Proteinase K treatment improves RNA recovery from thyroid cells fixed with liquid-based cytology solution

Advances in diagnostic liquid-based cytology

Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has changed the landscape of gynaecological cytology. A growing demand exists for LBC in diagnostic cytology, particularly for ancillary testing, such as immunocytochemistry and molecular testing. Ancillary testing solely based on conventional preparation (CP) methods remains challenging. Recently, the increased demand for specialist testing and minimally invasive techniques, such as endoscopic ultrasonography fine-needle aspiration, to obtain cellular samples has led to an increasing demand for ancillary testing on cytology LBC supernatant, slides and cell block (CB). This facilitates the diagnosis and prognosis in cytology samples enabling personalized treatment. An understanding of the history and future prospects of LBC is crucial for its application in routine diagnostics by cytopathologists and cytotechnologists. In this review, we initiated an internet search using the keyword 'liquid-based cytology', and we conducted a literature review to discuss the usefulness of combined diagnosis of LBC and CP, immunocytochemistry and molecular testing and assessed the quality of nucleic acids in diagnostic LBC. High-quality and cell-rich diagnostic LBC surpassed the CP method alone in terms of reliability and versatility of ancillary testing in cytological diagnosis. Conclusively, diagnostic LBC lends itself to various new technologies and is expected to continue evolving with innovations in the future.

Microarray analysis of ductal carcinoma in situ samples obtained by puncture from surgical resection specimens

Objective

The incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is increasing due to more widespread mammographic screening. DCIS, the earliest form of breast cancer, is non-invasive at the time of detection. If DCIS tissues are left undetected or untreated, it can spread to the surrounding breast tissue. Thus, surgical resection is the standard treatment. Understanding the mechanism underlying the non-invasive property of DCIS could lead to more appropriate medical treatments, including nonsurgical options.

Data description

We conducted a microarray-based genome-wide transcriptome analysis using DCIS specimens obtained by puncture from surgical specimens immediately after surgery.

Microarray analysis of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded follicular thyroid carcinoma samples from patients who developed postoperative distant metastasis

Objective

Although follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) generally has a good prognosis, it occasionally metastasises, leading to poor prognosis. Unfortunately, minimally invasive FTC (mi-FTC) and encapsulated angioinvasive FTC (ea-FTC) cannot be distinguished cytopathologically from thyroid follicular adenoma (FTA), a benign tumour with a good prognosis. Therefore, a molecular diagnosis to distinguish mi- or ea-FTC from FTA is needed for clinical treatment. Several transcriptomics/proteomics studies have searched for FTC biomarkers. However, the results of these studies were not consistent, which could be partly explained by inaccurate diagnosis of the specimens analysed.

Data description

We conducted a microarray-based genome-wide transcriptome analysis using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded mi- or ea-FTC specimens from patients who developed distant metastasis up to 10 years postoperatively, which ensured the accuracy of diagnosis.