TULANE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE

PATHWAYS
NEWSLETTER VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 WINTER 2014

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Dear Colleagues:
As the Department of Pathology reaches mid-academic year, we can collectively look back over the summer and fall months with a sense of pride in the accomplishments of faculty, fellows and residents. Our research activities continue to be robust. Two of our faculty members were awarded R01 grants from the NIH; a number of our research fellows and graduate students received awards and recognition for their excellent work presented at national meetings. Another graduate student was awarded a NIH F31 fellowship. Our residency program continues to evolve as we witnessed the residents clinical commitment, their presentations at national meetings and their strong leadership roles. We welcomed two new faculty members to the team and are awaiting the arrival of three more. These past six months also brought a wealth of knowledge to our Department in the form of several invited guest speakers who enriched us with their expertise. Our diagnostic pathology service remains consistent and strong as does our commitment to providing the finest teaching to students, residents and fellows. With the goal to even surpass these accomplishments, the Pathology Department will continue striving to achieve more excellence and growth over the coming months. Best wishes,

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RESEARCH NEWS

Dr. Srikanta Dash, Professor of Pathology, (seen right) was awarded two RO1 Grants from the NIH for his applications, IL-28B genotype and HCV treatment clearance ($1.4 million), and for Hepatitis C and HepaDr. Srikanta tocellular Carcinoma ($1.2 million). Major Dash grant goals of both projects target research on HCV treatment, and treatment resistance. ************************************************ A member of the Dash Laboratory, Dr. Partha Chandra (left) was honored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Meeting last November at Dr. Partha their 64th annual gathering in Washington, Chandra DC. Dr. Chandra received The Edmund J. Bini HCV Travel Award for his abstract, Persistently infected hepatitis C virus cell culture impairs type I but not the type III IFN signaling. The award was presented to Dr. Chandra at the November 2, 2013 reception. With Dr. Chandra as first author, the full paper has just been published in the American Journal of Pathology.

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RESEARCH NEWS (CONTINUED)

Dr. Erik Flemington (left) was awarded a NIH R01 Grant entitled, Epstein-Barr virus antisense transcription. The grant will provide $250,000 for annual direct costs over the next five years...Dr. Zhen Lin, (below, right) who works in the Flemington Laboratory, was awarded a Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center (LA-CATS) grant for his work, Analysis of the pathogenesis of HIV/EBV associated DLBCL...Christina OGrady, (below, left) a graduate student in the Flemington Lab, was awarded a NIH F31 fellowship. She is also first author on a paper published in J Virology entitled, Global bidirectional transcription of the Epstein-Barr virus genome during reactivation...Michael Strong, (below, right) also a graduate student in the Flemington Lab, is first author on a paper published in J Virology entitled, Epstein-Barr virus and human herpes virus 6 detection in a non-Hodgkins diffuse large Bcell lymphoma cohort using RNA sequencing. He is also a recipient of the NIH F31 fellowship award.

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RESEARCH NEWS (CONTINUED)

- Also achieving success at the AASLD annual meeting were Ximena Vanegas Qadir and Lu Lu, graduate students who work in the Wu Laboratory. They presented two separate posters that each won the AASLD Presidential Poster of Distinction Award. Both were published as abstracts in the journal Hepatology. Members of the Wu Lab participated in presenting a total of four posters that represented the collaborative efforts of Drs. Tong Wu, Chang Han, Kyoung-Sub Song, and Jinqiang Zhang with graduate students Qadir and Lu.

Lu Lu, graduate student and presenter of awardwinning poster at AASLD Meeting.

Graduate Student Ximena Vanegas Qadir (above, right) with award winning poster at the 64th Annual AASLD Meeting held last November in Washington, DC.

