Expression of p8 protein in breast carcinoma; an inverse relationship with apoptosis.
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BACKGROUND: P8 is a transcription factor and its expression is elevated in response to apoptotic stimuli. However, p8 in human carcinoma tissue has not been investigated in depth. In this study, we investigated p8 expression in breast carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We immunohistochemically investigated p8 expression in 50 cases of breast carcinoma, including 7 non-invasive ductal carcinomas. RESULTS: High expression of p8 was observed in 60% of cases, which was inversely related to tumor size and UICC stage. All non-invasive ductal carcinomas diffusely expressed p8. Furthermore, in tumors of 2 cm or larger, the p8 expression was inversely linked to the apoptotic index. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that p8 plays a role in the early phase of breast carcinoma progression and especially in tumors of larger size, acting as an inhibitor of apoptosis of breast carcinoma cells. (+info)
Evaluation of HER2 gene status in breast cancer by chromogenic in situ hybridization: comparison with immunohistochemistry.
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BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate HER2 gene status in relation to chromosome 17 polysomy with the chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) technique and to compare the results with those of immunohistochemistry (IHC). METHODS AND RESULTS: Sixty six cases of breast carcinoma with an immunohistochemical HER2 protein score of 1+, 2+ 3+ (HercepTest) were investigated. HER2 gene status was evaluated on paraffin sections with the CISH technique using a digoxigenin-labeled DNA probe. In HER2 positive cases with low level amplification (LLA), the copy number of chromosome 17 was determined. Thirty four tumors (51.5%) were negative and 32 (48.5%) were positive for HER2 gene amplification. Of these 10 tumors (15%) showed LLA and 22 tumors (33.5%) high level amplification (HLA). Nine of ten tumors with LLA had an equal or greater than two ratio of HER2 to chromosome 17 signals. The correlation of the results obtained by CISH and IHC showed that the concordance of the two methods was highest in the 3+ group (100%) and lower in 1+ group (89%), whereas a high degree of discordance was found in the 2+ group (69%). CONCLUSIONS: CISH is an accurate and practical technique for the evaluation of both HER2 gene and chromosome 17 status and its application is considered necessary especially for the clarification of the 2+ results of IHC. (+info)
Household electromagnetic fields and breast cancer in elderly women.
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The relationship between the rate of household low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) and incidences of mammary tumors was studied in 1290 clinical case-records of female patients aged 60 and more over a period of 26 years, based on the materials of the Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Israel. The studied material was divided into two groups, each corresponding to a period of 13 years. Group I included patients with mammary tumors under observation from 1978 to 1990, who rarely used EMF-generating appliances. Group II consisted of patients being under observation in the period between 1991 and 2003, characterized by much more extensive use of personal computers (more than 3 hours a day), mobile telephones, television sets, air conditioners and other household electrical appliances generating EMF. 200,527 biopsy and surgery samples were analyzed. Mammary tumors were found in 2824 women (1.4%), of which 1290 cases (45.6%) were observed in elderly women. Most of the observed tumors--1254 (97.2%)--were epithelial neoplasms. Mammary tumors were found in 585 elderly women in Group I and 705 women in Group II. The case records of these patients showed that 114 elderly women (19.5%) in Group I and 360 (51.1%) in Group II were regularly exposed to EMF (mostly from personal computers) for at least 3 hours a day (chi2=57.2, p<0.001). There was a statistically significant influence of EMF on the formation of all observed epithelial mammary tumors in Group II. This influence is most evident for invasive ductal carcinomas, which was the commonest form of cancer in elderly women. (+info)
Clinicopathological significance of Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression in human pancreatic cancer.
