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Within the group of gonadal sex cord-stromal tumours, microcystic stromal tumour (MCST) is a rare entity. In the literature, most case series and reviews discussed MCST arising in the ovary, only one case-report concerned a testicular MCST. We present a Caucasian man in his late 30s, who presented with an MCST in his right testis. The tumour was encapsulated and composed of vaguely lobulated cellular nodules and cystic spaces with bland spindle cells and hyalinised fibrous stroma. By immunohistochemistry, the tumour cells expressed cluster designation 10, androgen receptor, steroidogenic factor-1 and nuclear beta-catenine, and there was focal nuclear expression of cyclin D1. Molecular diagnostics confirmed the presence of an exon 3 mutation (c.98C>T) in theCTNNB1gene. These features are similar to MSCT described in the ovary. Clinical follow-up (more than 1 year) was uneventful.Although the clinical and radiological presentation was that of a possible malignant testicular lesion, this entity is benign.

Current morphology-based cervical cancer screening is associated with significant false-positive and false-negative results. Tumor suppressor gene hypermethylation is frequently present in cervical cancer. It is unknown whether a cervical scraping reflects the methylation status of the underlying epithelium, and it is therefore unclear whether quantitative hypermethylation specific PCR (QMSP) on cervical scrapings could be used as a future screening method augmenting the current approach. Cervical scrapings and paired fresh frozen cervical tissue samples were obtained from 53 cervical cancer patients and 45 controls. All scrapings were morphologically scored and analyzed with QMSP for the genes APC, DAPK, MGMT, and GSTP1. To adjust for DNA input, hypermethylation ratios were calculated against DNA levels of a reference gene. Hypermethylation ratios of paired fresh frozen tissue samples and scrapings of cervical cancer patients and controls were strongly related (Spearman correlation coefficient, 0.80 for APC, 0.98 for DAPK, and 0.83 for MGMT; P

BACKGROUND: Intrinsic and/or acquired chemoresistance is the major obstacle to overcome in the treatment of patients with ovarian carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of drug resistance associated proteins P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance related protein (Mrp1), canalicular multispecific organic anion trans-porter (c-MOAT or Mrp2) and lung resistance protein (Lrp) in ovarian carcinoma. METHODS: Expression of P-gp, Mrp1, Mrp2 and Lrp was determined by immunohistochemistry of frozen tissue sections of 115 ovarian carcinoma patients and associated to clinico-pathological factors, response to chemotherapy and (progression free) survival. RESULTS: Expression of P-gp was observed in 20 out of 115 (17%), Mrp1 in 51 out of 115 (44%), Mrp2 in 19 out of 115 (16%) and Lrp in 85 out 115 (74%) tumors. Expression of Mrp1 was related to Mrp2 (p < 0.0001) and P-gp (p < 0.001) expression, while Lrp expression was more frequently observed in patients with stage I/II versus stage III/IV tumors (p < 0.01), grade I/II versus III tumors (p < 0.05) and residual tumor < 2 cm versus > 2 cm after laparotomy (p < 0.05). Lower stage (p < 0.001), small residual tumor after first laparotomy (p < 0.001) and lower differentiation grade (p < 0.05) were related to longer (progression free) survival. P-gp, Mrp1, Mrp2, and Lrp expression was neither related to response to first line chemotherapy (59 evaluable patients) nor to (progression free) survival (all patients). On multivariate analysis only stage and residual tumor after first laparotomy were independent prognostic factors for (progression free) survival. CONCLUSIONS: In ovarian carcinoma Mrp1 expression is associated with Mrp2 and P-gp expression, while Lrp expression is associated with favorable clinicopathological characteristics. Assessment of P-gp, Mrp1, Mrp2 or Lrp does not allow prediction of response to chemotherapy or (progression free) survival in ovarian carcinoma.

