Purpose: CD24 is a cell adhesion molecule that has been implicated in metastatic tumor progression of various solid tumors. We aimed to clarify the expression patterns of CD24 in colorectal cancer and to correlate these to clinicopathologic variables including patient survival. Experimental Design: 147 colorectal carcinomas and two colon carcinoma cell lines were immunostained for CD24. Cytoplasmic and membranous immunoreactivity were semiquantitatively scored. Fisher's exact test, m 2 test for trends, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and Cox's regression were applied. Results: The cell line CX-2 showed only a minimal membranous CD24 immunoreactivity, in contrast to HT29, which stained strongly in the cytoplasm. In colorectal cancer, 68.7% of the tumors showed membranous CD24 staining, whereas 84.4% showed cytoplasmic staining. In 10% of cases, an exceptionally strong cytoplasmic CD24 expression was observed. The latter significantly correlated to higher tumor stages (Dukes and pT), nodal or systemic metastasis, and higher tumor grade. In survival analysis, strong cytoplasmic CD24 expression correlated significantly (Cox's regression: P = 0.012, relative risk = 3.7) to shortened patient survival in the group of cases without distant metastases. Conclusions: CD24 is commonly up-regulated in colorectal cancer and is a new independent prognostic marker which corroborates the importance of CD24 in tumor progression of this disease.Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of death from cancer in both sexes in the western world and its high incidence has been stable in the last 20 years (1). Although this disease is surgically curable in early stages, the tumor frequently does not become symptomatic before the metastatic stage, which is associated with high mortality. Therefore, increasing efforts are being made to develop more effective screening and prevention strategies for colorectal cancer and to enhance our capabilities to predict the clinical outcome. Currently, the most important conventional prognostic factors for patient survival are histologic tumor grade and tumor stage at time of diagnosis [pathologic tumornode-metastasis (Unio Internationale Contra Cancrum), Astler-Coller or Dukes], including depth of tumor invasion, involvement of regional lymph nodes, and metastatic spread to distant organs. In addition to these clinicopathologic variables, molecular markers are being evaluated and established for a wide variety of tumors including colon cancer (2). These new markers are being examined for their diagnostic and prognostic effect or even therapeutic implications. In previous works, we have described CD24 as a new prognostic marker in solid tumors (3 -6). Recently, CD24 has been shown to be a prognostic marker in gastric adenocarcinoma (7). CD24 is a small, heavily glycosylated, mucin-like cell surface protein (8 -10). It is expressed in various developing cells including pre-B-cells, keratinocytes, and renal tubulus epithelium, and also in a large variety of malignancies (for a comprehensive revie...

Purpose:We aimed to evaluate the expression of the human anterior gradient-2 (AGR2) in breast cancer on RNA and protein level and to correlate it with clinicopathologic data, including patient survival. Experimental Design: AGR2 mRNA expression was assessed by reverse transcription-PCR in 25 breast cancer samples and normal tissues. A polyclonal rabbit AGR antiserum was used for immunohistochemistry on 155 clinicopathologically characterized cases. Statistical analyses were applied to test for prognostic and diagnostic associations. Results: Immunohistochemical detection of AGR2 was statistically significantly associated with positive estrogen receptor status and lower tumor grade. AGR2-positive tumors showed significantly longer overall survival times in univariate analyses. For the subgroup of nodal-negative tumors, an independent prognostic value of AGR2 was found. Conclusions: The expression of AGR2 in breast cancer is strongly associated with markers of tumor differentiation (estrogen receptor positivity, lower tumor grade). A prognostic effect of AGR2 for overall survival could be shown, which became independently significant for the group of nodal-negative tumors.

We therefore recommend a counting algorithm with a threshold of > or =23 NG in 10 HPF (visual field diameter 0.625 mm) for the histopathological diagnosis of septic endoprosthesis loosening. If the enumeration of NG is difficult in conventional haematoxylin and eosin-stained slides, CD15 immunohistochemistry should be performed, whereas the PAS stain has not proven to be helpful.

The data suggest that strong cytoplasmic ALCAM expression in primary breast cancer, as detected by immunohistochemistry, might be a new marker for a more aggressive breast cancer biology.

Estrogen as a potential factor of ovarian carcinogenesis, acts via two nuclear receptors, estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), but the cellular signal pathways involved are not completely clear so far. In this study we have described the expression of ERα, detected by immunocytochemistry in 11 ovarian carcinoma cell lines and by immunohistochemistry in 43 Federation Internationale des Gyneacologistes et Obstetristes stage III ovarian carcinoma specimens prepared before and after treatment with cisplatin-based schemes. For cisplatin resistance is a major obstacle in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma, analysis of cisplatin sensitivity in 11 ovarian carcinoma cell line was also performed. The strong nuclear ERα expression was only shown in the single A2780P cell line. Expression of ERα in tissue specimens did not reveal any correlations between histopathological parameters (histologic type and grading). We demonstrated a significant association with ERα expression in specimens from primary laparotomies (PL) and cause–specific survival. In the cases terminated by death of the patient, overall immunoreactivity score of ERα expression at PL was significantly lower than in surviving patients. In addition, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed significantly shorter overall survival time and progression-free time in cases with lower immunoreactivity score of ERα expression at PL. Our findings support the hypothesis that aberrant hormone activity, by way of altered receptor expression, might be an important factor in the malignant transformation of ovarian cancer.