Clinical staging and histological grading after surgery have been the "gold standard" for predicting prognosis and planning for adjuvant therapy of colorectal cancer (CRC). With the recent development of molecular markers, it has become possible to characterize tumors at the molecular level. This is important for stage II and III CRCs, in which clinicopathological features do not accurately predict heterogeneity, e.g., in their tumor response to adjuvant therapy. In the present study, archival samples from 141 patients with stage I, II, III, or IV CRC treated during 1981-1990 at Turku University Hospital (Finland) were used (as microarray blocks) to analyze MUC2 expression by immunohistochemistry. Altogether, 49.7 % of all tumors were positive for MUC2. There was no significant correlation between MUC2 expression and age (P < 0.499), tumor invasion (P < 0.127), tumor staging (P < 0.470), histological grade (P < 0.706), lymph node involvement (P < 0.854), or tumor metastasis (P < 0.586). However, loss of MUC2 expression was significantly associated with disease recurrence (P < 0.031), tumor localization (P < 0.048), and with borderline significance with gender (P < 0.085). In univariate (Kaplan-Meier) survival analysis, positive MUC2 significantly predicted longer disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) as well. However, in multivariate (Cox) survival analysis, MUC2 lost its power as an independent predictor of DFS and DSS. Our results implicate the value of MUC2 expression in predicting disease recurrence and long-term survival in CRC.
BackgroundThe frequency of over-expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) in bladder cancer is one of the highest among all human malignancies. This over-expression is thought to play a role in aberrant proliferation of cancer cells. Studies on HER-2 expression in bladder carcinoma have shown heterogeneous results.PurposeThe aim of the study was to evaluate the status of HER-2 protein expression in patients with invasive carcinomas of the urinary bladder as related to tumor grade and stage.Materials and methodsArchival samples from 39 patients (6 women, 33 males) with urinary bladder cancer were analyzed for HER-2 over-expression, using immunohistochemistry with the HercepTest.ResultsHER-2 over-expression was observed in 23/39 tumors (59%) and was more frequent in high-grade than in low-grade carcinomas, but the difference was not statistically significant. A significant correlation was established between HER-2 over-expression and tumor stage (p=0.011). HER-2 expression was more frequent in transitional cell carcinomas (TCC) and adenocarcinomas (AC) as compared with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Patients’ age and sex were not related to HER-2 over-expression.ConclusionOver-expression of HER-2 was frequent in carcinomas of the urinary bladder. Knowing the HER-2 status would be helpful in formulating a rational treatment strategy for patients with urinary bladder cancer.
Abstract. Aim: To assess the predictive and prognostic value of neurofibromin (NF) expression in colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Materials and Methods: The present series consists of archival samples from 191 patients with stage I, II, III, or IV CRC treated between 1981 and Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world, also ranking as the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths (1). Despite the fact that most CRC patients undergo potentially curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy administered, approximately 50% of all patients initially considered curable by surgery, will subsequently relapse and die of their disease (2).The etiology of CRC remains open and the overall outcome is poor (3). However, some fundamental advances in our understanding of the biology and genetics of CRC have been made recently (4-5).CRC arises from progressive accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes (e.g. chromosomal instability, microsatellite instability and methylation pathway that cause the transformation of normal colon mucosa cells into adenocarcinoma (6, 7).Alterations in NF1 gene mutations and neurofibromin (NF) expression have been found in colon adenocarcinoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, anaplastic astrocytoma and small-cell lung carcinoma (8-9). NF, the protein encoded by NF1 gene, is a cytoplasmic protein predominantly expressed in neurons, Schwann cells, oligodendrocytes and leucocytes (10). It functions as a GTPase, activating protein (GAP) for Ras by accelerating the conversion of active Ras-GTP to inactive 12). NF acts as a negative regulator of the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway via suppression of active Ras (13). Therefore, the negative regulation of Ras activity classifies NF1 gene as a tumor suppressor gene.To date, little is known about the role of tumor suppressor NF in CRC, and data on its potential prognostic value in these tumors are lacking. In this study, we examined the expression of NF in 191 CRCs using immuno-histochemistry 5301
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