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V Morello

Publications and source records attributed to V Morello.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Detection and quantification of mammaglobin in the blood of breast cancer patients: can it be useful as a potential clinical marker? Preliminary results of a GOIM (Gruppo Oncologico dell'Italia Meridionale) prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Mammaglobin is expressed mainly in mammary tissue, overexpressed in breast cancer (BC) and rarely in other tissue. The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of transcript MGB1 detection and to evaluate the role of MGB1 as potential clinical marker for the detection of disseminated cancer cells in the blood of BC patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A consecutive series of 23 BC tissues, 36 peripheral blood BC samples and 35 healthy peripheral blood samples was prospectively recruited to investigate MGB1 expression by means of a quantitative Real Time RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: MGB1 overexpression in tissue samples of BC patients is significantly associated only with high level of Ki67 (P <0.05). None of the samples from peripheral blood of 35 healthy female individuals were positive for MGB1 transcript. In contrast MGB1 mRNA expression was detected in three of 36 (8%) peripheral blood of BC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results demonstrate that the detection of MGB1 transcript in peripheral blood of BC patients was specific but with low sensitivity. MGB1 overexpression by itself or in combination with Ki67 might be considered an index of BC progression.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Significance of P16INK4A hypermethylation gene in primary head/neck and colorectal tumors: it is a specific tissue event? Results of a 3-year GOIM (Gruppo Oncologico dell'Italia Meridionale) prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Methylation of the p16 promoter is one of the most frequent mechanisms of gene inactivation; its incidence is extremely variable according to the type of tumor involved. Our purpose was to analyze the hypermethylation of the p16 promoter in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC), salivary gland (SG) tumors and in colorectal cancer (CRC), to detect any possible association with the clinicopathological features and to determine the prognostic significance of the p16 gene in the tumors analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The hypermethylation of the p16 promoter was prospectively analyzed, by MSP, in a consecutive series of 64 locally advanced LSCC patients, in a consecutive series of 33 SG tumor patients and in a consecutive series of 66 sporadic CRC patients. RESULTS: Hypermethylation was observed in 9% of the LSCC cases, in all cases of SG cancer and in 21% of the CRC cases. No significant association was observed between p16 hypermethylation and clinicopathological variables in all the tissue samples analyzed. Moreover at univariate analysis p16 mutations were not independently related at disease relapse and death in LSCC and CRC. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the lack of p16 function could happen in advanced stage of SG tumors.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗
PubMed2002

DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction, but not p53 or NM23-H1 expression, predict outcome in colorectal cancer patients. Result of a 5-year prospective study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine TP53 and NM23-H1 immunoreactivity, DNA ploidy, and S-phase fraction (SPF) in a series of 160 patients undergoing resective surgery for primary operable colorectal cancer (CRC) and to establish whether these alterations have any clinical value in predicting CRC patients' prognosis. METHODS: TP53 and NM23-H1 expressions were evaluated on paraffin-embedded tissue by immunohistochemistry and DNA-ploidy and SPF on frozen tissue by flow-cytometric analysis. RESULTS: The median follow-up time in our study group was 71 months (range 34-115 months). P53 protein expression was associated with distal tumors (P<0.05) and DNA aneuploid tumors (P<0.05) tumors. DNA-aneuploidy was associated with distal tumors (P<0.01), histological grade (G3) (P<0.05), advanced Dukes' stage (C and D) (P<0.01), lymph node metastases (P<0.01) and high SPF (>18.3%) (P<0.01). The major significant predictors for both disease relapse and death were advanced Dukes' stage, DNA-aneuploidy, and high SPF, while lymphohematic invasion was the only independent factor for relapse and non-curative resection for death. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that DNA aneuploidy and high SPF are associated in CRC with a poor clinical 5-year outcome, while in contrast the prognostic role of TP53 and NM23-H1 expression is still to be clarified.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2001

