LEA.135 expression: an independent and favorable prognostic biomarker for patients with primary invasive breast cancer.

The prognostic significance of LEA.135 expression, detected by immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections, was evaluated and compared with the widely utilized clinicopathological parameters for patients with primary invasive breast carcinomas. Pathological parameters such as tumor size, histological tumor type, histological grade, nuclear grade, lymph node (LN) status, bone marrow (BM) status, as well as age of patient at initial diagnosis together with follow-up in years were available for this group of patients (n = 178). Among these parameters, tumor size, histological tumor type, histological grade, LN status, and BM status were individually and significantly associated with increased probability of recurrence by univariate analysis. By multivariate analysis, however, only tumor size, LN status, and BM status remained statistically significant. LEA.135-positive patients showed a statistically significant probability of not recurring (77 +/- 5% at 5 years after surgery) compared with patients who were LEA. 135-negative (49 +/- 6% at 5 years after surgery) (log-rank p < 0. 001). Furthermore, the association remained statistically significant by multivariate analysis (log-rank p = 0.019), demonstrating that LEA.135 expression independently and significantly identified breast cancer patients with favorable clinical outcome. In addition, there was a statistically significant association between loss of LEA.135 expression and poor prognosis when patients were stratified by pathological parameters. Furthermore, a subgroup of patients who were LEA. 135-positive/LN-negative experienced a decreased rate of recurrence compared with those who were LEA.135-negative/LN-negative (16% vs. 27%, respectively). A similar result was also obtained when BM-negative patients were stratified on the basis of LEA. 135-positive or LEA.135-negative subgroups for recurrence (18% vs. 43%, respectively). Most interestingly, the patients whose cancer cells were LEA.135-positive/LN-positive experienced a much lower rate of recurrence than those whose cells were LEA. 135-negative/LN-positive (29% vs. 57%, respectively). The results clearly demonstrate that LEA.135 expression was a significantly independent and favorable prognostic marker for patients with primary invasive breast carcinoma by both univariate and multivariate analyses.

A cytological analysis of FMC-7 positive leukaemias.

The subdivision of the B lymphoid leukaemias by conventional techniques is subjective and poorly reproducible, with a range of cytological diagnoses available for cases which are not typical examples of chronic lymphatic leukaemia or acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The monoclonal antibody FMC-7 recognizes a determinant on a subpopulation of B lymphoid cell and stains follicular B cells. Routiune FACS analysis of chronic lymphoid leukaemias with a panel of monoclonal antibodies identified a subset of lymphoproliferative disorders (20 of 88) which were FMC-7 positive. a careful 'blind' cytological assessment of this subset gave some support for the suggestion that they were examples of lymphoproliferative disease of follicular origin. Eight cases, however, were considered cytologically typical of CLL. The wider application of this antibody, particularly in sequential studies over a longer time scale may improve objectivity in the classification of this group of diseases.

Does multisomy of chromosome 1q confer a proliferative advantage in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia?

Two patients fulfilled the clinical and hematologic criteria for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: the malignant cells had L3 morphology, bore B-cell markers, and carried the specific t(8;14) translocation. The leukemic cells of one patient were tetrasomic for 1q, and those of the other patient showed several separate cell lines with complete or partial trisomy of 1q. In the latter patient it appeared that a break close to the heterochromatin of 1q produced an unstable chromosome end which formed associations with the telomeres of at least seven other chromosomes. It is suggested that multisomy of 1q gives tumor cells a proliferative advantage and is secondary to the basic neoplastic event.