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Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed female cancer and is a major cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined as ER, PR and HER2 negative, which are characterized by rapid progression with low survival rates with limited therapeutic choices. Polo-like kinase 1 protein acts as a cell division regulator which is highly expressed in many tumors making it a potentially valuable target for antiproliferative therapies. In this study we tried to evaluate the value of this marker as a possible therapeutic target in TNBC. Methods: This research studied the immunohistochemical expression of PLK1 done on 49 paraffin blocks of TNBC female patients and then correlated with the different clinicopathological parameters. Results: Our results showed high PLK1 expression in 91.9% of cases. Most of the high grade tumors showed high PLK1 high score (76.9%). All cases showing lymph node metastasis showed high PLK1 expression, implying a statistically significant correlation between PLK1 expression and tumor grade as well as N stage. Conclusion: PLK1, although a negative prognostic factor, but is a promising therapeutic target for treating TNBC patients.

Objectives: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common cancer of the female genital tract. Egypt showed a significant increase in incidence lately of which 25% were premenopausal. Advanced or recurrent disease are mostly unresectable and the traditional adjuvant therapy give modest results with devastating side effects. Late discoveries of immune checkpoint inhibitors have produced promising results. Programmed cell death 1 (PD1) is an immune inhibiting receptor on surface of lymphocytes, which plays critical roles in maintaining immunological self-tolerance. There are two ligands for this receptor, PDL1 and PDL2. PD-L1 is expressed on tumor cells; attaches to PD1, allowing tumor cells to escape from the host immune response. Its prognostic significance in various tumors is controversial and its significance in ECs has just begun to be investigated. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between PDL1 expression and different clinicopathologic parameters in EC cases and its correlation with CD4 and CD8 immune cells, in order to identify the predictive biomarkers for the outcome by immune therapy. Methods: Hundred, paraffin tissue blocks of EC cases were collected and stained with antibodies against PDL1,CD4 and CD8. Results: PDL1 was positive in 67% of cases in tumor cells and in 61% of cases in immune cells. CD4 and CD8 were expressed in 79% of cases. Statistically significant correlations were observed between PDL1 expression and patients mean age, LVSI, TILS score and CD4+/CD8+ expression. Conclusion: Those variables can stratify candidates who can benefit most from immunotherapy, or can be chosen for further high cost molecular investigations application.

Letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, has recently been introduced as a favorable medical treatment for ectopic pregnancy. We aimed at evaluating the effects of different doses of letrozole for termination of ectopic pregnancy and study their effects on villous trophoblastic tissue. Sixty patients with undisturbed ectopic pregnancy were classified into three equal groups. Group I: the control group that contained women who underwent laparoscopic salpingectomy, Group II: patients who received letrozole (5 mg day−1) for 10 days, and Group III: patients who received letrozole (10 mg day−1) for 10 days. Subsequently, the β-hCG levels were determined on the first day and after 11 days of treatment. Group IV consisted of patients of GII and GIII; their β-hCG did not drop below 100 mIU/ml within 11 days, and underwent salpingectomy. Placental tissues from patients undergoing salpingectomy either from the control group or GIV were processed for the evaluation of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and cleaved caspase 3 (CC-3) expression. Cases exposed to high dose letrozole 10 mg day−1 resulted in a higher ectopic pregnancy resolution rate of 85% (17/20), while the resolution rate of the low dose letrozole-treated group (5 mg day−1) was 65% (13/20), and also showed a significant reduction in β-hCG levels on the 11th day, 25.63 ± 4.29 compared to the low dose letrozole group 37.91 ± 7.18 (P < 0.001), Meanwhile, the letrozole-treated group GIV showed markedly reduced expression of ER, PR, and VEGF and a significant increase in the apoptotic index cleaved caspase-3 compared to the control group (P < 0.001). The utilization of letrozole at a dose of 10 mg day−1 for medical treatment of ectopic pregnancy results in a high-successful rate without any severe side effects. Letrozole depriving the placenta of estrogen that had vascular supporting signals resulted in destroying the vascular network with marked apoptosis. Graphical abstract