Human papillomavirus DNA in tumor-free regional lymph nodes: a potential prognostic marker in cervical carcinoma.

Purpose: The medical management of women with cervical carcinoma would benefit from a test that might predict which patients have a high risk of progression or recurrence. The detection of micrometastases in regional lymph nodes may be such a test. At least 90% of cervical carcinomas worldwide contain human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA.

c-jun expression and growth stimulation in human ovarian carcinoma cell lines following exposure to cytokines.

We evaluated the effects of recombinant human G-CSF, rhGM-CSF, rhM-CSF and rhIL-1 alpha on proliferation and regulation of c-jun gene expression in 4 human ovarian-carcinoma (HOC) cell lines, NIH:OVCAR-3, SK-OV-3, HEY and BG-1, and in one primary ovarian tumor in vitro. The cytokines were administered in concentrations of 0.1 U/ml to 1000 U/ml.

p53 mutation and MDM2 amplification are rare even in human papillomavirus-negative cervical carcinomas.

Background: Mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene is the most commonly found genetic alteration in human cancer. The E6 gene product of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 and 18 can inactivate the p53 protein by promoting its degradation. Because most HPV-positive cervical carcinoma cell lines contain wild-type p53 whereas HPV-negative cell lines have point mutations in the p53 gene, a major role in the development of HPV-negative cervical cancer has been attributed to p53.

Co-cultivation of ovarian carcinoma cells with dermal fibroblasts induces fibroblast expression of sex steroid receptor transcripts and protein.

We have previously reported that stromal fibroblasts of ovarian carcinoma specimens may express estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) when the malignant epithelial cells do not, and even when the specimens have been obtained from such non-Müllerian structures as the omentum whose fibroblasts normally express neither ER nor PR. In an attempt to investigate whether our observations of the expression of ER and PR in fibroblasts surrounding metastatic invasive epithelial ovarian carcinoma cells might result from an interaction involving malignant epithelial cells and stromal fibroblasts, we co-cultivated in vitro BG1 ovarian carcinoma cells with sex steroid receptor-negative dermal fibroblasts to determine whether carcinoma cells might induce the latter to express ER or PR protein and transcripts at levels detectable by standard immunocytochemical (ICC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques. We report the in vitro induction of ER and PR transcripts and protein in previously steroid receptor-negative skin fibroblasts after co-cultivation with BG1 ovarian adenocarcinoma cells.

Recurrent cytogenetic aberrations in human ovarian carcinomas.

Successful cytogenetic analysis was performed on short-term cultures of 62 malignant ovarian tumors from 42 patients. Twenty-three tumors from 18 patients revealed clonal chromosome abnormalities. Five cases showed nonclonal chromosome changes.