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Objective: The transcriptional profile of gastric epithelial cell lines cocultured with Helicobacter pylori and the global gene expression of whole gastric mucosa has been described previously. We aimed to overcome limitations of previous studies by determining the effects of H pylori eradication on the transcriptome of purified human gastric epithelium using each patient as their own control. Design: Laser capture microdissection (LCM) was used to extract mRNA from paraffin-embedded antral epithelium from 10 patients with peptic ulcer disease, before and after H pylori eradication. mRNA was reverse transcribed and applied on to Affymetrix cDNA microarray chips customised for formalin-fixed tissue. Differentially expressed genes were identified and a subset validated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: A total of 13 817 transcripts decreased and 9680 increased after H pylori eradication. Applying cut-off criteria (p<0.02, fold-change threshold 2.5) reduced the sample to 98 differentially expressed genes. Genes detected included those previously implicated in H pylori pathophysiology such as interleukin 8, chemokine ligand 3, 13 defensin and somatostatin, as well as novel genes such as GDDR (TFIZ1), chemokine receptors 7 and 8, and gastrokine. Conclusions: LCM of archival specimens has enabled the identification of gastric epithelial genes whose expression is considerably altered after H pylori eradication. This study has confirmed the presence of genes previously implicated in the pathogenesis of H pylori, as well as highlighted novel candidates for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immunoperoxidase stain for estrogen and progesterone receptor content in endometrial adenocarcinoma was correlated with the grade and stage, level of myometrial invasion, age and survival of the patients. Anti-estrogen and anti-progesteone receptor monoclonal antibodies were applied to paraffin-embedded tissue from hysterectomy specimens of 100 patients with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium. In 34 of the cases the receptors were studied in the endometrium adjacent to the tumor and compared to the nuclear receptor content in the carcinoma. There was a high inverse correlation between the estrogen receptor status and the grade of tumor (R = - 0.45, P = 0.006). The estrogen receptor measured in the endometrium near the tumor showed a negative correlation with the grade of the tumor (R = -0.42, P = 0.013). The estrogen, but not the progesterone, receptor content, was positively related to the age of the patient (P < 0.05). No significant correlation of the receptor status with the depth of myometrial invasion was found, despite the obvious interdependence between the grade and myometrial invasion. The progesterone receptor staining index appeared to be a distinct independent prognostic factor in endometrial cancer. The immunohistochemical analysis of the steroid hormone status in endometrial cancer therefore offers an alternative to the quantitative ligand-binding assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]