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Most upper tract urothelial carcinomas (UTUC) are muscle invasive at the time of diagnosis. Current standard methods for the diagnosis of UTUC are invasive. Urine cytology is the only non‐invasive test for detecting UTUC, but its sensitivity is low. A novel non‐invasive assay for UTUC detection would improve patient outcome. This study aimed to investigate the mutation of cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) in urine supernatant to develop a reliable diagnostic biomarker for UTUC patients. We studied urinary cfDNA from 153 individuals, including 56 patients with localized UTUC, and carried out droplet digital PCR assay for TERT promoter and FGFR3 hotspot mutations. We could detect mutations of TERT C228T in 22/56 (39.3%), TERT C250T in 4/56 (7.1%), and FGFR3 S249C in 9/56 (16.1%) patients. FGFR3 mutation was detected only in ≤pT1 tumors (positive predictive value: 100.0%). In combination with cytology results, the sensitivity was 78.6%, and the specificity was 96.0%. Although these data need to be validated in a larger‐scale cohort, mutation analysis of TERT promoter and FGFR3 in urinary cfDNA has the potential to be a non‐invasive diagnostic marker and reliable factor for tumor staging. TERT promoter and FGFR3 hotspot mutations in urinary cell‐free DNA were analyzed. In combination with urine cytology, the sensitivity was 78.6%, and specificity was 96.0% for upper tract urothelial carcinoma diagnosis.

Enfortumab vedotin is a novel antibody–drug conjugate targeting Nectin-4, which is highly expressed in urothelial carcinoma. However, the expression status of Nectin-4 in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) remains unclear. The relationship between Nectin-4 and Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) in UTUC is also ambiguous. We performed immunohistochemical analysis of 99 UTUC tissue microarray to assess the expression of Nectin-4 and PD-L1 in UTUC. Nectin-4-positivity was detected in 65 (65.7%) samples, and PD-L1 was detected in 24 (24.2%) samples. There was no correlation between the expression of Nectin-4 and PD-L1. Patients with strong Nectin-4-expressing tumors had a significantly higher risk of progression (p = 0.031) and cancer-specific mortality (p = 0.036). Strong Nectin-4 expression was also an independent predictor of disease progression in the high-risk group (pT3 ≤ or presence of lymphovascular invasion or lymph node metastasis) (Hazard ratio, 3.32 [95% confidence interval, 1.20–7.98; p = 0.027]). In conclusion, we demonstrated that Nectin-4 expression rate in UTUC was 65.7% and independent of PD-L1 expression. Strong Nectin-4 expression was associated with worse progression-free survival in high-risk UTUC. These findings suggested that enfortumab vedotin may be effective in a broad range of patients with UTUC, regardless of PD-L1 expression.

Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinomas harbor chromosome translocations involving the Xp11 breakpoint, resulting in gene fusions involving the TFE3 gene. The most common subtypes are the ASPSCR1-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas resulting from t(X;17)(p11;q25) translocation, and the PRCC-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas, resulting from t(X;1)(p11;q21) translocation. A formal clinical comparison of these two subtypes of Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinomas has not been performed. We report one new genetically confirmed Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma of each type. We also reviewed the literature for all published cases of ASPSCR1-TFE3 and PRCC-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas and contacted all corresponding authors to obtain or update the published follow-up information. Study of two new, unpublished cases, and review of the literature revealed that 8/8 patients who presented with distant metastasis had ASPSCR1-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas, and all but one of these patients either died of disease or had progressive disease. Regional lymph nodes were involved by metastasis in 24 of the 32 ASPSCR1-TFE3 cases in which nodes were resected, compared with 5 of 14 PRCC-TFE3 cases (P=0.02).; however, 11 of 13 evaluable patients with ASPSCR1-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas who presented with N1M0 disease remained disease free. Two PRCC-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas recurred late (at 20 and 30 years, respectively). In multivariate analysis, only older age or advanced stage at presentation (not fusion subtype) predicted death. In conclusion, ASPSCR1-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas are more likely to present at advanced stage (particularly node-positive disease) than are PRCC-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas. Although systemic metastases portend a grim prognosis, regional lymph node involvement does not, at least in short-term follow-up. The tendency for PRCC-TFE3 renal cell carcinomas to recur late warrants long-term follow-up.

