Prolonged tamoxifen treatment increases relapse-free survival for patients with primary breast cancer expressing high levels of VEGF.

Previous retrospective studies have shown that high intratumoural levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) correlate with an inferior outcome for patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. Our objectives were to validate the impact of VEGF on survival after adjuvant tamoxifen and to investigate the interaction between VEGF and treatment duration. For this purpose tumour homogenates from 402 patients with operable oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer (BC), treated with tamoxifen for 2 (n=149) or 5 years (n=253) as the only systemic adjuvant therapy were included.

Lysozyme overexpression in fundic gland polyps.

Unlabelled: Backgroud: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) rarely proliferates in patients with fundic gland polyps (FGPs). We recently found that FGPs express lysozyme, one of the natural defence substances against infection. We aimed to assess the degree of lysozyme expression in a cohort of consecutive FGPs.

Massive fundic gland polyposis in a patient receiving protracted proton-pump inhibitor medication.

A case of massive fundic gland polyposis (MFGPsis) in a female patient receiving protracted proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) medication is described. At gross examination the majority of the polyps were overlapping, confluent, some of them having a "cauliflower-like" configuration. The fundic gland polyps (FGP) arose in the gastric acid secretory mucosa.

Long-term follow-up after risk-adapted treatment in clinical stage 1 (CS1) nonseminomatous germ-cell testicular cancer (NSGCT) implementing adjuvant CVB chemotherapy. A SWENOTECA study.

Background: To offer minimized risk-adapted adjuvant treatment on a community and nationwide basis for patients with clinical stage 1 (CS1) nonseminomatous germ-cell testicular cancer (NSGCT). The aim was to reduce the risk of relapse and thereby reducing the need of later salvage chemotherapy while maintaining a high cure rate.

Patients And Methods: From July 1995 to January 1998, a total of 232 Swedish and Norwegian patients were treated for CS1 NSGCT.

Precise determination of glucose-d(2)/glucose ratio in human serum and plasma by APCI LC-MS/MS.

Background: Determinations of glucose turnover based on infusion of deuterium-labelled glucose are frequently undertaken in studies involving the pathophysiology of diabetes or obesity or the metabolic response to physical exercise.

Methods: A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for determination of the glucose-d(2)/glucose ratio in human serum and plasma following the intra-venous infusion of 6,6-d(2)-glucose. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization measuring negative ions in selected reaction monitoring mode (product ions at m/z 179-->89 and m/z 181-->89) was used.

Plugs clog the glandular outlets in fundic gland polyps.

A systematic histologic analysis of 62 gastric fundic gland polyps (FGP) was carried out. All FGP (100%) showed foveolar cells with hypertrophic cytoplasm. In 95% of the FGP, parietal cells ballooned into the lumen and in 93%, exfoliated anucleated structures with eosinophilic granules were found.

Increased lysozyme expression in gastric biopsies with intestinal metaplasia and pseudopyloric metaplasia.

Lysozyme is an innate enzyme with potent non-immunological antibacterial properties in the upper intestinal tract. Lysozyme expression (ly-ex) was investigated in 80 consecutive sets of gastric biopsies having normal gastric mucosa (n=20), chronic gastritis (n=20), gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM, n=20), and pseudopyloric metaplasia (PpM, n=20). In biopsies with normal mucosa and with chronic gastritis, the foveolar epithelium and the mucus neck cells of the fundic mucosa as well as the antropyloric glands had moderate (++) to marked (+++) ly-ex whereas the fundic glands proper did not express lysozyme.

Further studies on the frequency of colorectal cancer in Crohn's colitis: an 11-year survey in the Northwest Stockholm County.

Background: The frequency of colorectal carcinomas (CRC) evolving in patients with Crohn's colitis (CC) was assessed at the Danderyds University Hospital (DUH), one of two large hospitals in Northwest Stockholm County (NWSC).

Patients And Methods: A total of 121 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) were treated at this hospital between 1996 and 2006. All sections from colectomy specimens having CC and carcinoma were reviewed.

"Glassy" cells in Barrett's mucosa.

Background: In 1991 we detected glandular cells with "glassy" cytoplasm (GCs) in human gastric mucosa having intestinal metaplasia (IM). GCs were subsequently found in the gastric mucosa of baboons.

