TY  - JOUR
A1  - Behr, Daniel S.
A1  - Peitsch, Wiebke K.
A1  - Hametner, Christian
A1  - Lasitschka, Felix
A1  - Houben, Roland
A1  - Schönhaar, Kathrin
A1  - Michel, Julia
A1  - Dollt, Claudia
A1  - Goebeler, Matthias
A1  - Marx, Alexander
A1  - Goerdt, Sergij
A1  - Schmieder, Astrid
T1  - Prognostic value of immune cell infiltration, tertiary lymphoid structures and PD-L1 expression in Merkel cell carcinomas
JF  - International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology
N2  - Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive, virus-associated, neuroendocrine tumor of the skin mainly affecting immunocompromised patients. Higher intratumoral infiltration with CD3 and CD8 positive T-cells is associated with a better prognosis, highlighting the relevance of the immune system for MCC development and progression. In this study 21 primary MCCs were stained with immune cell markers including CD3, CD4, CD8, CD68, CD20, and S100. Furthermore, tumor-infiltrating neutrophils, tertiary lymphoid structures and PD-L1 expression were analyzed and correlated with overall and recurrence free survival. All MCCs were Merkel Cell Polyomavirus positive. Overall and recurrence-free survival did not correlate with intra-and peritumoral CD3 and CD8 T-cell infiltration. In addition, no significant association regarding prognosis was found for tumor-associated neutrophils, tumor-associated macrophages or PD-L1 positivity in MCCs. Interestingly, the presence of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in the tumor microenvironment significantly correlated with recurrence-free survival (P=0.025). In addition, TLS were significantly associated with a higher CD8/CD4 ratio in the tumor periphery (P=0.032), but not in the center of the tumor (P > 0.999). These results demonstrate for the first time that TLS, easily assessed in paraffin-embedded tissue in the tumor periphery of MCCs, may be a valuable prognostic factor indicating prolonged recurrence free survival.
KW  - CD8(+)
KW  - PD-L1
KW  - tertiary lymphoid structures
KW  - immune cell infiltration
KW  - polymavirus
KW  - survival
KW  - lymphocytes
KW  - responses
KW  - lung cancer
KW  - B-cells
KW  - breast cancer
KW  - antitumor immunity
KW  - T-antigens
KW  - Merkel cell carcinoma
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117720
SN  - 1936-2625
VL  - 7
IS  - 11
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Buder, Kristina
A1  - Lapa, Constantin
A1  - Kreissl, Michael C.
A1  - Schirbel, Andreas
A1  - Herrmann, Ken
A1  - Schnack, Alexander
A1  - Bröcker, Eva-Bettina
A1  - Goebeler, Matthias
A1  - Buck, Andreas K.
A1  - Becker, Jürgen C.
T1  - "Somatostatin receptor  expression in Merkel cell carcinoma as target for molecular imaging"
N2  - Background

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare cutaneous neoplasm with increasing incidence, aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. Somatostatin receptors (SSTR) are expressed in MCC and represent a potential target for both imaging and treatment.

Methods

To non-invasively assess SSTR expression in MCC using PET and the radiotracers [68Ga]DOTA-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide (DOTATOC) or -octreotate (DOTATATE) as surrogate for tumor burden. In 24 patients with histologically proven MCC SSTR-PET was performed and compared to results of computed tomography (CT).

Results

SSTR-PET detected primary and metastatic MCC lesions. On a patient-based analysis, sensitivity of SSTR-PET was 73% for nodal metastases, 100% for bone, and 67% for soft-tissue metastases, respectively. Notably, brain metastases were initially detected by SSTR-PET in 2 patients, whereas liver and lung metastases were diagnosed exclusively by CT. SSTR-PET showed concordance to CT results in 20 out of 24 patients. Four patients (17%) were up-staged due to SSTR-PET and patient management was changed in 3 patients (13%).

Conclusion

SSTR-PET showed high sensitivity for imaging bone, soft tissue and brain metastases, and particularly in combination with CT had a significant impact on clinical stage and patient management.
KW  - Merkel cell carcinoma
KW  - Molecular imaging
KW  - Somatostatin receptor expression
KW  - Positron emission tomography
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-110326
ER  -