The results of the present investigation indicate that low intratumoral tPA levels are associated with aggressiveness and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. However, the study suggests that tPA levels do not predict response to systemic adjuvant therapy.

We found a wide variability in tPA levels in gastric carcinoma and adjacent mucosa samples, with significantly decreased levels in tumors and a significantly positive relationship between tPA levels and ER status. There was a non-monotonic relationship between tPA levels and prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.

In this prospective study we have quantified by means of ELISA-methods the cytosolic content of estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PgR) in tumoral tissue and paired normal mucosa from 163 patients with resectable colorectal cancer. Survival analysis was performed in a subgroup of 120 patients and the mean follow-up period was 24.9 months. The cutoff for ER and PgR levels was set at 1 fmol/mg protein. On the basis of this cutoff 20.9% of the cancers were ER positive and 25.8% were PgR positive; normal adjacent tissue presented ER in 18.4% and PgR in 24.5%. Our results did not show any significant correlation between ER and PgR levels in neoplastic tissues. Howewer, a correlation was found in normal mucosa samples (p=0.02). Statistical analysis showed that there was no correlation between tumor ER and PgR content and patient age or sex, tumor location, Dukes' stage, histological differentiation, DNA ploidy status and S-phase fraction. Furthermore, the results did not show any statistical differences in relapse-free and overall survival curves calculated for patients classified according to the hormone receptor content of their tumors. ER and PgR were detected at low levels in normal and neoplastic colorectal tissues without any significant relationship to either clinicopathological tumor characteristics or patient outcome. Their possible role in colorectal cancer remains to be elucidated.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) content in gastric cancer, its possible relationship with clinicopathological parameters of tumors and its prognostic significance. Membranous EGFR levels were examined by radioligand binding assays in 110 patients with gastric cancer. The mean follow-up period was 30.7 months. EGFR levels of tumors ranged widely, from 0.3 to 510 fmol/mg protein. EGFR levels were significantly higher (p<0.0005) in neoplastic tissue than in paired adjacent mucosa samples (median) (n= 84; 8.7 vs. 3.9 fmol/mg protein). Intratumoral EGFR levels were significantly correlated with tumor stage (p<0.05), and were higher in patients with stage III tumors (median) (7.6, 6.4, 12.3 and 7.5 fmol/mg protein for stages I, II, III and IV, respectively). In addition, the tumor/mucosa ratios of the EGFR content were significantly higher (p<0.05) in patients with stage III tumors (1, 1.8, 3.9, and 0.92, respectively). Although there was no significant relationship between EGFR levels of tumors and overall survival, the results suggest a role for EGFR in tumor progression of gastric cancer.

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