding media (Tissue-Tek R), frozen over liquid nitrogen, sliced into 2-cm sagittal slices using a band saw, and sampled using a cork bore. Ten serial histologic sections cut from these samples were stained with monoclonal antibodies for specific inflammatory cell types, which were counted and expressed per square millimeter of airway wall area. The results showed that the patients with airway obstruction had more B-lymphocytes in the airway adventitia than did the control subjects (p less than 0.001) and that the number of submucosal polymorphonuclear leukocytes is related to the amount smoked (p less than 0.02). They also show the BALT has a different distribution in human than in rodent lungs in that the lymphoid collections are found in the outer walls of the airway rather than in the submucosa.

Aged↗

[Heterogeneous Epstein-Barr virus infection patterns in peripheral T cell lymphoma of the angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type].

32 cases of T cell lymphoma of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy type (AILD-TCL) were investigated for their association with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of EBV-DNA and in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBER) produced almost identical results, showing that all but one of AILD-TCL cases contained EBV genomes. Three distinctive patterns of EBV infection were observed after immunophenotypical characterization of EBER positive cells: 1. predominant infection of B-immunoblasts (26% of the cases), 2. predominant infection of neoplastic T cells (42% of the cases) and 3. infection of few small lymphocytes (32% of the cases). EBV-encoded latent membrane protein was frequently detectable in cases exhibiting patterns 1 and 2. These findings suggest that, in AILD-TCL patients B cells and especially T cells are highly susceptible to a persistent EBV infection which may lead to a growth advantage of infected cells.

DNA, Viral↗

Increased expression of mutant forms of p53 oncogene in primary lung cancer.

Primary lung cancer samples of the major histological types were examined for expression of the tumor suppressor gene p53 by immunohistochemistry. Abnormalities in p53 expression were found in 28 of 40 carcinomas, 14 of 17 squamous tumours showing abnormal p53 expression, whereas no expression of p53 was detectable in 7 carcinoid tumours or in 10 normal lung samples. Direct evidence for homozygous expression of mutant p53 mRNA in representative carcinomas was obtained by means of an asymmetric polymerase chain reaction mRNA sequencing strategy, which allowed sequencing without any cloning step. All the mutations were G to T transversions resulting in mis-sense mutations in aminoacids highly conserved in evolution. Mutation of the p53 gene is the most frequently identified genetic change in human lung cancer; these findings suggest that simple immunohistological methods can provide strong evidence of such mutation.

Adenocarcinoma↗