Elevated serum eotaxin and IP-10 levels as potential biomarkers for the detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) is one of the leading malignant cancers with a high incidence and mortality. Exploring novel serum biomarkers will help improve the management and monitoring of ESCC. METHODS: In the present study, we first used a ProcartaPlex Array to screen for serum proteins that were increased in 40 ESCC patients compared with matched normal controls; we found that eight proteins (IL-2, IL-5, IP-10, IL-8, eotaxin, TNF-α, HGF, and MIP-1b) had higher serum levels in ESCC patients than in normal controls. We further verified the clinical relevance of the candidate biomarkers with a larger sample of sera. RESULTS: In the 174 tested ESCC patients and 189 normal controls, the serum levels of eotaxin and IP-10 were significantly higher in patients than in normal controls (p = 0.0038, 0.0031). In particular, these two proteins were also elevated in the sera of patients with early-stage (0-IIA) ESCC (p = 0.0041, 0.0412). When combining CEA and CYFRA21-1 (in use clinically) with eotaxin or IP-10, the effectiveness of detecting ESCC was superior to that of CEA and/or CYFRA21-1 alone. Moreover, the serum level of eotaxin dropped significantly after surgical resection of primary tumors compared with that in preoperative ESCC samples (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that serum eotaxin and IP-10 might be potential biomarkers for the detection of ESCC.

[Expression pattern of E-cadherin and p120-catenin in infiltrating lobular carcinoma and ductal carcinoma of the breast and its significance].

OBJECTIVE: To determine how patients with infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC) differ from patients with the more common infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC), and observe the different expression patterns of E-cadherin and p120-catenin proteins in both ILCs and IDCs. METHODS: The patients with ILC admitted to our hospital from Jan 1999 to Dec 2006 and patients with IDC from Jan 2000 to Dec 2000 were included in this study. All their pathological slides were reviewed, and their clinical data and treatment variables were analyzed retrospectively. Then the expression patterns of E-cadherin and p120-catenin proteins in both ILCs and IDCs were detected by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray. RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival was 81.7% for ILCs and 79.1% for IDCs (P = 0.055). The 5-year disease-free survival was 61.8% for ILCs and 83.7% for IDCs (P < 0.001). Cytoplasmic localization of p120-catenin and loss of E-cadherin expression were more common in ILCs than in IDCs. The complete losses of E-cadherin in ILCs and IDCs were 55.6% (20/36) and 20.4% (45/221, P < 0.001), respectively. The p120-catenin showed a diffuse cytoplasmic localization in 66.7% (24/36) of ILCs and 16.3% (36/221) of IDCs (P < 0.001). Interestingly, the cytoplasmic localization of p120-catenin was clearly associated with the absence of E-cadherin expression in ILCs (P = 0.002), cytoplasmic localization of p120-catenin and absence of E-cadherin expression were observed 55.6% (20/36) in ILCs compared with 4.1% (9/221) in IDCs (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: ILC has several specific biological and prognostic characteristics which are different in IDC. Different expression patterns of E-cadherin and p120-catenin proteins can be helpful to recognize ILC from IDC.

[Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with breast cancer over 65 years of age].

OBJECTIVE: To study clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of elderly women with breast cancer. METHODS: The data of 399 patients with breast cancer over 65 years of age was analyzed retrospectively in the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 1989 to December 2003. RESULTS: Curative resection was performed for all patients, including modified radical mastectomy 277 (69.4%), radical mastectomy 12 (3.0%), breast-conserving therapy 59 (15.8%), mammectomy 24 (6.0%), breast segmentectomy 25 (6.3%) and breast segmentectomy with sentinel node biopsy 2 (0.5%). Major pathological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (337/399, 85.5%). The positive rates of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) were 71.4% and 69.6%, respectively. The overall 5-and 10- year survival rates were 78.9% and 56.3%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that ER status, PR status, T stage, lymph node status and histological grade were significant statistically (P < 0.05). The multivariate analysis showed ER status, lymph node status and histological grade were the independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: Elderly women with breast cancer should be given multimodality therapy. Surgery and endocrine therapy are crucial, but the surgical style should be individuation. ER status, lymph node status and histological grade were the independent prognostic factors.

[Correlation of peripheral blood micrometastasis to distant metastasis of breast cancer].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer, a whole body disease, can metastasize at early stage. This study was to explore the correlation of peripheral blood cancer cell (PBCC) content to distant metastasis of breast cancer. METHODS: The PBCC content of 65 breast cancer patients and 8 healthy donors was detected by multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCM) with CD45 and cytokeratin staining. RESULTS: Cancer cells were detected in peripheral blood samples from 57 of the 65 patients; the positive rate was 87.7%. No cancer cell was found in peripheral blood samples from healthy donors. The positive rate of PBCCs was correlated to T stage (r=0.271,P=0.017) and N stage (r=0.393, P=0.002). The patients were followed for 5 years; 2 were lost. Distant metastasis was found in 25 patients with PBCCs. In contrast, no metastasis was found in 8 patients without PBCCs (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Preoperative PBCC content is closely related to distant metastasis of breast cancer. The detection of PBCCs might be useful for individual treatment decision for breast cancer.