Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:50:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-01-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Em casos de carcinoma gástrico, para contribuir ao conhecimento do processo de carcinogênese: Objetivo: Estudar a expressão das proteínas da família Bcl-2 (BcI-2, Bcl-xl, Bak, Bad, Bax). Correlacionar a expressão destas proteínas com 0 índice apoptótico mediante a expressão da proteína Caspase 3 clivada, com 0 índice mit6tico mediante a expressão da proteína Ki-67 e com a expressão da proteína p53. Método: Técnica de arranjo em matriz de amostras teciduais (TMA): em 87 amostras de adenocarcinomas gástricos (grupo teste) e de mucosa gástrica não tumoral (grupo controle) foi avaliada a imuno-expressão das proteínas da família BcI-2 (BeI-2, Bcl-xl, Bak, Bad, Bax), da proteína p53, da proteína caspase 3 e da proteína Ki-67. Resultados: Todas as proteínas examinadas foram observadas nos adenocarcinomas e mucosa não tumoral, porem com diferenças de expressão em relação à porcentagem de positividade e intensidade. Observamos: i) Houve associação entre 0 tamanho do tumor e a proteína p53. ii) Houve associação da proteína Bad no adenocarcinoma com a idade dos pacientes. iii) Associação das proteínas Bax, Bad e Ki-67 com 0 adenocarcinoma de tipo intestinal. iv) As proteínas Bcl-xl, Bak, Bad, p53 e Ki-67 apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre a imuno-expressão no tumor e na mucosa não tumoral. v) Associação das proteínas Bax, Bak e Bad na mucosa não tumoral. vi) Não houve correlação da imunoexpressão das proteínas com a sobrevida dos pacientes. Conclusão: A expressão aumentada da proteína Bcl-xl nos adenocarcinomas, com evidente diferença de expressão entre 0 grupo teste e 0 grupo controle, esta relacionada com 0 efeito anti-apoptótico da proteína. A expressão reduzida das proteínas Bak e Bad e a expressão aumentada das proteínas p53 e Ki-67 nos adenocarcinomas demonstram 0 desequilíbrio entre morte e proliferação celular, permitindo 0 crescimento descontrolado das células neoplásicas. / Purpose: To study the immunoexpression of Bcl-2 family proteins (Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, Bax, Bak, Bad) and to evaluate the correlation between the immunoexpression of these proteins with the cleaved caspases 3, Ki-67 and p53 immuno-expression. Methods: A TMA paraffin block was constructed with gastric carcinoma tissue (test group) and normal gastric adjoining mucosa (control group) of 87 patients. The TMA block was submitted to immunohistochemistry for Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, Bax, Bak, Bad, p53 and-cleaved Caspase 3. Results: All studied proteins were present in tumor and normal gastric adjoining mucosa, but with different intensity and amount of positive cells. i) There was an association between tumor size and p53 expression. ii) association between Bad expression in the tumor and patient’s age. iii) Intestinal type adenocarcinoma was positively correlated with the expression of Bax, Bad and Ki-67. iv) The protein Bcl-xl, Bak, Bad, p53 and Ki-67 showed statistically significant differences between the immuno-expression in tumor and normal gastric adjoining mucosa. v) There was an association between the proteins Bax, Bak and Bad expression in the normal gastric adjoining mucosa. vi) No correlation between patient’s survival rates and the expression of the proteins was observed. Conclusions: The higher expression of Bcl-xl protein in adenocarcinoma, the difference of Bcl-xl expression between test group and control group, might be related with the anti-apoptotic effect of this protein. The lower expression of Bak and Bad and the increased expression of p53 protein and Ki-67 protein in adenocarcinomas demonstrate the imbalance between death and cellular proliferation, which allows the uncontrolled tumor cell proliferation. / FAPESP: 04/09932-4 / FAPESP: 06/54187-0 / TEDE

The human genome contains tens of thousands of gene loci which code for an even greater number of protein and RNA products. The highly complex temporal and spatial expression of these genes makes possible all the biological processes of life. Altered gene expression by mutation or deregulation is fundamental for the development of many human diseases. The ultimate aim of this thesis was to identify gene expression changes relevant to cancer. The advent of genome-wide expression profiling techniques, such as microarrays, has provided powerful new tools to identify such changes and researchers are now faced with an explosion of gene expression data. Processing, comparing and integrating these data present major challenges. I approached these challenges by developing and assessing novel methods for cross-platform analysis of expression data, scalable subspace clustering, and curation of experimental gene regulation data from the published literature. I found that combining results from different expression platforms increases reliability of coexpression predictions. However, I also observed that