Current non-invasive approaches for detection of urothelial cancers are suboptimal. We developed a test to detect urothelial neoplasms using DNA recovered from cells shed into urine. UroSEEK incorporates massive parallel sequencing assays for mutations in 11 genes and copy number changes on 39 chromosome arms. In 570 patients at risk for bladder cancer (BC), UroSEEK was positive in 83% of those who developed BC. Combined with cytology, UroSEEK detected 95% of patients who developed BC. Of 56 patients with upper tract urothelial cancer, 75% tested positive by UroSEEK, including 79% of those with non-invasive tumors. UroSEEK detected genetic abnormalities in 68% of urines obtained from BC patients under surveillance who demonstrated clinical evidence of recurrence. The advantages of UroSEEK over cytology were evident in low-grade BCs; UroSEEK detected 67% of cases whereas cytology detected none. These results establish the foundation for a new non-invasive approach for detection of urothelial cancer.

Renal cell carcinomas with t(6;11) chromosome translocation has been classically characterized by the rearrangement of the TFEB gene, located on chromosome 6, and MALAT1 gene, located on chromosome 11. Recently, a few other genes have been described as fusion partners in TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinomas. Although most of TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinomas have an indolent behavior, in the rare cases of advanced metastatic disease targeted therapy and predictive markers remain lacking. In the present study, we collected 13 TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinomas, confirmed by FISH, analyzing their morphology and exploring the novel gene partners. Looking for predictive markers, we have also performed PDL1 immunohistochemical analysis by using four different assays (E1L3N, 22C3, SP142, and SP263). MALAT1 gene rearrangement has been found in ten tumors, five cases showing classical biphasic morphology with “rosettes”, five cases without “rosettes” mimicking other renal cell carcinomas or epithelioid angiomyolipoma/pure epithelioid PEComa. We identified two different partner genes, ACTB and NEAT1, the latter previously unreported and occurring in a tumor with an unusual solid and cystic appearance. In both cases, the “rosettes” were absent. In one case no gene partner was identified. Overall, in 12 of 13 TFEB-rearranged renal cell carcinomas staining for PDL1 SP263 was observed, whereas the other antibodies were less reliable or more difficult to interpret. In conclusion, we described the third case of ACTB-TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinoma and a novel NEAT1-TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinoma, both without the distinctive biphasic morphology typical of t(6;11) renal cell carcinoma. Finally, PDL1 SP263 was constantly expressed in TFEB rearranged renal cell carcinoma with possible clinical benefit which requires further investigations.

Histological slides contain numerous artifacts that can significantly deteriorate the performance of image analysis algorithms. Here we develop the GrandQC tool for tissue and multi-class artifact segmentation. GrandQC allows for high-precision tissue segmentation (Dice score 0.957) and segmentation of tissue without artifacts (Dice score 0.919–0.938 dependent on magnification). Slides from 19 international pathology departments digitized with the most common scanning systems and from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset were used to establish a QC benchmark, analyzing inter-institutional, intra-institutional, temporal, and inter-scanner slide quality variations. GrandQC improves the performance of downstream image analysis algorithms. We open-source the GrandQC tool, our large manually annotated test dataset, and all QC masks for the entire TCGA cohort to address the problem of QC in digital/computational pathology. GrandQC can be used as a tool to monitor sample preparation and scanning quality in pathology departments and help to track and eliminate major artifact sources. Histological slides often contain artifacts that affect the performance of downstream image analysis. Here, the authors present GrandQC, a tool that enables high-precision tissue and artifact segmentation in histological slides. This tool can be used to monitor sample preparation and scanning quality across pathology departments.

Eosinophilic, solid and cystic (ESC) renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is characterized by a solid and cystic architecture with cells showing abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm with hobnail arrangement and a cytokeratin 7-negative/cytokeratin 20-positive immunophenotype. Recent studies have suggested that bi-allelic events affecting TSC genes might play an important role for such tumors. However, only indirect evidence of the clonal origin of TSC mutation has been gathered so far. Therefore, in this paper we aimed to perform multi-regional tumor sampling molecular analysis in four ESC RCC cases that had been completely embedded, three sporadic and one occurring in a patient with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Histologically, the 4 cases showed cystic and solid architecture and cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm with cytoplasmic stippling and round to oval nuclei. Immunohistochemistry showed at least focal expression of cytokeratin 20 in all tissue samples and negative cytokeratin 7, as well as diffuse positivity for S100A1 and at least focal expression of cathepsin K in three out of four cases. The sporadic cases showed the same somatic TSC1 mutations in all tissue samples analyzed, while the TSC-associated case showed the same TSC1 alteration in both normal tissue and all tumor samples analyzed, proving the germline nature of the alteration. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that clonal TSC loss is a key event in ESC RCC and support considering ESC RCC as an entity given its distinct morphologic, immunophenotypical and molecular characteristics.

