Int J Clin Exp Patho
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2012
Ribonucleotide reductase M2 does not predict survival in patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Ribonucleotide reductase M2 (RRM2) was associated with pancreatic tumor progression and resistance to gemcitabine. This study aimed to determine if RRM2 protein expression was prognostic in patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma and predictive of adjuvant gemcitabine benefit. ⋯ RRM2 protein expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma is neither prognostic nor predictive of adjuvant gemcitabine benefit in patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2012
ReviewRole of epigenetic alterations in the pathogenesis of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Barrett's esophagus, a pre-malignant condition that can lead to esophageal adenocarcinoma, is characterized by histological changes in the normal squamous epithelium of the esophagus. Numerous molecular changes occur during the multistage conversion of Barrett's metaplasia to dysplasia and frank adenocarcinoma. Epigenetic changes, especially changes in DNA methylation are widespread during this process. ⋯ We also show that genome wide analysis of methylation surprisingly reveals that global hypomethylation and not hypermethylation is the dominant change during Barrett's metaplasia. The transformation of Barrett's esophagus to frank adenocarcinoma is in turn characterized by much smaller wave of selective promoter hypermethylation. These studies reveal many novel, potential targets for new therapies and illustrate the utility of incorporating these epigenetic changes as biomarkers during endoscopic surveillance interval for patients with Barrett's esophagus.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2012
Down-regulation of GAP-43 by inhibition of caspases-3 in a rat model of neuropathic pain.
Neuropathic pain remains a prevalent and persistent clinical problem due to incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. ⋯ Caspase-3 mediated neuron apoptosis is probably responsible for the neuropathic pain in CCI rats. Inhibition of caspase-3 may serve as a treatment of neuropathic pain.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2012
Comparative StudyComparing of IRS and Her2 as immunohistochemical scoring schemes in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are known for an overexpression of somatostatin receptors (SSTR). In light of very few and partially contradictory publications, the present study aims to achieve a definite immunohistochemical (IHC) quantification and assessment of the distribution of all five SSTR-subtypes on NET and to evaluate an implementable scoring system, comparing the immunoreactive score of Remmele and Stegner (IRS) to the Her2-score. In 21 patients 40 different tumor tissues were IHC analysed using polyclonal antibodies for SSTR1 and 3-5 and the monoclonal antibody UMB-1 for SSTR2A. SSTR expression was quantitatively evaluated according to HER2-score and IRS, correlated among each other and to the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in tumor lesions as measured by PET/CT using 68Ga-DOTA-NOC. ⋯ The results of the analyses revealed heterogeneous expression patterns. SSTR2A and 3 were highly expressed, demonstrating the importance of SSTR for diagnostics and therapy. Relatively high frequency of SSTR3 and 4 on NET give reasons to try pansomatostatin analogues for therapy rather than concentrating only on the SSTR2A. Statistically, none of the immunohistochemical scores was superior. However, due the heterogeneity of the cytoplasmic staining justice we propose the IRS as a uniform scoring scheme for IHC NET diagnostic.
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Int J Clin Exp Patho · Jan 2012
Comparative StudyTumor cell nuclear diameter and CD30 expression as potential prognostic parameter in patients with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type.
Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (nasal ENKTL) is a distinct clinicopathologic entity of lymphoid tumors with variable size and differentiation of tumor cells. Nasal ENKTL is related to infection of the tumor cells with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and virtually all cases contain monoclonal episomal EBV DNA and detectable EBV encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBERs). Several clinical factors are known for their relation to the prognosis, but histopathologic prognostic factors of nasal ENKTL have not yet been well established. ⋯ Patients with larger mean NDTC (≥ 7.35 μm) had a poorer event-free survival (EFS) than those with smaller mean NDTC (<7.35 μm; p = 0.024) and had a tendency of inferior overall survival (OS) (p = 0.08). Patients with CD30 expression had a inferior EFS (p = 0.018) and OS (p = 0.011) compared those without CD30 expression. The NDTC of EBV infected tumor cell and CD30 expression had relation to survival in the current exploratory analysis.