The clinicopathologic parameters and prognostic analysis of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

Objective@#To evaluate the significance of different clinicopathologic features on prognosis of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of vulva.@*Methods@#We retrospectively analyzed the prognostic relevance of different clinicopathological variables of 201 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of vulva treated in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The data including age, initial symptoms, stage, location, tumor size, histological grade, number and size of metastatic lymph nodes, treatment mode, and presence of leukoplakia vulva was used to evaluate the prognosis of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.@*Results@#The median age of onset was 62.0 years old, with 74 patients in stage Ⅰ, 27 in stage Ⅱ, 55 in stage Ⅲ and 9 in stage Ⅳ. The median progression-free survival was 90.0 months. The 5-year progression-free survival rate of the total patients was 55.5%, while the 10-year progression-free survival rate was 48.5%. Univariate analysis showed statistically significant prognostic parameters included clinical stage, number of metastatic lymph nodes, tumor size and treatment mode (all P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that number of metastatic lymph nodes (P<0.05) was an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival.@*Conclusion@#The study illustrates that number of metastatic lymph nodes represents important independent factor for progression-free survival of patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.

Expression and clinical significance of CCNG2 in glioblastoma pa-tients / 中国肿瘤临床

Object:To investigate the expression of cell cyclin G2 (CCNG2) in glioblastoma tissues and to explore the correla-tion of CCNG2 expression with clinicopathological parameters and clinical significance. Methods:Surgical specimens of glioblastoma were collected from a total of 129 cases. The expression of CCNG2 in 109 specimens with complete clinical data was examined via QRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Results:The expression of CCNG2 was significantly decreased in higher stages of glioblastoma compared with those in lower stages. Therefore, CCNG2 is inversely correlated with the stage of the disease. The expression of CCNG2 was associated with tumor stage, sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as survival times (P0.05). Conclusion: CCNG2 expression may be associated with the development, treatment efficacy, and prognosis of glioblastoma. In addition, CCGN2 can be used to evaluate the malignant behavior of glioblastoma.

Histologic Parameters Predicting Survival of Patients with Multiple Non-small Cell Lung Cancers

BACKGROUND: In multiple lung cancers (MLCs), distinction between intrapulmonary metastases and multiple primary tumors is important for staging and prognosis. In this study, we have investigated histopathologic prognostic factors of patients with MLCs. METHODS: Histologic subtype, size differences, lobar location, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), size of the largest tumor, nodal status, number of tumors, morphology of tumor periphery, and immunohistochemical profiles using eight antibodies, were analyzed in 65 patients with MLCs. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the survivals of patients with multiple primary tumors and intrapulmonary metastases, as determined by the Martini-Melamed criteria (p=0.654). Risk grouping by four histologic parameters, LVI, margin morphology, size differences, and lobar locations of paired tumors were prognostic. The patients with one or two of aforementioned parameters had significantly longer survival than those with three or four parameters (p=0.017). In patients with largest mass (< or =5 cm), the risk grouping was found to be an independent prognostic factor (p=0.022). However, differences in immunohistochemical staining were not related to patients' survival. CONCLUSIONS: A risk grouping of MLC patients by using combinations of histologic parameters can be a useful tool in evaluating the survival of patients with MLCs, and may indicate clonal relationship between multiple tumors.

Expression of Interferon Regulatory Factors in Breast Cancer Tissue / 한국유방암학회지

PURPOSE: As neoplasia is the result of unbalanced cell growth and cell death, alternations in the growth control pathway including the immunity within the individual host-tumor relationship has been attributed to the development of breast cancer. Interferon(IFN)-gamma based immunity was recently reported to have an antitumor effect and some new methods to assess the state of interferon-gamma based immunity have been introduced. Interferon regulatory factor(IRF)-1 and interferon regulatory factor(IRF)-2 are transcriptional factors that mediate the effects of Interferon-gamma. It was suggested that the loss of IRF-1 expression is associated with the loss of tumor suppression and the development of IRF-2 expression is associated with oncogenic activation. Thus, we studied the significances of the IRF-1 and IRF-2 expressions as they are related with some clinicopathological parameters to determine the biological behavior of breast cancer including the menopausal status, tumor size, lymph node status, histologic grade, the expression of steroid receptors, the expression of c-erb B2 oncoprotein and the expression of p53 protein. METHODS: Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded specimens from 82 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma were used to evaluate the expression of IRF-1 and IRF-2 by performing immunohistochemical staining with using an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex technique. RESULTS: The expression of IRF-1 was observed in 80.5 % of the study group. However, the expression of IRF-1 did not show any correlation with menopausal status, tumor size, histologic grade, the expression of steroid receptors, the expression of c-erb B2 oncoprotein and the p53 expression. Only lymph node metastasis showed a decreasing tendency of IRF-1 expression, but this was without statistical significance (p=0.075). The expression of IRF-2 was observed in 58.5% of the study group and it did not show any significant relationship with any of the above mentioned clinicopathological parameters. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the expression of IRF-1 and IRF-2 does not affect the previously established parameters for determining such biological behaviors of breast cancer as the tumor size, lymph node metastasis, the histologic grade, the expression of steroid receptors, the expression of c-erb B2 and the expression of p53. In spite of these results, We'd like to recommend that another study be done to evaluate the role of IRF-1 and IRF-2 for the proper selection of the patients who are suitable for immunotherapy.

Clinicopathologic and Biological Parameters Predicting the Prognosis in Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the female genital tract in United States or Europe, but in Korea, its incidence is comparatively low than that of cervical cancer of uterine cervix. Recently the prolonged life expectancy, postmenopausal use of hormone replacement therapy, and the availability of easily applied diagnostic techniques have led to increasing incidence of endometrial cancer. Although during the past several decades, the histopathology, spread patterns, and prognostic factors of endometrial cancers have been better defined, the clinicopathologic and biologic prognostic parameters should be further evaluated for the better treatment results in endometrial cancer.

Correlation of Expression of E-Cadherin, alpha-Catenin, beta-Catenin, and Clinicopathologic Parameters in Colorectal Adenocarcinomas

The E-cadherin, alpha-catenin, and beta-catenin expressions were immunohistochemically investigated in paraffin-embedded materials of 80 cases of colorectal adenocarcinomas. The staining similar to normal colorectal mucosa with preserved strong membranous staining pattern was considered normal or preserved expression. The X2 test was used to analyse the statistical correlation of cadherin/catenin expression with clinicopathologic parameters and the Breslow test for the correlation with survival length. Normal colorectal mucosa showed strong membranous expression of cadherin/catenin complex. The reduced E-cadherin, alpha-catenin, and beta-catenin expression were found in 53/80 (66.3%), 46/80 (57.5%), and 44/80 (55.5%) cases of colorectal cancers examined, respectively. There were significant correlations between E- cadherin and alpha -catenin (p=0.035), and between alpha-catenin and beta-catenin (p=0.013). The reduced E-cadherin expression was associated with histologic dedifferentiation, tumor depth, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage (p<0.05), poor clinical outcome in stage II (p=0.016) and the reduced alpha-catenin expression with lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (p<0.05). Reduced expression of two or more proteins was correlated with lymph node matastasis, histologic dedifferentiation, clinical stage, and survival (p<0.05). The present study demonstrates a significant down-regulation of E-cadherin and alpha-catenin expression in colorectal cancer is associated with tumor invasiveness, histologic dedifferentiation, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage. These results suggest that E-cadherin and alpha-catenin may be useful markers of invasiveness, lymph node metastatic potential, and clinical stage and of value as prognostic markers in the earlier stage. Further studies are needed to confirm the prognostic value of these cadherin/catenin complex.