Rsf-1 interacts with human sucrose nonfermenting protein 2 homologue (hSNF2H) to form a chromatin remodeling complex that participates in several biological processes. We have previously shown that Rsf-1 gene amplification was associated with the most aggressive type of ovarian cancer and cancer cells with Rsf-1 overexpression depended on Rsf-1 to survive. In this report, we determine if formation of the Rsf-1/ hSNF2H complex could be one of the mechanisms contributing to tumor cell survival and growth in ovarian carcinomas. Based on immunohistochemistry, we found that Rsf-1 and hSNF2H were co-upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues. Ectopic expression of Rsf-1 in SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells with undetectable endogenous Rsf-1 expression enhanced hSNF2H protein levels and promoted SKOV3 tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model. Our studies also indicated that induction of Rsf-1 expression affected the molecular partnership of hSNF2H and translocated hSNF2H into nuclei where it colocalized with Rsf-1. Furthermore, analysis of Rsf-1 deletion mutants showed that the Rsf-D4 fragment contained the hSNF2H binding site based on coimmunoprecipitation and in vitro competition assays. As compared with other truncated mutants, expression of Rsf-D4 resulted in remarkable growth inhibition in ovarian cancer cells with Rsf-1 gene amplification and overexpression, but not in those without detectable Rsf-1 expression. The above findings suggest that interaction between Rsf-1 and hSNF2H may define a survival signal in those tumors overexpressing

Pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy without trastuzumab in hormone receptornegative/HER2 þ tumors is seen in 27-45% of cases. In contrast, estrogen receptor (ER) þ /HER2 þ tumors demonstrate pathologic complete response in B8% of cases and is generally limited to weak-to-moderate ER þ /HER2 þ tumors. It is speculated that addition of trastuzumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen will increase the pathologic complete response rates in all HER2 þ tumors. A list of HER2 þ patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (with trastuzumab) in the years 2007-2010 was obtained from our hospital database. The 104 HER2 þ tumors were classified into three groups based on semiquantitative hormone receptor and HER2 results as follows: ERBB2 (ER-/PR-[H-score r10]/HER2 þ ), Luminal B-HER2 Hybrid (LBHH; weak to moderate ER þ [H-score 11-199]/HER2 þ ), and Luminal A-HER2 Hybrid (LAHH; strong ER þ [H-score Z200]/ HER2 þ ). Pathologic complete response was defined as absence of invasive carcinoma in the resection specimen and in the lymph nodes. Percentage tumor volume reduction was also calculated based on pretherapy size and detailed evaluation of the resection specimen. In all, 52% (25 of 48 cases) of ERBB2 tumors showed pathologic complete response, which was significantly higher than the pathologic complete response rate in LBHH (33%; 10 of 30) and LAHH (8%; 2 of 26) tumors. Average percentage tumor volume reduction was also highest in ERBB2 tumors (86%), followed by LBHH (74%) and LAHH (64%) tumors. We conclude that addition of trastuzumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen significantly increases the pathologic complete response rates in all HER2 þ tumors. However, the benefit of trastuzumab is highest in ER-negative tumors and progressively decreases with increase in tumor ER expression. This information can be utilized to counsel patients considered for neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the same principle could be applied in the adjuvant setting.

Background: Distinction between non-neoplastic and neoplastic bladder lesions is therapeutically and prognostically important. Our objective is to describe the use of double immunohistochemistry (DIHC) for p53+CK20 as a tool for diagnosing neoplasia in bladder biopsies.

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