Intratumoral CRH modulates immuno-escape of ovarian cancer cells through FasL regulation.

Although corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and Fas ligand (FasL) have been documented in ovarian carcinoma, a clear association with tumour progression and immuno-escape has not been established. FasL plays an important role in promoting tumour cells' ability to counterattack immune cells. Here, we examined immunohistochemically the expression of CRH, CRHR1, CRHR2 and FasL in 47 human ovarian cancer cases. The ovarian cancer cell lines OvCa3 and A2780 were further used to test the hypothesis that CRH might contribute to the immune privilege of ovarian tumours, by modulating FasL expression on the cancer cells. We found that CRH, CRHR1, CRHR2 and FasL were expressed in 68.1, 70.2, 63.8 and 63.8% of the cases respectively. Positivity for CRH or FasL expression was associated with higher tumour stage. Finally, CRH increased the expression of FasL in OvCa3 and A2780 cells through CRHR1 thereby potentiated their ability to induce apoptosis of activated peripheral blood lymphocytes. Corticotropin-releasing hormone produced by human ovarian cancer might favour survival and progression of the tumour by promoting its immune privilege. These findings support the hypothesis that CRHR1 antagonists could potentially be used against ovarian cancer.

Successful myomectomy during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Although leiomyomas usually remain asymptomatic during pregnancy, they may complicate its course. In this study, pregnancy outcome observed when myomectomy was performed during pregnancy in carefully selected patients is presented. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of 13 women who underwent myomectomy during pregnancy between January 1994 and December 2001. Surgical management of leiomyoma was required on the basis of characteristics of the myoma and symptoms. RESULTS: Among a total of 15,579 women registered at the authors' prenatal clinic, 622 consecutive pregnant women had sonographically identified myoma; hence, the incidence was 3.9% (95% CI 3.6-4.3%). The vast majority of these women was asymptomatic during pregnancy or managed conservatively (97.4%; 95% CI 96-98%). Among 622 pregnant patients with leiomyoma, 13 presented with complications during pregnancy that required surgical intervention (2.1%; 95% CI 0.9-3.2%), due to increase in lesion size causing discomfort and/or severe abdominal pain not responding to conservative management with analgesic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug medication. In 92% of these cases, successful myomectomy was performed and the pregnancy progressed to term without further complications. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide reassurance for pregnant women with uterine myoma. Surgical management of uterine leiomyoma during pregnancy may be successfully performed in carefully selected patients.

Early pregnancy termination with vaginal misoprostol before and after 42 days gestation.

BACKGROUND: Misoprostol is a prostaglandin E(1) analogue that has been used for medical abortion. We conducted this prospective study to compare the efficacy of vaginal misoprostol for abortion in women at a gestational age of <42 days and in women at a gestational age of 42-56 days. METHODS: A total of 160 women seeking medical termination of a pregnancy of <56 days were enrolled in the study. Medical termination was performed using 800 micro g of vaginal misoprostol, repeated every 24 h for a maximum of three doses. RESULTS: The overall complete abortion rate was 91.3%. In group A (gestation <42 days) complete abortion occurred in 96.3% of women, whereas in group B (gestation = 42-56 days) complete abortion occurred in 86.3% of women (P < 0.025). The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to side-effects (incidence of pain, bleeding, nausea, diarrhoea, fever and headache). Women who had aborted successfully were significantly more satisfied with the method compared with women who did not (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The vaginal misoprostol-alone regimen is highly effective for women seeking medical abortion of pregnancies of