ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Subserous gallbladder carcinoma is difficult to diagnose and treat. There are no tissue markers with prognostic value in this type of tumor. AIM: To study the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin alpha and beta catenin in subserous gallbladder carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred seventeen subjects (103 women and 14 men aged 62 and 69 years as a mean, respectively), were studied. Thirty five gallbladder samples without evidence of cancer were used as controls. Expression of markers was studied with standard immunohistochemical techniques for formalin fixed and paraffin embedded tissue. RESULTS: Ninety seven percent of tumors were adenocarcinoma. A lower or absent expression of E-cadherin, alpha catenin and beta catenin was observed in 26, 33 and 29 per cent, respectively. Actuarial five years survival was 37 per cent. No association between macroscopic features of the tumor and survival was observed. Well differentiated tumors had a 73 per cent survival, whereas less differentiated tumors had a 30 per cent survival. Tumors with a normal expression of the markers had a slightly better survival, although not significant (p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 30 per cent of subserous gallbladder carcinoma have an abnormal expression of E-cadherin, alpha catenin and beta catenin. This abnormal expression has no relationship with prognosis and is probably secondary to the aberrant genic expression of the tumor.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Middle Aged , Cytoskeletal Proteins , Cadherins/metabolism , Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous/metabolism , Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism , Gallbladder Neoplasms/metabolism , Immunohistochemistry , Survival Analysis , Analysis of Variance , Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous/immunology , Gallbladder Neoplasms/immunology , Prognosis , Trans-Activators/metabolismABSTRACT
The localization of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in malignant epithelial ovarian tumours was studied using immunohistochemistry. The tissue included in the study consisted of 38 ovarian cancers : 14 mucinous adenocarcinomas, 23 serous adenocarcinomas and 1 endometroid carcinoma. Peroxidase-antiperoxidase staining technique using monoclonal antibodies to CEA was used on routinely fixed paraffin embedded tissues. CEA positivity was observed in all (100%) mucinous adenocarcinomas whereas only one case of serous cyst a denocarcinoma (4.3%) was weakly positive. The only case endometroid carcinoma encountered showed patchy CEA positivity.