Replication protein A is an independent prognostic indicator with potential therapeutic implications in colon cancer.

Replication protein A (RPA), a component of the origin recognition complex, is required for stabilization of single-stranded DNA at early and later stages of DNA replication being thus critical for eukaryotic DNA replication. Experimental studies in colon cancer cell lines have shown that RPA protein may be the target of cytotoxins designed to inhibit cellular proliferation. This is the first study to investigate the expression of RPA1 and RPA2 subunits of RPA protein and assess their prognostic value in colon cancer patients.

Parathyroid proliferations: a source of diagnostic pitfalls in FNA of thyroid.

Background: With wide use of fine-needle aspirates (FNA) for investigation of thyroid nodules, a growing number of parathyroid glands are being inadvertently aspirated for cytologic study. Aiming to determine the effectiveness of FNA to differentiate between parathyroid and thyroid lesions, all cases aspirated initially as thyroid nodules and that had a final histologic diagnosis of parathyroid lesion were retrieved from the authors' files and were systematically reviewed to delineate possible specific diagnostic criteria.

Methods: From a total of 90,000 FNA diagnoses of thyroid nodules, 4740 cases were isolated for which a final histologic diagnosis was available.

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the salivary glands. Review of the literature and clinicopathological analysis of 18 patients.

Salivary gland carcinomas are a rare and clinically diverse group of neoplasms among which mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC) are reported to be the most frequently encountered. During the years 1994-2004 18 patients with MEC were treated in our Department. All patients underwent surgery with a curative intent, and in 11 of them treatment was supplemented by radiotherapy.

Minichromosome maintenance proteins 2 and 5 expression in muscle-invasive urothelial cancer: a multivariate survival study including proliferation markers and cell cycle regulators.

Evaluation of cell cycle regulators has gained special interest in the effort to increase the amount of prognostic information in malignant tumors. Minichromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs) drive the formation of prereplicative complexes, which is the first key event during G1 phase. Therefore, altered MCM expression may be a hallmark of cell cycle deregulation, which is supposed to be the most essential mechanism in the development and progression of bladder cancer.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck. Clinicopathological analysis of 23 patients and review of the literature.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare epithelial tumor with a distinct natural history characterized by an indolent but persistent growth, late onset of distant metastases and eventual death of patients. Between 1991 and 2003, 23 patients with ACC were treated in our Department. Surgery with a curative intent followed by radiotherapy (RT) was applied in 22 patients.