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  • Berthelsen posted an update 9 months ago

    CONTEXT.— Cardiac complications of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy are rare, but reports of myocarditis are increasing. The findings have been described in case reports as lymphocytic myocarditis, but its histopathology is underreported. OBJECTIVE.— To review the histology of myocardial biopsy-proven cases of immune checkpoint-associated myocarditis and provide immunohistochemical characterization of the inflammatory infiltrate. DESIGN.— We have encountered 6 patients with biopsy-proven myocarditis in conjunction with therapy using anti-programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) agents with and without cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors and characterized the histopathology and immune cell profile. RESULTS.— The myocarditis was multifocal/diffuse, and characterized by a predominant CD163-positive histiocytic infiltrate, with an associated CD8+ and PD-1+ T-lymphocytic infiltrate, some of which were granzyme B positive. Cardiac myocytes showed immunoreactivity for PD-L1 in areas of injury, confirmed using 2 different anti-PD-L1 clones. Four of 6 patients recovered from their cardiac injury. One patient had residual tachycardia-bradycardia syndrome and 1 patient expired. CONCLUSIONS.— The diffuse lymphohistiocytic myocarditis associated with this therapy is relatively distinctive, and this diagnosis is strongly suggested based on the histopathologic findings in the correct clinical setting.CONTEXT.— Mitotic count is an important histologic criterion for grading and prognostication in phyllodes tumors (PTs). Counting mitoses is a routine practice for pathologists evaluating neoplasms, but different microscopes, variable field selection, and areas have led to possible misclassification. OBJECTIVE.— To determine whether 10 high-power fields (HPFs) or whole slide mitotic counts correlated better with PT clinicopathologic parameters using digital pathology (DP). We also aimed to find out whether this study might serve as a basis for an artificial intelligence (AI) protocol to count mitosis. DESIGN.— Representative slides were chosen from 93 cases of PTs diagnosed between 2014 and 2015. The slides were scanned and viewed with DP. Mitotic counting was conducted on the whole slide image, before choosing 10 HPFs and demarcating the tumor area in DP. Values of mitoses per millimeter squared were used to compare results between 10 HPFs and the whole slide. Correlations with clinicopathologic parameters were conducted. RESULTS.— Both whole slide counting of mitoses and 10 HPFs had similar statistically significant correlation coefficients with grade, stromal atypia, and stromal hypercellularity. Neither whole slide mitotic counts nor mitoses per 10 HPFs showed statistically significant correlations with patient age and tumor size. CONCLUSIONS.— Accurate mitosis counting in breast PTs is important for grading. Exploring machine learning on digital whole slides may influence approaches to training, testing, and validation of a future AI algorithm.CONTEXT.— Identification of gene mutations that are indicative of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and a noninflammatory immune phenotype may be important for predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. OBJECTIVE.— To evaluate the utility of multiplex immunofluorescence for immune profiling and to determine the relationships among tumor immune checkpoint and epithelial-mesenchymal transition genomic profiles and the clinical outcomes of patients with nonmetastatic non-small cell lung cancer. DESIGN.— Tissue microarrays containing 164 primary tumor specimens from patients with stages I to IIIA non-small cell lung carcinoma were examined by multiplex immunofluorescence and image analysis to determine the expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) on malignant cells, CD68+ macrophages, and cells expressing the immune markers CD3, CD8, CD57, CD45RO, FOXP3, PD-1, and CD20. Immune phenotype data were tested for correlations with clinicopathologic characteristics, somatic and germline genetic variants, and outcome. RESULTS.— A high percentage of PD-L1+ malignant cells was associated with clinicopathologic characteristics, and high density of CD3+PD-1+ T cells was associated with metastasis, suggesting that these phenotypes may be clinically useful to identify patients who will likely benefit from immunotherapy. We also found that ZEB2 mutations were a proxy for immunologic ignorance and immune tolerance microenvironments and may predict response to checkpoint inhibitors. A multivariate Cox regression model predicted a lower risk of death for patients with a high density of CD3+CD45RO+ memory T cells, carriers of allele G of CTLA4 variant rs231775, and those whose tumors do not have ZEB2 mutations. CONCLUSIONS.— Genetic variants in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and immune checkpoint genes are associated with immune cell profiles and may predict patient outcomes and response to immune checkpoint blockade.CONTEXT.— As pharmacogenetic testing is incorporated into routine care, it is essential for laboratories to provide accurate and consistent results. Certified laboratories must successfully complete proficiency testing. OBJECTIVES.— To understand and examine trends in participation and performance of laboratories participating in the College of American Pathologists pharmacogenetic proficiency testing surveys. DESIGN.— Results from College of American Pathologists pharmacogenetic proficiency testing challenges from 2012 through 2017 were reviewed for concordance with expected genotype and phenotype for each sample (intended responses). RESULTS.— Laboratories correctly reported results for 96.7% to 100% of samples with no variants. Excluding CYP2D6, laboratories correctly detected and reported variant alleles for each gene (93.7%-99.2% correct). CYP2D6 showed lower concordance, with 83.1% of laboratories reporting the intended genotype across all samples; however, in many cases, the laboratories that did not report a variant allele did not test for that allele. Among laboratories reporting the intended genotype, most successfully reported the intended phenotype (85.9%-99.0%). Sodium butyrate ic50 CONCLUSIONS.— Although laboratories are generally performing well, there is room for additional improvement, particularly for challenging genes, such as CYP2D6. Efforts in the field of pharmacogenomics to recommend alleles that should be included in clinical tests, identify reference materials, and standardize translation from genotype to phenotype may address some of the remaining variability in results.

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