Lack of detection of human papillomavirus DNA in prostate carcinomas in patients from northeastern Brazil.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in western populations, and despite its high mortality, its etiology remains unknown. Inflammatory processes are related to the etiology of various types of tumors, and prostate inflammation, in particular, has been associated with prostate cancer carcinogenesis and progression. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with benign and malignant lesions in the anogenital tract of both females and males. The possible role of HPV in prostate carcinogenesis is a subject of great controversy. In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of HPV infections in prostate carcinomas of patients from northeastern Brazil. This study included 104 tissue samples from primary prostate carcinoma cases. HPV DNA was purified and then amplified using MY09/11 and GP5+/GP6+ degenerate primer sets that detect a wide range of HPV types, and with specific PCR primers sets for E6 and E7 HPV regions to detect HPV 16. None of the samples showed amplification products of HPV DNA for primer sets MY09/11 and GP5+/GP6+, or the specific primer set for the E6 and E7 HPV regions. HPV infection, thus, does not seem to be one of the causes of prostate cancer in the population studied.

A case of conventional treatment failure in visceral leishmaniasis: leukocyte distribution and cytokine expression in splenic compartments.

BACKGROUND: In this paper we study the distribution of leukocyte populations and of cytokine-producing cells in the spleen of a patient with visceral leishmaniasis resistant to clinical treatment. It is the first attempt to compare the distribution of leukocyte populations and cytokine-producing cells in the splenic compartments of a patient with visceral leishmaniasis with those observed in patients without the disease. CASE PRESENTATION: A 25-year-old male, farmer, was hospitalized on several occasions with diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis and received all recommended treatments for the disease with only transient improvement followed by relapse. He was eventually subjected to splenectomy in order to control the effects of hypersplenism and to potentially overcome infection. After surgery and combined chemotherapy, the disease evolved to cure. In comparison with the spleens of the other two patients without visceral leishmaniasis, an increase was observed in the CD4/CD8 ratio and in the number of IL-10- and FoxP3-producing cells, while the number of IL-17-producing cells was lower in the spleen of the patient with visceral leishmaniasis. CONCLUSION: This report confirms previous data on changes in the CD4/CD8 ratio in the spleens of patients with visceral leishmaniasis. Additionally the data presented herein suggests that splenic FoxP3- and IL-17-producing cells are involved in the chronicity of visceral leishmaniasis.

The effect of raloxifene on telomerase expression in breast carcinoma samples from postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the effect of raloxifene on the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) in invasive ductal breast carcinoma of postmenopausal women. STUDY DESIGN: This study included 20 postmenopausal women with invasive, stage II, estrogen receptor-positive ductal carcinoma diagnosed by incisional biopsy, who received 60 mg of raloxifene orally for 28 days prior to definitive surgery. On the 29th day of treatment, definitive surgery was performed and a second tumor sample was taken for analysis. The catalytic subunit of telomerase (hTERT) was evaluated semiquantitatively by immunohistochemistry in the tumor samples obtained prior to and following raloxifene use and the results were analyzed using the McNemar test (p<0.05). RESULTS: The samples of 17 patients (85%) were classified as positive for telomerase expression prior to raloxifene treatment, while only 6 (30%) remained positive following raloxifene treatment (p<0.0026). CONCLUSION: In the present study, raloxifene significantly reduced the expression of hTERT in estrogen receptor-positive breast tumors from postmenopausal women.

Preoperative pelvic lymphoscintigraphy is of limited usefulness for sentinel lymph node detection in cervical cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze concordance between preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and intraoperative lymphatic mapping (ILM) for sentinel lymph node identification using technetium 99m-labeled-dextran 500 (99m-Tc) and patent blue dye in patients with early cervical cancer undergoing radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy, as well as to evaluate sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection. STUDY DESIGN: Forty-seven patients underwent surgical treatment for cervical cancer. For SLN identification, 99m-Tc and blue patent were injected into the cervix on the eve and day of surgery, respectively. Preoperative pelvic lymphoscintigraphy was performed in all patients after 99m-Tc injection. Concordance between preoperative lymphoscintigraphy and ILM was evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 56 patients who underwent preoperative lymphoscintigraphy, 43 (81.13%) had at least one lymph node identified. Bilateral lymph nodes were identified in 21 (37.5%) patients. Sentinel lymph nodes detected on ILM had been previously found on preoperative lymphoscintigraphy in 66.7%, 67.2% and 0% in the right, left and central locations, respectively. In 14 patients (25%), only one lymph node was identified on preoperative lymphoscintigraphy, but more than one sentinel lymph node was detected on intraoperative mapping. In nine (16.1%) patients, lymphoscintigraphy showed only unilateral lymph nodes, but ILM identified bilateral sentinel lymph nodes. CONCLUSION: The combination of patent blue and radionuclide techniques produced excellent results for SLN detection in cervical cancer. Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy does not offer any advantage over ILM for SLN identification.

Genome-wide linkage analysis of an autosomal recessive hypotrichosis identifies a novel P2RY5 mutation.

While there have been significant advances in understanding the genetic etiology of human hair loss over the previous decade, there remain a number of hereditary disorders for which a causative gene has yet to be identified. We studied a large, consanguineous Brazilian family that presented with woolly hair at birth that progressed to severe hypotrichosis by the age of 5, in which 6 of the 14 offspring were affected. After exclusion of known candidate genes, a genome-wide scan was performed to identify the disease locus. Autozygosity mapping revealed a highly significant region of extended homozygosity (lod score of 10.41) that contained a haplotype with a linkage lod score of 3.28. Results of these two methods defined a 9-Mb region on chromosome 13q14.11-q14.2. The interval contains the P2RY5 gene, in which we recently identified pathogenic mutations in several families of Pakistani origin affected with autosomal recessive woolly and sparse hair. After the exclusion of several other candidate genes, we sequenced the P2RY5 gene and identified a homozygous mutation (C278Y) in all affected individuals in this family. Our findings show that mutations in P2RY5 display variable expressivity, underlying both hypotrichosis and woolly hair, and underscore the essential role of P2RY5 in the tissue integrity and maintenance of the hair follicle.

Primary tuberculosis of the breast mimicking carcinoma.

This report describes a well-documented case of primary, nodular-form tuberculosis of the breast that mimicked cancer in a 73-year-old patient. This is a disease that rarely affects the breast.

CD34 as a marker for evaluating angiogenesis in cervical cancer.

CD34 is an antigen present in hematopoietic progenitor cells and endothelial cells. Anti-CD34 antibody is a highly sensitive marker for endothelial cell differentiation and has also been studied as a marker for vascular tumors. However, there are few studies relating it to cervical carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between angiogenesis and the pathoanatomical features of cervical carcinoma using anti-CD34 monoclonal antibody. Sixty-two patients with invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix in stages Ib-IIa were included. A primary monoclonal antibody specific for CD34 (Anti-Human Hemapoietic Progenitor Cell, CD34 Class II, Clone QBEnd 10, Code M7165, DAKO Corporation) was used in a dilution of 1:25. Microvessel density varied from 4.8 to 20 and was higher in undifferentiated carcinomas (p = 0.03; Mann-Whitney test). Higher microvessel density was associated with squamous cell carcinoma, odds ratio (OR) 8.8 (95% CI: 1.0-76.1), while the presence of lymphatic invasion yielded an OR of 2.6 (95% CI: 0.9-7.4). This study suggested that anti-CD34 antibody reactivity in cervical carcinoma is associated with pathoanatomical features indicative of poorer prognosis.