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This paper reports the case of a 45-year-old female with histologically documented, multiple cutaneous metastases in the palmar and plantar surface of the fingers and toes originating from a breast adenocarcinoma after treatment with a docetaxel and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin regimen. The rarity of such a metastatic pattern from breast cancer and the eventual association with the chemotherapy administered are thoroughly discussed.

Purpose: Liposarcomas are malignant tumors that arise from primitive mesenchymal cells rather than mature adipose tissue. We aimed to evaluate the outcomes of patients with extremities and superficial trunk hposarcomas in relation to some clinicopathological factors. Methods: Sixty-three surgically treated patients with liposarcoma, with mean age 53 years, were included in this study. The 5-and 10-year survival rates were analyzed with respect to local recurrences, distant metastases and death with the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox models estimated univariate and multivariate hazard ratios for each candidate predictor of interest. Results: The 5-year overall survival was 77.8% (95% CI 65.5-87.3) and the 10-year overall survival was 63.5% (95% C150.4-75.3). The 5-and 10-year recurrence-free survival were 60% and 57%, respectively. The 5-and 10-year metastasis-free survival were 86% and 84%, respectively. In univariate analysis factors that were significantly associated with outcomes were grade III tumors, amputation procedures, use of chemotherapy and development of local recurrences. No significant association was observed in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Patients with hposarcoma surviving for 5 years, have also a high probability to be alive at 10 years. The development of metastases is observed within the first 5-years from diagnosis. Metastatic disease after that period is rare. The possibility of local recurrence is not negligible after the 5th year of follow up. Journal of Buon

Journal of Buon

Virchows Archiv

The expression of E-cadherin, beta-catenin and topoisomerase II has been associated with clinical outcome of several cancers including sarcomas. We aimed to evaluate the expression of these markers in leiomyosarcomas (LMS). Paraffin blocks of 19 primary, nonmetastatic LMS were analysed immunohistochemically for the expression of the above-mentioned markers with a cutoff level for positivity of 20% of cell staining. Expression of E-cadherin was negative in all LMS. Nuclear expression of beta-catenin was also negative in all cases, while positive cytoplasmic beta-catenin expression was observed in approximately half of the patients. The majority of LMS had expression of topoisomerase II alpha, although only in 10 patients was this expression in more than 20% of tumour cells. From the analysed factors, tumour size was statistically significantly correlated with relapse-free survival. Further evidence with larger series is required in order to determine the implication of these markers in LMS. Clinical & Translational Oncology

Aims: Disruption of apoptotic cell death has been implicated in tumour aggressiveness in colonic carcinogenesis. The Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) system is involved in the execution of apoptosis induced by the immune system. c-FLIP protein constitutes an inhibitor of Fas and other (TRAIL) death receptor-mediated apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the simultaneous expression of Fas, FasL and c-FLIP in relation to standard clinicopathological parameters and patients’ outcome in colorectal cancer. Methods and results: Levels of Fas, FasL and c-FLIP protein expression were quantified immunohistochemically in paraffin-embedded tissues from 90 patients. Immunopositivity was detected for Fas, Fast, and c-FLIP in 71%, 35.5% and 68.8% of cases, respectively. Concurrent expression of Fas/FasL was seen in 28 samples (31%), of which 24 (85.7%) also displayed c-FLIP positivity (P = 0.04). c-FLIP overexpression (> 10%) tended to prevail marginally in higher stage tumours (P = 0.09). Additionally, FasL and c-FLIP adversely affected survival on both univariate (P = 0.001 and P = 0.0024, respectively) and multivariate analysis [hazard ratio (HR) 3.491, P = 0.005 and HR 2.960, P = 0.036, respectively]. Conclusions: The frequent expression and coexpression of Fas, FasL and c-FLIP in colorectal carcinoma implicates c-FLIP as an inhibitor of the Fas-FasL-induced death pathway in these tumours. Moreover, c-FLIP conveys independent prognostic information in the presence of classical prognosticators.

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Int J Biol Markers

Objective To describe the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and behavioural patterns of the metastases of renal cell carcinoma to the skin. Patients and methods In a retrospective review of 132 cases of renal cell carcinoma submitted for examination to the Anticancer Institute ‘St Savas’ nine patients with metastatic disease to the skin were discovered. Clinical data and follow-up information were collected and correlated to tumour behaviour and patient survival, Immunohistochemical studies with epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), vimentin, keratin and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) were performed. Results In six of the nine patients the skin metastasis was the first evidence of a tumour, Histology of the skin nodule led to identification of the primary site, Histological proof of the renal origin of the tumour was obtained using the above immunohistochemical studies. All patients died from their disease within 3 years of presenting with the skin metastases. Conclusion Metastases to the skin from a renal cell carcinoma as first evidence of the disease may not be as rare as the literature describes. Definite proof of the origin of the tumour requires specialized immunohistochemical techniques.

The present study assessed the immunohistochemical expression of ras p21 oncoprotein in 41 cases of benign and cancerous lesions of the prostate gland and correlated p21 expression with survival of patients operated for prostate cancer. Our results show that p21 is detected in both categories of patients, the expression being weak in adenomatous hyperplasia and more intense in cancer. We were also able to show an inverse relation between ras p21 positivity and the degree of differentiatin. Follow-up study revealed a statistically significant (p < 0.05) correlation between 5 year survival and p21 expression. 14 5B 2135 2140

In the present paper we review the results of our study on the use of monoclonal antibodies Y13,259 to the ras p21 and MYC1 9E10 to the c-myc p62 oncoprotein products in human tumors and tumorlike conditions of the colorectum. A total of 78 tissue sections were analyzed immunohistochemically and revealed the following: 42 adenocarcinomas with 8 normal mucosae adjacent to the tumor, 25 adenomas (with or without dysplasia and with in situ carcinoma) and 3 hyperplastic polyps. Parallel tissue sections were used in order to compare ras and c-myc oncoproteins. Reviewing our results we made the following remarks: 1. All adenocarcinomas but one were expressed with both oncoproteins, most of them being strongly positive. 2. All adenomas were positive for ras p21, and all but two were also positive for c-myc p62. An interesting point is that the degree of staining intensity increased in accordance with the degree of dysplasia and/or in situ carcinoma association. 3. The hyperplastic polyps, as well as all normal mucosae were negative.