Expression of cell-cycle-regulating transcription factor E2F-1 in colorectal carcinomas.

The expression of E2F-1 in human colorectal carcinomas was examined immunohistochemically, and the correlation of E2F-1 expression with clinicopathological findings and with the expression of p27(Kip1) was analyzed to elucidate the role of E2F-1 in the development and progression of colorectal carcinomas. In nonneoplastic mucosa, a small number of epithelial cells in the proliferative zone were weakly positive for E2F-1. Weak expression of E2F-1 was detected in many adenoma cells. Most of the colorectal carcinomas expressed E2F-1 at various levels, and strong expression of E2F-1 was detected in 56% (49/88) of the cases. There was no correlation between the expression of E2F-1 and any clinicopathological parameters such as tumor stage, depth of tumor invasion and lymph node metastasis. Reduced expression of p27(Kip1) was confirmed to be significantly correlated with deep tumor invasion and presence of metastasis. No correlation was evident between overexpression of E2F-1 and reduced p27(Kip1) expression.     

PTOV1 is overexpressed in human high-grade malignant tumors

The prostate tumor overexpressed-1 (PTOV1) protein was first described overexpressed in prostate cancer but not detected in normal prostate. PTOV1 expression is associated to increased cancer proliferation in vivo and in vitro. In prostate biopsy, PTOV1 detection is helpful in the early diagnosis of cancer. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relevance of PTOV1 expression to identify aggressive tumors derived from 12 different histological tissues. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing 182 biopsy samples, including 168 human tumors, were analyzed for PTOV1 and Ki67 expression by immunohistochemistry. Tumors of low and high histological grade were selected from lung, breast, endometrium, pancreas liver, skin, ovary, colon, stomach, kidney, bladder, and cerebral gliomas. One TMA with representative tissues without cancer (14 samples) was used as control. PTOV1 expression was analyzed semiquantitatively for the intensity and percentage of positive cells. Ki67 was evaluated for tumors proliferative index. Results show that PTOV1 was expressed in over 95% of tumors examined. Its expression was significantly associated to high-grade tumors (p = 0.014). This association was most significant in urothelial bladder carcinomas (p = 0.026). Overall, the expression of Ki67 was associated to high-grade tumors, and it was significant in several tumor types. PTOV1 and Ki67 were significantly co-overexpressed in all tumors (p = 0.001), and this association was significant in clear cell renal carcinoma (p = 0.005). In conclusion, PTOV1 expression is associated to more aggressive human carcinomas and more significantly to bladder carcinomas suggesting that this protein is a potential new marker of aggressive disease in the latter tumors.     

Differential binding of transcription factor E2F-2 to the endothelin-converting enzyme-1b promoter affects blood pressure regulation

In this     

Differential binding of transcription factor E2F-2 to the endothelin-converting enzyme-1b promoter affects blood pressure regulation

The endothelin-converting enzyme (ECE)-1 gene is a candidate for human blood pressure (BP) regulation and we report the identification of the new gene variants T-839G, C-338A, L75F, A677V and C+295T. Transient transfection of the reporter constructs containing the -338A allele showed an increase in promoter activity compared with the wild-type promoter. EMSA revealed the specific binding of E2F-2 to both ECE-1b promoter sequences, with the -338A allele being associated with an increased affinity to E2F-2 compared with -338C. The clinical relevance of this finding was analyzed in 704 hypertensive patients. In untreated hypertensive women, both the -338A and -839G alleles were significantly associated with ambulatory BP values. This study provides the first evidence of a link between the cell-cycle-associated E2F family and BP regulation via a component of the endothelin system.     

肺外神经内分泌肿瘤中甲状腺转录因子-1的表达

目的探讨甲状腺转录因子-1在肺外神经内分泌肿瘤中的表达,确定TTF-1在肺内和肺外神经内分泌肿瘤中的鉴别诊断价值。方法应用免疫组化EnVision法检测71例肺外神经内分泌肿瘤中TTF-1的表达。结果18例肺外小细胞癌中TTF-1阳性表达率为44.4%,主要表达于食管小细胞癌。所有肺外类癌、恶性肿瘤伴有神经内分泌分化和Merkel细胞癌均不表达TTF-1。结论TTF-1可在肺外小细胞癌中表达,TTF-1在区分肺内与肺外小细胞癌的鉴别诊断中没有价值,但可区分Merkel癌和内脏小细胞癌转移至皮肤。TTF1在肺原发性类癌和肺外类癌的鉴别诊断中可能有一定价值。