DNA aneuploidy and high proliferative activity but not K-ras-2 mutations as independent predictors of clinical outcome in operable gastric carcinoma: results of a 5-year Gruppo Oncologico dell'Italia Meridonale (GDIM) prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of DNA ploidy, S-phase fraction (SPF) and K-ras-2 mutations in gastric carcinoma (GC) has not yet been clearly defined. The aim of this study was to clarify the association between biomolecular variables, tumor characteristics, and clinical outcome in GC patients. METHODS: Resected specimens from a consecutive series of 69 patients with GC who underwent potentially curative surgery were studied prospectively. DNA ploidy and SPF were assessed by flow cytometry on multiple frozen tumor samples, whereas K-ras-2 mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction followed by single-strand conformation polymorphism. All the patients involved in this study were followed up for a mean of 95 months. RESULTS: DNA aneuploidy was present in 72% of the cases (50 of 69), whereas 10% of these (5 out of 50) showed multiclonality. Mutations of K-ras-2 were detected in 8% of the tumors (5 of 63). Both DNA ploidy and SPF were associated with TNM stage (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] staging system) and node status. Moreover, DNA aneuploidy was significantly related to high SPF. K-ras-2 mutations were not associated with clinicopathologic variables or flow cytometric indicators. At univariate analysis, advanced TNM stage, node involvement, diffuse histotype, depth of invasion, DNA aneuploidy, and high SPF proved to be significantly related to quicker tumor relapse and to shorter overall patient survival. With multivariate analysis, DNA aneuploidy, high SPF, and depth of invasion were related to risk of tumor relapse and patient death, whereas diffuse histotype was independently related to patient risk of tumor relapse. CONCLUSIONS: DNA ploidy and SPF, when associated with clinicopathologic staging, might be useful for the identification of GC patients who have different risks for death or relapse of disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[The use of stereotaxic cytology in the diagnosis of nonpalpable breast lesions. Our experience].

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The increasingly frequent use of mammography for the early diagnosis of breast cancer and the consequent identification of mammary lesions at a preclinical stage raises the fundamental problem of the differential diagnosis between non-suspected non-palpable lesions (NPL) which can therefore be monitored over time and suspected NPL or definite carcinoma requiring histological confirmation and surgical biopsy. The diagnostic accuracy of mammography alone is not sufficiently high to differentiate benign lesions from malignant or strongly suspected ones. The use of surgical biopsy in the event of suspected NPL could be significantly reduced by the use of stereotaxic cytology which would improve the diagnostic accuracy of mammography. METHODS: The study refers to 72 suspected NPL undergoing surgical biopsy after having performed stereotaxic cytology on a sample taken with a dedicated mammographic device (Mammotest-TRC). RESULTS: The rate of inadequate samples for correct cytological evaluation was 16.1%. Of the 72 NPL undergoing surgical biopsy, 40 (55.5%) were found to be carcinomas and 32 (44.5%) were benign lesions. The sensitivities of mammography alone and cytology alone in identifying infraclinical breast carcinoma were respectively 0.85 and 0.95. If the results of the two methods were evaluated together, the level of sensitivity was 0.98. CONCLUSIONS: The use of stereotaxic cytology enables a marked improvement to be achieved in the diagnostic accuracy of mammography for the identification of suspected NPL to undergo surgical biopsy, notably reducing the cost of biopsy (number of benign lesions for each carcinoma diagnosed) and consequent discomfort for patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Pleomorphic adenoma and adenoid-cystic carcinoma of salivary glands: immunohistochemical assessment of proliferative activity in comparison with flow-cytometric study.

In this study, 32 pleomorphic adenomas (PAs) and seven adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACCs) were analysed for the evaluation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) indices and flow cytometric variables. Our aim was to assess any possible relationship between these parameters and the clinico-pathological variables and to clarify their histogenesis and reasons for their biological differences. The tumours were divided into three groups, mainly epithelial (E), myxoid (M) and chondroid (C); PCNA labelling index (LI) and weighted mean index (WI) and the WI/LI ratio were analysed in the predominant components; a single PCNA index, weighted by the percentage of each component, was also calculated. Only WI/LI was found to be significantly different in the three components, while PCNA single index did not show either significant differences by sex, age, site and size, or any correlation with the S phase fraction. A significant difference was found between PAs and ACCs by site (P < 0.01) and DNA ploidy (P < 0.05); furthermore, all PCNA indices (single index) were significantly lower in PAs than in ACCs.

Adenoma, Pleomorphic↗
PubMed1995

Prognostic significance of cell kinetics in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma: clinicopathological associations.