Materials And Methods: The frequency of GCs (defined as glandular cells with a homogeneously pale, eosinophilic cytoplasm having a ground-glass appearance) was assessed in 403 human esophageal biopsies with columnar-lined esophagus.

Effects of resveratrol analogs on steroidogenesis and mitochondrial function in rat Leydig cells in vitro.

Resveratrol and its analogs are considered to be a promising drug candidate for treatment of cancer and different age-associated diseases. In the present study we have investigated the effects of resveratrol and its synthetic analogs on steroidogenesis and mitochondrial function in primary cultures of rat Leydig cells. Our findings indicate that resveratrol and its analogs structure-dependently attenuated hCG-activated steroidogenesis in Leydig cells through suppression of the expression of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and cytochrome P450c17.

Assessing the size of polyp phantoms in tandem colonoscopies.

Background: The size of colorectal neoplastic polyps is important for their clinical management.

Materials And Methods: The size of 12 polyp phantoms was assessed in tandem colonoscopies carried out by 7 endoscopists differing in years of clinical endoscopical experience. The endoscopists measured, with (n=5) or without (n=2) the aid of open forceps, the largest diameter of 12 polyp phantoms.

Further studies support the participation of stem cells in the cell turnover of duodenal adenomas.

Background: In the normal duodenal mucosa, differentiated cells (enterocytes, goblet cells and endocrine cells) migrate from stem cells to the tip of the villi, but the lysozyme-producing Paneth cells migrate to the bottom of the crypts. The position of the Paneth cells within duodenal adenomas was investigated.

Patients And Methods: Sections from 83 duodenal adenomas were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and with anti-lysozyme.

Adjuvant goserelin and ovarian preservation in chemotherapy treated patients with early breast cancer: results from a randomized trial.

The purpose of this randomized study was to examine if goserelin concomitant to CMF-chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment for premenopausal breast cancer, protects the ovaries from premature failure. A total of 285 premenopausal breast cancer patients, in a randomized adjuvant trial (Zoladex in premenopausal patients (ZIPP)), were assigned to a study on ovarian function. Node positive patients were assigned to CMF-(cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil) chemotherapy in addition to endocrine therapy.

Shorter survival-times following adjuvant endocrine therapy in oestrogen- and progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer overexpressing HER2 and/or with an increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor.

Purpose: To investigate the possible correlation between expression of HER2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and to determine the predictive value of these factors in patients receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy including the group with a breast cancer (BC) positive for both oestrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR).

Material And Methods: By enzyme immuno-sorbent assays (ELISA) tumour levels of HER2 and VEGF proteins were determined in 679 consecutive primary BC patients, median age 63 years, median follow-up time 92 months. A total of 404 patients received adjuvant endocrine therapy, mainly tamoxifen, out of them 295 had an ER and PgR positive BC.

Stem cells might participate in the cell turnover of duodenal adenomas.

Eighty-three duodenal adenomas were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and with anti-lysozyme immunostain. Mature Paneth cells were those showing coarse brightly red cytoplasmic granules in H&E stain and Paneth cell precursors were those lysozyme-expressing cells that had remained undetected in H&E stain. In the adenomas, the number of mature Paneth cells/high power field varied from 4 to 12 (mean 6.

The biological relevance of laminin 5gamma2 expression at the invading edge of colonic carcinomas.

Previous studies have shown the presence of dilated neoplastic glands with cellular gaps called glandular pores (GPs) and laminin 5gamma2 expression at the invading edge of colonic carcinomas. We now extended our studies to explore a possible association between GP formation and laminin 5gamma2 expression at the invading edge of colonic carcinomas. Immunostain was performed on sections of five consecutive neoplastic glands with and without GPs from 86 colonic adenocarcinomas to assess the expression of laminin 5gamma2.

Morphologic and molecular events at the invading edge of colorectal carcinomas.

The mechanisms whereby colorectal carcinomas invade the extracellular matrix remain elusive. In a series of studies on the growing edge of colorectal carcinomas, we found dilated neoplastic glands, some with a layer of flat tumor cells, and some lacking one or more groups of consecutive lining tumor cells (called glandular pores). Through the glandular pores, the retained glandular material was siphoned off directly into the juxtaposed extracellular matrix.

