• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10401-10405
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• 2015

Background: Molecular prognostic markers have been under investigation for the last decade and no validated marker to date has been proven to be used in daily clinical practice for urinary bladder cancers. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the significance of HYAL-1 expression in prediction of recurrence and progression in pT1 urothelial carcinomas. Materials and Methods: Eighty-nine urothelial carcinoma cases staged as T1 according to 2004 WHO classification were studied. Representative sections from every case were stained immunohistochemically for HYAL-1 and scored between 0 and +3, according to staining density, and graded as low and high for the scores 0-1 and 2-3, respectively. Results: Of the 89 pT1 bladder cancer patients, HYAL-1 expression was high in 92.1% (82 patients; 72 patients +3 and 10 patients +2) and low in 7.9% (only 7 patients; 6 patients +1 and 1 patient 0) of the cases. Of the 89 patients, 38 (42.7%) had recurrence and 22 (24.7%) showed progression. HYAL-1 staining did not show significant characteristics for tumor grade, accompanying CIS, multiplicity, tumor size, age and sex. HYAL-1 expression did not have any prognostic value in estimating recurrence or progression. Conclusions: HYAL-1 expression was found to be high, but did not have any prognostic importance in T1 bladder urothelial carcinomas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1563-1566
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• 2014

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) accounts for most esophageal cancer in Asia, and is the sixth common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Previous studies indicated HOXB7 is overexpressed in ESCC tissues, but data on prognostic value are limited. Methods: A total of 76 advanced ESCC cases were investigated. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect the expression levels of HOXB7 and Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models to determine prognostic significance. Stratified analysis was also performed according to lymph node (LN) status. Results: Kaplan-Meier curve analysis indicated that HOXB7 positive patients had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than HOXB7 negative patients. Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model indicated only TNM stage and HOXB7 expression to be independent predictors of overall survival of advanced ESCC patients. HOXB7 indicated poor OS in both lymph node negative (LN-) and lymph node positive (LN+) patients. Conclusion: HOXB7 predicts poor prognosis of advanced ESCC patients and can be applied as an independent prognostic predictor.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5319-5323
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• 2015

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of Ki-67 and subjective microvascular density (SMVD) indexes together with other factors in patients with oligodendroglioma. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, oligodendroglioma specimens obtained from twenty-five consecutive patients were evaluated for Ki-67 and SMVD indices to help determine histological grading and investigate the fidelity of these markers in clinical prognosis. Other potentially prognostic factors were Karnofsky performance scale, tumor histological grade, and adjuvant radiotherapy. Results: The Ki-67 proliferation index appeared to have a strong correlation with the grade of the tumor and the survival. Age, gender, adjuvant radiotherapy, surgical resection type (complete versus incomplete) did not have any influence on recurrence. The SMVD index correlated significantly with the 3 to 5-year survival. Conclusions: Ki-67 and MVD indexes are important and useful markers in estimating the prognosis of oligodendrogliomas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3427-3430
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• 2012

Aim: The significance of the mucinous adenocarcinoma in TNM staging and prognosis for colorectal tumor patients is still controversial. The aim was to provide a meta-analysis for TNM staging and prognostic features of colorectal tumors. Methods: 30 individual case-control studies were finally included into this meta-analysis, involving a total of 444,489 cancer cases and 45,050 mucinous adenocarcinomas, of relations with TNM staging and prognostic features. Results: Compared to non-mucinous adenocarcinoma patients, the TNM IV stage accounted for a larger percentage of mucinous adenocarcinomas (OR=1.48, 95%CI 1.28-1.71, POR<0.001) and the prognosis was significantly poor (HR=1.06, 95%CI 1.04-1.08, P<0.001). After heterogeneity testing, the results was similar to the holistic approach outcome (HR=1.48, 95%CI 1.35-1.62, P<0.001). Conclusion: Compared to patients with non-mucinous adenocarcinomas, mucinous adenocarcinoma patients with later TNM staging make up a big percentage, and mucinous adenocarcinoma is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.76-80
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• 1991