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RESIDENTS CORNER NEWS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, MILESTONES

Dr. Janet Schmid (seen above), Associate Professor of Pathology and Director of the Residency Program, reports... twenty-seven (27) excellent applicants were interviewed to fill resident positions opening in the July 2014 program...the Residency Education Committee will spend the winter and spring months of 2014 busily developing a plan to implement the new ACGME pathology training milestones for 2014...Dr. Sharon Hirsh completed her pathology training on 11/15/13 and is now working at the Thyroid Cytopathology Partners in Austin, TXDr. Kim Mayhall is first author of the published paper: A thirty-five-year-old woman with gastric signet ring cell carcinoma secondary to the Chernobyl nuclear accident: a case report, published in Case Reports in Oncology, 2013 March 21, and the abstract Overexpression of SirT3 and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase in melanoma published in Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 2013 October.

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RESIDENTS CORNER (CONTINUED) POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Over the fall months, several residents were busy with the creation and presentation of posters at the CAP Annual Meeting (October 13, 2013) in Orlando, FL; the American Society of Dermatopathology Annual Meeting (October 10-13, 2013) in Washington, DC; the American Society of Clinical Pathologists Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, and the American Society of Cytopathology in Orlando, FL. Presenters at the CAP Meeting included Dr. Kim Greg Mayhall (above right) and Dr. Laura Bratton (below left). Dr. Sharon Hirsh (below right) presented at the American Society of Cytopathology Annual Meeting.

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RESIDENTS CORNER (CONTINUED) EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHP

Six Department of Pathology residents have assumed leadership roles in various capacities at Tulane. - Dr. Buu Duong (PGY III) is the President of the Tulane Resident and Fellows Congress while also serving as a member of the CAP Resident Executive Committee. - Dr. Laura Bratton (PGY III) serves as both the Chair of the Social Committee, Tulane Fellow and Resident Congress, and as an ASCP Resident Representative. - Dr. Greg Mayhall (PGY III) serves as a Representative on the CAP Resident Forum. - Dr. Evans Roberts (PGY II) is a Department Resident Representative, Tulane Resident and Fellow Congress. - Dr. John Scopetta (PGY II) is a member of the Pathology Resident Education Committee. - Dr. Ronnie Self (PGY IV), Chief Resident, is a Junior Ad Hoc Member of the Public Affairs and Advocacy Committee of the American Society of Cytopathology.
Dr. Buu Duong PGY III, President of the Tulane Resident and Fellows Congress.

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GUEST SPEAKERS

- The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine was honored by visits from several distinguished guest speakers. Former Tulane Medical School alumnus, Dr. Mary Beth Beasley visited her alma mater Dr. Mary Beth from October 24-25, 2013. Dr. Beasley, Beasley now an Associate Professor of Pathology and Head of Pulmonary Pathology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, gave a resident slide review entitled, Update on Interstitial Lung DiseaseWhats New Since 2002. Following her Pathology Grand Rounds seminar, Lung Cancer DiagnosisPitfalls and Priorities, Dr. Beasley then conducted a didactic conference on Problematic Pleural Pathology. - Co-sponsored with the Office of Academic Affairs and Provost Networking Seminar series, Dr. Chen Dong, Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Director of the Center of Inflammation and Cancer, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, gave a Grand Rounds seminar on October 4, 2013. Dr. Dong spoke on, Regulation and Function of TH17 Cells in Inflammation and Cancer.
Dr. Cheng Dong

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GUEST SPEAKERS (CONTINUED)

-On December 6, 2013, the Pathology Department hosted Grand Rounds guest speaker invitee, Dr. Ji Suk Chang. Dr. Chang, an instructor and COBRE Project Principal Investigator at Baton Rouges Pennington Biomedical Research Center, spoke on, Regulation of Adaptive Thermogenesis by the Short Isoform of PGC-I Alpha.
Dr. Ji Suk Chang

THE STERNBERG-REED LECTURE SERIES

-The third annual Sternberg- Reed Lecture Series was held December 1213, 2013. Dr. Christopher Crum, a professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division of Womens and Perinatal Pathology, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston, MA, interacted with faculty and residents. Conducting two separate resident slide reviews entitled, Diagnostic Problems in Gynecologic Pathology, Parts I and II, Dr. Crum delivered the annual lecture speaking on, Origins of Gynecologic Cancer: Discovery and Application.