global correlation between platforms was generally low, and few gene pairs reached reasonable thresholds for high-confidence coexpression. Therefore, I developed a novel subspace clustering algorithm, able to identify coexpressed genes in experimental subsets of very large gene expression datasets. Biological assessment against several metrics indicates that this algorithm performs well. I also developed a novel meta-analysis method to identify consistently reported genes from differential expression studies when raw data are unavailable. This method was applied to thyroid cancer, producing a ranked list of significantly over-represented genes. Tissue microarray analysis of some of these candidates and others identified a number of promising biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic classification of thyroid cancer. Finally, I present ORegAnno (www.oreganno.org), a resource for the community-driven curation of experimentally verified regulatory sequences. This resource has proven a great success with ~30,000 sequences entered from over 900 publications by ~50 contributing users. These data, methods and resources contribute to our overall understanding of gene regulation, gene expression, and the changes that occur in cancer. Such an understanding should help identify new cancer mechanisms, potential treatment targets, and have significant diagnostic and prognostic implications. / Medicine, Faculty of / Medical Genetics, Department of / Graduate

Rektalcancer drabbar cirka 2000 personer i Sverige per år. Trots förbättringar i preoperativ utredning och behandling, utgör fortfarande lokalrecidiv (lokalt återfall i bäckenet) ett allvarligt problem. I dagsläget överlever inte majoriteten av patienterna som får ett lokalrecidiv. För närvarande finns det inga kliniskt introducerade prognostiska vävnadsmarkörer för risken att utveckla ett lokalrecidiv. Identifieringen av en sådan markör skulle kunna leda till att en individuell behandlingsplan skapas för patienten, både primärt och postoperativt samt för uppföljning. Patienter med högre risk att utveckla lokalrecidiv skulle identifieras i ett tidigare skede. Proteinet ezrin har rapporterats vara en potentiell tumörmarkör vid olika cancerformer. Association mellan ett högt uttryck av ezrin och dålig prognos har påvisats. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om ezrin är en prognosmarkör för rektalcancer. Därigenom skulle eventuellt en förbättrad individbaserad behandlingsplan kunna skapas. Detta genom framställning av vävnadsklotsar med tekniken tissue microarray för att därefter utföra immunhistokemisk färgning för detektion av förekomsten av ezrin. Patienterna utgör en kontrollgrupp omfattande patienter som inte har utvecklat lokalrecidiv. I en case-only studie av Jörgren et al. (2010), med patienter som utvecklat lokalrecidiv fem år från primäroperation, visades att ezrin skulle kunna vara användbar som en prognosmarkör för rektalcancer. I 19,4 % (59/304) bedömdes färgintensiteten i vävnadscytoplasman som svag, som måttlig i 56,9 % (173/304) och som intensiv i 23,7 % (72/304). Intensiteten av cytoplasmafärgningen för ezrin ska analyseras multivariat och dess eventuella prognostiska betydelse värderas. / Yearly, about 2000 persons in Sweden are diagnosed with rectal cancer. Although advances have been made in tumour detection and its treatment, local recurrence still represents a severe matter. A majority of the patients diagnosed with local recurrence will not survive. There are no clinically available prognostic tissue markers for rectal cancer patients concerning the risk of local recurrence at the moment. The identification of a prognostic marker could lead to the development of an individualized treatment plan for the patient, both primarily and postoperatively as well as in follow-up. Several published papers have shown that the protein ezrin could be a potential tumour marker in various tumours. Association between high ezrin expression and poor prognosis has been demonstrated. The aim of this study was to further explore if ezrin may function as a prognostic marker for rectal. This by manufacturing tissue blocks utilizing the technique of tissue microarray that were stained immunohistochemically for ezrin. By analysing the expression of ezrin in the tumour cell cytoplasms microscopically by determining the colour intensity. Patients in the study form a control group consisting of only patients that did not develop a local recurrence. The ezrin expression of the control group will be compared to the results from the study of Jörgren et al. (2010) on rectal cancer patients who developed local recurrence within 5 years of surgery, where it was shown that ezrin expression could be used as a prognostic marker for rectal cancer. In 19,4% (59/304) the expression intensity of the tumour cells cytoplasm was assessed as weak, as moderate in 56,9% (173/304) and as intense in 23,7% (72/304). The intensity of the ezrin expression will be analysed multivariately, and the prognostic value further evaluated.