To evaluate the prognostic significance of $^{99m}Tc-phytate$ liver scintigraphy in patients with cirrhosis, we measured the grade of extrahepatic uptake (EHU) of $^{99m}Tc-phytate$, from 0 (absent EHU) to 5 (important EHU), according to the relative distribution of the radiotracer among liver, spleen and bone marrow. The results were as follows: 1) EHU score was correlated to the Pugh score (r=0.64) and to survival. 2) The ROC curve on an observed status of death was superior for EHU score. In conclusion, $^{99m}Tc-phytate$ liver scintigraphy nay be a useful prognostic method in patients with liver cirrhosis.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2005

Background and Objectives: Because of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck undergoes a generally poor hospital course, the prognostic significance of the squamous cell carcinomas in head and neck have been evaluated to identify those features associated with aggressive biologic behavior according to the immunologic and histopathologic characteristics. Materials and Method: To assess the significance of EGFR, c-erbB-2, p21 and p53 protein in head and neck tumors and their correlation with prognostic factors, samples from 74 patients with squamous cell carcinomas of larynx, pharynx, and oral cavity were studied immunohistochemically. Results: EGFR, c-erbB-2, p21, and p53 protein were expressed 94.6%, 24.3%, 85.1%, and 55.4% in 74 cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. The positive expression of EGFR was associated significantly with clinical stage and the negative expressions of p21 was associated significantly with histopathologic differentiation. There were no significant relationships between the reactivity of EGFR, c-erbB-2, p21, and p53 protein. Conclusion: The expression of EGFR, c-erbB-2, p21 and p53 protein could be related to oncogenesis, and the expression of p21 and EGFR protein can be used as a prognosticator in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma under certain limitations, but c-erbB-2 and p53 protein expression alone is not enough for evaluating prognosis of the carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5709-5714
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• 2015

Aim: To assess the treatment outcome in patients with malignant skin melanoma and prognostic factors for distant metastases (DM), disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 113 patients with malignant skin melanoma (60 females, 53 males, average age-55 years) who were treated surgically. Primary treatment consisted of local excision. In 12 cases, it was accompanied by lymph node excision. In 93 (82%) cases, radicalization was necessary, which was either local only (19 cases) or accompanied by lymph node surgery/biopsy (74 cases). Possible prognostic factors such as Clark's stage and Breslow's depth of invasion, ulceration, average tumor dimensions, lymph nodes metastases (pN+), gender, tumor location and primary excision margins were considered. Results: In 51 (45%) cases, treatment failure occurred. The 5-year DM rate was 47%, the 5-year DFS was 38%, and the 5-year OS was 56%. In the univariate analysis, the important factors with respect to at least one endpoint included Clark's stage, Breslow's depth of invasion, ulceration, average tumor dimensions, lymph nodes metastases, gender and primary tumor localization. The presence of metastasic nodes was the most important prognostic factor, with a 5-year DM rates of 30% for pN(-) and 76% for pN(+) and a 5-year DFS and OS of 56% and 76% for pN(-) and 13% and 24% for pN(+), respectively. The average tumor dimension was independently significant for DFS and OS, with 5-year rates of 69% and 80% for ${\leq}1cm$, 28% and 53% for 1-2 cm, and 18% and 30% for >2 cm, respectively. Tumor location was also significant for DM and OS, with 5-year rates of 69% vs 33% and 41% vs 66% for trunk vs other locations, respectively. Conclusions: The natural course of a malignant skin melanoma treated radically is disadvantageous, with unsuccessful outcome in nearly half of the cases. Common clinical factors, such as Clark's tumor stage, Breslow's depth of invasion and the presence of metastatic nodes, have high prognostic significance. The size and location of the primary lesion may be considered independent prognostic factors. The most important negative prognostic factor is the presence of metastatic regional lymph nodes. Only one quarter of patients with metastases in lymph nodes survive 5 years from primary surgery.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.957-964
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• 2010

