No abstract

For 56 cases of carcinoma of the breast, results of the immunocytochemical assay for estrogen and progesterone receptors performed on preoperative fine-needle aspirates were compared with those obtained on scraping material from the same tumors. The value and usefulness of this last analysis was demonstrated in a previous study. The level of agreement between the two cytological techniques was assessed by the k statistic. A high level of agreement was found, with k values of 0.909 and 0.889 for estrogen and progesterone receptors, respectively. The results reported here revealed the reliability of steroid receptor determination on fine-needle aspiration biopsies, provided that sufficient cellularity was available. This technique can replace the open biopsy procedure, in as much as it represents a rapid, almost painless, and easily repeated method for the assessment of the receptor status, and is useful for treatment decisions at any time during the course of the disease.

Highly alpha 2-8-sialylated N-CAM (neural cell adhesion molecule) impairs N-CAM-mediated cell adhesion. We investigated polysiaN-CAM immunoreactivity in a range of neuroendocrine lung tumours: 15 typical carcinoids, 21 atypical carcinoids, 2 large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas and 12 small cell lung carcinomas were selected on a morphological basis and by their immunoreactivity for chromogranin A and B and secretogranin II. A progressive loss of chromogranin expression, particularly of chromogranin B, was paralleled by the up-regulation of polysiaN-CAM in histologically more aggressive tumours (P = 0.001). These data support the hypothesis that loss of cell-cell adhesion properties might be a relevant factor in the origin of the aggressivity of lung neuroendocrine tumours.

No abstract

FAM83B has been recently identified as an oncogene, but its role in thyroid cancers (TC) is still unclear. We examined the expression of FAM83B and its possible involvement in cell migration and differentiation, in neoplastic/normal thyroid tissues and in TC human cell lines. FAM83B expression in TC varies according to the tumor histotype, being significantly downregulated in more aggressive and metastatic tissues. FAM83B levels in cell lines recapitulate patients' samples variations, and its total and cytoplasmic levels decrease upon the induction of migration, together with an increase in its nuclear localization. Similar variations were detected in the primary tumor and in the metastatic tissues from a follicular TC. FAM83B knock down experiments confirmed its role in thyroid differentiation and cell migration, as demonstrated by the reduction of markers of thyroid differentiation and the increase of the mesenchymal marker vimentin. Moreover, the silencing of FAM83B significantly increased cells migration abilities, while not affecting the oncogenic RAS/MAPK/ PI3K pathways. Our data indicate for the first time a role for FAM83B in TC cell differentiation and migration. Its expression is reduced in dedifferentiated tumors and its nuclear re-localization could favour distant migration, suggesting that FAM83B should be considered a possible diagnostic and prognostic biomarker.