Immunohistokemi (IHK) är en metod som används för att undersöka närvaron av specifika biomarkörer i vävnad. Metoden utnyttjar antikroppars affinitet till antigen och dess närvaro visualiseras. Caldesmon är ett protein associerat med cytoskelettet som förekommer i glatta muskelceller och i icke-muskelceller. Det används inom IHK som en glatt muskelmarkör men även som en markör för myoepiteliet. Syftet med studien var att utveckla ett nytt protokoll för caldesmon och att jämföra den med SMMS-1, även den en markör för glatt muskulatur och myoepiteliet. Jämförelsen utfördes på fibroadenom vävnad, en bröstcancerform som utvecklats ur epitelialvävnad och stroma, då den innehåller mycket myoepitelial celler. För att effektivisera processen användes tissue microarray tekniken, där vävnad från flera olika preparat (klotsar) stansades ut och sammanfördes till en ny klots. Instrumentet Ventana Benchmark Ultra användes för att utveckla ett nytt protokoll för caldesmon. Det nya protokollet användes sedan vid jämförelsen med SMMS-1. Resultatet visade att SMMS-1 gav en tydligare infärgning av det myoepiteliala lagret då det enbart färgade in det, medan caldesmon även färgade in stroma. Då fibroadenom vävnad innehöll mycket stroma var det svårare att urskilja det myoepiteliala lagret från dess omgivning med caldesmon infärgningen. / Immunohistochemistry (IHC), is a method used for examining the presence of specific biomarkers in tissue. It uses antibodies affinity for antigens and their presence can then be visualized. Caldesmon is a protein that is associated with the cytoskeleton in smooth muscle and non-smooth muscle cells. It is used within IHC as a marker for smooth muscle but also as a marker for the myoepithelium. The intent of this study was to develop a new protocol for caldesmon and to compare it with SMMS-1, also a marker for smooth muscle and the myoepithelium. The comparison was performed on tissue from fibroadenoma, a type of breast cancer that evolved from epithelial tissue and stroma, due to its high content of myoepithelial cells. For optimal effectiveness, the tissue microarray technique was used, where tissue from several blocks are extracted and brought together into a single new block. A Ventana Benchmark Ultra was used to develop a new protocol for the new antibody, caldesmon. The new protocol was used in the comparison with SMMS-1 on fibroadenoma tissue. The results were that SMMS-1 had a clearer and sharper staining of the myoepithelial layer, due to the fact that it only stained the layer. While caldesmon also stained the stroma in the tissue. Because fibroadenom tissue contained so much stroma the staining done with caldesmon made it harder to separate the myoepithelial layer from its surroundings.

