CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL MORPHOLOGY № 3(23) / 2017

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of idiopathic, chronic and relapsing inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract which have many common features and develop in the case of genetic predisposition to the pathological immune response against the antigens of intestinal microbiome. IBD includes ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn’s disease (CD) and unclassified colitis combining clinical and morphological features of UC and CD. Literature data are reviewed regarding classification and morphological diagnosis of these diseases. Ulcerative colitis affects the entire rectum and varying regions of the colon. Clinical and morphological manifestations of UC are proctitis, proctosigmoiditis and affected left part of the colon. Inflammation may spread throughout the entire colon (pancolitis), appendix and small intestine (retrograde ileitis, enterocolitis). Crohn’s disease is characterized by focal transmural inflammation. Granulomatous inflammation was present in half of the cases. Primarily the entire gastrointestinal tract was affected from oral cavity to anus, more often, the terminal part of the ileum (terminal ileitis). Extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease include pathologies of joints, vessels, skin, eye, liver and bile ducts, of CD also granulematose inflammation in perianal regions and tissues of the external genitalia.

Key words: inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, classification, morphological diagnosis

Ovarian endometriosis (OE) increases the risk of epithelial malignant neoplasm, and the expression of the marker of clear cell ovarian tumors, the nuclear factor of hepatocytes-1beta (HNF-1B), was revealed in OE foci. The purpose of the work was to study immunohistochemical expression of HNF-1B, Ki-67, Всl-2 and p53 in OE foci The expression of HNF-1B, Ki-67, Всl-2 and p53 was studied immunohistochemically in OE foci in 35 ovaries resected or removed due to endometrioid cysts from women of reproductive age as well as in 8 ovarian adenocarcinomas (2 cases of clear cell carcinoma, serous, endometrioid and mucinouse carcinomas). From one to 4 foci of endometriosis were found in 35 histologically examined cases of OE (71 in total). Three of them (4,2%) showed cellular and nuclear polymorphism of the epithelial component. Irrespective of existence of epithelial polymorphism, expression of HNF-1B was observed in 69,0% cases, namely in 67,7% cases without polymorphism and in all cases with polymorphism. OE foci with an epithelial polymorphism also demonstrated enhanced expression of Ki-67, Bcl-2 but not of p53. The study concluded that irrespective of existence of epithelial polymorphism, OE foci typically express HNF-1B that is combined with enhanced expression of Ki-67, Bcl-2 but not of p53 in foci with epithelial polymorphism.

Key words: ovarian endometriosis, expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1beta (HNF-1B), Ki-67, Всl-2 and р53

The purpose of the study was clinical and morphological examination to assess the reproductive function of the patients who underwent conservative myomectomy and uterine vascular embolization (EMA) due to myoma of the uterus body. The study included 100 women after conservative myomectomy (n=60) and EMA (n=40) because of uterine myoma. The first group was divided into sub-groups as follows: 1A, combination with external endometriosis (n=16); 1B, combination with endometrial hyperplasia (n=4); 1C, combination with neoplasms of the ovaries (n=7); 1D, patients without concomitant gynecological pathology (n=33). We performed the comprehensive morphological assessment of the endometrium, which included the evaluation of the degree of endometrial cells, i.e. the occurrence of “pinopodia” as well as immunohistochemical (IHC) examination (expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and CD138 for plasma cells). At 12 months after surgery, the vast majority of the patients in the base group and in the comparison group exhibited expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors within the reference values in the middle of proliferative and secretory phases, the absence of CD 138-positive plasma cells and the presence of developed pinopodia in endometrial cells. After 12-24 months after surgery, the frequency of pregnancies was significantly higher in the patients after EMA compared with these after conservative myomectomy – 16 (40%) and 14 (23,3%), respectively (p≤0.05).

Key words: myomectomy, uterine vascular embolization, morphofunctional state of the endometrium, pinopodia, immunohistochemistry, steroid hormone receptors

Chronic endometritis in the most common endometrial pathology, which is important for patients of reproductive age. Immunohistochemical assay gives the possibility to verify chronic endometritis, clarify its etiology and personalize the treatment of this nosology. The study compared the data of clinical observation and the results of histological and immunohistochemical studies of patients with reproductive losses.

Key words: chronic endometritis, immunohistochemistry, viral endometrial injury

Immunohistochemical method was used to study the expression of C-Kit (CD117) in triple negative breast cancer in 147 women (mean age 58.0 ± 12.0 years). Expression of CD117 in more than 1% of cells was observed in 114 cases (77.6%), the average age of patients was 54.7 ± 14.3 years. Hyperexpression of CD117 in the form of intensive cytoplasmic and membrane staining of more than 10% of cells was detected in 36 cases (24.5%), the average age of patients was 48.8 ± 14.8 years. In the clinico-morphological analysis of the degree of expression of CD117, performed in groups with the presence of metastases (61 cases, 41.5%) and their absence (86 cases, 58.5%), no significant differences were found. In all subgroups, the invasive carcinoma of the non-specific type Grade 2 and 3 (G2, G3) prevailed. However, in both groups, with overexpression of CD117, medullary cancers were more often detected.

