Modern Pathology Cover Features Research by Mehra, Skala, and Team

By Dustin Johnston | January 10 2018

Modern Pathology Jan2018 | Rohit Mehra and Steph SkalaCover of January 2018 Modern PathologyRecent work led by Dr. Rohit Mehra characterizing MiT family translocation renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has been featured on the cover of January issue of Modern Pathology.

In this collaborative study between Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP), MLabs, and Cytogenetics, Dr. Stephanie Skala and colleagues utilized fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technology to characterize a spectrum of renal tumors with novel findings. RCCs with melanogenesis-associated transcription factor (MITF) aberrations demonstrate a wide morphologic spectrum, highlighting the need to consider these entities within the differential diagnosis of renal tumors encountered in clinical practice. Although immunohistochemistry (IHC) for MITF family proteins TFE3 and TFEB is specific for t-RCC, there is poor reproducibility of TFE3 or TFEB IHC, and the sensitivity is not high enough to exclude the possibility of false-negative results. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), however, has been robustly validated for the accurate diagnosis of these renal tumor subtypes and exhibits a high degree of sensitivity and specificity.

Mehra and colleagues have developed clinical FISH assays to detect TFE3 and TFEB translocations that are offered through UM genitourinary FISH service at MLabs. Information about these tests can be found in the Pathology Handbook:

TFE3 Rearrangements by FISH

TFEB Rearrangements by FISH

 Read more at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov