The diagnostic significance of hCG and hPL via immunohistochemistry of placental tissues in pregnancies diagnosed with IUGR and IUD

Placentas of patients diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and intrauterine death (IUD) were examined by immunohistochemistry for alpha-beta subunits of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and human placental lactogen (hPL) antibodies, and compared with placentas from women with healthy pregnancies. In total, 114 subjects were evaluated. The patient group comprised 27 cases of IUGR and 57 of IUD, and the control group consisted of 30 women with normal pregnancies. Placental specimens were examined for primary antibodies using immunohistochemical techniques. Placentas from 22 cases of IUGR were stained positively for alpha-hCG. All 27 specimens obtained from this group were stained positively for beta-hCG and hPL. Among the cases of IUD, 44 placentas were stained positively for alpha-hCG, and all 57 specimens were stained positively for beta-hCG and hPL.

The prognostic importance of proliferative activity and oestrogen receptor expression in stage I endometrial carcinomas

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of steroid hormone receptor proliferation index in endometrial adenocarcinoma. In this study, the correlation between oestrogen receptor expression, proliferation index and FIGO grade, age, myometrial invasion, tumour size and menopause status was evaluated in 40 patients with endometrial carcinoma. For this purpose, all tumours were stained immunohistochemically with oestrogen receptor and Ki-67 monoclonal antibodies. Oestrogen receptor expression and proliferation indices were found to be statistically associated with grade, age, menopausal status, vascular invasion and tumour size ( p < 0.001). Quantitative assessment of tumour proliferation and expression of oestrogen receptor were found to be important prognostic indicators in endometrial adenocarcinoma.

Prognostic importance of the nucleolar organizer region score in ovarian epithelial tumors

OBJECTIVE

The score of the silver-stained nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) is frequently found to be high in malignant tumors. We studied AgNOR in ovarian epithelial tumors diagnosed in our hospital between 1993 and 1998.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

In our study 67 ovarian epithelial tumors (18 cystadenoma, 16 borderline type, 34 cystadenocarcinoma) were stained using the method previously described by Crocker. One-way ANOVA and logistic regression tests were used to find the statistical relationship between grade, recurrence, mortality rates and AgNOR scores in tumors (p values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant).

RESULTS

The mean AgNOR scores of 28 mucinous and 39 serous ovary tumors were calculated. The lowest AgNOR score of 1.33 was found in cystadenomas and the highest AgNOR score of 4.92 was found in serous and mucinous cystadenocarcinomas. In addition the relationship between mortality rate, recurrence and AgNOR score in carcinomas were studied.

CONCLUSION

AgNOR scores in carcinomas were found to be higher than adenomas, and the highest AgNOR score was found in grade-III carcinomas. This shows that the AgNOR score can be used as a prognostic index in malignancies.