Immunohistochemical expression of CD117 in borderline, low- and high-grade ovarian surface epithelial tumours: A clinicopathological study.

INTRODUCTION: Ovarian cancer is one of leading causes of cancer related death in gynecology. CD117 is a tyrosine kinase receptor that plays an important role in regulation of apoptosis, cell proliferation and adhesion by binding to its ligand-stem cell factor. Recent studies demonstrated its aberrant overexpression in various malignancies and concluded that it may play a pivotal role in carcinogenesis. AIM: To evaluate CD117 expression in ovarian surface epithelial tumours. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 30 ovarian epithelial borderline, low and highly malignant tumours' formalin-fixed paraffin-blocks (FFPE) tissue blocks. Tissue sections were subjected to the routine haematoxylin-eosin stain and with the anti-CD117 immunohistochemically. RESULTS: There is a high significant difference in CD117 expression between borderline and malignant groups (P = 0.001). Additionally, there was significant difference in expression in relation to histopathological type (serous versus non-serous) in low-grade and the high-grade ovarian surface epithelial tumours (p=0.04, p=0.035 respectively). Tumour grade and stage strongly correlates with CD117 expression (p=0.014, p=0.019 respectively). CONCLUSION: We concluded that CD117 expression was significantly correlated with higher ovarian tumour grade and stage.

Bone marrow mesenchymal/fibroblastic stromal cells induce a distinctive EMT-like phenotype in AML cells.

The development of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) like features is emerging as a critical factor involved in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). However, the extracellular signals and the signalling pathways in AML that may regulate EMT remain largely unstudied. We found that the bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal/fibroblastic cell line HS5 induces an EMT-like migratory phenotype in AML cells. AML cells underwent a strong increase of vimentin (VIM) levels that was not mirrored to the same extent by changes of expression of the other EMT core proteins SNAI1 and SNAI2. We validated these particular pattern of co-expression of core-EMT markers in AML cells by performing an in silico analysis using datasets of human tumours. Our data showed that in AML the expression levels of VIM does not completely correlate with the co-expression of core EMT markers observed in epithelial tumours. We also found that vs epithelial tumours, AML cells display a distinct patterns of co-expression of VIM and the actin binding and adhesion regulatory proteins that regulate F-actin dynamics and integrin-mediated adhesions involved in the invasive migration in cells undergoing EMT. We conclude that the BM stroma induces an EMT related pattern of migration in AML cells in a process involving a distinctive regulation of EMT markers and of regulators of cell adhesion and actin dynamics that should be further investigated. Understanding the tumour specific signalling pathways associated with the EMT process may contribute to the development of new tailored therapies for AML as well as in different types of cancers.

Prevalence of Sarcocystis in camels (Camelus dromedarius) from Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.

The oesophagus, diaphragm and heart of 103 camels slaughtered at Al-Ahsa abattoir were investigated for infection with sarcocysts. Sarcocystis cysts were found in 91 camels (88.35%): in the diaphragm of 79.6%, oesophagus of 72.8% and heart of 71.8%. Two morphologically distinct sarcocysts were found. Thin-walled cysts (141-400 x 70.5-188 microns) were in all the three indicator organs while the thick-walled cysts (170-194 x 117.5-188 microns) were only found in the oesophagus. Experimental feeding of four cats and two dogs with sarcocysts-infected meat showed that cats were refractory to the infection while dogs excreted Sarcocystis sp. sporocysts (10.7-14.3 x 8.3-10.7 microns mean, 13.2 +/- 0.32 x 9.4 +/- 0.20 microns) after a prepatent period of 9-10 days. It was concluded that dogs may be the final host of both types of sarcocysts or that one of these cysts develops in dogs while the other one uses other carnivores living in the desert as the final host.

Clinico-epidemiological study of Kaposi's sarcoma in Egypt.

The clinico-epidemiological aspects of Kaposi's sarcoma are reviewed. A study of 27 patients seen in Egypt during the years 1962--78 is reported. The treatment modalities are discussed with special reference to radiotherapeutic management.