Expression of clusterin in colorectal carcinoma in relation to clinicopathological criteria.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) carries a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. Prognosis is related to nodal metastasis and stage. Clusterin is a widely distributed glycoprotein with not yet fully understood functions. Clusterin may be overexpressed in some tumours or under expressed in other tumours. The aim behind this study is to examine the relation of clusterin cytoplasmic immunostaining to tumour characteristics, disease relapse, and survival in CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Paraffin blocks of 133 CRCs were retrieved from the Department of Pathology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Immunostaining was done using antibody to clusterin. Staining expression in 10% of malignant cells was used as a cut-off to determine low immunostaining and high immunostaining. Statistical tests were used to evaluate the association of clusterin immunostaining with clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical results showed clusterin low immunostaining in CRC and nodal metastases. No association was found between clusterin immunostaining and tumour grade, age, tumour invasiveness, distant metastases, vascular invasion, nodal metastases, relapse, and survival. CONCLUSION: Our study showed low clusterin immunostaining in CRC with lack of association with prognostic indicators in CRC. These results raise the controversy of understanding the role of clusterin in CRC. Further molecular studies are required to explore more about possible mechanisms of clusterin association with tumorigenicity, apoptosis, tumour growth progression, local and vascular invasion, and metastasis of CRC.

Cytokine changes in patients with heatstroke during pilgrimage to Makkah.

Circulating levels and role of IL-6, IL-1ra, TNFsr-II and CRP in patients with heatstroke is not fully known. This study correlated levels of these mediators with outcome in 26 patients. In survivors (n=20), IL-6 concentration declined on cooling, whereas in non-survivors levels continued to increase at 6 h following admission before declining. Admission TNFsr-II concentrations in survivors were significantly lower than non-survivors and levels continued to rise in both groups. IL-1ra levels were markedly elevated in both groups. Changes in cytokine levels were not influenced by renal function. Elevated C-reactive protein levels were observed for both groups and remained so despite cooling, furthermore, there was no correlation with alanine aminotransferase levels. The study demonstrated the elevation of the above mediators and suggested a role in the pathogenesis of heatstroke. Markedly elevated levels or those that remained elevated despite cooling were associated with mortality.

Olfactory neuroblastoma: report of a case associated with inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion.

Esthesioneuroblastoma or olfactory neuroblastoma, is a rare tumour. It was first described by Berger et al. in 1924. Since then, approximately 250 cases have been reported. These neuroendocrine neoplasms are rarely associated with hormone excess syndromes. We report a case of olfactory neuroblastoma initially manifested with a syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) in a 27-year-old man. A literature review is briefly presented.