The aim of the study was to establish the prognostic and predictive value of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in conjunction with the host immune response in primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma.83 patients were evaluated. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using anti-Bcl-2 (Dako; clone 124) and antiBax (Springbio; E17994) monoclonal antibodies. Additionally, the number of lymphocytes within tumor stroma lymphocyte nests were counted.Bcl-2 protein expression was lower in advanced stage than early stage (p= 0.005). High (H) Bax expression was associated with longer overall survival (OS) than lower (L) Bax expression (p=0.03). The OS of the (L) Bax/(L) Bcl-2 group was shorter than (H) Bax/(L) Bcl-2 group in advanced stage (p=0.05). The platinum-sensitive group had a statistically significant tendency for high Bax expression (p=0.04). Furthermore, the intensity of the lymphocyte infiltration was associated with tumor differentiation (p= 0.003).Our data suggests that (H) Bax protein expression prolongs survival, predicts platinum sensitivity and can be used after confirmation of this hypothesis in further prospective studies. The combined evaluation of Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression may provide additional significant prognostic information. The quantity of lymphocyte infiltration could be important for prognostic outcome. Key words: Bax, Bcl-2, ovarian cancer, platinum sensitivity, lymphocyte infiltrateEpithelial ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death among women with gynecologic cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in all women [1]. In ovarian cancer, the prognostic factors can be divided into three groups: patient factors, tumor factors and treatment factors. Age and performance status are important patient factors that significantly influence the survival rate. Tumor factors such as the stage, histopathological findings, histologic grade and expression of cancer-related genes, also significantly affect survival. The residual tumor size, post-operative CA 125 level and the chemotherapeutic regimen, are important treatment factors for prognosis [2].The Bcl-2 family is a growing family of genes, which plays a major role in the regulation of cell suicide, acting either as inhibitors (e.g., Bcl-2, bcl-x1, mcl-1) or promoters (e.g., Bclxs, Bax, bak, bad) of apoptosis [3]. Expression of Bcl-2, the major inhibitor of apoptosis, is connected with parameters of favorable prognosis and prolonged survival in breast cancer; however in ovarian cancer the results are conflicting [4,5]. The Bcl-2 interacting protein, Bax, is a proapoptotic member of Bcl-2 family and is the main antagonist of Bcl-2. Bax expression, in contrast to Bcl-2 expression, was associated with an unfavorable outcome as well as with negative histopathological features [6]. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) occur as a host response to several types of human carcinomas [7]. Several studies have evaluated the impact of T-lymphocyte infiltration on prognosis in ovarian cancer [8][9][10][11][12][13]. The presence of TILs (especially ...

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Cutaneous metastases of bladder carcinoma are very rare. The rate of cutaneous metastasis in urologic malignancies is 1.3% and this rate was found to be 0.84% for bladder carcinomas. Cutaneous metastasis of bladder carcinoma can be confused with cellulitis. This case report presents a 60-year-old patient operated on for bladder carcinoma and undergoing treatment for cellulitis because of erythematous lesions appearing in the suprapubic region in the early postoperative period. As there was no response to antibiotic treatment, skin biopsy was performed and cutaneous metastasis was diagnosed. Subsequently, chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine was started. The prognosis of bladder carcinoma with cutaneous metastasis has been reported to be poor.