Arrest of cell proliferation in budding tumor cells ahead of the invading edge of colonic carcinomas. A preliminary report.

Background: Single or small groups of dedifferentiated tumor cells, referred to as tumor budding, may be found ahead of the defined invasive edge of colorectal carcinomas. Tumor budding is claimed to correlate with lymph node metastasis and local recurrence.

Materials And Methods: Sections from six surgically removed invasive colonic carcinomas were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E), MNF 116 (an epithelial marker) and for Ki-67 (a proliferation marker) and four specimens also for laminin-5 (a cell-locomotion marker).

Quantitative assessment of the subepithelial collagen band does not increase the accuracy of diagnosis of collagenous colitis.

The thickness of eosinophilic band in collagenous colitis (CC) was assessed by 3 methods: histologic estimates (22 observers), conventional measurements using a calibrated micrometric scale (1 observer), and semiautomatic micrometric measurements (1 observer). By the histologic estimate technique, 7.4% of the results failed to diagnose CC; by calibrated micrometry, the failure was 6% and by semiautomatic micrometry, 6%.

Accurate identification and quantification of 11-nor-delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid in urine drug testing: evaluation of a direct high efficiency liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric method.

A direct liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for measurement of urinary Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol carboxylic acid (THCA) was developed. The method involved dilution of the urine sample with water containing (2)H(9)-deuterated analogue as internal standard, hydrolysis with ammonia, reversed phase chromatography using a Waters ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) equipment with gradient elution, negative electrospray ionization, and monitoring of two product ions in selected reaction monitoring mode. The measuring range was 2-1000 ng/mL for THCA, and the intra- and inter-assay imprecision, expressed as the coefficient of variation, was below 5%.

Ontogeny of gonadal sex steroids.

Sex steroids are crucial hormones for the proper development and function of the body; they regulate sexual differentiation, the secondary sex characteristics, and sexual behaviour patterns. Gonads are the major sources of sex steroids, although adrenal cortex, placenta, and to a lesser extent other tissues contribute to their production in adult life and at various phases of development. Steroidogenesis of gonadal sex hormones is by definition sexually dimorphic, and involves differences not only in hormonal action but also in regulation and temporal patterns of production.

Further studies on serrated neoplasias of the cardia: a review and case report.

We have previously recorded 6 cases of serrated adenoma in the cardia. Here we report a case, which differed cytologically from the 6 preceding cases in as much as the adenomatous cells had clear, micro-vacuolated cytoplasm and secreted neutral mucins. Similar cellular features found in gastric carcinomas were classified by Mulligan as of pylorocardiac gland cell type.

Difference in cell proliferation between two structurally different lesions in colorectal adenomas: high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma in situ.

Background: Despite the fact that most Western pathologists diagnose carcinoma in situ (CIS) in many organs the same pathologists generally diagnose similar histological aberrations in colorectal adenomas, as high-grade dysplasia (HGD).

Materials And Methods: Five large colorectal adenomas (measuring > or =20 mm) having areas of both HGD and CIS on staining with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) were assessed with the proliferation antibody Ki-67 (clone MIB1).

Results: HGD is built of tightly packed, spindle shaped, hyperchromatic cells with moderate pleomorphic nuclei having coarse chromatin and CIS of marked pleomorphic, vesicular, hypochromatic nuclei with a prominent nucleolus.

Luminal histological outline and colonic adenoma phenotypes.

Background: The luminal appearance of histological sections from colonic adenomas exhibits two different profiles: one regularly smooth and the other asymmetrically lumpy. These two modalities were compared to the size, the histological phenotype and the degree of epithelial neoplasia.

Materials And Methods: For this purpose, the largest section of 107 consecutive endoscopically removed colonic adenomas was digitalized using an Epson Perfection 4990 PHOTO device.

Further studies on the arrest of cell proliferation in tumor cells at the invading front of colonic adenocarcinoma.

Background And Aim: The author has previously reported that neoplastic glands at the leading invading edge of colorectal carcinomas often display flat tumor cells and cellular gaps called glandular pores. The aim of this study was to audit cell proliferation and p53 mutation in flat tumor cells and in tumor cells at the tip of glandular pores at the leading invading front of colonic carcinomas.

Methods: Sections from 40 colonic adenocarcinomas were immunostained with the proliferation marker Ki67 and with p53 protein.