Our results suggest that the detection of the EGFR in primary colorectal cancer could be inadequate for planning therapy with EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibodies in a considerable proportion of both EGFR-positive and -negative primary tumors (36% and 15%, respectively).

In this prospective study, we determined HER-2 status in primary breast invasive carcinomas and in the paired lymph node metastases (synchronous and metachronous), local recurrence and metachronous distant metastases, to verify the percentage of discordant cases. HercepTest TM and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to determine HER-2 status on 119 cases of primary infiltrating breast carcinoma and paired metastases (45 cases with synchronous lymph node metastases, 9 cases with metachronous lymph node metastases, 30 cases with local recurrence, and 35 cases with metachronous distant metastases). A therapeutically significant HER-2 status discordance was demonstrated between primary carcinoma and synchronous lymph node metastases (6.7%), local recurrence (13.3%) and metachronous distant metastases (28.6%). In the first comparison, there was a normal HER-2 status in primary tumours and HER-2 amplification in paired metastases, in the second the opposite phenomenon was present, and both types of discordance were evident in the third comparison. Considering the cases of local recurrences and metachronous distant metastases all together, 14 out of 65 cases (21.5%) showed a therapeutically significant discordance of HER-2 status between the primary tumour and the paired metachronous recurrence or metastasis (p < 0.001), the 15.4% of cases showing normal HER-2 status in the primary tumour and HER-2 amplification in the neoplastic relapse. For the treatment of metastatic patients, the evaluation of HER-2 status should be performed in neoplastic tissue from metastatic site, whenever possible. This procedure could be also suggested in the patients that are metastatic at the time of diagnosis. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: breast carcinoma; FISH; HER-2/neu; HercepTest TM ; metastasis The HER-2 proto-oncogene is located on chromosome 17q21 and encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase protein, which belongs to the epithelial growth factor receptors (EGFRs) family. Overexpression of the receptor or amplification of the HER-2 gene has been identified in 15-25% of invasive breast carcinomas and is very important both for the prognosis, 1 and for the therapy. 2,3 Trastuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody, which is used in the therapy of invasive breast carcinomas overexpressing HER-2 protein and/or showing HER-2 gene amplification. Trastuzumab treatment, in combination with chemotherapy, has given very good results, in terms of disease free survival and overall survival times, in patients with metastatic breast cancer 2 ; moreover, the results of recent trials on the efficacy of the drug in an adjuvant regimen have showed excellent results in terms of drastic reduction of the precocious relapses, when combined with chemotherapy. 4,5 Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) are the techniques recommended for HER-2 determination, according to the algorithm showed in Figure 1. Chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) has furnished promising results but is not yet considered an...

Aims-To investigate the effect of combination endocrine treatment (CET) or luteinising hormone releasing hormone agonist and flutamide on non-neoplastic prostate, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and prostatic adenocarcinoma. Methods-The morphology, including the mitotic activity, of 12 radical prostatectomies from patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma pretreated for three months with CET was evaluated in haematoxylin and eosin stained sections and compared with an untreated age and stage matched control group. Results-A differential effect on the nonneoplastic prostate was observed. In fact, the transition zone of the treated prostate showed simplification of the glandular lobules: the ducts and acini were small without undulations of the epithelial border and with a prominent basal cell layer. Within the peripheral zone there was inconspicuous branching of the ducts and acini which looked dilatated and lined by flattened atrophic epithelium. Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia occurred in scattered ducts and acini in the peripheral zone of 10 of the 12 patients. The epithelial cell lining showed a prominent basal cell layer. A certain degree of secretory cell type stratification was always present. However, crowding was less evident than in the untreated prostate because of cytoplasmic clearing and enlargement as a result of coalescence of vacuoles. The treated adenocarcinomas had neoplastic acini which looked small and shrunken, and areas of individual infiltrating tumour cells separated by abundant interglandular connective tissue. The secretory cells of the nonneoplastic, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and prostatic adenocarcinoma lesions had inconspicuous nucleoli, nuclear shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and cytoplasmic clearing. Apoptotic bodies were easily identifiable in all the cell layers. The lumina were rich in macrophages, sloughed secretory cells with degenerative features, and apoptotic bodies. Mitoses were not observed in any of the treated non-neoplastic prostate, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, or prostatic adenocarcinomas, whereas the mitotic frequency increased from nonneoplastic prostate through prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia up to prostatic adenocarcinomas in the untreated specimens.Conclusions-CET before radical prostatectomy causes regressive epithelial changes together with enhanced apoptosis and blocked mitotic activity. (J Clin Pathol 1994;47:906-913) For many years, testicular androgen deprivation by oestrogen treatment or orchidectomy has been the standard hormonal treatment for advanced invasive adenocarcinoma of the prostate.' Recently, new drugs, especially agonists of luteinising hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) and anti-androgens, such as flutamide, have been introduced.2' Although the efficacy of these new drugs used alone is equivalent to that of standard treatment, their use avoids the major side effects of oestrogen treatment and the psychological impact of orchidectomy.4 Treatment combining an LHRH agonist and a pure antiandrogen drug (c...

Adenomyosis is a disease with a mysterious pathogenesis, defined by an abnormal displacement of the eutopic endometrium deeply and haphazardly inside the myometrium. Angiogenesis has been indicated to play an important role and our aim was to investigate whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) expression and microvessel density (MVD) were different in women with and without adenomyosis. Immunohistochemistry was performed in endometrial tissues in 23 patients who underwent radical hysterectomy for adenomyosis (14) and for ovarian cysts and fibroids (9) at an Academic Hospital. Compared to women without the disease, VEGF expression was increased in endometrium with a normal location in patients with adenomyosis, although not associated to a significant increase of HIF-1alpha and MVD. Moreover, the endometrium with an abnormal location in patients with adenomyosis showed an increased VEGF and HIF-1alpha expression, particularly in the epithelial cells, associated to an increase of MVD, compared with the endometrium in a normal location in the same group of patients. Our present findings suggest that VEGF-mediated angiogenesis might be associated with the development of adenomyosis. In the ectopic foci the abnormal location might contribute to increased HIF-1a expression, stimulation of VEGF production, and increased vessel formation. In endometrium with a normal location, instead, where VEGF increased expression seems not to be correlated with HIF-1alpha increased expression nor with an increased MVD, other mechanisms might be reasonably postulated. Additional studies are required to explore new targeted and more effective treatment modalities.