unusual case of an osteosarcoma arising in a leiomyoma of the uterus

Leiomyoma is the most common uterine neoplasm. It has several histological variants such as atypical, cellular, myxoid, and epithelioid. Leiomyoma with heterologous elements is a rare variant of leiomyoma, which may contain heterologous elements such as fat, skeletal muscle, and chondroid and osseous tissues. The heterologous sarcomatous differentiation is also rarely seen. We report on a 53-year-old woman who was admitted with abnormal vaginal bleeding and symptoms related to an abdominal mass. She had a huge uterine leiomyoma that contained osteosarcomatous differentiation in several foci. Although malignant progression for leiomyoma is exceedingly rare, when it occurs it may result not only in a leiomyosarcoma but also in a heterologous sarcomatous differention. We have reported histopathological, immunohistochemical, and clinical features of this rare case and reviewed the published studies

Glutathione-S transferase-II expression in non small cell lung cancer in the assessment of response to chemotherapy

To determine the relation of glutathione-S transferase-p [GST-p] expression and cisplatin resistance in non small cell lung cancer [NSCLC]. This study was carried out on 61 patients who were admitted to Chest Diseases Clinic, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey, from 1997 to 1999. Twenty-seven NSCLC patients out of 61 lung cancer cases whose biopsy specimens were evaluated for GST-p, received multiagent chemotherapy including cisplatin. The correlations between GST-p expression and age, sex, performance score, histology, stage of the disease and response to chemotherapy were investigated. There was a significant correlation between GST-p expression and the histological type of the disease [p<0.05]. However, no significant relation was found with age, sex, performance score or stage of the disease [p>0.05]. Glutathione-S transferase-p staining characteristics of the 27 patients receiving chemotherapy were: less than 10% in 3 patients [11.1%], 10-50% in 9 patients [33.3%] and more than 50% in 15 patients [55.5%]. One of the 3 patients [33.3%] with GST-p staining percentage of less than 10%, 3 of 9 patients [33.3%] with staining percentage of 10-50% and 4 out of 15 patients [26.6%] with staining percentage of more than 50% had an objective response to chemotherapy. No significant correlation was found between GST-p expression and response to chemotherapy in the 3 groups [p>0.05]. Glutathione-S transferase-p expression might not always predict the response to combination chemotherapy regimens containing cisplatin. Several other mechanisms may play a role in cisplatin-resistance