Association of Epstein Barr virus deoxyribonucleic acid with lung carcinoma.

CONTEXT: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In addition to smoking, a variety of other contributing factors, including viral infection, have been suggested in tumorigenesis. Epstein Barr virus (EBV), which is linked to various malignancies, seems to be a good candidate. AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of EBV with lung carcinomas. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A total number of 90 formalin fixed paraffin embedded lung tissue samples including 48 cases of lung cancers (18 squamous cell carcinomas [SCCs], 18 adenocarcinomas and 12 small cell carcinomas) and 42 non-tumoral samples (control group), were retrieved from the pathology archive. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following deoxyribonucleic acid extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using an EBV-Eph PCR kit. The positive cases were studied immunohistochemically for the expression of EBV-late membrane protein-1 (EBV-LMP-1) in tumoral tissues. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The t-test and Fisher exact test were used and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Five of our cases, including four SCCs and one adenocarcinoma and two control samples showed a positive reaction in PCR. All positive tumoral cases showed diffuse staining with LMP-1 in immunohistochemistry. CONCLUSIONS: We found a significant difference in the presence of the EBV genome in cases of lung SCC compared to other lung lesions (P = 0.02). According to our data, EBV is not at major play in the non-lymphoepithelioma-like cancers of the lung in general, but may have a role in the tumorigenesis of some lung SCCs.

Expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in advanced or metastatic prostate carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the correlation of Bcl-2 and Bax protein expressions with biochemical failure-free survival in patients with advanced or metastatic prostate carcinoma (PCa) undergoing androgen deprivation therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was performed on patients with locally advanced (≥ T3) or metastatic PCa, who were referred to Omid Hospital between years 2003 and 2007. All subjects had undergone androgen deprivation therapy. Samples were analyzed immunohistochemically for Bax and Bcl-2 expression. The H-score was calculated for each sample based on intensity and percentage of stained cells. H-score > 50 was considered positive. RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients (13 metastatic and 24 locally advanced) were eligible for analysis. Thirty-six (97.3%) samples were positive for Bax and 26 (70.3%) for Bcl-2 expression. The median H-score for Bax and Bcl-2 was 200 (range, 40 to 300) and 85 (range, 0 to 220), respectively. While there was no correlation between Bax expression and Gleason score, high Bcl-2 expression (H-score > 85) was significantly associated with Gleason score > 7 (P = .004). The median time to progression in the advanced and metastatic groups was 22 (range, 10 to 37) months and 16 (range, 9 to 26) months, respectively. High Bcl-2 expression (P = .01) and prostate-specific antigen > 20 ng/mL (P = .01) were significant predictors of lower biochemical progression-free survival. CONCLUSION: High Bcl-2 expression was associated with higher Gleason scores and lower biochemical-free survival in patients with advanced PCa undergoing androgen deprivation therapy.