Immunohistochemical study of the prevalence of EBV- antigen in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

A broad range of neoplasms can arise in the nasopharynx derived from epithelial, lymphoid, mesechymal, neurogenic, and rarely from embryonic remnant. These tumours have a long latent period with few primary symptoms which often lead to delay in there diagnosis. This retrospective study was designed for highlighting the challenges involved with the recognition of the nature of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, their classification, and correlation of the available clinical data with histopathological and immunohistochemical diagnosis and the prevalence of EBV infection among the studied cases of NPC. The present work was carried out on 23 cases referred as biopsy from nasopharyngeal tumour to Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine Tanta university, Tanta Cancer center, the private laboratory during the last five years started from January 2002.and ended on December 2006 .Tissue specimens were all obtained by bunch and excision biopsy. Available clinical data were tabulated and analysed. All cases were subjected to routine histopathological examination and immunohistochemical study for EBV-LMP1. In the present study UNPC was more common [69.6%] than keratinizing NPC [30,4%]. The former occurred in younger patient [9/16], meanwhile the latter occurred in older individuals [5/7], NPC was common in male [60.9%] and bimodal distributions of cases were detected. The diagnosis of UNPC in most cases could be established through the presence of atypical epithelial cells and the lack of cytological atypia among reactive lymphocytes, as well as by immunohistochemical examination for EBV-LMP1. In the present study IHC was employed on paraffin embedded specimens of all the studied cases of NPC using of EBV-LMP1 reactivity. Accordingly, it was found that positive strong cytoplasmic and /or membranous immunorectivity for EBV-LMP1 was evident in [69.6%] of the total cases of NPC, while [23.4%] were negative. Positive cases included [57.2%] of keratinizing NPC, and [75%] of UNPC, meanwhile negative immunostaining for EBV-LMP1 was seen in the remaining [42.8%] of keratinizing NPC and the remaining [25%] of UNPC. The overall association of EBV-LMP1 immunoreactivity with NPC was found to be statistically significant with higher percentage of positive association among UNPC cases. Correlation of EBV-LMP1 immunoreactivity with age and .gender among cases of NPC was found to be statistically insignificant

Expression of CD44 protein and cytokeratin 20 in non Bilharzial and Bilharzial bladder carcinoma

Carcinoma of the urinary bladder is one of the most common cancers world wide. It is the fourth most common malignancy in males and the ninth most common malignancy in females. CD44 is a family of cell-surface transmembrane glycoproteins that serve as receptors for hyaluronate and bind extracellular matrix components. CD44 plays a definite role in cell- cell and cell- matrix interactions. Thus, its down-regulation would facilitate loss of cell - cell cohesion, detachment from the basement membrane, and subsequent infiltration of the underlying tissues. It is suggested that the expression of CD44 is associated with differentiation and prognosis in bladder carcinoma. Cytokeratins [CKs] are a family of proteins that form the intermediate filament cytoskeleton of epithelial cells. Cytokeratin 20 [CK20] has been proposed as a marker of neoplastic change as well as a predictor for progression of urothelial carcinoma. The aim of the work is to study the immunohistochemical expression of CD44 and CK20 in carcinoma of the urinary bladder and correlate the immunohistochemical expression of CD44 and CK20 with different prognostic parameters including the grade and stage of the studied tumors. The studied 71 specimen were subjected to the ordinary H and E staining and immunohistochemical staining for CD44 and CK20. Correlative studies between CD44 and CK20 expression with different prognostic parameters including the grade and stage of the studied tumors revealed statistically significant correlation between CD44 and CK20 expression and the tumor grade and stage of urothelial carcinoma cases. No relation was found between the expression of CD44 and CK20 and the presence of Bilharziasis. Loss or reduction of CD44 immunoreactivity and increasing CK20 positiviiy were significantly associated with increasing tumor grade and stage in the studied cases of urothelial carcinoma and to each other, so, they have combined utility in predicting the behaviour and prognosis of urothelial carcinoma, with no significant difference in their expression between non Bilharzial and Bilharzial bladder carcinomas