Overexpression of Hepatocyte Growth Factor and c-Met as well as Angiogenesis in Endometrial Hyperplasia and Adenocarcinoma / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to evaluate the clinicopathologic significance of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and c-met expression as well as tumor angiogenesis in endometrial hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma. METHOD: By means of immunohistochemical staining, HGF, c-met expression, and angiogenesis were investigated in total of 49 patients (19 endometrial hyperplasia, 30 endometrial adenocarcinoma). HGF and c-met were identified with specific corresponding antibodies. To evaluate angiogenesis, the microvessels were highlighted by staining their endothelial cells immunohistochemically for anti-CD31. Areas close to the deepest myometrial invasion or those with the highest grade of endometrial hyperplasia and the highest angiogenic intensity were selected. Three fields of 400 magnification were selected for each slide, and the mean microvessel count was obtained. RESULTS: Diffuse staining for HGF was demonstrated in normal, endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial adenocarcinoma tissue in 45.5, 52.6 and 63.3 percent, respectively, while that for c-met was demonstrated in 9.1, 36.8 and 60.0 percent, respectively. c-Met overexpression was significantly correlated with high surgical stage as well as poor cellular differentiation. There were significant differences in microvessel count among normal, complex endometrial hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma (median 5, 9 vs. 22) and was between simple and complex endometrial hyperplasia (median 6 vs. 9). The microvessel counts were also significantly correlated with high surgical stage, poor cellular differentiation, lymph node involvement and deep myometrial invasion. CONCLUSION: This results suggested that both c-met overexpression and angiogenesis measured by microvessel count could be significantly important prognostic indicators for the prognosis of endometrial adenocarcinoma.

A Study on Expression Pattern of p53, Rb Gene and Apoptosis in Ovarian Epithelial Borderline Tumors and Invasive Carcinoma / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of tumor suppressor genes, p53 and Rb gene, as well as apoptosis in the carcinogenesis of ovarian epithelial tumors. And the value of these factors as prognostic markers to tell the transformation of borderline tumors to overt carcinomas is also studied. METHOD: Thirty cases of ovarian epithelial benign and borderline tumors and invasive carcinoma were used and the expression of the p53 protein and Rb gene protein were evaluated by immunohistochemical method. The apoptosis was evaluated by TUNNEL method. RESULTS: Positive rate of p53 expression in benign, borderline and invasive tumors were 0, 28, and 94 %, respectively. And also, p53 was highly expressed in chemoresistant cases (2/3), in residual tumor (4/5) and in recurred cancer (2/2). Rb protein was partly lost in the borderline tumors, but the rate of Rb protein loss in both borderline tumors and invasive carcinomas were similar. Apoptosis were more active in overt carcinomas than in borderline and benign tumors. In borderline tumors, p53 protein was expressed as 28.6% positivity, and apoptosis was expressed as 28.6% negativity, which showed indirectly that there was apoptosis induction effect of p53. In ten cases of invasive carcinomas showing highly expressed p53, apoptosis revealed all positive reaction except 2 cases, and Rb protein revealed variously. This result supported the apoptosis imduction effect of p53, but it was difficult to find the association of expression degree between the two tumor supressor genes CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the values of p53 is a discriminating factor of malignancy from benign and the expression of p53 is related with clinical aggressivity such as recurrence and residual cancers. Apoptosis are more active in overt carcinoma than in benign & borderline tumor, and in borderline tumor the expression of p53 is related to apoptosis induction which results to carcinomatous change.

The Value of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen as a Predictor of Nodal Metastasis in Cervical Cancer / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: The clinical value of preoperative serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen(SCC) in relation to clinical stage, tumor volume, disease extent and prognosis has already reported in many papers. The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between preoperative SCC level and pelvic lymph node metastasis. Matrials and METHODS: From March 1995 to December 1998, 157 patients who examined pretreatment SCC levels before undergoing radical hysterectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix were included. The effect of pelvic lymph node status on the SCC level was examined by comparing 125 cases with cancer limited uterus or upper vagina and 32 cases with cancer confined to the uterus (including upper vagina) and pelvic lymph node using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: 90% of patients without pelvic lymph node metastasis showed SCC levels of 2.9ng/ml or below. 60.7% of patients with serum SCC level more than 2.9ng/ml exhibited pelvic lymph node metastasis. The marker values exceeding 2.9ng/ml increased risk of nodal metastasis 5 times compared with serum level 2.9ng/ml or below. Multivariate analysis confirmed that the pelvic lymph node metastasis had a large impact on the marker level than did tumor size or depth of stromal infilteration. CONCLUSION: SCC levels greater than 2.9ng/ml can be considered a high risk zone for nodal metastasis

A Case of Benign Ovarian Steroid Cell Tumor with Huge Ascites and Elevated Serum CA125 / 대한부인종양콜포스코피학회잡지

