The Clinical Significance of Urinary Retinol-Binding Protein 4: A Review.

Effective biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognostication, and monitoring in renal diseases (in general) comprise an unmet need. Urinary retinol-binding protein 4, which is the most sensitive indicator of renal tubular damage, holds great promise as a universal biomarker for renal pathologies, in which tubular injury is the driving force. Here, we summarize the most important existing data on the associations between urinary retinol-binding protein 4 and renal diseases and highlight the untapped potential of retinol-binding protein 4 in clinical use.

Hsp-27 expression in invasive ductal breast carcinoma.

The aim of this study was to determine the intensity of Hsp27 protein expression in fibrocystic breast changes (FC) and invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC) and to examine its impact on patients' clinico-pathological characteristics and overall survival. Immunohistochemical reactions were conducted on archival samples of 20 cases of FC and 101 cases of IDC treated in 1999-2002. Nuclear-cytoplasmic Hsp27 expression was observed in 92 (92.1%) of the examined cases of IDC, and all the cases of FC. Significantly higher Hsp27 expression was observed in G2 (p < 0.01) and G3 cases (p < 0.0001) compared to FC. HER-2 positive cases had higher Hsp27 expression (p = 0.0153), than HER-2 negative cases. Our research showed that Hsp27 could have an impact on tumor malignancy. Moreover, a positive correlation between the expression of Hsp27 and HER-2 positive cases was demonstrated.