Expression of cyclin D1 in endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma.

This study investigates the role of cyclin D1 in 30 uterine surgical resection and endometrial biopsy specimens from 30 patients with simple hyperplasia (10 cases), complex hyperplasia (6 cases) and endometrial carcinoma (14 cases). Cyclin D1 immunohistochemistry was performed on 2-4 mm thick paraffin sections using labelled streptavidin biotin kit. Cyclin D1 expression was present in 2/6 (33%) cases of complex hyperplasia, 7/14 (50%) cases of endometrial carcinoma and none in simple hyperplasia. Difference in cyclin D1 immunopositivity in simple hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma was statistically significant (p = 0.018) but the difference in cyclin D1 immunopositivity between complex hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma was not statistically significant. Our study suggests that cyclin D1 over-expression may be an early event in endometrial carcinogensis. Since there was no difference in extent and intensity of cyclin D1 expression between complex hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma, it appears that deregulation is maximal in complex hyperplasia.

Expression of E-Cadherin and alpha-, beta-, gamma-Catenin Proteins in Endometrial Carcinoma

Loss of the cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin is suggested to promote tumor invasion and distant metastasis in tumor development. Recently, it has been proposed that E-cadherin function requires its linkage to the cytoskeleton through catenins. We evaluated the expression of E-cadherin and alpha-, beta-, gamma-catenins in tissues of human endometrial carcinoma, analyzed the patterns of cell adhesion molecules' expression in endometrial carcinoma and investigated the relationship between the statuses of cell adhesion molecules and various clinicopathological factors. This study investigated the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin and alpha-, beta-, gamma-catenins in 33 paraffin embedded formalin fixed tissues of endometrial carcinomas. Aberrant E-cadherin, and alpha-, beta-, gamma-catenin expression was observed in 33.3 (11 of 33), 27.3 (9 of 33), 18.2 (6 of 33), and 51.5 (17 of 33) % of the specimens, respectively. Statistically significant correlation was found between aberrant expression of E-cadherin and lymph node metastasis and cell types other than endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Aberrant pattern of gamma-catenin expression was also correlated with deep myometrial invasion. However, alpha-, and beta-catenin expression was not correlated with any clinicopathological parameters. Using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank comparison test, abnormal expression of E-cadherin was correlated closely with poor survival (p < 0.05), but cases with loss of both E-cadherin and catenin expression predicted even poorer survival than cases with only one or no aberrant expression in E-cadherin and catenins. We revealed aberrant expression of these cell adhesion molecules among patients with endometrial carcinoma. Aberrant expression of E-cadherin was correlated with lymph node metastasis and cell types other than endometrioid adenocarcinoma, while aberrant expression of gamma-catenin was related with deep myometrial invasion. The expression of E-cadherin might be a possible prognostic factor for endometrial cancer while the expression of catenins may help predict patient's survival.

Endometrial stromal sarcoma with sex-cord like features.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas are rare, low grade, malignant uterine tumours. Sometimes, they manifest an epithelial like or sex-cord like differentiation. This is a report of one such case in a 35 year old female.

Aparente distribución heterogénea de receptores de progesterona en ciertos casos de carcinoma endometrial / Apparent heterogeneous distribution of progesterone receptors in certain cases of endometrial carcinoma

Se analizó el contenido de receptores de progesterona en el citosol de dos o tres muestras obtenidas del mismo tumor, en 19 casos de cáncer endometrial. La concentración de receptores en una muestra de cada tumor fue obtenida por análisis de Scatchard; en la otra o las otras dos muestras de cada tumor, la concentración de receptores fue calculada a parir de un solo punto. Todos los tumores tuvieron receptores al menos en una de las dos o tres muestras. Diez tumores mostraron cierta consistencia en el contenido de receptores las dos o tres muestras de los nueve tumores restantes, con un rango que va desde cero hasta varios cientos de femtomoles/mg de proteína. En siete casos, en que se pudo seguir la evolución de las pacientes hasta por un período de 66 meses, encontramos que la magnitud de respuesta a progestágenos fue independiente del contenido de receptores de progesterona. Estos resultados hacen pensar que el análisis de un sólo sitio de tumor endometrial revelaría valores que pudieran no ser representativos del tumor total, lo cual explicaría, al menos parcialmente, la respuesta incierta que frecuentemente se obtiene en la terapia progestacional