Steroid cell tumor of ovary, first described as lipid cell tumor, is rare lesions composed entirely of cells resembling typical steroid hormone - secreting cells, that is lutein cells, Leydig cells, and adrenal cortical cells. Steroid cell tumors oftcn secret androgen and manifest themselves with symptoms of virilization. Other presentations include abdominal swelling or pain, menstrual dysfunction, postmenopausal bleeding, or rarely ascites. We experienced a case of right ovarian steroid cell tumor, not otherwise specified(NOS), manifested hirsuitism and amenorrhea in 49 - year - old patient. The tumor was about 5 cm in size, and associated with huge ascites (l3,000 ml), both pleural effusion, and elevated serum CA 125. We present a case of Meigs syndrome associated with benign ovarian steroid cell tumor with a brief review of the literature.

The Efficacy of Tumor Markers SCCA and CA 125 in Patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Uterine Cervix / 대한부인종양콜포스코피학회잡지

To evaluate the efficacy and diagnostic and prognostic significance of two tumor markers (SCCA, CA 125) in patient with squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix, the authors studied 215 patients with squamous cell carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma from September 1993 to November 1996. Both tumor markers were measured coincidently in 215 patients preopera-tively and in 70 cases of benign gynecologic disease for control group. Serum SCCA level of 2.5 ng/ml and CA 125 level of 35.0 U/ml were determined as cut-off levels. The results were as follows: 1. The pretreatment positive rate of SCCA in patient group were 35.8 %(77/215) and 5.7 %(4/70) in control group. 2. The mean values and positive rates of SCCA according to clinical stage were 1.44+/-3.59 ng/ml(8.7 %) for stage 0, 3.81+/-10.22 ng/ml(23 %) for stage I, 8.54+/-15.23 ng/ml(51.3 %) for stage II, 35.54+/-38.34 ng/ml(70.0 %) for stage III, 22.49+/-36.06 ng/ml(75.0 %) for stage IV, 40.33+/-58.66 ng/ml(66.7 %) for recurrent cancer, respectively. The mean SCCA value and positive rate were significantly increased stepwise by clinical stage from stage I to stage III (P0.05). 5. The result of preoperative serum levels of SCCA can be characterized by 35.8 % sensitivity, 94.3 % specificity, 95.1 % positive predictive value, 32.4 % negative predictive value, 49.5 % diagnostic efficiency, and with 21.9 %, 82.8 %, 79.7 %, 25.7 %, 36.8 % respectively for CA 125. Between these two tumor markers, the result of SCCA was more valuable than the other in sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic efficiency. The results indicate that measurement of SCCA and/or CA 125, have little efficacy in the early detection of squamous cell carcinoma considering it's low rate of positivity in preinvasive and early stage of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. However, in patients with advanced stage invasive carcinoma, measurement of serum SCCA is useful in prediction of prognosis and in early detection of recurrence, and concomitant measurements of SCCA and CA 125 may be more useful in determining prognosis, therapeutic response, and early detection of recurrence than measurement of SCCA alone.

A Case of Ovarian Cancer in Patient with Dermatomyositis / 대한부인종양콜포스코피학회잡지

Dermatomyositis is a rare inflammatory condition of the skin and muscles which is believed to be a paraneoplastic syndrome. The annual incidence of dermatomyositis is 0.7~1/100,000 in the general population, and the association of dermatomyositis and internal mali-gnancy has been reported to be 15~40%, in particular with bronchial cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and cancer of gastrointestinal tract. We experienced a case of ovarian cancer accompaning acute onset-dermatomyositis in a fourty eight-year-old premenopausal woman. Here we present the case with brief review of literatures.

A Case of Ovarian Cancer in Patient with Dermatomyositis / 대한부인종양콜포스코피학회잡지

Dermatomyositis is a rare inflammatory condition of the skin and muscles which is believed to be a paraneoplastic syndrome. The annual incidence of dermatomyositis is 0.7~1/100,000 in the general population, and the association of dermatomyositis and internal mali-gnancy has been reported to be 15~40%, in particular with bronchial cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and cancer of gastrointestinal tract. We experienced a case of ovarian cancer accompaning acute onset-dermatomyositis in a fourty eight-year-old premenopausal woman. Here we present the case with brief review of literatures.

A case of Sacrococcygeal Teratoma which was Antental Diagnosed by Ultrasonography / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Sacroccygeal teratoma(SCT) occurs in every 40,000 births and is the most common tumor in newborns. SCT predominantly develops in females and is almost always located in the gonadal or coccygeal region. Althoug the majority of tumors are usually benign, malignant degeneration is common and the prognosis is generally guraded. Therefore the early prenatal diagnosis and treatment are very important. The authors observed a case of SCT which was diagnosed by ultrasonagrapy at 30 weeks' gestation following IVF-ET procedure. Surgical removal of SCT of newborn was performed successfully following cesarean delivery at 38 weeks' gestation. The authors report this case with a brief review of the literatures.