Purpose: Our study attempted to determine the prognostic significance of minimal residual disease (MRD) detected by a simplified flow cytometric assay during induction chemotherapy in children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Methods: A total of 98 patients were newly diagnosed with precursor B-ALL from June 2004 to December 2008 at the Asan Medical Center (Seoul, Korea). Of those, 37 were eligible for flow cytometric MRD study analysis on day 14 of their induction treatment. The flow cytometric MRD assay was based on the expression intensity of CD19/CD10/CD34 or aberrant expression of myeloid antigens by bone marrow nucleated cells. Results: Thirty-five patients (94.6%) had CD19-positive leukemic cells that also expressed CD10 and/or CD34, and 18 (48.6%) had leukemic cells with aberrant expression of myeloid antigens. Seven patients with ${\geq}1%$ leukemic cells on day 14 had a significantly lower relapse-free survival (RFS) compared to the 30 patients with lower levels (42.9 % [18.7%] vs. 92.0% [5.4%], $P$=0.004). Stratification into 3 MRD groups (${\geq}1%$, 0.1-1%, and <0.1%) also showed a statistically significant difference in RFS (42.9% [18.7%] vs. 86.9% [8.7%] vs. 100%, $P$=0.013). However, the MRD status had no significant influence on overall survival. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the MRD level on day 14 was an independent prognostic factor with borderline significance. Conclusion: An MRD assay using simplified flow cytometry during induction chemotherapy may help to identify patients with B-ALL who have an excellent outcome and patients who are at higher risk for relapse.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.105-109
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• 2008

Background: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that plays an important role in cellular motility. Fascin is normally expressed in the neuronal and mesenchymal cells and its expression is low or absent in the epithelia. However, an overexpression of fascin has been linked to the invasive behavior of some neoplasms such as breast, stomach and ovarian tumors. In this study, we evaluated the expression of fascin and its prognostic significance in stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Immunohistochemical staining for fascin was performed on the paraffin-embeded tissue sections of 81 cases of resected NSCLC. Staining of more than 5% of the tumor cells was recorded as positive immunoreactivity. Results: Fascin expression was seen in 73% (59/81) of the cases and this was more frequently seen in squamous cell carcinoma than in adenocarcinoma (93% vs 42%). There were no significant correlations of fascin immunoreactivity with tumor recurrence and overall survival. Conclusion: The expression rate of fascin was relatively high in NSCLC, but this was without prognostic significance. The exact clinical role of fascin should be defined through further investigations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4115-4119
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• 2013

Background: Previous reports have shown that human epidermal receptor (HER)-3 overexpression may be associated with poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer, but results have been conflicting. In this study, we sought to investigate the prognostic significance of HER-3 immunohistochemical expression in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed HER-3 immunohistochemical expression profiles in 45 paraffin-embedded specimens from patients who had been treated between 1996 and 2006 in the Department of Oncology of the Uludag University School of Medicine, Bursa, Turkey. Membranous or cytoplasmic dominant expression patterns of HER-3 were analyzed using the Rajkumar score and a cytoplasmic 4-point scoring system, respectively. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) served as the main outcome measures. Results: The median PFS in the study participants was 9 months (interquartile range: 4.5-13 months), whereas the median OS was 20 months (interquartile range: 7.5-28 months). Categorization of the patient population according to HER-3 positive immunohistochemical expression did not reveal any statistically significant difference in terms of both PFS (p=0.70) and OS (p=0.81). The results of multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that tumor size was the only independent predictor of PFS, whereas estrogen and progesterone receptor status was independently associated with OS. Conclusions: HER-3 immunohistochemical expression did not correlate with outcomes in Turkish patients with metastatic breast cancer. Although our results suggest that HER-3 expression in cancer specimens is not of prognostic significance, further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these results.