Dr. Christopher Crum

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WELCOME NEW FACULTY Dr. Suzana Savkovic joins us as a new Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Having received her B.S. degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics Engineering at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, Dr. Savkovic then received her Ph.D. from both the University of Belgrade and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Just before joining Tulane, Dr. Savkovic worked as an Assistant Professor at the Northshore University Health System in Evanston, IL. Dr. Savkovic whose research areas are centered on metaboDr. Suzana lism and colon carcinogenesis, joins us as the reSavkovic cipient of an RO1 Grant awarded by the NIH. Dr. Savkovic has published twenty-five articles in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and has been the recipient of several academic and professional awards. The Pathology Department also welcomes Dr. Andrew Sholl as a new Assistant Professor. In addition to teaching students and residents, Dr. Sholl is a surgical pathologistcytopathologist performing diagnostic work. Just before joining Tulane, Dr. Sholl completed his cytopathology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He was Chief Resident of the Pathology Service at the University of Colorado at Denver. He received his medical degree in 2008 from Tulane University Dr. Andrew School of Medicine. Sholl

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DEPARTMENT NEWS -Dr. Haitao Zhang has been promoted to the rank
of Associate Professor of Pathology, Tenured. -Former resident Dr. Matthew Stark has been appointed to the rank of Assistant Adjunct Professor of Pathology.

- Farewell to Dr. Meredith Lakey who left her full time appointment but remains on staff as an Assistant Adjunct Professor. - Farewell to Dr. Dongdong Lu who leaves the Wu Laboratory after four years to return home to his native China. -Welcome to Daniel Hoskins who joins us as our Grant Management Analyst.

Dr. Haitao Zhang

Daniel Hoskins, Grant Management Analyst

Tong Wu, M.D., Ph.D,Chairman Byron Crawford, M.D.,Vice-Chairman The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

1430 Tulane Avenue Phone: 504-988-5224 Fax: 504-988-7862 Editor: Jeanne Frois ( jfrois@tulane.edu )

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PUBLICATIONS
Lu DD, Han C, Wu T. 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase-derived 15keto-prostaglandin E2 inhibits cholangiocarcinoma cell growth through interaction with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-, SMAD2/3, and TAP63 proteins. J Biol Chem. 2013 Jul 5;288(27): 19484-19502. PMID: 23687300 Panigrahi R, Hazari S, Chandra S, Chandra PK, Datta S, Kurt R, Cameron CE, Huang Z, Zhang H, Garry RF, Balart LA, Dash S. Interferon and ribavirin combination treatment synergistically inhibit HCV internal ribosome entry site mediated translation at the level of polyribosome formation. PLoS One. 2013 Aug 23;8(8):e72791. PMID: 24009705 Shackelford R, Hirsh S, Henry K, Abdel-Mageed A, Kandil E, Coppola D. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferse and SirT3 expressions are increased in well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas. Anticancer Res. August 2013 33(8): 3047-3052. Gordon M, El-Kalla M, Zhao Y, Fiteih Y, Law J, Volodko N, Mohamed A, ElKadi Ao, Liu L, Onyskiw C, Ghazaleh HA, Park J, Lee SB, Yu VC, FernandezPatron C, Alexander RT, Wine E, Bakash S. The tumor suppressor gene, RASSF1A, is essential for protection against inflammation-induced injury. PLoS One. 2013 Oct 16;8(10):e75483. PMID: 24146755 Dash S, Chandra P, Ramaza K, Garry R, Balart L. Mechanisms of hepatitis C virus clearance by interferon and ribavirin combination: lessons learned from in Vvtro cell culture. Book chapter: Cancer Causing Viruses and Their Inhibitors, Gupta S editor. Textbook, CRC Press Publishing Company, 2013. Whitling N, Shanesmith R, Jacob L, McBurney E, Sebastian S, Wang E, Wang A. Composite lymphoma of mycosis fungoids and cutaneous small B-cell lymphoma in a 73-year-old male patient. Human Pathology 2013;44(4): 670-675. Song K, Han C, Zhang J, Lu D, Dash S, Feitelson M, Lim K, Wu T. Epigenetic regulation of miR-122 by PPARgamma and hepatitis B virus X protein in hepatoceullar carcinoma cells. Hepatology 2013 Nov: 58)5): 1681-92. Mayhall K, Ghayouri M, Henry K, Margin V, Copolla D. Shackelford R. A thirty-sive-year-old woman with gastric signet ring cell carcinoma secondary to the Chernobyl nuclear accident: a case report. Case Reports in Oncology, 2013 March; 6(1):158-62.

