TERT- Beyond The Territory: Usage of PCR-Based TERT Promoter Assay in Defining Urothelial Carcinoma in a Case of Long-Standing Prostatic Adenocarcinoma

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2019Source: Pathology - Research and PracticeAuthor(s): Rahul Mannan, Alexander S. Taylor, Daniel E. Spratt, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Jeffrey S. Montgomery, Noah A. Brown, Rohit MehraAbstractBladder cancer continues to be a source of disease burden worldwide. In patients with a long-standing history of prostate cancer, distinguishing between new/independent and synchronous poorly differentiated urothelial carcinoma (UCA) and residual/recurrent high grade/poorly differentiated prostatic adenocarcinoma or prostatic adenocarcinoma with therapy-related changes can be diagnostically and therapeutically challenging.In the present case report, along with morphological features, immunohistochemical (IHC) studies and a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutation assay were used as essential ancillary tools in reaching a final diagnosis. This is important as spatially, topographically and temporally multi-focal and multi-differentiating tumors can behave differently with different prognostic and therapeutic connotations.
Source: Pathology Research and Practice - Category: Pathology Source Type: research