Expression of a disintegrin and metalloprotease 8 and endostatin in human osteosarcoma: Implication in tumor progression and prognosis

Background: A disintegrin and metalloprotease 8 (ADAM8) is a trans-membrane protein, which is involved in cell adhesion, signaling and migration as well as the proteolytic cleavage of various substrates. Endostatin is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. ADAM8 and Endostatin have been associated with multiple malignancies. However, their role in osteosarcoma is not fully elucidated. Aim: To determine the expression of ADAM8 and endostatin in osteosarcoma and to study their correlation with different clinicopathological parameters and patients’ outcomes. Material and methods: ADAM8 and endostatin expression were immunohistochemically evaluated in 61 primary osteosarcomas and 11 pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma lesions. Results: Among 61 primary osteosarcomas, ADAM8 was detected in 52 tumors (85.2%) and highly expressed in 33 cases (54.1%). Positive endostatin expression was found in 28 tumors (45.9%). Higher ADAM8 and decreased endostatin expression rates in metastatic lesions compared to primary osteosarcoma were found but these differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.086 & 0.558 respectively). High ADAM8 expression score and positive endostatin expression were significantly correlated with tumor size, stage and distant metastasis (p < 0.05). Survival analysis showed that high ADAM8 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS) (p = 0.0002). Multivariate analysis revealed that ADAM8 expression level was an independent prognostic parameter for the OS (p = 0.017). Conclusion: Our data suggest that ADAM8 and endostatin play a role in osteosarcoma progression. High ADAM8 expression serves as a reliable marker for poor prognosis in osteosarcoma patients

Serum CYFRA 21-1 in Egyptian women with breast cancer

Introduction: Cytokeratin fragment 21.1 (CYFRA 21.1) assay detects a serum fragment of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and is employed in the diagnosis and management of lung cancer, particularly of squamous cell histotype. Breast carcinoma has been demonstrated to express CK19 fragments in the primary and metastatic lesions and CK19 mRNA is detectable in peripheral blood from patients affected by breast cancer. Aim of the work: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical significance of serum CYFRA21-1 in patients with breast cancer by analyzing the correlation between serum CYFRA21-1 titers, clinicopathological factors and prognosis in comparison with serum CA15.3 and CEA tested in the same samples. Subjects and methods: This study included 60 breast cancer patients and 25 healthy females as control group. Three blood samples were drawn from each patient, before surgery, two weeks after surgery and after 6 cycles of chemotherapy. One blood sample was drawn from each subject of control group. Serum was separated and kept frozen till used for estimation of CYFRA21-1 by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and serum CA15.3 and CEA by immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). Results: Serum CYFRA21-1 was highly elevated in breast cancer patients than in controls and was significantly associated with tumor size, clinical stage and axillary lymph node involvement. Serum CYFRA21-1 was superior to CA15.3 and CEA as a diagnostic marker for breast cancer using ROC curve analysis. Higher levels of serum CYFRA21-1 and CA15.3 were significantly associated with poor prognosis in primary breast cancer patients. Conclusions: The measurement of serum CYFRA 21-1 in breast cancer patients may be useful for detecting disease relapse and for assessing surgical and chemotherapeutic efficacy. Further prospective studies using greater number of patients are required to confirm our findings