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PUBLICATIONS (CONTINUED)

Whitling N, Shanesmith R, Jacob L, McBurney E, Sebastian S, Wang E, Wang A. Composite lymphoma of mycosis fungoids and cutaneous small B-cell lymphoma in a 73-year-old male patient. Human Pathology 2013;44(4): 670-675. Song K, Han C, Zhang J, Lu D, Dash S, Feitelson M, Lim K, Wu T. Epigenetic regulation of miR-122 by PPARgamma and hepatitis B virus X protein in hepatoceullar carcinoma cells. Hepatology 2013 Nov: 58)5): 1681-92. Alraiyes AH, Kheir F, Hirsh S, Salerno S, Bernal-Green LY, Daroca P. A 40Year-Old Woman with Multiple Lung Nodules. Chest. 2013;143 (6): PMID: 23732596 Abd Elmageed ZY, Moroz K, Kandil E. Clinical significance of CD146 and latexin during different stages of thyroid cancer. Mol Cell Biochem. 2013 Sep 381(1-2):95-103. PMID: 23712706 Kook S, Cho J, Lee SB, Lee BC. The nucleotide sugar UDP-glucose mobilizes long-term repopulating primitive hematopoietic cells. J Clin Invest. 2013 Aug 1;123(8):3420-35.PMID: 23863713 Abd Elmageed ZY, Moroz K, Srivastav SK, Fang Z, Crawford BE, Moparty K, Thomas R, Abdel-Mageed AB. High circulating estrogens and selective expression of ER in prostate tumors of Americans: implications for racial disparity of prostate cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2013 Sep;34(9):2017-2023. PMID: 23658372 Bhandary YP, Shetty SK, Marudamuthu AS, Ji HL, Neuenschwander PF, Boggram V, Morris GF, Fu J, Idell S, Shetty S. Regulation of lung injury and fibrosis by p53-mediated changes in urokinase and plasminogen activator inhibito1. Am J Pathol. 2013 Jul;183(1): 131-143. PMID: 23665346. Gunduz F, Malikarjun C, Balart LA, Dash S. Interferon alpha induced intrahepatic pSTAT1 inversely correlates with serum HCV RNA levels in chronic HCV infection.. Exp Mol Pathol. 2013 Nov 8. PMID: 24211829 Bao L, Chandra PK, Moroz K, Zhang X, Thung SN, Wu T, Dash S. Impaired autophagy response in human hepatocellu- lar carcinoma. Exp Mol Pathol. 2013 Dec 23. PMID: 24369267 Park JH, Kang HJ, Sang SI, Lee JE, Hur J, Ge K, Mueller E. Li H, Lee S. A multifunctional protein, EWS, is essential for early brown fat lineage determination. Dev Cell. 2013 August 26;26 (4):393-404 PMID 23987512

