Purpose: Deletions of 8p and gains of 8q belong to the most frequent cytogenetic alterations in prostate cancer. The target genes of these alterations and their biological significance are unknown.Experimental Design: To determine the relationship between chromosome 8 changes, and prostate cancer phenotype and prognosis, a set of 1.954 fully annotated prostate cancers were analyzed in a tissue microarray format by fluorescence in situ hybridization.Results: Both 8p deletions and 8q gains increased in number during different stages of prostate cancer progression. 8p deletions/8q gains were found in 26.1%/4.8% of 1,239 pT 2 cancers, 38.5%/9.8% of 379 pT 3a cancers, 43.5%/8.9% of 237 pT 3b cancers, 40.7%/14.8% of 27 pT 4 cancers, 39.1%/34.8% of 23 nodal metastases, 51.9%/33.3% of 27 bone metastases, and 45.5%/59.9% of 22 hormone refractory cancers (P < 0.0001 each). Both 8p deletions and 8q gains were also significantly associated with high Gleason grade and with each other (P < 0.0001 each). In primary tumors, 8p deletions were seen in only 27.3% of 1,882 cancers without 8q gain but in 57.4% of 122 tumors with 8q gain (P < 0.0001). Among cancers treated with radical prostatectomy, 8p deletions (P = 0.003) and 8q gains (P = 0.02) were associated with biochemical tumor recurrence. However, multivariate analysis (including prostate-specific antigen, pT/pN stage, Gleason score, and surgical margin status) did not reveal any statistically independent effect of 8p or 8q alterations on biochemical tumor recurrence.Conclusions: 8p deletions and 8q gains are relatively rare in early stage prostate cancer but often develop during tumor progression. The prognostic effect does not seem to be strong enough to warrant clinical application. Clin Cancer Res; 16(1); 56-64. ©2010 AACR.Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second most frequent cause of cancerrelated death among western males (1).Currently, clinical prediction tools rely solely on clinical (clinical stage), serologic (prostate-specific antigen), and histologic variables (Gleason grading; ref. 2).Because the development and progression of cancer is driven by molecular alterations, the analysis of molecular features may eventually allow better prediction of the behavior of individual cancers.Alterations on the DNA level would be especially suitable as prognostic markers. DNA alterations have the advantage of being less vulnerable to perioperative and postoperative ischemia or fixation procedures than RNA or proteins (3, 4). Deletions of 8p and gains of 8q are among the most frequent genomic alterations in prostate cancer. Several studies have proposed a relationship between 8p−/8q+ with adverse histopathologic findings (5-11). Studies suggesting associations with prostatespecific antigen progression, however, were limited to <100 cancers (12)(13)(14). Whereas considerable evidence points toward a role of chromosome 8 changes in prostate cancer biology, it is also evident that much larger patient cohorts are now needed to further cl...

Persistent infection with human papillomaviruses (HPV) is a prerequisite for the development of cervical cancer. Vaccination with virus-like particles (VLP) has demonstrated efficacy in prophylaxis but lacks therapeutic potential. HPV16 L1E7 chimeric viruslike particles (CVLP) consist of a carboxy-terminally truncated HPV16L1 protein fused to the amino-terminal part of the HPV16 E7 protein and self-assemble by recombinant expression of the fusion protein. The CVLP are able to induce L1-and E7-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. We have performed a first clinical trial to gain information about the safety and to generate preliminary data on the therapeutic potential of the CVLP in humans. A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial has been conducted in 39 HPV16 mono-infected high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) patients (CIN 2/3). Two doses (75 lg or 250 lg) of CVLP were applied. The duration of the study was 24 weeks with 2 optional visits after another 12 and 24 weeks. The vaccine showed a very good safety profile with only minor adverse events attributable to the immunization. Antibodies with high titers against HPV16 L1 and low titers against HPV16 E7 as well as cellular immune responses against both proteins were induced. Responses were equivalent for both vaccine concentrations. A trend for histological improvement to CIN 1 or normal was seen in 39% of the patients receiving the vaccine and only 25% of the placebo recipients. Fifty-six percent of the responders were also HPV16 DNA-negative by the end of the study. Therefore, we demonstrated evidence for safety and a nonsignificant trend for the clinical efficacy of the HPV16 L1E7 CVLP vaccine. ' 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: cervical cancer; clinical trial; immunization; antibody; T cell Genital infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Various molecular and epidemiological studies have documented a correlation between infection with ''high risk'' HPV types and premalignant or malignant tumors of the anogenital tract. 1,2 It is widely acknowledged that a causal relationship exists between persistent HPV infection and development of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer. 3,4 There are over 100 known papillomavirus types that are stratified into low and high risk, based on their association with malignant and invasive lesions. More than 95% of invasive cervical cancers are positive for HPV-DNA, mainly from HPV types 16 (50%) and 18 (20%). Moreover, HPV16 can be detected in 30270% of all HPV-positive high grade CIN patients. 5,6 The prevalence of HPV16 in other intraepithelial neoplasias is even higher, e.g., 70280% in high grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia. 7 Whereas for low grade CIN a high spontaneous recovery rate is observed 6,8 high grade CIN regress less often particular at higher age when lesions are more persistent. 9 Because of the potential progression of high grade CIN to invasive cancer, 10 a thorough evaluation consisting of colp...

Members of the Fos protein family dimerise with Jun proteins to form the AP-1 transcription factor complex. They have a central function in proliferation and differentiation of normal tissue as well as in oncogenic transformation and tumour progression. We analysed the expression of c-Fos, FosB, Fra-1 and Fra-2 to investigate the function of Fos transcription factors in ovarian cancer. A total of 101 patients were included in the study. Expression of Fos proteins was determined by western blot analysis, quantified by densitometry and verified by immunohistochemistry. Reduced c-Fos expression was independently associated with unfavourable progression-free survival (20.6, 31.6 and 51.2 months for patients with low, moderate and high c-Fos expression; P ¼ 0.003) as well as overall survival (23.8, 46.0 and 55.5 months for low, moderate and high c-Fos levels; P ¼ 0.003). No correlations were observed for FosB, Fra-1 and Fra-2. We conclude that loss of c-Fos expression is associated with tumour progression in ovarian carcinoma and that c-Fos may be a prognostic factor. These results are in contrast to the classic concept of c-Fos as an oncogene, but are supported by the recently discovered tumour-suppressing and proapoptotic function of c-Fos in various cancer types.