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Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a stress-response protein, is highly induced in various carcinomas. It is implicated in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. High HO-1 expression is associated with better prognosis of patients with colorectal and gastric cancers. Induction or inhibition of HO-1 can mediate chemo-sensitivity, therefore it might be a therapeutic target to develop anticancer agents. To define the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of HO-1 expression in small-intestinal adenocarcinomas (SIACs), immunohistochemical microarray analysis of HO-1 expression was performed for 191 surgically resected SIAC cases and results were compared with various clinicopathologic variables, including survival. HO-1 was highly expressed in 127 (66.5%) cases. Patients with high HO-1 expression were associated with younger age (P = 0.048), lower pT category (P = 0.017), and less pancreatic invasion (P = 0.047). Patients with high HO-1 expression tended to have longer overall survival (median, 38.5 months) than those with low HO-1 expression (24.5 months), although the difference in overall survival was not statistically significant (P = 0.677). In summary, high HO-1 expression is frequently observed in SIACs. It is related to favorable clinicopathologic parameters, including younger age, lower T category, and less pancreatic invasion. Therefore, HO-1 may serve as a prognostic marker and a new target to modulate chemotherapeutic effects in patients with SIACs.

Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) cases can be classified into the prognosis-related subtypes of disseminated peritoneal adenomucinosis (DPAM) and peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis (PMCA). To investigate the mechanisms of mucinous invasion and the differing prognoses of these two subtypes, we examined the expression levels of proteins involved in cellular adhesion and invasion, including E-cadherin, vimentin, β-catenin, and S100A4, in single isolated tumor cells (SICs) and cohesive cellular strips within mucin pools isolated from DPAM (n = 31) and PMCA (n = 21) patients. In both PMCA and DPAM cases, SICs showed a complete loss of E-cadherin expression, whereas cells in cohesive cellular clusters retained E-cadherin expression. The frequency of high numbers of SICs (>8) in PMCA cases was significantly greater than that in DPAM cases (86% and 26%, respectively) and was correlated with poor progression-free survival (P = 0.019) in a univariate analysis. In both PMP subtypes, strong vimentin expression was identified in most of the SICs but not the cohesive cellular strips. The relatively slow progression of DPAM may be attributable to the smaller number of SICs that lack E-cadherin expression and have increased vimentin expression, whereas the rapid progression of PMCA may be due to larger numbers of these SICs.

Background Ezrin is a cytoskeleton linker protein that is actively involved in regulating the growth and metastatic capacity of cancer cells. The purpose of the study was to assess the expression pattern of ezrin in normal skin and various epithelial neoplasms. Methods We used immunohistochemical techniques to examine the expression of ezrin in paraffin-embedded tissues of squamous cell carcinoma (n = 23), basal cell carcinoma (n = 10), Bowen’s disease (n = 10), actinic keratosis (n = 10), keratoacanthoma (n = 9), seborrheic keratosis (n = 5), psoriasis vulgaris (n = 5), and normal control skin (n = 5). Results In Bowen’s disease, actinic keratosis, keratoacanthoma, and seborrheic keratosis, ezrin was dominantly expressed in the cell membrane except for the cornified layer. In squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) specimens, the percentage of ezrin-positive cells was increased compared with Bowen’s disease, actinic keratosis, keratoacanthoma, and seborrheic keratosis. Especially in SCC samples, ezrin expression was markedly expressed in the cytoplasm. In addition, there was a correlation between the pattern of ezrin expression and tumor differentiation in SCC. Basal cell carcinoma showed intense and diffuse staining especially in the solid growth pattern. Conclusions Our findings suggest that dysregulation of ezrin may be important in the development of cutaneous epithelial malignancies and tumor grade. We suggest that the cytoplasmic localization of ezrin may be useful in the diagnosis of skin SCC.

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland is very rare and its histogenesis is poorly defined so far. Although there have been some cases of squamous cell carcinoma with variant types of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), the present case is the first primary squamous cell carcinoma with classic PTC to be reported. A 43-year-old woman presented with a 20 year history of neck mass. Neck ultrasound indicated a 6 × 4 × 3 cm large mass. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy. Histopathology indicated a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma and squamous metaplasia in conjunction with classic PTC. On immunohistochemistry cytokeratin 7 was positive in papillary carcinoma and squamous metaplasia, thyroglobulin was positive only in papillary carcinoma, and p63 was positive in squamous metaplasia and squamous cell carcinoma. Postoperatively, the patient received 59.4 Gy adjuvant radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and radioactive iodine therapy. At 8 months after surgery the patient remained disease free.

Aims: To determine the utility of p57 kip2 in the diagnosis of hydatidiform mole. p57 kip2 protein is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKI) and is strongly paternally imprinted, being expressed from the maternal allele. It has been hypothesized that complete mole (CHM) with only the paternal genome would display reduced or nearly absent expression of p57 kip2 compared to partial mole (PHM) having both paternal and maternal genomes. Methods and results: The immunobistochemical expression of p57 kip2 protein was investigated using paraffin-embedded tissue sections in histologically unequivocal cases of CHM (n = 51), PHM (n = 7), invasive mole (n = 1), and hydropic miscarriage (n = 2), as well as in histologically undetermined cases (n = 9). In the histologically unequivocal complete and invasive moles, expression of p57 kip2 was absent except for one case in which villous cytotrophoblast covering the villous stroma was positive (51/52) as well as villous stromal cells (51/52). In contrast, it was strongly and continuously expressed in both villous cytotrophoblast and stromal cells in all cases of PHM and hydropic miscarriage. Among the nine histologically undetermined cases, five cases showing p57 kip2 immunopositivity and hyperploid DNA were classified as PHMs, two cases showing p57 kip2 immunonegativity and hyperploidy as CHMs, and two cases with p57 kip2 immunopositivity and diploid DNA as hydropic miscarriage and diploid PHM, respectively, upon review of the histopathological findings. Intermediate trophoblast forming trophoblastic columns or anchoring villi and extravillous trophoblast at the implantation site showed variable expression of p57 kip2 in all gestational conditions. Maternal decidua showed diffuse and strong p57 kip2 expression, whereas syncytiotrophoblast was completely negative in all cases regardless of the diagnosis. Conclusions: In summary, p57 kip2 immunostaining results correlated well with morphological features of molar pregnancies and were helpful in determining histologically equivocal cases.