Reference two-dimensional (2-D) gels are presented for human breast ductal carcinoma and histologically normal tissue. Whole biopsy fragments were analyzed, including epithelial and nonepithelial components. Thirty-five spots have been assigned by gel matching to the human liver SWISS-2DPAGE reference map and/or to the human primary keratinocyte IPG map from the Danish Center for Human Genome. N-terminal microsequencing was applied to confirm randomly chosen matching assignments and to identify six new spots. Protein expression profiles in ductal carcinoma and in normal breast tissue appeared to be similar, except for a pattern consisting of 32 spots, which were highly expressed in all carcinoma specimens, and less intense and occasionally undetectable in normal tissue. This difference was statistically significant. Assignment has been obtained for several spots, namely GRP94, GRP78, GRP75, mitochondrial HSP60, calreticulin, protein disulfide isomerase, peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, collagen-binding protein 2, fructose bisphosphate aldolase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, thioredoxin, cytochrome c oxidase VA subunit, tubulin beta isoform and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). The cancer- and tissue-specificity of the described pattern was assessed by matching to the Swiss-2DPAGE human liver, hepatoma, lymphoma, erythroleukemia reference maps. The pattern of 32 spots was found to be indicative of epithelial neoplasia.

The molecular feature of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the translocation that places c-Myc under the control of immunoglobulin gene regulatory elements. However, there is accumulating evidence that some cases may lack an identifiable MYC translocation. In addition, during the EUROFISH project, aiming at the standardization of FISH procedures in lymphoma diagnosis, we found that five cases out of 35 classic endemic BLs were negative for MYC translocations by using a split-signal as well as a dual-fusion probe. Here we investigated the expression pattern of miRNAs predicted to target c-Myc, in BL cases, to clarify whether alternative pathogenetic mechanisms may be responsible for lymphomagenesis in cases lacking the MYC translocation. miRNAs are a class of small RNAs that are able to regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Several studies have reported their involvement in cancer and their association with fragile sites in the genome. They have also been shown to control cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis, suggesting that these molecules could act as tumour suppressors or oncogenes. Our results demonstrated a modulation of specific miRNAs. In particular, down-regulation of hsa-let-7c was observed in BL cases, compared to normal controls. More interestingly, hsa-mir-34b was found to be down-regulated only in BL cases that were negative for MYC translocation, suggesting that this event might be responsible for c-Myc deregulation in such cases. This hypothesis was further confirmed by our in vitro experiments, which demonstrated that increasing doses of synthetic hsa-mir-34b were able to modulate c-Myc expression. These results indicate for the first time that hsa-mir-34b may influence c-Myc expression in Burkitt lymphoma as the more common aberrant control exercised by the immunoglobulin enhancer locus.

