[Primary pulmonary NUT carcinoma: a clinicopathological analysis of seven cases]

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of primary pulmonary NUT carcinoma. Methods: A total of 7 cases of primary pulmonary NUT carcinoma were collected from Fujian Provincial Hospital (n=5), Fuzhou Taijiang Hospital (n=1) and Binzhou City People's Hospital of Shandong Province (n=1) from January 2021 to April 2023. The clinical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical features were analyzed, and NUT rearrangement were detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with break-apart probes. Results: Seven cases were all male with age ranging from 32 to 73 years. The main clinical manifestations were cough, expectoration and chest tightness. Microscopically, NUT carcinoma was composed of monotonous proliferation of primitive-appearing small-to-medium round cells, with few eosinophilic cytoplasm, arranged in solid sheets, nests or clusters. Abrupt keratinization was typically observed in 4 cases (4/7), with high mitotic activities and necrosis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) showed that the tumors were positive for NUT (7/7), CK7 (4/4), CK5/6 (5/6), p40 (6/7). Ki-67 index were 30%-80%. NUT gene segregation (7/7) was detected by FISH break probes. Conclusions: Primary pulmonary NUT carcinoma is rare and highly malignant. Diagnosis depends on histopathology and IHC, with molecular detection as an adjunct for diagnosis. Pathologists should be aware of the clinicopathological characteristics to avoid misdiagnosis.

c-Met and RON expression levels in endometrial adenocarcinoma tissue and their relationship with prognosis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the potential relevance of c-Met and RON gene expression in patients with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium and analyze the relationships among the c-Met and RON expression, clinicopathological characteristics, and patient survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study included 60 cases diagnosed with endometrial adenocarcinoma with more than five-years follow-up. Total RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of 60 adenocarcinomas of the endometrium and normal endometrium tissues were isolated for c-Met and RON quantitative analysis by real-time real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS

The c-Met and RON expression in endometrial adenocarcinoma was significantly higher than that in normal endometrial tissues (p < 0.01), with average up-regulated levels of 3.94 ± 1.88 and 2.74 ± 0.88, respectively. Moreover, high c-Met expression was significantly correlated with the histological stage (p = 0.017), and high RON expression was related to histological stage (p = 0.035), muscle invasion (p = 0.006), and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.018). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the co-expression of c-Met and RON was an independent prognostic factor for adenocarcinoma of the endometrium and was significantly associated with decreased overall survival (HR = 3.571, p = 0.014).

CONCLUSION

The co-expression of c-Met and RON is associated with a poor prognosis in endometrial adenocarcinoma and is an independent prognostic marker for endometrioid adenocarcinoma.