Related Experiment Videos
Emperipolesis in a common breast malignancy. A case report
Sunita Saxena1, K R Beena, Anju Bansal
1Institute of Pathology, Safdarjang Hospital Campus, New Delhi, India.
Background:
Emperipolesis is a phenomenon characterized by the presence of leukocytes/lymphocytes within the cytoplasm of other cells. The present report describes this unusual observation within epithelial cancer cells of the breast.
Case:
A 52-year-old female presented with a hard, adherent lump over the right breast for one year. Fine needle aspiration and histopathologic examination of the tumor showed features of infiltrating duct carcinoma with emperipolesis as a striking feature of the tumor cells. The tumor showed a near-total response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Conclusion:
The mechanism and biologic significance of emperipolesis in producing a near-total response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the present case suggest its role in inducing a tumoricidal effect, possibly involving a cascade of chemokines.