The recognition of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) as etiological agents of cervical cancer has increased the demands to use testing for HPV for the detection of abnormal cervical smears and for cervical cancer screening. The present study compared the performance of the Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) assay with that of PCR for the detection of significant cervical lesions in 1,511 women with different risks for HPV infections in three New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. The results showed that the level of agreement between the HC2 assay and PCR was substantial, with a kappa (Cohen) value of 0.669 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.629 to 0.709). Of the 228 samples with discrepant results, 92 were positive by the HC2 assay but negative by PCR, whereas 136 samples were PCR positive but HC2 assay negative. The positive predictive values (PPVs) of the HC2 assay and PCR in detecting high-grade intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) were 4.5% (95% CI, 3.5 to 5.5%) and 3.6% (95% CI, 2.7 to 4.5%), respectively, and the negative predictive values (NPVs) were 99.6% (95% CI, 99.3 to 99.9%) and 99.3% (95% CI, 98.9 to 99.7%), respectively. The sensitivities of the HC2 assay and PCR for the detection of HSILs were 85.2 and 74.0%, respectively, and the specificities were 67.2 and 64.1%, respectively. In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the performance of the HC2 assay for the detection of HSILs was excellent (P ‫؍‬ 0.0001); the area under the ROC analysis curve was 0.858 (95% CI, 0.811 to 0.905), and the optimal balance between sensitivity (86.5%) and specificity (80%) was obtained with an HC2 assay cutoff level of 15.6 relative light units/positive control. Use of this cutoff would increase the specificity of the HC2 assay to 80.0% without compromising sensitivity. In conclusion, the results of PCR and the HC2 assay were concordant for 85% of samples, resulting in substantial reproducibility. Both tests had low PPVs, equal specificities, and equal (almost 100%) NPVs for the detection of HSILs; but the sensitivity of the HC2 assay was slightly better.Cervical carcinoma is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide. Infection with high-risk (HR) types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is the single most important risk factor for cervical cancer and its precursors (27,29). Screening for cervical cancer is traditionally based on Pap smear cytology, which suffers from subjectivity and which depends on the skills of the observer. The Pap test usually shows variable (poor to moderate) sensitivities (30 to 87%), and equivocal cases need to be repeated to improve diagnostics (4, 13). The recognition of HR HPVs as etiological agents of cervical cancer has increased the demands to use testing for HPV for the diagnosis of abnormal cervical smears (11) and even for screening for cervical cancer (9, 18). Testing for HPV has been shown to have higher sensitivities (84 to 100%) than the conventional Pap smear. Also, the negative predictive value (NPV) of testing for HPV DNA is very high; Clavel et al.(1) rep...

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is observed in 13-44% of gastric carcinoma. The etiology of MSI in gastric carcinoma has not been clearly defined. To assess the role of mismatch repair in the development of MSI in gastric cancer , expression of hMSH2 and hMLH1 was explored. We examined 117 gastric carcinomas for MSI and observed instability at one or more loci in 19 (16%) of these tumors. Of the 19 tumors with MSI, nine exhibited low-rate MSI (MSI-L) with instability at <17% of loci , whereas the remaining 10 exhibited Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a form of genetic instability observed in virtually all tumors from patients with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and in a subset of various sporadic tumors, including colorectal, gastric and endometrial cancer.1-17 The majority of HNPCC patients have germline mutations of one of several DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, most frequently hMSH2 or hMLH1.18 -21 Somatic mutations, which inactivate the remaining wild-type allele, lead to defective MMR and a form of genomic instability known as microsatellite instability. Defective MMR is thought to promote tumorigenesis by accelerating the accumulation of mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. [22][23][24] MSI has been observed in a subset of gastric carcinomas ranging from 13% to 44%, depending on the group of cases studied and the type and number of markers examined.5,25 Interestingly, mutations of hMSH2 and hMLH1, germline or somatic, are infrequent in sporadic tumors with MSI, including gastric carcinoma.26,27 Studies of MSIϩ sporadic colorectal cancer observed a frequent absence of hMLH1 expression, despite the lack of identifiable germline or somatic mutations of the hMLH1 gene. 28,29 More recent studies have shown that hypermethylation of the hMLH1 promoter rather than inactivating germline/somatic mutations appear to underlie the loss of hMLH1 expression. 30,31 In this study, immunohistochemical stains for hMLH1 and hMSH2 were performed on gastric carcinoma with high-level (MSI-H), low-level (MSI-L), or no MSI (MSS). Our results shed further light on the origin of high-level MSI in gastric carcinoma. Materials and Methods Sample Collection and ProcessingOne hundred seventeen surgically resected primary gastric adenocarcinoma specimens were collected and stored at Ϫ80°C over the past decade from hospitals in the United States and the Tuscany region of Italy. Normal tissue or peripheral blood samples were obtained from these patients as well. Sample collections were performed according to internal review board-approved protocols. Tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging of resected cancers was assessed according to the consen-

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Integrated HPV16 is present in low grade cervical lesions, mostly mixed with the episomal form. Women with the pure integrated form of HPV16 are older than those with the other forms.

The results of the present study demonstrate, for the first time, the expression of TCTP in the human prostate and in prostate cancer cells, and suggest the involvement of the protein in key-processes such as apoptosis, cellular differentiation, and in the control of sperm functions.