Cyclin D1 expression in penile cancer.

The main goal of the present study was to analyze the expression profile of cyclin D1 in patients with PC, and to determine possible correlations with clinical and histopathological features. A survey was conducted with 100 patients diagnosed with PC, who were treated at two reference hospitals in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, between 2013 and 2017. A review of clinical, epidemiological, and histopathological data was performed, Human Papillomavírus (HPV) DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cyclin D1 expression analysis was performed using immunohistochemical techniques. The data revealed that the absence of cyclin D1 expression was significantly associated with HPV-positive histological subtypes (p = 0.001), while its expression was associated with high-grade tumors (p = 0.014), histological subtype (p = 0.001), presence of sarcomatoid transformation (p = 0.04), and perineural invasion (p = 0.023). Patients with cyclin D1 expression exhibited lower disease-free survival compared to the cyclin D1-negative group, although the difference was not statistically significant. The results suggest that cyclin D1 may be a potential biomarker for PC, especially for poorer prognosis.

What is the Role of SNORA42 in Carcinogenesis? A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: Perform a systematic literature review on SNORA42 in carcinogenesis in order to elucidate its importance, its potential use as a biomarker and as a therapeutic target. METHODS: Using PubMed, SciELO and Science Direct databases as search means, articles that are in line with the scope of the study, written in English, that were published between 2012 and 2022, were selected using the following keywords: "small nucleolar RNA 42", "snoRNA 42" and "SNORA42", as well as searches for the synonyms of this snoRNA (SNORA80E, box H/ACA 42 and ACA42). RESULT: From a total of 131 studies, seven were selected, in which it was possible to identify that SNORA42 interferes in several biological processes, such as proliferation, migration, invasion, metastasis, apoptosis, and signaling pathways. Among the signaling pathways, the p53 and NF-KappaB pathways stand out. Moreover, it is a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancer. CONCLUSION: The summary of the main information about SNORA42 in the process of carcinogenesis and cancer progression shows that the use of this snoRNA is ideal for future applications in the field of oncology, in which it can be used as a biomarker and therapeutic target. Thus, it is of fundamental importance to carry out new studies to consolidate the applicability of this molecule.

A comprehensive analysis of penile cancer in the region with the highest worldwide incidence reveals new insights into the disease.

BACKGROUND: Although penile cancer (PC) is uncommon in developed countries, it is widespread in developing countries. The state of Maranhão (Northeast, Brazil) has the highest global incidence recorded for PC, and, despite its socioeconomic vulnerability, it has been attributed to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. This study aimed to determine the histopathological features, the prevalence of HPV infection, and the immunohistochemical profile of PC in Maranhão. METHODS: A retrospective cohort of 200 PC cases were evaluated. HPV detection was performed using nested-PCR followed by direct sequencing for genotyping. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed using monoclonal antibodies anti-p16INK4a, p53, and ki-67. RESULTS: Our data revealed a delay of 17 months in diagnosis, a high rate of penile amputation (96.5%), and HPV infection (80.5%) in patients from Maranhão (Molecular detection). We demonstrated the high rate of HPV in PC also by histopathological and IHC analysis. Most patients presented koilocytosis (75.5%), which was associated with those reporting more than 10 different sexual partners during their lifetime (p = 0.001). IHC revealed frequent p16INK4a overexpression (26.0%) associated with basaloid (p < 0.001) and high-grade tumors (p = 0.008). Interestingly, p16 appears not to be a better prognostic factor in our disease-free survival analysis, as previously reported. We also demonstrated high ki-67 and p53 expression in a subset of cases, which was related to worse prognostic factors such as high-grade tumors, angiolymphatic and perineural invasion, and lymph node metastasis. We found a significant impact of high ki-67 (p = 0.002, log-rank) and p53 (p = 0.032, log-rank) expression on decreasing patients' survival, as well as grade, pT, stage, pattern, and depth of invasion (p < 0.05, log-rank). CONCLUSIONS: Our data reaffirmed the high incidence of HPV infection in PC cases from Maranhão and offer new insights into potential factors that may contribute to the high PC incidence in the region. We highlighted the possible association of HPV with worse clinical prognosis factors, differently from what was observed in other regions. Furthermore, our IHC analysis reinforces p16, ki-67, and p53 expression as important diagnosis and/or prognosis biomarkers, potentially used in the clinical setting in emerging countries such as Brazil.