[Thin-layer cytology in endometrial diagnosis]. / La citologia su strato sottile nella diagnostica endometriale.

Our purpose was to test the liquid-based thin layer method on the endometrial cytology. One hundred sixty two consecutive patients before the hysterectomy (55 women because of various causes; 107 asymptomatic postmenopausal women because of prolapsed uterus) had the endometrial cytology (all women) and the biopsy (107 postmenopausal women prolapsed uterus affected). Cytohistologic concordance was 98%: all endometrial neoplasms and atypical hyperplasia (10 cases) and 15 of the 18 (83%) simple hyperplasias were diagnosed by thin layer endometrial cytology. In asymptomatic postmenopausal women cytology gave sufficient material for the diagnosis significantively more often than endometrial biopsy (respectively 82% and 24%; p = 0.000).

HERG potassium channels are more frequently expressed in human endometrial cancer as compared to non-cancerous endometrium.

HERG K(+)channels, besides contributing to regulate cardiac and neuronal excitability, are preferentially expressed in tumour cell lines of different histogenesis, where their role in the development and maintenance of the neoplastic phenotype is under study. We show here that both herg gene and HERG protein are expressed with high frequency in primary human endometrial cancers, as compared to normal and hyperplastic endometrium. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, using specific anti-HERG antibodies developed in our laboratory, were applied to tissue specimens obtained from 18 endometrial cancers and 11 non-cancerous endometrial tissues. herg RNA and HERG protein are expressed in 67% and 82%, respectively, of cancerous, while in only 18% of non-cancerous tissues. In particular, no expression was found in endometrial hyperplasia. Moreover, electrophysiological experiments confirmed the presence of functioning HERG channels on the plasma membrane of tumour cells. On the whole, these data are the first demonstration of the presence of HERG channels in primary human neoplasias, and could candidate HERG as a potential tool capable of marking cancerous versus hyperplastic endometrial growth.

Inhibitory effect of luteinising hormone-releasing hormone analogues on human endometrial cancer in vitro.

We studied the effects of luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist leuproreline (1 microM for 96 h) and LHRH antagonist cetrorelix on the cell growth of primary cultures from nine human endometrial cancers using the sulphorhodamine colorimetric test. Histological examinations and reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction amplification (RT-PCR) for LHRH receptors were also performed. The endometrial cancers examined had a medium to high degree of proliferative activity and a low degree of apoptotic power; furthermore, they expressed the LHRH receptor RNA variably, detectable in 71% of cases. The addition of leuproreline or cetrorelix to cell cultures inhibited growth in a statistically significant way compared to untreated control cells; nevertheless, the percentage of cell growth inhibition obtained was very variable. These data suggest that LHRH analogues can exert differential inhibitory effects on the growth of endometrial cancer, which seems to be independent of the expression of specific LHRH receptors.