Yes / Matched healthy and diseased tissues from breast cancer patients were analyzed by quantitative proteomics. By comparing proteomic profiles of fibroadenoma (benign tumors, three patients), DCIS (noninvasive cancer, three patients), and invasive ductal carcinoma (four patients), we identified protein alterations that correlated with breast cancer progression. Three 8-plex iTRAQ experiments generated an average of 826 protein identifications, of which 402 were common. After excluding those originating from blood, 59 proteins were significantly changed in tumor compared with normal tissues, with the majority associated with invasive carcinomas. Bioinformatics analysis identified relationships between proteins in this subset including roles in redox regulation, lipid transport, protein folding, and proteasomal degradation, with a substantial number increased in expression due to Myc oncogene activation. Three target proteins, cofilin-1 and p23 (increased in invasive carcinoma) and membrane copper amine oxidase 3 (decreased in invasive carcinoma), were subjected to further validation. All three were observed in phenotype-specific breast cancer cell lines, normal (nontransformed) breast cell lines, and primary breast epithelial cells by Western blotting, but only cofilin-1 and p23 were detected by multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry analysis. All three proteins were detected by both analytical approaches in matched tissue biopsies emulating the response observed with proteomics analysis. Tissue microarray analysis (361 patients) indicated cofilin-1 staining positively correlating with tumor grade and p23 staining with ER positive status; both therefore merit further investigation as potential biomarkers. / Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, Yorkshire Cancer Research

INTODUÇÃO: O carcinoma renal (CR) é uma doença agressiva, e sua incidência vem aumentando. A variante de células claras (CRCC) é a mais comum e apresenta comportamento biológico mais agressivo. Os recentes avanços no conhecimento da biologia molecular do tumor demonstram que a oncogênese dos diversos tipos histológicos é regida por mecanismos celulares diversos. Os modelos prognósticos atuais vêm procurando incorporar os recentes avanços da biologia molecular, com o intuito de melhorar sua capacidade de predizer a evolução e o desfecho destes pacientes. OBJETIVOS: Correlacionar a imunoexpressão dos marcadores selecionados com: 1) sobrevida global e, 2) com parâmetros prognósticos estabelecidos (estadio clínico TNM, tamanho tumoral, grau nuclear de Fuhrman, invasão microvascular e invasão de gordura perirrenal) em portadores de CRCC não metastático. MÉTODOS: Neste estudo de coorte retrospectivo, avaliamos 99 pacientes portadores de CRCC não metastático, quanto à expressão imunoistoquímica das seguintes proteínas: CA-IX, EGF-R, Ki-67, p53, PTEN, VEGF e VEGF-R. Os parâmetros analisados foram: Sobrevida global, estadio TNM, tamanho tumoral, grau nuclear de Fuhrman, invasão microvascular e invasão de gordura perirrenal. Utilizamos um tissue microarray construído exclusivamente para esta finalidade e realizamos a leitura da imunoexpressão por técnica digital utilizando o software Photoshop®. RESULTADOS: O tempo de seguimento médio foi de 7,9 anos. Com relação à sobrevida global, não observamos sua correlação com nenhum dos marcadores avaliados. Quanto à correlação da expressão dos marcadores com os parâmetros prognósticos convencionais, observamos que a expressão do EGF-R se correlacionou com estadio T (p= 0,049) e invasão da gordura perirrenal (p=0,020); e o VEGF-R se correlacionou com grau de Fuhrman (p=0,022) e invasão microvascular (p=0,005). Nos demais marcadores, não foi observada correlação significativa. CONCLUSÃO: Os fatores prognósticos moleculares EGF-R e VEGF-R apresentam-se como ferramentas úteis para avaliação do risco de prognóstico desfavorável em portadores de carcinoma renal de células claras não metastático / INTODUCTION: Renal cell carcinoma is an aggressive disease and its incidence is rising. The clear cell variant is the most common, and also the most aggressive. Recent advances in the understanding of the tumors molecular biology indicate that the oncogenesis of each histologic subtype is controlled by distinct cellular mechanisms. Current prognostic models are gradually incorporating the advances in molecular biology, in the hope to improve their predictive capacity. OBJECTIVES: To correlate the immunoexpression of selected markers with 1) overall survival, and 2) with established prognostic parameters (clinical TNM stage, tumor size, Fuhrman nuclear grade, microvascular invasion and perirenal fat invasion) in patients with non-metastatic ccRCC. