Background

Renal cell carcinoma can cause various paraneoplastic syndromes including metabolic and hematologic disturbances. Paraneoplastic hypereosinophilia has been reported in a variety of hematologic and solid tumors. We present the first case in the literature of severe paraneoplastic hypereosinophilia in a patient with renal cell carcinoma.

Case presentation

A 46 year-old patient patient with a history of significant weight loss, reduced general state of health and coughing underwent radical nephrectomy for metastasized renal cell carcinoma. Three weeks after surgery, the patient presented with excessive peripheral hypereosinophilia leading to profound neurological symptoms due to cerebral microinfarction. Systemic treatment with prednisolone, hydroxyurea, vincristine, cytarabine, temsirolimus and sunitinib led to reduction of peripheral eosinophils but could not prevent rapid disease progression of the patient. At time of severe leukocytosis, a considerable increase of cytokines associated with hypereosinophilia was measurable.

Conclusions

Paraneoplastic hypereosinophilia in patients with renal cell carcinoma might indicate poor prognosis and rapid disease progression. Myelosuppressive therapy is required in symptomatic patients.

Introduction. Several point-of-care tests (POCT) are available for the diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC). We evaluate the impact of HU (hematuria) on performance of POCTs. Materials and Methods. Urine from 10 donors was diluted with blood from 0.5 to 0.00625%. BladderCheckR, BTAstatR, BCMR, and BTAR tests were applied. Tests were additionally conducted in 54 patients with HU. HU was stratified according to the amount of erythrocytes (RBC)/μL using two systems: (1) no HU; mild microscopic HU; severe microscopic HU; gross HU; (2) I <25 RBCs; <250 II; ≥250 III. Results were compared to HU status and histopathology. Results. Gross HU became evident between 2090 RBCs/μL and 1065/μL. Addition of blood led to default tests in all 4: BladderCheckR 0.25%; BCM 0.025%, BioNexia 0.00625%, and BTAstat <0.00625%. Rates of false positives for BladderCheck, BTAstat, BCM, and BioNexia were 5.9, 11.8, 0, and 1.8% without HU and 0, 66.7, 44.4, and 66.7% with HU. BTAstat, BCM, and BioNexia were independently influenced by HU (P < 0.0002). Conclusions. NMP22-BladderCheck was most resistant to blood. The diagnostic yield of all others was significantly influenced by HU. A well-defined HU grading helps to define limits of HU for a reliable interpretation of BC-POCTs.

Background

For bladder cancer (BCa) patients undergoing bladder-sparing treatments, molecular markers may aid in accurately predicting progression to muscle invasion and recurrence. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a glycosaminoglycan that promotes tumor metastasis. Hyaluronoglucosaminidase 1 (HYAL-1)–type hyaluronidase (HAase) promotes tumor growth, invasion, and angiogenesis. Urinary HA and HAase levels are diagnostic markers for BCa.

Objective

We evaluated whether HA and HYAL-1 can predict progression to muscle invasion and recurrence among patients with non–muscle-invasive BCa.

Design, setting, and participants

Based on tissue availability, tissue microarrays were prepared from a cohort of 178 BCa specimens (144 non–muscle invasive, 34 muscle invasive). Follow-up information was available on 111 patients with non–muscle-invasive BCa (mean follow-up: 69.5 mo); 58 patients recurred and 25 progressed to muscle invasion (mean time to progress: 22.3 mo).

Measurements

HA and HYAL-1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and graded for intensity and area of staining. Association of HA and HYAL-1 staining with BCa recurrence and muscle invasion was evaluated by univariate and multivariate models.

Results and limitations

HA and HYAL-1 expression correlated with tumor grade, stage, and multifocality (p < 0.05). In non–muscle-invasive BCa specimens, HYAL-1 staining was higher (234.3 ± 52.2; 200.6 ± 61.4) if patients experienced progression to muscle invasion or recurrence when compared with no progression or recurrence (164.1 ± 48.2; 172.1 ± 57; p < 0.001). HA staining correlated with muscle invasion (p < 0.001). In univariate analysis, age (p = 0.014), multifocality (p = 0.023), and HYAL-1 staining (p < 0.001) correlated with muscle invasion, whereas only HYAL-1 correlated with recurrence (p = 0.013). In multivariate analysis, significantly associated with muscle invasion (p < 0.001; 76.8% accuracy) and recurrence (p = 0.01; 67.8% accuracy).

Conclusions

HYAL-1 is a potential prognostic marker for predicting progression to muscle invasion and recurrence.