Prognostic significance of perineural invasion in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Perineural invasion (PNI) is closely associated with poor survival in several types of malignant tumours, but whether this is true in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) is unclear. The aims of this study were to determine the prognostic significance of PNI in patients with VSCC. Patients and methods: We retrospectively analysed clinico-pathological data on 105 patients with VSCC (stages IB-IV) treated surgically at our medical center between 2005 and 2015. Results: PNI was detected in 30 (28.6%) patients, and it was significantly associated with well-known clinical risk factors: large tumour size, depth of invasion, lymphatic vascular space invasion (LVSI), and intra- or extra-nodal spread. Significantly greater proportions of patients with PNI received adjuvant therapy after surgery (P=0.001) or showed local recurrence (P=0.002). Multivariable analysis indicated that risk factors for disease-free survival were tumour size (HR 3.02, 95%CI 1.75-7.75), LVSI (HR 4.82, 95%CI 1.36-17.07), depth of invasion (HR 3.11, 95%CI 1.50-6.44), lymph node metastasis (HR 3.15, 95%CI 1.14-8.96) and positive or close surgical margins (HR 4.86, 95%CI 1.67-14.19). The latter three variables were also risk factors for overall survival. PNI was associated with significantly shorter disease-free survival (DFS) (P=0.020) and overall survival (OS) (P=0.017) based on the log-rank test. Among patients who received adjuvant treatment, Kaplan-Meier curves indicated no significant differences between PNI-positive or -negative subgroups in disease-free survival (P=0.085) or overall survival (P=0.061). Based on multivariable analysis of all patients, PNI was not a significant risk factor for either type of survival . Conclusion: PNI in VSCC is associated with significantly shorter disease-free and overall survival, though it appears to be a weak independent predictor of worse prognosis. Combining PNI with other risk factors may be useful for predicting whether postoperative adjuvant therapy will be needed.

An Analysis of EGFR Mutations among 1506 Cases of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients in Guangxi, China.

An association between epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and clinical characteristics of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was reported ten years ago. In addition, a different type of relationship was seen in different ethic races. However, the relationship between these factors is not well understood in the Guangxi province. Up to now, there are only very limited data on the association of TTF1/EGFR protein positivity and EGFR mutation status in NSCLC. This study aims to investigate the role of EGFR gene mutation status on the clinical characteristics and the relationship with TTF-1/EGFR protein positivity of patients with NSCLC in Guangxi, China. 1506 samples from different patients with NSCLC were detected by amplification refractory mutation system for 29 hotspot mutations. Analysis of the relationship between clinical characteristics and EGFR mutation status was performed by using the crosstabs Chi-square and SPSS 21.0 software. Of 1506 samples, 537 (35.7%) revealed tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) sensitive EGFR mutations with 27 (1.8%) cases harboring TKI resistant EGFR mutations or union co-existing EGFR-TKIs sensitive mutations. EGFR-TKIs sensitive mutations were not significantly associated with age and TNM-M stage (P = 0.863; P = 0.572, respectively). However, they were significantly associated with p-stage, TNM-T stage and TNM-N stage (P = 0.011, P < 0.001, P = 0.036, respectively). Immunohistochemical studies revealed that TTF-1 and EGFR protein expression level were all associated with EGFR mutation status (P < 0.001, P = 0.002, respectively). Of the 537 EGFR-TKIs sensitive mutation cases, the rates of exon 19-del, 18 G719X point, exon 21 L858R and L861Q points were 54.6, 0.9, 42.3 and 0.9%, respectively. EGFR TKI-sensitive mutations commonly occur in female, non-smoking and adenocarcinoma patients. The p-stage, TNM-T stage, TNM-N stage, EGFR and TTF-1 protein expression levels have close relationships with EGFR mutation status.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression in breast cancer: correlation with clinical pathological features.

The overexpressed HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) is a valuable therapeutic target. Precise assessment of HER2 status is thus crucial in the treatment of breast cancer. In this study, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of tumors from 304 breast cancer patients who underwent curative surgery procedures between 2011 and 2014 were tested by immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a primary estimate of HER2 status, followed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Concordance rate between IHC and FISH was evaluated. The Χ(2) test was used to evaluate the correlation between HER2 gene amplification status and different clinical pathological features including: (estrogen receptor) ER and (progesterone receptor) PR expression, age, menopausal status and tumor size. The results show that 84.8% of IHC score 3+ cases and 6.2% of IHC score 0/1+ cases were amplified by FISH. After exclusion of group IHC 2+, the concordance rate between FISH and IHC was 87.4%. There was a significant inverse association between expression of hormone receptors (ER and PR) and HER2 amplification (P < 0.001) among the patients studied. However, no relationship was observed between HER2 amplification and age, menopausal status and tumor size (P > 0.05). The data demonstrate a relatively high level of concordance rate for HER2 testing between FISH and IHC, and HER2 overexpression was associated with the levels of ER and PR.