CTCs were more prevalent in patients with metastases to the ovary than in primary ovarian carcinomas.

201 cervical punch biopsies which showed CIN lesions and were obtained between 1967 to 1977 from Falu Hospital patients, with long-term follow-up data were examined histologically and by DNA typing for human papillomavirus (HPV). We used in situ hybridization for HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33 and related our findings to the behaviour of the lesion (103 regressed spontaneously and 98 progressed, some of them to invasive cervical carcinoma). There was evidence of HPV infection in 75.6% (152/201) of these lesions on histological examination, and in 53.2% (107/201) on in situ DNA hybridization. Lesions positive for HPV by both methods occurred in the younger age group (Pearson's correlation coefficient, P = 0.008). HPV 16 was found in 51/152 (33.6%) of the HPV lesions, HPV in 12.5%, and HPV 33 in 8.5% HPV 16 was highly significantly (P = 0.0001), and HPV 18 and HPV 33 were significantly (P = 0.008 and P = 0.007, respectively) associated with increasing grades of CIN. Progression to invasive carcinoma was directly (and regression inversely) correlated with the severity of CIN in the first biopsy (P = 0.005). Almost 74% (17/23) of the HPV-CIN III lesions progressed, while only 25% of the HPV-NCIN lesions (6/24) did so. The progression rate was 84.6% for HPV 33 lesions and 52.9% for HPV 16. On the other hand, progression was less common with HPV 6 (25%), and HPV 31 (30.0%). Histological grade and HPV type appear to be of value as prognostic indices.

Lesson Learned.Circulating tumor cells, microRNA markers, or other biomarkers merit examination as part of correlative scientific analyses in prospective clinical trials.Background.Platinum chemotherapy resistance occurs in approximately 25% of patients with ovarian carcinoma; however, no biomarkers of ovarian carcinoma chemoresistance have been validated. We performed a prospective trial designed to identify tumor‐based predictive biomarkers of platinum resistance.Methods.Tumor specimens were collected from 29 women with newly diagnosed histopathologically proven primary ovarian carcinoma. Of these, 23 women had specimens accessible for assessment and outcome data available regarding chemosensitive versus chemoresistance status via review of the medical record. Tumor slices were stained with antibodies against two microRNAs (miRNAs 29b and 199a) differentially expressed in chemoresistant ovarian cancer cell lines. Additionally, blood samples obtained at the time of diagnosis were analyzed for the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs).Results.The average age of the patients was 64 years, and 82.6% had high‐grade epithelial carcinomas. The baseline median CA‐125 was 464 (range 32–2,782). No statistically significant differences were observed in miR29b or 199a expression in platinum‐resistant/refractory versus platinum‐sensitive tumors. Furthermore, the presence of CTCs was not found to be statistically significantly predictive of eventual platinum resistance.Conclusion.Our analysis showed no differences in miR29b and 199a expression, and differences in baseline CTCs in women with newly diagnosed ovarian tumors were not statistically significant.

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