The presence of vascular invasion is a reliable prognostic indicator. Recording of tumor recurrence pattern may lead to a better selection of patients for adjuvant systemic therapy after surgery.

Wereport a case of an anti-nuclear antibody (ANA)-negative patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) accompanied with anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) and lupus nephritis (LN). Histological examination of placenta obtained by an artificially-induced abortion revealed multiple thromboses in the placental villi. Histology of biopsied kidney tissue revealed minimal change with deposits of immunoglobulinand complement. Anti-ribosomal P antibodies (anti-P) and lupus anticoagulant (LAC) were positive and anti-double stranded DNAantibody (anti-DNA)showed only a slightly positive titer in her serum. The intensity of proteinuria of the patient was correlated with the anti-P, but not anti-DNA titers.

Immunohistochemical staining of MMP-9 and the type-IV collagen was performed on paraffin sections of endometrial carcinoma. Immunostaining in 129 cases of endometrial cancer detected MMP-9 in 19.0% of the cases. MMP-9 positive was shown in 30% of the cases with vessel invasion, and in 12.7% of the cases without vessel invasion (p < 0.05). MMP-9 showed positive in many cases with poor differentiation and lymph node metastasis, but still failed to achieve statistical significance. MMP-9 staining did not correlate with disease outcomes. We can not clarify that MMP-9 is associated with tumor-cell invasion and metastasis. Type-IV collagen deposition at the tumor-stromal border was studied in 58 cases of endometrial carcinoma in which disruptions were seen in varying degrees. The type-IV collagen in the primary lesion decreased as the differentiation decreased. Even in the lymph node metastasis lesions, the type-IV collagen was stained and was almost in agreement with the primary lesions. In the primary lesions, there was no relationship between MMP-9 staining and the type-IV collagen. It was suggested that the type-IV collagen observed in endometrial carcinoma was more concerned with the differentiation of the tumor than with the degradation by MMP-9.

Cathepsin D and laminin status might represent possible prognostic factors.

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