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study, we evaluated 99 patients with non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma, as to the expression of the following proteins: CA-IX, EGF-R, Ki-67, p53, PTEN, VEGF e VEGF-R. The analyzed parameters where: overall survival, TNM stage, tumor size, Fuhrman nuclear grade, microvascular invasion, perirenal fat invasion. We utilized a custom built tissue microarray, and the immunoexpression was digitally quantified using the Photoshop® software. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 7,9 years. We found no correlation between the expression of the studied molecular markers and overall survival. As for the conventional prognostic parameters, we found the expression of EGF-R to correlate with T stage (p= 0,049) and perirenal fat invasion (p= 0,020), and VEGF-R to correlate with Fuhrman nuclear grade (p= 0,022) and microvascular invasion (p= 0,022). None of the other markers showed correlation with the studied parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of EGF-R and VEGF-R may be useful tools in the prognostic evaluation of unfavorable risk in patients with non metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Background. Angiogenesis is essential for tumour growth. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its isoforms were investigated in relation to the clinical course in a large number of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Methods. RCC subtypes and behaviour were established by clinicopathological criteria and surveillance. VEGF expression was analysed in serum by enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) and in tumour tissue by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and Western blot (WB). Results. Serum VEGF (S-VEGF) was increased in RCC compared to control group. S-VEGF correlated with tumour stage and grade and was associated with survival in men but not in women. S-VEGF correlated with blood platelet counts, which were inversely correlated to increasing age in women, and they were decreased in chronically medicated patients, particularly in men. In contrast to S-VEGF, platelet counts associated with survival only in patients free of medication and chronic diseases. RT-PCR showed a correlation between VEGF121/VEGF165 mRNA and between VEGF165/VEGF-R1 mRNA. There was no association between different VEGF mRNA isoforms and S-VEGF. Conventional renal cell carcinoma (CRCC) had higher VEGF165, VEGF121, and VEGF-R1 mRNA levels compared with papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC). IHC VEGF staining was strong in kidney cortex. Kidney tumour showed a considerable variation in cytoplasmatic VEGF expression, which correlated with tumour size. Although, there was no difference in VEGF expression between the RCC types, VEGF expression was associated with survival only in CRCC. WB showed a strong protein expression of both VEGF189 and VEGF165 in kidney cortex. In kidney tumour, expression of VEGF189 varied the most, VEGF165 less so, and VEGF121 was rarely detected. Both CRCC and PRCC expressed low levels of VEGF189 and VEGF165 compared with kidney cortex. Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) expressed VEGF189 levels comparable to those from kidney cortex, while VEGF165 was lower. In PRCC and ChRCC, VEGF189 levels correlated inversely with advancing tumour stage, and in PRCC, VEGF165 levels correlated inversely with increasing tumour size. VEGF189 was an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with PRCC. Conclusions. S-VEGF has a stronger association to progression in RCC than platelet count. CRCC showed high levels of VEGF mRNA isoforms and VEGF-R1 mRNA compared to PRCC. VEGF mRNA isoforms expression decreased with advancing stage. IHC demonstrated VEGF expression in cell cytoplasm related to tumour growth, particular in CRCC. Different VEGF isoform patterns were found in different RCC types. Protein VEGF189 expression was associated with tumour stage and was an independent prognostic factor in PRCC. Protein VEGF165 expression was generally low and had no prognostic value. The trend for decreasing levels of VEGF isoforms in advanced tumour stages may indicate that angiogenic activity is an early event in tumour growth induced by VEGF, but that during later tumour progression the role of VEGF is less clear.

