A Preliminary Sequence Analysis of the Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) Carboxy-Terminal Region in Cervical and Ovarian Cancers.

Background & Objective: Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA1) is one of the most important proteins of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that might be mutated in various related cancers. The purpose of this study was to compare EBNA1 mutations in the C-terminal region between patients with cervical and ovarian cancer and healthy individuals. Methods: As test and control groups, 18 EBV-positive paraffin-embedded samples of cervical and ovarian cancer and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers who did not have cancer but were EBV-positive were both used. Utilizing a commercial DNA extraction kit, total DNA was extracted following deparaffinization. The entire C-terminal region of the EBNA1 sequence was amplified using an in-house nested PCR. Phylogenetic analysis and Sanger sequencing were used to analyze the sequences using MEGA 7 software and through NJ method. Results: Sequence analysis revealed that the P-Ala subtype of EBNA1 was present in all samples. In two and one samples, respectively, of cervical cancer patients, the mutations A1887G and G1891A were found. The G1595T mutation was also detected in four sequences taken from ovarian cancer patients. No statistically significant difference could be found between the frequency of mutations in patients and controls (P>0.05). No known amino acid substitutions were found in the USP7-binding region and the DBD/DD domain. Conclusion: The findings showed that P-Ala is the predominant EBV subtype across all samples. Additionally, as the sequence of EBNA1's C-terminal region is so stable, it's possible that it had little impact on the pathogenesis of ovarian and cervical malignancies. It is advised to conduct additional research to verify these findings.

The Effects of Low HER2/neu Expression on the Clinicopathological Characteristics of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer (BC), and its diagnosis is associated with negative expression of hormone receptors and HER2/neu. It consists of 10-20% of all BCs diagnosed. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study focuses on three groups with different pathology: group one showed complete triple-negative HER2 expression with IHC of BC; groups two and three included patients with ER-, PR-, and HER21+, and ER-, PR-, and HER22+ with a negative FISH test. These three groups were compared from the point of prognosis, which consisted of tumor size, patients' age, lymphatic, vascular and perineural invasion, organ metastasis, number of lymph nodes involvement, and the survival rate. RESULTS: A total of 459 TNBC patients were enrolled, of which 268 were placed in the HER20 group, 146 in the HER21+ group, and 45 in the HER22+ group. Distant metastasis and recurrence rate were more common in HER20 patients, but bone metastasis was more common in patients with low HER2 expression. All patients with HER20 had a smaller tumor size at the time of BC diagnosis in comparison to patients in the low HER2 expression group. Patients with HER22+ had less lymphatic and vascular invasion as well as axillary lymph nodes involvement, but larger tumor size at presentation, resulting in a lower rate of recurrence and higher overall survival. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that patients with HER22+ had better outcome in comparison to the patients with HER20 and HER21+. Furthermore, the results showed that many patients with HER22+ expression were not basal-like and had good prognosis amongst TNBC patients.

PAX-5 positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma presenting by dysphagia; a case report.

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a distinct pathologic entity with characteristic morphologic, im¬munophenotypic and cytogenetic features. Obstructive symptoms are rare presentation of ALCL. We report a 16-year-old boy who initially presented with dysphagia. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed severe stenosis with an infiltrative process starting from 24 cm of incisors in lower esophagus Esophageal mucosal biopsy demonstrated lymphomatous involvement that ancillary tests confirmed the diagnosis of ALCL, ALK (kinase-positive), and PAX5 positive. The patient responded to CHOP-based chemotherapy. This case illustrated an unusual presentation of primary Non Hodgkin lymphoma of esophagus.

Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) in Patients With Serous Ovarian Carcinoma and Their Clinical Significance.

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has an essential role in tumor metastasis by inducing the construction of abnormal blood vessels. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is involved in different parts of cancer growth such as tumor initiation, angiogenesis and metastasis. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of VEGF and EGFR in ovarian cancer in southern Iran and to assess the correlation between expression of these two markers and patients' age, tumor stage, and grade. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 50 paraffin blocks of serous ovarian adenocarcinomas and 50 paraffin-embedded specimens from control individuals operated for reasons other than malignancy were immunohistochemically stained using anti-human VEGF and EGFR antibodies. RESULTS: A significant difference in the frequency of positive expression of VEGF was observed in ovarian cancer patients (25.0%) compared with the control group (8.0%) (P = 0.023). A significant difference between EGFR expression in patients (56.8%) and controls (24.0%) was also obtained (P = 0.001). No significant correlation between VEGF and EGFR expression and patients' age, tumor grade and stage were detected (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The significant increase in both VEGF and EGFR in the patients with ovarian cancer compared to healthy individuals could have prognostic value. Identifying these markers may be useful for chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic strategies for patients with serous ovarian cancer.