Key words: С-Kit (CD117), triple-negative breast cancer, immunohistochemistry, clinical and morphological analysis

This paper presents the results of morphological analysis of lesions generated by high intensity pulsed focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the porcine liver in vivo under different sonication parameters. After exposure, the tissue samples were rapidly cryofixed, sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and nitro blue tetrazolium chloride to reveal the activity of NADH-diaphorase for identification of the thermal destruction zone. The damaged focus area and adjacent perifocal region were histologically evaluated for three modes of sonication: with mainly mechanical disruption, with combined mechanical and thermal damage, and with predominantly thermal ablation. It is shown that treatment with a primary mechanical damage has more clear demarcation zone, unlike other modes. The problems of rehabilitation after HIFU using different modes, inflammatory response to ultrasound mechanical ablation, nuclei changes of hepatocytes in the mechanical lesion, and prospects for further experiments are discussed.

Key words: high intensity focused ultrasound, HIFU, porcine liver histology, thermal ablation

This article describes the features of primary tumor cultures of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) induced by diethylnitrosamine in C57Bl6 mice. We analyzed the potential of tumor clones of primary HCC cultures to undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Real-time PCR analysis revealed expression levels for E- and N-cadherins, the ratio of which indicate a change in the cell phenotype in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and for β-catenin involved in the formation of adhesive contacts. Primary cell cultures and clones of HCC showed morphological plasticity and different capacity to undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Key words: hepatocellular carcinoma, diethylnitrosamine, primary cell culture, epithelial-mesenchymal transition

The study deals with the articular cartilage morphology under conditions of synovial fluid modification by substance containing surfactant proteins increasing its lubricative properties. The study describes the morphological changes in articular surfaces and cartilage surface zone during 12 weeks of modeled experimental osteoarthrosis and alterations caused by administration of surfactant proteins. After 12 experimental weeks, the increase in articular cartilage thickness and the unchanged chondrocyte numerical density were revealed. The administration of surfactant proteins caused the gradual reduction in MMP-9 and TIMP-1 expression, which indicated the triggering of the regenerative processes in damaged cartilage under the conditions of declined lubricative properties. The results obtained can form the basis of tissue engineering of cartilage and the development of prosthetic synovial fluid in developing pathologies of the knee joint.

Key words: articular cartilage, morphology, osteoarthrosis, synovial fluid, pulmonary surfactant, rat

We studied histophysiology of different parts of the colon by histological, histochemical and morphometric methods in Wistar male rats of 4 different age groups: newborns (2-4 days); prepubertals (25-30 days); adults (3 months) and senescents (18-24 months). From newborn to prepubertal ages, mucosal, submucosal and muscular layer in all colon regions showed an intensive growth caused by increasing linear size of the colon. The thickness of the muscular layer in senescent rats was more than in the adults due to the increased content of collagen and elastic fibers. In all age groups, the number of the goblet cells in the epithelial lining of the proximal colon was lower than in the distal colon. In goblet cells of the proximal colon, the content of acidic mucins was decreased by maturity while neutral mucins were less abundant in senescent rats.

Key words: postnatal ontogenesis, age-dependent changes, colon, rat

The development of antitumoral vaccine preparations based on dendritic cells (DC) is one of the most important trends in modern oncoimmunology. DCs are professional antigen-presenting cells of the immune system. They possess the unique capacity to induce and regulate antigen-specific antitumor response, which makes them attractive candidates for tumor immunotherapy. Ex vivo-generated DC from precursors cultured in the presence of cytokine cocktail and loaded with tumor antigens efficiently induce tumor-specific immune response in vivo. The successful development and creation of DC vaccines is based on data from studies of the DC biology. In this field significant progress has been made during the last decade. The current understanding of DC biology include the origin of DC, the pathways of their differentiation, conditions of migration into the tumor, mechanisms underlying processing and presentation of the antigen, regulation of the immune response and interaction with T cells. Effective DC vaccines should have the following characteristics: the capacity to migrate into the draining lymph nodes, to maintain stably mature phenotype after infusion to the patient, and to present the antigen for a time sufficient to induce T cell response against the tumor. To improve efficiency, DC vaccines could be genetically modified or be applied using other techniques including adoptive transfer of T cells, selective depletion of tumor-associated regulatory T cells or modulation of inflammatory pathways.

Key words: antitumor immunity, dendritic cells, vaccines