Abstract. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma results in high short-term mortality despite recent advances in diagnostics, surgery and chemotherapy. Modern chemotherapeutic agents directed to specific tumor receptors have higher therapeutic efficacy and lower adverse effects. However, few studies exist that evaluate the clinical impact in pancreatic cancer. The expression of tumor growth factor receptors, oncogenes and tumor suppressor oncogenes in surgical pancreatic cancer specimens as related to pathological characteristics, staging and prognosis was evaluated. Data were recorded for 50 patients who underwent a pancreatic cancer resection and were suitable for immunohistochemical evaluation (32 male, mean age 61 years, range 44-78) with regard to pTN, tumor size and location, histological differentiation grade, vascular and perineural invasion, adjuvant chemotherapy and survival time.

Abstract. Pancreatic cancer is a malignant neoplasm with an extremely poor prognosis. The mechanisms of aggressive growth and metastasis are currently not well understood. Expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been suggested to be associated with the malignant transformation of pancreatic cancer. In this study, we examined the EGFR status of 52 pancreatic tumors by PCR-sequencing (exons 19 and 21), immunohistochemistry and FISH probes. We subsequently investigated the relationship between EGFR status and clinicopathological factors. Somatic alterations in EGFR (R841R, T571T and R831C) were observed only in ductal adenocarcinoma (3/34). In 4 (8%) of the 52 tumors analyzed EGFR was overexpressed, 6 (12%) of the tumors showed moderate expression while 19 (32%) were weakly stained. EGFR overexpression (3+ score) was frequently found in endocrine tumors (29%) followed of ampullary tumors (13%; p<0,01). No significant correlation was observed between the presence of a somatic EGFR mutation and clinicopathological variables. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis did not demonstrate amplification in any tumors. Only three somatic mutations in the EGFR gene were detected in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and no association was observed with the clinical variables. Our results suggest that EGFR mutations are rare in pancreatic tumors and not associated with clinical prognosis, and treatment response.

Amyloidosis is a clinical entity that results from the deposition of an extracellular protein material that causes disruption in the normal architecture of multiple organs and tissues, and impairs their function. Secondary amyloidosis is a rare but serious complication that may worsen the prognosis of patients with cancer, infection or chronic inflammatory disease, including inflammatory bowel disease, particularly Crohn's disease. We report two cases of Crohn's disease associated with secondary amyloidosis.

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