Bcl-2 protein expression in egyptian acute myeloid leukemia.

Objective: The primary cause of treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the emergence of both resistant disease and early relapse. The bcl-2 gene encodes a 26-kDa protein that promotes cell survival by blocking programmed cell death (apoptosis). In the present study, bcl-2 protein expression was evaluated in newly diagnosed AML patients and correlated with the induction of remission and overall survival (OS), in an attempt to define patients who might benefit from modified therapeutic strategies.

p15 (INK4B) and E-cadherin CpG island methylation is frequent in Egyptian acute myeloid leukemia.

Background: Hypermethylation within the promoters of selected genes is an epigenetic pathway that appears to be especially common in all types of human haematopoeitic neoplasms. It is usually associated with inactivation of the involved genes, and can be reversed using demethylating agents. The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of p15 and E-cadherin promoter methylation in Egyptian acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in an attempt to identify a subset of patients who might be candidates for demethylating agents as a form of targeted therapy either as a primary or as an adjunct to current standard induction and post-remission regimens.

The prognostic impact of some cell cycle regulatory proteins in Egyptian breast cancer patients.

Purpose: The particular goal of this work is to study some cell cycle regulatory proteins and their potential impact on prognosis of breast cancer; p53, cyclin D1 and p27 are potential effectors being the major contributors to the control of the restriction (R) check point of the cell cycle. We also aimed to evaluate different techniques used to detect these cell cycle proteins.

Material And Methods: Forty five breast cancer patients as well as 10 controls with non malignant pathology were assessed for cell cycle regulators each by 2 different techniques; p53 was assessed by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and immunohistochemistry (IHC), cyclin D1 by Western Blotting (WB) and IHC and p27 by WB and IHC.