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AIM: To assess the clinicopathological significance of the expression of the apoptosis-inhibitory Bcl-2 protein (pBcl-2) and the apoptosis-promoting Bax protein (pBax) in human invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) of the pancreas. METHODS: Fifty-nine surgical specimens of IDCs of the pancreas were stained immunohistochemically to detect pBcl-2 and pBax expressions whose correlation to tumor classification, staging, and prognosis was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: The expression of pBcl-2 and pBax was detected in 21 of 59 (35.6%) and in 29 of 59 (49.2%) patients with IDCs of the pancreas, respectively. Neither pBcl-2 nor pBax alone was correlated to TNM staging and differentiation degree of IDCs of the pancreas according to univariate analysis. By Mantel-Cox test, the median survival time after surgery for pBcl-2(+) and pBcl-2(-) groups were 14.3 and 7.3 mo, respectively (chi(2) = 9.357, P = 0.002) and that for pBax(+) and pBax(-) groups were 12.9 and 10.2 mo, respectively (chi(2) = 0.285, P>0.05). Contingency coefficient between pBcl-2 and pBax expression was 0.298, indicating that there was correlation between them (chi(2) = 5.74, P<0.05). The median survival time after surgery for pBcl-2(+)pBax(+) and pBcl-2(+)pBax(-) groups were 14.3 and 14.1 mo, respectively, and that for pBcl-2(-)pBax(+) and pBcl-2(-)pBax(-) groups were 5.9 and 9.9 mo, respectively. There was a significant difference between pBcl-2(+)pBax(+) and pBcl-2(-)pBax(+) (chi(2) = 5.06, P<0.05), such was the case for pBcl-2(+)pBax(+) and pBcl-2(-)pBax(-) (chi(2) = 7.18, P<0.01). Cox proportional hazards model for multivariate analysis was applied, indicating that pBcl-2, TNM staging, age and pBax were high risk factors of post-surgical survival time. CONCLUSION: Both pBcl-2 and pBax have high expression in IDCs of the pancreas, indicating that co-expression of pBcl-2 and pBax is a good indicator of favorable prognosis in IDCs of the pancreas. (+info)
An overview of menopausal oestrogen-progestin hormone therapy and breast cancer risk.
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Results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial support findings from observational studies that oestrogen-progestin therapy (EPT) use is associated with an increase in breast cancer risk. We conducted a meta-analysis using EPT-specific results from the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer (CGHFBC) pooled analysis and studies published since that report to obtain an overview of EPT use and breast cancer risk. We also assessed risk by histologic subtype of breast cancer, by schedule of the progestin component of EPT, and by recency of use. We estimate that overall, EPT results in a 7.6% increase in breast cancer risk per year of use. The risk was statistically significantly lower in US studies than in European studies - 5.2 vs 7.9%. There was a significantly higher risk for continuous-combined than for sequential EPT use in Scandinavian studies where much higher total doses of progestin were used in continuous-combined than in sequential EPT. We observed no overall difference in risk for lobular vs ductal carcinoma but did observe a slightly higher risk for current vs past EPT use. (+info)
Clinical and immunohistologic typing of salivary duct carcinoma: a report of 50 cases.
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BACKGROUND: Due to the low incidence of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC), only limited data in regard to the biologic behavior of this tumor and its immunohistochemical characteristics are available. The authors analyzed the clinical, molecular, and genetic profile of SDC and identified prognostic factors. METHODS: The follow-up of 50 patients with SDC was obtained and paraffin-embedded tumor samples were examined immunohistochemically. In all samples, the expression of Ki-67, HER-2, and the oncoproteins p16 and p53 was examined immunohistochemically, followed by a mutation analysis of p16 and p53. The survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and prognostic variables were analyzed with the log-rank test. RESULTS: SDC predominantly effected male patients (66%) in their 7th decade of life. SDC mainly occurred in the parotid gland (78%; submandibular gland, 12%; minor salivary glands, 10%). Approximately two-thirds of the patients (33 of 50) presented with a T3/T4 tumor. In 28 patients (56%), cervical lymph node metastasis was present at the time of diagnosis. Local disease recurrence was observed in 48% of patients an average of 17.4 months after initial treatment. Distant disease metastasis developed in 48% of patients an average of 29 months after initial treatment. The average overall survival period was 56.2 months. In the current study, 20.6% of the probes with positive HER-2/neu expression were (+++) positive. p53 was expressed in 83.9% of the tumor samples. In 11.8% of the tumor samples, there was a lack of p16 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Mutations of the p53 gene were more frequent in tumor samples with (++) and (+++) immunoreactivity and mainly affected exons 7 and 8. A mutation of the p16 gene was only found in 1 tumor sample. Expression of HER-2/neu and p53 was statistically linked (P < 0.05) to early local disease recurrence, distant disease metastasis, and survival rates. (+info)
Sonographically guided core biopsy of the breast: comparison of 14-gauge automated gun and 11-gauge directional vacuum-assisted biopsy methods.
