CDX2, a highly sensitive and specific marker of adenocarcinomas of intestinal origin - An immunohistochemical survey of 476 primary and metastatic carcinomas

CDX2 is a recently cloned homeobox gene that encodes an intestine-specific transcription factor, expressed in the nuclei of epithelial cells throughout the intestine, from duodenum to rectum. While expression of CDX2 protein in primary and metastatic colorectal carcinomas has been previously documented, neither the sensitivity nor the specificity of CDX2 expression, as determined by immunohistochemistry, for colorectal adenocarcinoma has been determined. We performed an immunohistochemical survey of 476 tumors with a monoclonal antibody, CDX2-88, including 89 tumors from the colon and duodenum and 95 tumors from other gastrointestinal sites, including the esophagus, stomach, pancreatobiliary system, gastrointestinal carcinoids, and liver. CDX2 was expressed uniformly (that is, in 76-100% of tumor cells) in all but one of the evaluated colorectal and duodenal tumors. High-level expression of CDX2 was also found, however, in mucinous ovarian carcinomas and adenocarcinomas primary to the urinary bladder of which 64% and 100% were positive, respectively. Gastric, gastroesophageal, and pancreatic adenocarcinomas and cholangiocarcinomas all showed similar, heterogeneous patterns of CDX2 expression. Most tumors in each group showed CDX2 expression by a minority of cells, whereas a substantial minority of cases in each group was completely negative and a smaller minority was uniformly positive. Gastrointestinal carcinoids gave similarly varied results, but the majority (58%) was negative. Hepatocellular carcinomas showed no expression of CDX2. Only very rare examples of carcinomas of the genitourinary and gynecologic tracts, breast, lung, and head and neck showed significant levels of CDX2 expression. In this study of primary and metastatic epithelial tumors, uniform CDX2 expression is demonstrated to be an exquisitely sensitive and highly, but incompletely, specific marker of intestinal adenocarcinomas. Compared with villin, a previously described marker of GI adenocarcinomas, CDX2 demonstrated superior sensitivity and comparable specificity. CDX2 expression can be seen, however, in selected non-GI adenocarcinomas such as mucinous ovarian carcinomas and adenocarcinomas of the urinary bladder.

Karyotype characterization of Mugil incilis Hancock, 1830 (Mugiliformes: Mugilidae), including a description of an unusual co-localization of major and minor ribosomal genes in the family

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Pterygosomatidae and Trombiculidae mites infesting Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) (Tropiduridae) lizards in northeastern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A new species of Proceratophrys (Anura: Cycloramphidae) from western Brazil

A new species of Proceratophrys cristiceps group is described from western Brazil. The new species is characterized by absence of prominent palpebral appendages and postocular swellings, males measuring 44.2 +/- 2.1 mm SVL (41.1-47.3 mm) and females 56.4 +/- 2.8 mm SVL (52.7-59.8 mm), snout rounded in dorsal, and obtuse in lateral views, dorsal skin uniformly rugose, with no elevated warts, and tympanum defined as a depression on the skin. The new species was found in Guapore river drainage, a highly impacted area due to the construction of water dams.

Taphonomy of Bouchardia rosea (Rhynchonelliformea, Brachiopoda) shells from Ubatuba Bay, Brazil: implications for the use of taphonomic signatures in (paleo)environmental analysis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Substrate distribution in fungus chambers in nests of Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908 (Hym., Formicidae)

Substrate distribution was studied in three adult colonies of the leaf-cutting ant Atta bisphaerica Forel, 1908 using dye. Some supply holes were mapped using baits made from small plastic straws impregnated with citric pulp. Two holes, equidistant from one another, were then selected in each nest. The colonies were excavated completely 24 h after bait placement. During excavation, fungus chambers were checked for dye. We observed that the dyed baits were distributed in all sectors and at all depths regardless of where the baits had been placed. This supported the hypothesis that toxic baits placed in a single supply hole are uniformly distributed throughout the colony.

Temporal and spatial variability in the macrozoobenthic community along a salinity gradient in the Castillos Lagoon (Uruguay)

The macrozoobenthic community of the Castillos Lagoon system (East Coast of Uruguay) was sampled during autumn, winter, spring and summer of 1991, in order to describe the community structure and the spatial and temporal patterns of distribution. Eleven sampling stations were distributed along a salinity gradient in a north-south direction (8 replicates were collected at each station). The maximum density of organisms was found at the central part of the lagoon (stations 6 and 7) where the bivalve Erodona mactroides and gastropod Heleobia australis were dominants. No significant correlation between the overall abundance of organisms and salinity could be demonstrated (r = 0.43, p > 0.1). However, a reduction in organism abundance between the autumn and the summer coincided with a marked drop in salinity. Falling levels of dissolved oxygen could have influenced the decreasing density of organisms (r = 0.75, p < 0.05). Species richness and diversity were correlated (p < 0.1) with salinity but the degree of correlation was not uniformly significant between sampling periods.

Density and Spatial Distribution of Buffy-tufted-ear Marmosets (Callithrix aurita) in a Continuous Atlantic Forest

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Description of the Immature and Adult Stages of Ectatomma vizottoi (Formicidae: Ectatomminae)

We estimated the number of larval instars of the ant Ectatomma vizottoi (Ectatomminae), by measuring the maximum width of the head capsules of 208 larvae and the morphology of the immature stages (eggs, larvae and pupae) and adults. There are three larval instars during the post-embryonic development. The reproductive eggs are dark brown. Hairs are present beginning with the first instar, are uniformly distributed over the larval body, and do not vary in length in the three instars. Pupae are protected by a light-brown silk cocoon. Adults of the worker and queen castes can be differentiated by size.

Non-lacunary Gibbs Measures for Certain Fractal Repellers

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sistema reprodutivo do Ipê-Branco: Tabebuia roseo-alba (Ridley) Sandwith (Bignoniaceae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Is the equivalence for the response of static scalar sources in the Schwarzschild and Rindler spacetimes valid only in four dimensions?

It was shown recently that in four dimensions scalar sources with fixed proper acceleration minimally coupled to a massless Klein-Gordon field lead to the same responses when they are (i) uniformly accelerated in Minkowski spacetime (in the inertial vacuum) and (ii) static in the Schwarzschild spacetime (in the Unruh vacuum). Here we show that this equivalence is broken if the spacetime dimension is more than four.

THERMAL RADIATION FROM A FLUCTUATING EVENT HORIZON

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Crossover between the extended and localized regimes in stochastic partially self-avoiding walks in one-dimensional disordered systems

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Sudden change in quantum and classical correlations and the Unruh effect

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)