Non-small cell lung carcinoma is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. There are gender and smoking associated differences both in tumour types and clinical outcome. Squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) are more frequent among smoking men while females develop adenocarcinomas (ADCA). NSCLC among never smokers are mainly ADCA, and occurs mostly in females. The present thesis elucidates the role of estrogen receptor (ER) and epidermal growth factor receptor family (EGFR/HER2-4) in NSCLC in the perspective of gender and histology as well as the influence of smoking on those biomarkers. A recently developed technique, tissue micro array (TMA), was employed.The question of how much of a tumour tissue that needed to be included in a TMA for biomarker analysis was analyzed by a statistical approach. Data indicates a sample size of three cylinders of tumour tissue with a diameter of 0.6 mm each as being appropriate and cost-effective. In order to optimally use the up to thousands of different tumour samples within a TMA, it would be optimal to serially cut and store slides before performing in situ detection of proteins and nucleic acids. Applying up to date methodology, and by evaluation with image analysis, data are presented that shows that such handling of TMA slides would be possible without any loss of biomarker information. ERα is more frequently observed in ADCA and in females and a local estradiol synthesis is supported by the presence of aromatase. ERβ is identified as a positive prognostic marker in ADCA. Smoking is associated to increased levels of ERβ mRNA. EGFR over expression is associated with a ligand. Independent phosporylation of ERα. HER-4 intracellular domain may also act as a co-activator to ERα in ADCA, especially among neversmokers. The question of ER and EGFR family signalling crosstalk as a potential target for combined targeted therapy is raised.

INTODUÇÃO: O carcinoma renal (CR) é uma doença agressiva, e sua incidência vem aumentando. A variante de células claras (CRCC) é a mais comum e apresenta comportamento biológico mais agressivo. Os recentes avanços no conhecimento da biologia molecular do tumor demonstram que a oncogênese dos diversos tipos histológicos é regida por mecanismos celulares diversos. Os modelos prognósticos atuais vêm procurando incorporar os recentes avanços da biologia molecular, com o intuito de melhorar sua capacidade de predizer a evolução e o desfecho destes pacientes. OBJETIVOS: Correlacionar a imunoexpressão dos marcadores selecionados com: 1) sobrevida global e, 2) com parâmetros prognósticos estabelecidos (estadio clínico TNM, tamanho tumoral, grau nuclear de Fuhrman, invasão microvascular e invasão de gordura perirrenal) em portadores de CRCC não metastático. MÉTODOS: Neste estudo de coorte retrospectivo, avaliamos 99 pacientes portadores de CRCC não metastático, quanto à expressão imunoistoquímica das seguintes proteínas: CA-IX, EGF-R, Ki-67, p53, PTEN, VEGF e VEGF-R. Os parâmetros analisados foram: Sobrevida global, estadio TNM, tamanho tumoral, grau nuclear de Fuhrman, invasão microvascular e invasão de gordura perirrenal. Utilizamos um tissue microarray construído exclusivamente para esta finalidade e realizamos a leitura da imunoexpressão por técnica digital utilizando o software Photoshop®. RESULTADOS: O tempo de seguimento médio foi de 7,9 anos. Com relação à sobrevida global, não observamos sua correlação com nenhum dos marcadores avaliados. Quanto à correlação da expressão dos marcadores com os parâmetros prognósticos convencionais, observamos que a expressão do EGF-R se correlacionou com estadio T (p= 0,049) e invasão da gordura perirrenal (p=0,020); e o VEGF-R se correlacionou com grau de Fuhrman (p=0,022) e invasão microvascular (p=0,005). Nos demais marcadores, não foi observada correlação significativa. CONCLUSÃO: Os fatores prognósticos moleculares EGF-R e VEGF-R apresentam-se como ferramentas úteis para avaliação do risco de prognóstico desfavorável em portadores de carcinoma renal de células claras não metastático / INTODUCTION: Renal cell carcinoma is an aggressive disease and its incidence is rising. The clear cell variant is the most common, and also the most aggressive. Recent advances in the understanding of the tumors molecular biology indicate that the oncogenesis of each histologic subtype is controlled by distinct cellular mechanisms. Current prognostic models are gradually incorporating the advances in molecular biology, in the hope to improve their predictive capacity. OBJECTIVES: To correlate the immunoexpression of selected markers with 1) overall survival, and 2) with established prognostic parameters (clinical TNM stage, tumor size, Fuhrman nuclear grade, microvascular invasion and perirenal fat invasion) in patients with non-metastatic ccRCC. