Background &Objectives: Evaluation of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and (human epidermal growth factor receptor-2) Her-2 on core needle biopsies (CNBs) is increasingly in use to diagnosis early breast cancer, but its concordance with surgical excision (SE) is not well documented. Methods: The study included 100 formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of invasive breast carcinoma archived in Pathology Department of Cancer Institute, Tehran, Iran, from 2011 to 2014. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect ER, PR, and Her-2. Results: The current study findings indicated a significant correlation of 90% between CNB and SE specimens for ER expression. The correlation between CNB and SE specimens was estimated as 81% and 97.3% for PR and Her-2, respectively. Discussion: CNB can be performed confidently to determine ER and Her-2. For PR, results obtained from CNB should be considered .

Background and Purpose:This study aimed to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of CD31 and podoplanin in order to examine angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, respectively in common malignant tumors of salivary glands. Materials and Methods: Forty formalin-fixed, paraffinated blocks (20 adenoid cystic carcinoma and 20 mucoepidermoid carcinoma blocks) were selected from the medical archives of Amir A'lam Hospital of Tehran, Iran. Sections from the blocks were stained by CD31 and D2-40 markers via immunohistochemistry. Clinical and demographic information was extracted from the patients' records. Findings: There was a significant difference between tumors in terms of intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) (P< 0.001), total MVD (P< 0.001), and intratumoral lymphatic vessel density (LVD) (P= 0.011). In mucoepidermoid carcinoma, intratumoral MVD and LVD were greater than peritumoral MVD and LVD (P= 0.001 and P< 0.001, respectively). In mucoepidermoid carcinoma, there was no relationship between histological grade with MVD (total, intratumoral or peritumoral) or LVD (total, intratumoral or peritumoral) (P> 0.05). A similar finding was reported with respect to the histopathological grade of adenoid cystic carcinoma (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The higher level of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in mucoepidermoid carcinoma, specifically at the center of tumor, compared to adenoid cystic carcinoma, may be attributed to differences in the clinical behaviors and metastasis of tumors. Moreover, considering the high LVD at the center of tumor in mucoepidermoid carcinoma and infrequency of metastasis to regional lymph nodes in adenoid cystic carcinoma, it can play a significant role in metastasis to regional lymph nodes.

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common oral malignancy with high rate of mortality. Cisplatin, as the most effective chemotherapy drug, has side effects. Considering the studies on the use of crocin in saffron in the treatment of various malignancies, this study aimed at investigating the effects of crocin and cisplatin and their combination on SCC and fibroblast cell lines. Materials and Methods: In this interventional study, HN5 and fibroblast cell lines were treated with different concentrations of crocin (12.5–50 μg/mL) and cisplatin (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 μg/mL), and the cells were counted after 24, 48, and 72 h by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Data were analyzed with SPSS Version 17, and P < 0.05 was considered the level of significance. In the final stage, flow cytometry after 24 h in terms of the pattern of cell death was done. Results: Both drugs had a toxic effect on malignant cells. One point was the high toxic effect of 8 μg/mL cisplatin not only on cancer cells (P < 0.001) but also on fibroblasts. However, combination with 12.5 μg/mL of crocin had the same effect on HN5 cell line, despite the less toxic effect in fibroblasts in comparison with cisplatin alone (P = 0.012). Apoptosis was the pattern of cell death showed by flow cytometry. Conclusion: Crocin in high concentrations can have not only significant toxicity in cancer cells but also side effects in healthy tissue. It seems that lower doses of crocin, in combination with cisplatin, besides having anticancer effect, can reduce the toxicity of cisplatin in healthy tissue.

Iron deficiency anemia can cause histopathologic alterations in the oral mucosa. Exfoliative cytology is a cheaper and less aggressive method for early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to compare the cytological and cytomorphometric characteristics of buccal exfoliated cells of iron deficiency anemic patients with those of healthy controls. This case-control study compared a group of 40 patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) with an age- and gender-matched control group (C) of 40 healthy individuals. The buccal mucosal smears were stained using the Papanicolaou technique for cytological analyses. Cellular clumping, cytoplasmic diameter (CD), nuclear diameter (ND), cytoplasmic area (CA), nuclear area (NA), nucleus to cytoplasmic area ratio (NA/CA), cellular and nuclear pleomorphism, micronuclei (Mn), binucleation, bacterial colonies, and keratin flakes were evaluated using a light microscope and digital image analysis. Mean values for IDA and C groups were: bacterial colonies (1.88 and 0.65; P=0.002); CA (2209.88 and 1687.79 μm²; P=0.006); Mn (1.60 and 0.60; P=0.02). Significant increases in bacterial colonies, CA and Mn were seen for the IDA group. The number of cellular clumps, CD, ND, NA, NA/CA, cellular and nuclear pleomorphism, binucleation, and the number of keratin flakes didn’t show significant differences between studied groups (P>0.05). There wasn’t any significant difference with respect to overall atypia. This study revealed that IDA was able to induce significant changes in CA and Mn of the oral epithelial cells. Exfoliative cytology and cytomorphometry can be used as a tool to assess the mucosal changes in IDA patients.

Objective: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common oral cancer in the world that threatens public health. There are a number of molecular markers that can be used to improve TNM staging. One of these markers is SIRT1. We aimed to investigate the expression of SIRT1 in OSCC and its relationship with clinicopathological factors such as age, sex, location of tumor, smoking, clinical stage, grade of tumor, metastasis to lymph nodes in the neck and distant metastasis. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 30 samples of OSCC and 30 samples of normal oral mucosa. Required clinical data were collected from patients. After immunohistochemistry staining for SIRT1 on sections prepared with paraffin blocks, the percentage of stained cells and staining intensity of the cells were evaluated in the terms of core and cytoplasmic aspects. Results: Positive expression of SIRT1 was seen in 93.3% and 96.7% of cells in the core and cytoplasm view, respectively, which was significantly higher than normal tissue (P=0.021 and 0.001, respectively). We found no significant relationship between the intensity and percentage of core and cytoplasmic staining of squamous cells as well as clinicopathological factors. Conclusion: The overexpression of SIRT1 in OSCC samples as compared with normal mouth tissue indicates its role in carcinogenesis. However, further studies on SIRT1 may shed more light on the treatment options of OSCC.