Decorin Expression in Human Vulva Carcinoma: Oncosuppressive Effect of Decorin cDNA Transduction on Carcinoma Cells

The extracellular matrix proteoglycan decorin is well-known for its oncosuppressive activity. Here, decorin expression was examined in human vulva carcinoma tissue samples and in primary and commercial cell lines representing this malignant disease. Furthermore, the effect of adenovirus-mediated decorin cDNA (Ad-DCN) transduction on the viability, proliferation, and the expression and activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB/HER) family members of the cell lines were investigated. Using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for decorin, it was demonstrated that malignant cells in human vulva carcinoma tissues lack decorin expression. This result was true independently on tumor stage, grade or human papillomavirus status. RT-qPCR analyses showed that the human vulva carcinoma cell lines used in this study were also negative for decorin expression. Transduction of the cell lines with Ad-DCN caused a marked reduction in cell viability, while the proliferation of the cells was not affected. Experiments examining potential mechanisms behind the oncosuppressive effect of Ad-DCN transduction revealed that ErbB2/HER2 expression and activity in carcinoma cells were markedly downregulated. In conclusion, the results of this study showed that human vulva carcinoma cells lack decorin expression, and that Ad-DCN transduction of these cells induces oncosuppressive activity in part via downregulation of ErbB2/HER2.</p

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer was introduced several years ago. Despite the evidence supporting its use in clinical practice, only a minority of patients who undergo radical cystectomy receive preoperative chemotherapy. In addition, recommendations and methods to detect patients who would benefit the most from NAC are still unclear. The European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines panel on muscle-invasive and metastatic bladder cancer recommends the use of cisplatin-based NAC for T2-T4a, cN0 M0 bladder cancer if the patient has a performance status ≥2 and if the renal function is not impaired, but the American Urological Association, for example, does not have any guideline recommendations on this topic at all. In this review we describe the current literature supporting NAC in association with radical cystectomy in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Evidence acquisition was made searching the Medline database for original articles published before 1st February 2014, with search terms: “neoadjuvant chemotherapy”, “radical cystectomy”, and “invasive bladder cancer”