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study, we evaluated 99 patients with non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma, as to the expression of the following proteins: CA-IX, EGF-R, Ki-67, p53, PTEN, VEGF e VEGF-R. The analyzed parameters where: overall survival, TNM stage, tumor size, Fuhrman nuclear grade, microvascular invasion, perirenal fat invasion. We utilized a custom built tissue microarray, and the immunoexpression was digitally quantified using the Photoshop® software. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 7,9 years. We found no correlation between the expression of the studied molecular markers and overall survival. As for the conventional prognostic parameters, we found the expression of EGF-R to correlate with T stage (p= 0,049) and perirenal fat invasion (p= 0,020), and VEGF-R to correlate with Fuhrman nuclear grade (p= 0,022) and microvascular invasion (p= 0,022). None of the other markers showed correlation with the studied parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of EGF-R and VEGF-R may be useful tools in the prognostic evaluation of unfavorable risk in patients with non metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Au Canada, on estime qu'une femme sur neuf développera un cancer du sein et qu'une femme sur vingt-huit en mourra. Les carcinomes mammaires de phénotype basal qui comprennent environ 15 à 25% des cancers envahissants du sein sont des tumeurs malignes ayant un très mauvais pronostic. Dans ce type tumoral, les métastases sont fréquentes et les décès nombreux. La formation des métastases est un processus complexe qui comprend plusieurs étapes; chacune peut être étudiée par des marqueurs spécifiques. Notre hypothèse de recherche est que le carcinome mammaire de phénotype basal possède des caractéristiques spécifiques qui permettent d'expliquer son potentiel métastatique élevé. Six micromatrices tissulaires comprenant un total de 213 tumeurs mammaires ont été confectionnées. L'expression des marqueurs usuels de la métastase et celle de nouveaux marqueurs a été étudiée par des techniques d'immunohistochimie. L'étude comparative de l’expression des marqueurs du potentiel métastatique par les carcinomes mammaires de phénotype basal indique que les protéines Ki-67, EGFR, CD276 et galectine-7 sont étroitement reliées à ce type de cancer. De plus, l'expression du marqueur GATA-3, un marqueur anti-métastatique, fait complètement défaut. Nos résultats confirment que le cancer du sein de phénotype basal possède un plus grand potentiel métastatique que les autres sous-types génétiques et suggèrent que la galectine-7 puisse être impliquée. / In Canada, we estimate that one woman in nine will develop a breast cancer, and one woman in twenty-eight will succumb of her disease. The basal-like breast cancer which represents 15 to 25% of invasive breast cancer, is associated with a poor prognosis. Metastases are the main cause of mortality for patients affected from cancer. Many steps are involved in the metastatic cascade. Each step can be studied using specific markers. Our research hypothesis is that basal-like breast cancer have distinct charactheristics which can explain their higher metastatic potential and poor overall survival. Six tissue microarrays comprising a total of 213 breast tumors were assembled. The relative expression of conventional and putative metastasis related markers was studied using immunohistochemistry. When the expression of metastatic potential markers was evaluated in breast carcinomas, basal-like breast cancer was found to express higher levels of Ki-67, EGFR, CD276 and galectin-7. Furthermore, GATA-3, an antimetastatic protein, was found to be completely absent in basal-cell type breast cancers. Our results confirm that the basal-like breast cancer has a highest metastatic potential than the other molecular subtypes and suggest that galectin-7 may play a role.