Evaluation of LGR5 Cancer Stem Cell Marker Expression in Breast Cancer and Its Relationship with Hormonal Profile and Clinical Pathological Features.

BACKGROUND: Due to the high prevalence of breast cancer and the importance of evaluating new prognostic criteria for effective treatment of these patients, this study was performed to investigate the role of LGR5 in breast cancer and its relationship with hormonal and clinicalopathological features of the disease. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on breast cancer tissue samples in the archives of the pathology department of Firoozabadi Hospital in Tehran between 2019 and 2021. Inclusion criteria included invasive ductal carcinoma and exclusion criteria were preoperative chemotherapy. Blocks were examined for LGR5 marker expression by IHC method using LGR5 monoclonal antibody kits (Abcam). The expression pattern of LGR5 marker was cytoplasmic and cells presenting brown staining in the cytoplasm were considered positive for this marker and in terms of distribution and severity of staining were divided into three groups: mild, moderate and severe. RESULTS: This study was performed on 60 patients with breast cancer with a mean age of 55.5±9.7. Most of the patients (55%) were in grade II. The KI67 marker was positive in 45 cases (75%) and the HER2 marker in 14 cases (23.3%) and 8 cases (13.3%) were triple-negative. The expression severity of staining of LGR5 marker in 41 cases (68.3%) was moderate and the distribution of marker expression in 31 cases (51.7%) was moderate. No significant relationship was observed between LGR5 expression severity and tumor characteristics. CONCLUSION: LGR5 marker is expressed in a remarkable percentage of breast cancer patients and has no significant relationship with tumor characteristics.

The occurrence of giant mesenteric cyst and adrenal ganglioneuroma in a schizophrenic male patient presenting as pseudocyesis: A case report.

In psychological patients like our case, somatically expressed symptoms which can imply another psychological syndrome should be dealt with cautiously.

Applications and limitations of immunohistochemical expression of "Napsin-A" in distinguishing lung adenocarcinoma from adenocarcinomas of other organs.

BACKGROUND: Distinguishing between primary lung adenocarcinoma and metastatic adenocarcinoma of lung before planning patient treatment is clinically important. Immunohistochemical markers play an important role in classification of primary lung tumors and are an effective method for separating metastatic tumors from primary pulmonary carcinoma. In this study, we evaluated the expression of Napsin-A in primary pulmonary carcinoma and some cases of nonpulmonary adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Napsin-A immunohistochemical evaluation was carried out using surgical specimens from 18 cases of adenocarcinoma, 19 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 2 cases of large cell carcinoma, 1 case of bronchoalveolar carcinoma of lung, as well as 33 cases of renal cell carcinoma, 30 cases of thyroid neoplasm, 31 cases of colonic carcinoma, 31 cases of breast carcinoma, and 30 cases of endometrial adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: For the primary lung carcinoma cases, all 18 cases of adenocarcinoma, 2 of the large cell carcinomas, and the 1 bronchioloalveolar carcinoma case were positive for Napsin-A. For the thyroid tumors, Napsin-A was positive in 14 cases of papillary carcinoma. Napsin-A was positive for 87.5% of papillary renal cell carcinoma cases and in 29.4% of clear cell carcinoma cases and for 1 chromophobe renal cell carcinoma case. Three out of 30 endometrial adenocarcinomas showed Napsin-A reactivity. All squamous cell carcinoma cases and adenocarcinomas of colon and breast were negative for Napsin-A. CONCLUSIONS: Napsin-A is a useful marker for differentiating primary lung adenocarcinoma from squamous cell carcinoma. However, Napsin-A immunoreactivity has the potential to misguide a pathologist to conclude a metastasis from renal, thyroid, or endometrial carcinoma as a primary lung adenocarcinoma. Therefore, when there is a need to rule out lung metastasis from other organs, implementation of other biologically specific markers should be considered.