Purpose: To determine the prognostic value of immunostaining of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), glutathione S-transferase (GST) pi, c-erbB-2, and p53 in patients with advanced-stage ovarian carcinoma. Patients and Methods: Immunostaining of P-gp, GST pi, c-erbB-2, and p53 was performed on 89 primary tumors and 38 residual tumors after chemotherapy (P-gp and GST pi) in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma treated with platinum- and doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy. The results of immunostaining were related to clinicopathologic prognostic factors, response to chemotherapy, and progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival. Results: P-gp and GST pi immunoreactivity were present in 13 (15%) and 79 cases (89%), respectively, and were not associated with any other prognostic factor or PFS or overall survival. C-erbB-2 immunoreactivity was present in 18 cases (20%) and was associated with undifferentiated histiotype (P

Serum AFP and HCG values were correlated with AFP and HCG tissue staining in 27 non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) of the testis and their retroperitoneal lymph node metastases after PVB chemotherapy. We found a poor correlation between tissue and serum AFP positivity and a moderately good correlation between tissue and serum HCG positivity in the testicular tumor. The therapy-related differentiated teratomatous elements did occasionally produce AFP or HCG, but AFP or HCG were not detectable in the patients' sera. These serum markers have no value for the detection of mature residual tumor following chemotherapy.

Intrinsic and/or acquired resistance to chemotherapy is the major obstacle to overcome in the treatment of patients with ovarian carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of drug resistance-associated proteins P-glycoprotein (P-gp), multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1), canalicular multispecific organic anion transporter (c-MOAT/MRP2), and lung resistance protein (LRP) in ovarian carcinoma. Expression of P-gp, MRP1, MRP2, and LRP was determined by immunohistochemistry of frozen tissue sections of 115 ovarian carcinoma patients and related to clinicopathological factors, response to chemotherapy, and progression-free survival. P-gp expression was observed in 20 of 115 (17%), MRP1 in 51 (34%), MRP2 in 19 (16%), and LRP in 85 (74%) tumors. Expression of MRP1 was related to MRP2 (P

Increased glucose metabolism of inflammatory tissues is the main source of false-positive F-18-FDG PET findings in oncology. It has been suggested that radiolabeled nucleosides might be more tumor specific. Methods: To test this hypothesis, we compared the biodistribution of 3'-deoxy-3'-F-18-fluorothymidine (FLT) and F-18-FDG in Wistar rats that bore tumors (C6 rat glioma in the right shoulder) and also had sterile inflammation in the left calf muscle (induced by injection of 0.1 mL of turpentine). Twenty-four hours after turpentine injection, the rats received an intravenous bolus (30 MBq) of either F-18-FLT (n = 5) or F-18-FDG (n = 5). Pretreatment of the animals with thymidine phosphorylase (>1,000 U/kg, intravenously) before injection of F-18-FLT proved to be necessary to reduce the serum levels of endogenous thymidine and achieve satisfactory tumor uptake of radioactivity. Results: Tumor-to-muscle ratios of F-18-FDG at 2 h after injection (13.2 +/- 3.0) were higher than those of F-18-FLT (3.8 +/- 1.3). F-18-FDG showed high physiologic uptake in brain and heart, whereas F-18-FLT was avidly taken up by bone marrow. F-18-FDG accumulated in the inflamed muscle, with 4.8 +/- 1.2 times higher uptake in the affected thigh than in the contralateral healthy thigh, in contrast to F-18-FLT, for which this ratio was not significantly different from unity (1.3 +/- 0.4). Conclusion; In F-18-FDG PET images, both tumor and inflammation were visible, but F-18-FLT PET showed only the tumor. Thus, the hypothesis that F-18-FLT has a higher tumor specificity was confirmed in our animal model.

Item does not contain fulltext BACKGROUND: The prognosis of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in children and adolescents has improved since the introduction of multi-agent chemotherapy. However, outcome data of adults with RMS are scarce. This multicenter retrospective study investigated the effect of age on outcome of RMS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected from three Dutch University Medical Centers between 1977-2009. The effect of age and clinical prognostic factors on relapse-free and disease-specific survival (DSS) were analyzed. RESULTS: Age as a continuous variable predicted poor survival in multivariate analysis. Five-year DSS was highest for non-metastatic embryonal RMS, followed by non-metastatic alveolar RMS and was poor in metastatic disease. Higher age correlated with unfavorable histological subtype (alveolar RMS) and with metastatic disease at presentation in embryonal RMS. In non-metastatic embryonal RMS and in all alveolar RMS, higher age was an adverse prognostic factor of outcome. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that age is a negative predictor of survival in patients with embryonal and alveolar RMS.