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Endometrial carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer in women worldwide and the most common invasive cancer of the female genital tract in developed countries. It is hoped that through a better understanding of the alterations implicated in endometrial cancer pathogenesis and prognosis, a more complete profile of risk factors and targeted therapy can be developed. Hepsin is a member of the type II transmembrane serine protease family. The importance of hepsin in prostate cancer has been demonstrated by several studies. However, the role of hepsin in endometrial carcinoma is yet to be identified. This study aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of hepsin in endometrial carcinoma, trying to explore its diagnostic and prognostic value. This retrospective study was conducted on 27 endometrial carcinoma and 18 endometrial hyperplasia cases. Immunohistochemical expression of hepsin was evaluated in tissue specimens and results were correlated with the available clinicopathlogic parameters. Positive hepsin expression was seen in all (100%) carcinoma and 17/18 (94.44%) endometrial hyperplasia cases. The H-score of hepsin expression in endometrial carcinoma was significantly higher than that of hyperplasia cases (P=0.012). A significant negative association was found between hepsin expression in endometrial carcinoma cases regarding the grade and the size of tumors (P=0.018 and 0.008, respectively) as well as myometrial invasion (P=0.027). Hepsin could play an important role in the pathogenesis and the early carcinogenesis of endometrial carcinoma and could serve as a prognostic biomarker in this tumor.

Carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is an enzyme whose expression is very limited in normal tissues and it is highly expressed in various cancers. Therefore, inhibition of CAIX is considered as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of solid tumors where hypoxic environment has developed. The aim of the current work is to evaluate the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of CAIX in breast cancer (BC) of Egyptian patients and to investigate the associations of CAIX expression with the standard clinicopathologic features, IHC subtypes of BC, and overall survival. This retrospective study was conducted on 56 archival cases of Egyptian BC patients. Fifty-one of 56 cases (91.1%) showed positive expression of CAIX with cytoplasmic localization, whereas 5 cases (8.9%) showed negative expression. CAIX IHC overexpression is significantly associated with advanced stage and presence of coagulative tumor cell necrosis (P=0.03 and 0.02, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed Ki67 labeling index and CAIX H-score grouping (P=0.03 and 0.02, respectively) as independent prognostic factors affecting BC patients' overall survival. We concluded that CAIX could play a role in the progression of the studied BC cases. CAIX is a good candidate for target therapy.

Leptin has been recognized as an important factor for promoting normal cutaneous wound healing. The aim of this work was to explore leptin expression in keloid and hypertrophic scars (HS) compared with surgical scars and normal skin. The relationship of this expression with clinicopathologic parameters of studied cases was also evaluated. Using immunohistochemical techniques, leptin was analyzed in skin biopsies of 60 nonobese subjects without metabolic syndrome who presented with keloids (20), HS (20), and surgical scars (20). Twenty normal skin samples, from age-matched, sex-matched, and body mass index-matched subjects, were enrolled as a control group. Leptin showed positive immunoreactivity in epidermis in all cases of surgical scars and keloids and in 75% of HS cases. Dermal expression in fibroblasts, inflammatory cells, and endothelial cells was positive in all cases of surgical scars and keloids and in 70% of HS cases. Leptin was overexpressed in keloids and HS compared with normal skin in epidermis (P

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common lymphoma worldwide. Both morphologically and prognostically, it represents a disease of a diverse spectrum. S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) is a member of mammalian F-box proteins, which displays S-phase-promoting function through ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of Skp2 in DLBCL (70 cases) by immunohistochemical staining technique, and its correlation with the clinicopathological features and survival. Five (25%) control cases (reactive follicular hyperplasia) showed high Skp2 expression compared with 52.9% of DLBCL using 10% as a cutoff point with a significant difference (P=0.04). Skp2 was seen staining the large cells in proliferating germinal centers of the control group. High Skp2 expression in DLBCL was associated with several progressive parameters, such as advanced stage (P=0.036), involvement of more than one extranodal site (P=0.05), and high proliferation (P=0.0001). It was also significantly associated with the presence (P=0.007) and extent (P=0.002) of necrosis and inversely correlated with p27 expression (P=0.0001). From this study, Skp2 expression in DLBCL identified subset of cases characterized by aggressive features such as advanced stage, increased number of extranodal sites, high proliferation, and shorter survival time. The association of Skp2 with necrosis may be a reflection of its ability in promoting proliferative tumor capacity.