Intratumoral Heterogeneity (intratumoral + heterogeneity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Can flow cytometrically determined DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction predict regional metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity?

HEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 2 2002
Ryoichi Oya DDS
Abstract Background The value of flow cytometric analysis of DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction (SPF) as an indicator of regional metastasis in oral cancer is currently being debated. Intratumoral heterogeneity makes this problem complex. Methods Intratumoral DNA ploidy heterogeneity and intratumoral SPF variation were examined using multiple specimens from 31 surgically resected specimens taken from patients with oral cancer without preoperative therapy. Flow cytometric analysis of single biopsy specimens from 79 patients with oral cancer was also undertaken to ascertain their value as indicators of regional metastasis. Results Forty-five percent (14 of 31) of tumors showed intratumoral ploidy heterogeneity. Intratumoral SPF variation in the 31 tumors ranged from 0.2% to 6.9% (mean, 3.3%). Multivariate analysis showed that a SPF greater than 27% was the most important parameter for predicting regional metastasis. Conclusions DNA ploidy is heterogeneous within a tumor, whereas SPF is relatively stable and can be correlated with regional metastasis in oral cancer. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]


ERBB2, TBX2, RPS6KB1, and MYC alterations in breast tissues of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

GENES, CHROMOSOMES AND CANCER, Issue 1 2004
Camilo Adem
Breast cancer risk is greatly increased in women who carry mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Because breast cancer initiation is different between BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and women who do not carry mutations, it is possible that the mechanism of breast cancer progression is also different. Histopathologic and genetic studies have supported this hypothesis. To test this hypothesis further, we utilized a large cohort of women who underwent therapeutic mastectomy (TM) and contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (PM). From this cohort, we developed case groups of women with a family history of breast cancer with BRCA1/2 deleterious mutations, with unclassified variant alterations, and with no detected mutation and matched these cases with sporadic controls from the same TM and PM cohort. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on paraffin sections by use of dual-color probes for ERBB2/CEP17, MYC/CEP8, TBX2/CEP17, and RPS6KB1/CEP17. All malignant and benign lesions, including putative precursor lesions, were studied. The invasive cancers from deleterious mutation carriers had a higher prevalence of duplication of MYC (P = 0.006) and TBX2 (P = 0.0008) compared to controls and a lower prevalence of ERBB2 amplification (P = 0.011). Coduplication of MYC and TBX2 was common in the in situ and invasive lesions from the deleterious mutation carriers. The odds ratio of having a BRCA1/2 mutation is 31.4 (95% CI = 1.7,569) when MYC and TBX2 are coduplicated but ERBB2 is normal. Unclassified variant carriers/no mutation detected and sporadic controls had a similar prevalence of alterations, suggesting that hereditary patients with no deleterious mutations follow a progression pathway similar to that of sporadic cases. With the exception of one atypical ductal hyperplasia lesion, no putative precursor lesion showed any detectable alteration of the probes tested. There was no significant intratumoral heterogeneity of genetic alterations. Our data confirm that a specific pattern of genomic instability characterizes BRCA1/2 -related cancers and that this pattern has implications for the biology of these cancers. Moreover, our current and previous results emphasize the interaction between phenotype and genotype in BRCA1/2 -related breast cancers and that a combination of morphologic features and alterations of ERBB2, MYC, and TBX2 may better define mechanisms of tumor progression, as well as determine which patients are more likely to carry BRCA1/2 mutations. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Heterogeneity of gene expression profiles in head and neck cancer

HEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 12 2007
Jimmy Pramana MD
Abstract Background. Results of gene expression profiling studies from different institutes often lack consistency. This could be due to the use of different microarray platforms and protocols, or to intratumoral heterogeneity in mRNA expression. The aim of our study was to quantify intratumoral heterogeneity in head and neck cancer. Methods. Forty-four fresh frozen biopsies were taken from 22 patients, 2 per tumor. RNA was extracted, tested for quality, amplified, labeled, and hybridized to a 35k oligoarray. Results. Unsupervised clustering analyses using all genes, the most variable genes, or random gene sets showed that 80% to 90% of biopsy pairs clustered together. A within-pair-between-pair scatter ratio analysis showed that the similarity between matching pairs was significantly greater than that between random pairs (p <.00001). Conclusions. Two biopsies from the same tumor show far greater similarity in gene expression than biopsies from different tumors, supporting the use of 1 biopsy for expression profiling. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 2007 [source]


Telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression can be heterogeneous and does not correlate with telomere length in soft tissue sarcomas

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 6 2002
Pu Yan
Abstract In a previous study, we showed that telomerase activity (TA) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA expression were undetectable in benign mesenchymal lesions and low-grade soft tissue sarcomas (STSs), but detectable in about 50% of intermediate-/high-grade STSs. We wondered if this lack of TA or hTERT mRNA expression could be related to the tumor sample examined and if there was a relationship between the former 2 parameters and telomere length. Two separate tumor samples from 37 STSs were examined for telomerase activity, using the telomerase repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay and for hTERT mRNA expression, using RT-PCR. Telomere length was determined in each tumor sample, using the terminal restriction fragments (TRF) technique. Significant variations in telomere length, TA and hTERT mRNA expression between 2 samples of the same tumor were observed in 27%, 11% and 27% of STSs, respectively. Telomere length did not correlate with TA or hTERT mRNA expression. Despite great intratumoral heterogeneity in telomere length, short and long telomeres were more often seen in the low/intermediate-grade and high-grade STS categories, respectively. Few STSs that showed a TRF pattern suggestive of alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) may contain ALT subpopulations. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Formalin fixation and immunoreactivity in prostate cancer and benign prostatic tissues

APMIS, Issue 5 2010
SARA JONMARKER JARAJ
Jaraj SJ, Egevad L. Formalin fixation and immunoreactivity in prostate cancer and benign prostatic tissue. APMIS 2010; 118: 383,8. For better fixation, formalin injection of radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens has been suggested. We aimed to assess its effect on immunoreactivity using immunohistochemistry (IHC). A tissue microarray of cancer and benign tissues from 42 RP specimens was constructed. Twenty-one of the prostates had been injected with formalin prior to formalin immersion. IHC staining was performed using 15 antibodies, including nuclear and cytoplasmic markers known to be positive in prostate tissue: pan cytokeratin, P504S, high molecular weight (HMW) keratin, PSA, vimentin, actin HHF35, thioredoxin-1, peroxiredoxin-2, PDX-1, BAX, p27, androgen receptor (AR) and heat shock proteins (HSP) 27, 60 and 70. Differences in staining intensity in cancer and benign tissues were compared separately except for HMW keratin. Only 7 of 29 analyses showed significant differences between groups, including 5 of 15 antibodies. The expression of AR and HSP 27 was stronger in formalin-injected tissue, while the opposite was true for HSP 60, HSP 70 and peroxiredoxin-2. For most antibodies, formalin injection does not significantly affect immunoreactivity in prostate tissue. The staining variability caused by inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity may be greater than that caused by the fixation method. [source]


Histopathological characterization of primary cutaneous melanoma using infrared microimaging: a proof-of-concept study

BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2010
E. Ly
Summary Background, The diagnosis of malignant melanoma is based upon the histological evaluation of the lesion. As such, the morphological interpretation relies on the expertise of a dermatopathologist. Infrared microimaging is emerging as a new powerful tool to investigate tissue biochemistry. Infrared spectra probe the biochemical constitution of the sample and are real tissue-specific spectroscopic fingerprints. Objectives, To assess the potential of infrared microimaging to aid in the analysis of tissue sections from primary cutaneous melanomas. Methods, Ten samples of melanoma sections from the main histological subtypes were investigated using infrared microimaging combined with multivariate statistical analyses. Results, This methodology yielded highly contrasted colour-coded images that permitted to highlight tissue architecture without any staining. It was possible to discriminate tumour areas from normal epidermis automatically, and intratumoral heterogeneity as revealed by our approach was correlated with the aggressiveness of the tumour. Conclusions, This proof-of-concept study shows that infrared microimaging could help in the diagnosis of primary cutaneous melanoma. [source]