Role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of primary and recurrent dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans.

BACKGROUND: Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, low- to intermediate-grade sarcoma, which represents a diagnostic imaging challenge. This study aimed to analyze the clinical and ultrasound features of primary and recurrent DFSP to improve the diagnosis. METHODS: Clinical, imaging, and pathological data from a total of 58 patients (23 patients with primary DFSP and 35 patients with recurrent DFSP) were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in age, sex, tumor size, or echogenicity between the two groups. Most of the primary DFSP lesions involved the overlying dermis and hypodermis, while most of the recurrent DFSP lesions were fixated to more deeply seated structures at the original surgical incision. Red nodules on the skin were found more frequently in the primary group. There were statistically significant differences in the type of lesion and ultrasound tumor morphology (p < 0.050). The lesions in the primary group showed more tentacle-like projections or a "claw" sign, while the lesions in the recurrent group were more commonly oval, lobulated, and irregularly shaped. Hypervascularity was common in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: For primary DFSP, a slow-growing, red nodule on the skin involving the overlying dermis and hypodermis, more frequently a hypoechoic mass with tentacle-like projections or a "claw" sign, was observed. For recurrent DFSP, palpable subcutaneous nodules or subcutaneous masses at the original surgical incision and oval, lobulated, and irregularly shaped lesions were more commonly observed. This may be useful for improving diagnostic accuracy.

Correlation between epidermal growth factor receptor and tumor stem cell markers CD44/CD24 and their relationship with prognosis in breast invasive ductal carcinoma.

We studied the correlation between epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the tumor stem cell markers CD44/CD24 in breast invasive ductal carcinoma (BIDC) and their relationship with prognosis. We analyzed the clinical data of 139 BIDC cases retrospectively, detecting EGFR, CD44, and CD24 expressions in tumor tissue using immunohistochemistry. The proportion of EGFR-, CD44-, and CD24-positive cases was 59.0, 62.3, and 30.9 %, respectively. The proportion of CD44-positive [76.9 % (p < 0.05)] and EGFR-positive [67.2 % (p = 0.108)] cases in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group was higher than that of the non-TNBC group. In the non-TNBC group, 36.5 % was CD24-positive, higher than that in the TNBC group but not statistically significant. The proportion of CD44-positive cases was significantly higher in the EGFR-positive group than in the EGFR-negative group (p = 0.017). EGFR-positive cases were significantly correlated with premenopausal status (p = 0.036), distant metastasis (p = 0.018), and estrogen receptor-negative status (p = 0.020). CD44-positive status was significantly correlated with human epidermal growth receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (p = 0.023), estrogen receptor-negative (p = 0.021), and progesterone receptor-negative status (p = 0.004). CD24-positive status was significantly correlated with HER2-positive status (p = 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that TNBC patients had shorter survival. EGFR-positive and CD44-positive status were both correlated with shorter survival in the lymph node- and HR-negative groups, while CD24 positive was significantly correlated with poor survival in lymph node-negative and HR-positive patients. EGFR and CD44 expressions have a significantly positive correlation (p = 0.017) in BIDC. Patients both EGFR and CD44 positive had the worst outcome.

Overexpression of GOLPH3 is associated with poor prognosis and clinical progression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Golgi phosphoprotein 3 (GOLPH3) has been identified as an oncoprotein in various human cancers; however, its role in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is unknown. We examined GOLPH3 expression levels and relationship with survival in patients with PDAC to establish the significance of GOLPH3 in the development and progression of PDAC. METHODS: Real-time qPCR and Western blotting were performed to analyze the expression levels of GOLPH3 mRNA and protein in paired PDAC tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze the expression levels of GOLPH3 protein in paraffin-embedded tissues from 109 cases of PDAC. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify correlations between the immunohistochemical data for GOLPH3 expression and the clinicopathologic characteristics in PDAC. RESULTS: Expression levels of GOLPH3 mRNA and protein were upregulated in PDAC lesions compared to paired adjacent noncancerous tissues. Expression of GOLPH3 was significantly correlated with clinical stage (P = 0.006), T classification (P = 0.021), N classification (P = 0.049) and liver metastasis (P = 0.035). Patients with high GOLPH3 expression had shorter overall survival times compared to those with low GOLPH3 expression (P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis revealed that GOLPH3 overexpression was an independent prognostic factor in PDAC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that GOLPH3 expression status may be a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in PCAC.

miR-124 inhibits cell proliferation in gastric cancer through down-regulation of SPHK1.

SPHK1 expression is elevated in gastric cancer and is associated with shorter survival times for patients. However, the molecular mechanism of SPHK1 up-regulation in gastric cancer remains unclear. In the present study, we report that miR-124 down-regulated SPHK1 expression by directly targeting its 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) and that miR-124 expression was inversely correlated with SPHK1 expression in gastric cancer samples. Furthermore, we demonstrated that, similar to the effect of silencing SPHK1, up-regulation of miR-124 markedly inhibited proliferation and tumourigenicity of gastric cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. This was found to be mechanistically associated with induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p21$^{{\rm Cip1}}$ and p27$^{{\rm Kip1}}$, enhancement of the transcriptional activity of FOXO1 and suppression of AKT activity. Moreover, we showed that the re-introduction of SPHK1 (without the 3'-UTR), but not with the 3'-UTR, could abrogate the miR-124-mediated induction of p21$^{{\rm Cip1}}$ and p27$^{{\rm Kip1}}$, as well as rescue the miR-124-induced proliferation inhibition. Together, these results suggest that miR-124 has an important role in the suppression of gastric cancer and presents a novel mechanism of miRNA-mediated SPHK1 expression in cancer cells.