Noninvasive approaches for early detection of bladder cancer are actively being investigated. We recently developed a urine- based molecular assay for the detection and surveillance of bladder neoplasms (UroSEEK). UroSEEK is designed to detect alterations in 11 genes that include most common genetic alterations in bladder cancer. In this study, we analyzed 527 cases, including 373 noninvasive and 154 invasive urothelial carcinomas of bladder from transurethral resections or cystectomies performed at four institutions (1991–2016). Two different mutational analysis assays of a representative tumor area were performed: first, a singleplex PCR assay for evaluation of the TERT promoter region (TERTSeqS) and second, a multiplex PCR assay using primers designed to amplify regions of interest of 10 ( FGFR3, PIK3CA , TP53 , HRAS , KRAS , ERBB2 , CDKN2A , MET , MLL , and VHL ) genes (UroSeqS). Overall, 92% of all bladder tumors were positive for at least one genetic alteration in the UroSEEK panel. We found TERT promoter mutations in 77% of low-grade noninvasive papillary carcinomas, with a relatively lower incidence of 65% in high-grade noninvasive papillary carcinomas and carcinomas in situ; p  = 0.017. Seventy-two percent of pT1 and 63% of muscle-invasive bladder tumors harbored TERT promoter mutations with g.1295228C>T alteration being the most common in all groups. FGFR3 and PIK3CA mutations were more frequent in low-grade noninvasive papillary carcinomas compared with high-grade noninvasive papillary carcinomas and carcinomas in situ ( p  < 0.0001), while the opposite was true for TP53 ( p  < 0.0001). Significantly higher rates of TP53 and CDKN2A mutation rates ( p  = 0.005 and 0.035, respectively) were encountered in muscle-invasive bladder tumors compared with those of pT1 stage. The overwhelming majority of all investigated tumors showed at least one mutation among UroSEEK assay genes, confirming the comprehensive coverage of the panel and supporting its potential utility as a noninvasive urine-based assay.

The immune infiltrate within tumors has proved to be very powerful in the prognostic stratification of patients and much attention is also being paid towards its predictive value. In this work we therefore aimed at clarifying the significance and impact of PD-L1 and PD-1 expression on the prognostic value of CD8 + tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in a cohort of consecutive patients with primary resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tissue microarrays (TMA) were built using one representative formalin fixed paraffin embedded block for every case, with 5 cores for each block. TMA sections were stained with PD-L1 (clone SP263), PD-1 (clone NAT105) and CD8 (clone SP57). Number of CD8 + cells per mm 2  were automatically counted; median, 25 th and 75 th percentiles of CD8 + cells were used as threshold for statistical clinical outcome analysis and evaluated in patients subgroups defined by expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 within tumors. We found an overall strong prognostic value of CD8 + cells in our cohort of 314 resected NSCLC, especially in PD-L1 negative tumors lacking PD-1 + TILs, and demonstrated that in PD-L1 positive tumors a higher density of CD8 + lymphocytes is necessary to improve the prognosis. Our data strengthen the concept of the importance of the assessment and quantification of the immune contexture in cancer and, similarly to what has been carried on in colorectal cancer, promote the efforts for the establishment of an Immunoscore for NSCLC for prognostic and possibly predictive purposes.

The International Consultations on Urological Diseases are international consensus meetings, supported by the World Health Organization and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer, which have occurred since 1981. Each consultation has the goal of convening experts to review data and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve practice. In 2012, the selected subject was bladder cancer, a disease which remains a major public health problem with little improvement in many years. The proceedings of the 2nd International Consultation on Bladder Cancer, which included a ‘Pathology of Bladder Cancer Work Group,’ have recently been published; herein, we provide a summary of developments and consensus relevant to the practicing pathologist. Although the published proceedings have tackled a comprehensive set of issues regarding the pathology of bladder cancer, this update summarizes the recommendations regarding selected issues for the practicing pathologist. These include guidelines for classification and grading of urothelial neoplasia, with particular emphasis on the approach to inverted lesions, the handling of incipient papillary lesions frequently seen during surveillance of bladder cancer patients, descriptions of newer variants, and terminology for urine cytology reporting.