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PUBLICATIONS (CONTINUED)
Park BH, Kook S, Lee S, Jeong JH, Brufsky A, Lee BC. An isoform of C/EBP, LIP, regulates expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and modulates breast cancer cell migration. J Biol Chem. 2013 Oct 4;288(40):28656-67. PMID: 23966000 Zhang W, Edwards A, Flemington E, Zhang K. Inferring polymorphisminduced regulatory gene network active ni human lymphocyte cell lines by weighted linear mixed model analysis lysis of multiple RNA-Seq Datasets. PLosOne. 2013 Oct 30;8(10):e7886 PMID: 24205334 Zhan Y, Cao B, Qi Y, Liu S, Zhang Q, Zhou W, Xu D, Lu H, Sartor O, Kong W, Zhang H, Dong Y.Methylselenol prodrug enhances MDV3100 efficacy for treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Int J Cancer. 2013 Nov;133(9): 2225-2233. PMID: 23575870 Feng Z, Zhang Z, Wu XC Lifetime risk of cutaneous melanoma by histological subtype and race/ethnicity in the United States. J La State Med Soc. 2013 JulAug; 165(4): 201-208. PMID: 24133782 Strong MJ, OGrady T, Lin Z, Xu g, Baddoo M, Parsons C, Zhang K, Taylor CM, Flemington EK. Epstein-Barr virus and human herpesvirus 6 detection in a non-Hodgkins diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cohort using RNA-seq. J Virol. 2013 Dec; 87(23): 13059-62. PMID: 24049168

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS
Mayhall KG, Crawford BD.Systemic coccidiodomycosis. College of American Pathologists (CAP), Performance Improvement Program, (PIP). September 2013 Lakey M, Crawford BD. Signet Ring Cell Lymphoma. College of American Pathologists (CAP), Performance Improvement Program (PIP). October 2013 Crawford BE. Fibrosing Variant of Hashimotos Thyroiditis. College of American Pathologist (CAP) Performance Improvement Program (PIP). September 2013

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PRESENTATIONS
Wu Y, Cui A, Zhou X, Wang WH, Yao NN, Li HW, Han C, Wu T, Li GY. The single-chain antibody blocking cyclooxygenase-2 activity inhibits the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma. (Poster presentation) Hepatology 2013, 58(4): 1064A. The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Washington, DC. November 1 - 5, 2013. Zhang JQ, Han C, Song KS and Wu T. lncRNA MALAT1 inhibits Smad2/3 signaling in hepatic cells (Oral presentation). Hepatology 2013, 58(4): 235A: The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Washington, DC. November 2-5, 2013. Qadir XV, Han C and Wu T. MiR-223 deficiency prevents Fas-induced liver injury through activation of IGFR1. (Poster presentation) Hepatology 2013, 58(4): 346A.The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD Presidential Poster of Distinction), Washington, DC. November 1 - 5, 2013. Lu L, Han C and Wu T. MicroRNA-21 targets NAD+-linked 15 Hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) and promotes cholangiocarcinoma growth. (Poster presentation) Hepatology 2013, 58(4): 1061A. The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD Presidential Poster of Distinction), Washington, DC. November 1 - 5, 2013. Duong B, Bratton L, Self R, Whitling N, Wang A. Nevus comedonicus of labia majora. American Society of Dermatopathology Annual Meeting; October 1013, 2013. Washington, DC. Hirsh S and Shackelford R. Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase and SIRT3 expression are increased in well-differentiated Thyroid carcinomas. American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) Annual Meeting 2013, Chicago, Illinois, USA. McNaughton, J, Mayhall G., Schmid, J. Red blood cell transfusion and red blood cell exchange transfusion. Sickle Cell Education Day, Tulanes Sickle Cell Center of Excellence, September 2013, New Orleans, LA. Meng, X, Whitling N, Duong B, Wang, A. Mitosis-phase index in cutaneous malignancy. American Society of Dermatopathology Annual Meeting; October 10-13, 2013, Washington, DC.

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PRESENTATIONS (CONTINUED)
Bratton L, Wysocki J, Shores N, Kimbrell H. Mixed large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma with spindle cell and clear cell features in the extrahepatic bile duct: clinicopathologic correlation and review of the literature [poster]. CAP Annual Meeting October 13, 2013, Orlando FL Hirsh S, Roberts E, Lacey M, Torrellas-Ruize N, Goswami M, Kimbrell H, Moroz K. The role of obesity in cytologic risk factor assessment of suspicious thyroid nodules. 2013 American Soceity of Cytopathology 61st Annual Meeting; November 812, 2013, Orlando, FL. Duong T, Shackelford R, Wang A. A fatal drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) induced by allopurinol. American Society of Dermatopathology Annual Meeting; October 1013, Washington, DC