Differential expression of c-kit and CD43 in histological subtypes of adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary gland

Adenoid cystic carcinoma [ACC] of the salivary gland is characterized by a prolonged but inevitably unfavorable clinical course. Recent studies have suggested that the transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor, c-kit proto-oncogene is involved in ACC pathogenesis. CD43 is a sialogly-coprotein that is typically expressed by hematopoietic cells and their derivative neoplasms, although positivity in epithelial tumors has only been recognized recently. The aim of this study was to evaluate c-kit and CD43 immunoreactivity in ACCs and to compare the extent of their expression in various histologically defined subgroups of ACC, and their probable involvement in ACC pathogenesis. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections from 35 ACCs were immunostained for c-kit and CD43 using monoclonal antibodies. Cytoplasmic and membranous c-kit immunoreactivity was detected in 25/35 ACCs [71.4%] with strong immunostaining observed in solid pattern of ACC. Cytoplasmic and membranous CD43 immunoreactivity was detected in 18/35 [51.4%] of ACCs with strong immunostaining seen in the cribriform pattern. These results suggested that c-kit could be used as a prognostic marker for ACC and specific c-kit tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib, might be used in future therapeutic approaches against subgroups of ACC. CD43 appears to be preferentially expressed in salivary gland ACCs. Its expression decreased with cellular dedifferentiation and there was an inverse relationship between immunoexpression of c-kit and CD43 among ACC of salivary gland

Cell cycle mediators and hypothesis of cancer stem cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Deeper understanding of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma [OSCC] biology through detection of cell cycle mediators monitored by apoptosis-related genes; p53, p21 and Bcl2; and the proliferation indicator; ki67. furthermore, discussion of the hypothesis of cancer stem cell biology in OSCC would be highlighted. Thirty selected cases of moderately differentiated OSCC were archivd and immunohistochemically stained using a panel of antibodies including apoptotic mediators; p53, p21, Bcl2 and proliferation marker; ki67. Immunoexpression was scored using a semiquantitative scale. The clinico-pathological data of the selected cases demonstrated that the mean age was 46.9 +/- 8.2 ranging from 29 to 67 years. Tongue was the most commonly affected site, followed by the palate then the floor of the mouth and the gender-site relation was variable. On the other hand, the degree of staining regarding the percentage of positively reacted cases revealed all the cases were positive with ki67 biomarker and a relatively high percentage of cases were positive to p53 and Bcl2 while 43.3% of cases were negative to p21. A common trait for the studied cell cycle indicators was that the peripheral and para-peripheral cells of the invading nests were the harbor of the immunoreactivity. Assessment of the studied cell cycle regulators may be valuable to judge tumorigenesis of OSCC. Furthermore, deregulation of cell control might aid in the attainment of genetic changes in normal stem cells to be altered to cancer stem cell

Significance of different diagnostic tools for diagnosis of malignant thyroid gland tumours

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination ,computed tomography [CT], neck ultrasound [US], thyroid scintigraphy [SC], and fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] as a different diagnostic tools for diagnosis of cancer thyroid gland in correlation to the final histopathological examination

Patients and Methods: From a series of 60 patients with different thyroid diseases, this study was conducted on 18 patients [15 females and 3 males with age range from 41 to 63 years] diagnosed clinically and proved histopathologically as cancer thyroid gland. All patients were subjected to full history taking, complete clinical examination, computed tomography [CT], neck ultrasound [US], thyroid scintigraphy [SC] and fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC]. All the patients with malignant cytological evaluation underwent total thyroidectomy, with selective lateral neck lymph node dissection, for patients with palpable cervical lymphadenopahty, postoperatively histopathological examination of the operative specimens were done. The accuracy, of clinical examination, computed tomography, neck ultrasound, thyroid scintigraphy, and fine needle aspiration cytology, in diagnosis of cancer thyroid was estimated in correlation to the final histopathological examination

Results: The results showed that, the diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] in diagnosis of cancer thyroid gland was 88.9%, while the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography [CT] was 76% where the diagnostic accuracy of neck ultrasound and clinical examination were 72%, and finally the diagnostic accuracy of scintgraphy was 55.6%

Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology is a safe, cost-effective, sensitive and still the most accurate diagnostic tool in diagnosis of malignant thyroid lesions in clinically suspected cases [cases with regional lymphadenopathy, hoarseness of voice, history of rapid tumour growth, hard and fixed tumour and cases with tumour size >4cm], while CT and sonography, had a nearly similar results in detection of the thyroid malignancy. It is suggested that sonography, is a useful adjunctive test after detection of thyroid lesions on CT

Genetic analysis of some pepper [capsicum annuum L.] genotypes using three DNA-based markers

RAPD-PCR RFLP of the 18S r-RNA gene and chloroplast DNA polymorphisms were employed to estimate the genetic similarity among five different genotypes of pepper [Capsicum ammum L.]. RAPD analysis was performed using ten random primers. The genetic similarity was estimated as band sharing [BS] for each primer between the genotypes [B 1, B2, K9, AC and F[1], of the last two]. The results showed the highest genetic similarity of 90.0% between genotypes B2 and AC. This high numeric similarity suggested a common lineage or a very little genetic variation existing between these two genotypes. The lowest genetic similarity of 74.0% was detected between genotypes B1 and F[1]. Two pairs of primers were used to amplify 18 S-RNA gene and chloroplast DNA. Both the restriction fragment patterns of the 18S r-RNA gene using four restriction enzymes viz. BamH I, EcoR I, Hind III and Hinf I; and the patterns of chloroplast DNA did not reveal any polymorphism. The obtained data demonstrated the usefulness of molecular analyses in the detection of genetic relationships and evaluating the relative effectiveness of the different types of DNA-based markers in revealing variation among Egyptian and foreign pepper genotypes