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OBJECTIVE: To compare the outcomes of 14-gauge automated biopsy and 11-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsy for the sonographically guided core biopsies of breast lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all sonographically guided core biopsies performed from January 2002 to February 2004. The sonographically guided core biopsies were performed with using a 14-gauge automated gun on 562 breast lesions or with using an 11-gauge vacuum-assisted device on 417 lesions. The histologic findings were compared with the surgical, imaging and follow-up findings. The histologic underestimation rate, the repeat biopsy rate and the false negative rates were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: A repeat biopsy was performed on 49 benign lesions because of the core biopsy results of the high-risk lesions (n = 24), the imaging-histologic discordance (n = 5), and the imaging findings showing disease progression (n = 20). The total underestimation rates, according to the biopsy device, were 55% (12/22) for the 14-gauge automated gun biopsies and 36% (8/22) for the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted device (p = 0.226). The atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) underestimation (i.e., atypical ductal hyperplasia at core biopsy and carcinoma at surgery) was 58% (7/12) for the 14-gauge automated gun biopsies and 20% (1/5) for the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsies. The ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) underestimation rate (i.e., ductal carcinoma in situ upon core biopsy and invasive carcinoma found at surgery) was 50% (5/10) for the 14-gauge automated gun biopsies and 41% (7/17) for the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsies. The repeat biopsy rates were 6% (33/562) for the 14-gauge automated gun biopsies and 3.5% (16/417) for the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsies. Only 5 (0.5%) of the 979 core biopsies were believed to have missed the malignant lesions. The false-negative rate was 3% (4 of 128 cancers) for the 14-gauge automated gun biopsies and 1% (1 of 69 cancers) for the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsies. CONCLUSION: The outcomes of the sonographically guided core biopsies performed with the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted device were better than those outcomes of the biopsies performed with the 14-gauge automated gun in terms of underestimation, rebiopsy and the false negative rate, although these differences were not statistically significant. (+info)
Expression of Her2/neu, steroid receptors (ER and PR), Ki67 and p53 in invasive mammary ductal carcinoma associated with ductal carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) Versus invasive breast cancer alone.
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AIMS: (a) To assess the expression patterns of HER2/neu, steroid receptors (ER and PR), Ki67 and p53 in invasive ductal cancer (IDC) and IDC associated with carcinoma in situ (IDC/DCIS) and (b) to determine if there is a differential expression of these molecular markers between IDC and IDC/DCIS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Paraffin-fixed breast cancer samples, diagnosed with only one histological invasive tumor (IDC (n=130), and IDC/DCIS (n=36) were analyzed by immunohistochemical means. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney and chi2 tests were used to evaluate any statistical differences between different groups. Significance was assumed at p<0.05. RESULTS: A significant increase of the tumor grading was observed between IDC and IDC/DCIS (p<0.05). Her2/neu amplification was demonstrated in 49.6% of IDC compared to 31% of IDC/DCIS (p<0.05). ER expression showed no statistical differences between IDC and IDC/DCIS. The PR expression was demonstrated in 71% of IDC with significantly lower intensity than IDC/DCIS (p<0.05). The Ki67 expression was significantly higher (p<0.05) in IDC cases (64%) versus IDC/DCIS (49.7%). No differences were observed between IDC and IDC/DCIS for p53 expression. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated significantly different expression patterns of Her2/neu, PR and Ki67 in IDC versus IDC/DCIS. Since these molecular markers play important roles in carcinogenesis and tumor progression, IDC/DCIS could be an important subtype of mammary invasive ductal cancer. Differences in expression of the evaluated markers might suggest a higher malignant potential of invasive carcinomas alone. The lower expression of Her2/neu and Ki67 in IDC/DCIS could implicate a less malignant behavior compared to a differentiated IDC. Additionally, these results might suggest that DCIS might be a malignant preform and the interaction with neoplastic tissue could result in an aggressive type of invasive tumor. (+info)