A consecutive series of 99 untreated patients undergoing radical surgical resection for stage I-IV laryngeal carcinomas has been studied prospectively. Our purpose was to analyze the predictive relevance of proliferative variables studied [proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression, volume-corrected mitotic (M/V) index, and S-phase fraction (SPF)] on clinical outcome in relation to DNA ploidy and clinicopathological features. All of the patients were followed up for a median of 32 months (range, 5-58 months). A weak, but significant, positive correlation was found between M/V and PCNA indices (except the PCNA weighted mean index:labeling index ratio) or these indices and SPF. At univariate analysis, node positivity (P < 0.05), poor histological grade (P < 0.01), DNA aneuploidy (P < 0.01), a high SPF (P < 0.01), and a high M/V index (P < 0.05) proved to be related significantly to quicker relapse, whereas T4 (P < 0.05), subglottic site (P < 0.05), DNA aneuploidy (P < 0.01) and a high SPF (P < 0.01) were related significantly to shorter overall survival. With multivariate analysis, a high SPF (> 12.1%) and histological grade (G3) were related to the risk of relapse (relative risk, 8.65 and 5.45, respectively), whereas only a high SPF was related independently to the risk of death (relative risk, 7.30). Our study has identified SPF, in addition to histological grade, as an important biological indicator in laryngeal carcinomas.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Chick embryo retina development in vitro: the effect of insulin.

In this paper we study the development of chick embryo retina cultured in vitro and the effects exerted by insulin. Retinas were removed from 7-day embryos and cultured in serum- and hormone-free medium for 7 additional days. Under these conditions retinal cells survived and underwent cholinergic differentiation, as previously ascertained by Hausman et al. (Dev. Brain Res., 1991, 59: 31-37). However, a great retardation of development was noted compared to uncultured control, 14-day retina. In fact both wet weight and DNA and protein content increased much slower than in ovo and the tubulin content decreased below even the starting value. In addition, although after 7 days in culture retinal cells were organized in identifiable layers, nevertheless the typical organization equivalent to 14-day in ovo retina was absent. The addition of insulin in the medium markedly increased the wet weight of cultured retinas, their protein content and the level of tubulin pools, particularly that of non-assembled fraction. Nevertheless insulin did not modify DNA synthesis and did not induce the increment of both neuron specific enolase and actin. Morphological observations show that insulin markedly increased the number and the thickening of the fiber layers. These results, together with the facts that retina synthesizes and secretes insulin and possesses specific insulin receptors suggest that insulin can have autocrine or paracrine regulatory functions in retinal development by exerting a general effect on retinal growth and a more specific one on tubulin production.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Vimentin expression, proliferating cell nuclear antigen and flow cytometric factors. Prognostic role in breast cancer.

A series of 71 patients undergoing surgery for primary breast carcinoma was prospectively studied in order to evaluate the relative weight for four biologic factors (intermediate filament vimentin expression, proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA], flow cytometric DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction) and of several clinicopathologic and biologic features in predicting clinical outcome (disease-free interval). In univariate statistical analysis, positivity of axillary nodes, high number of mitoses, high nuclear grade, high histologic grade, positivity of vimentin, high flow cytometric S-phase fraction (FCM-S) value, high PCNA and high silver-stained nuclear organizer regions scores were significantly related to risk of relapse. In multivariate analysis (Cox's logistic regression) only histologic grade (3) and high FCM-S values (> 10.7) were independently related to risk of relapse, with hazard ratios of 9.84 and 7.98, respectively. The results of our preliminary, prospective study suggest that FCM-S, in addition to morphologic criteria (histologic grade), may be an important biologic indicator in determining breast cancer patients' prognosis.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1994

p53 expression in human renal cell carcinoma: an immunohistochemical study and a literature outline of the cytogenetic characterization.

In this study both the incidence and pattern of p53 over-expression in various histological subtypes of a series of 36 cases of renal cell Grawitz carcinoma, partially studied in a previous paper, were analyzed. This series consisted of these histologic subtypes: clear cell non papillary (18 cases), clear cell papillary (2 cases), granular cell (5 cases), mixed (clear and granular cell) (9 cases) and spindle cell (2 cases). At present, our aim was, firstly, to see which were the best technical conditions for detection of p53 in the available paraffin-embedded tumor specimens, using several antibodies, specific for various epitopes; secondly, to investigate if some relation might exist between this expression and the histological features of these tumors. Twenty-five per cent (9/36 cases) resulted p53 immunoreactive, the highest percentage being represented in the papillary clear and granular cell carcinomas; low expression was detected in 11 cases (30%) and no reactivity in 16 cases (44%). Neither technical or dilution modifications proved to transform these latter results; however, detection was maximal using the CM-1 polyclonal rabbit antiserum. Thus, in RCC, expression of p53, analyzed in the light of the cytogenetic characterization through a literature review, resulted at low frequency. This finding means that mutation of the p53 gene are not frequent in the neoplastic transformation in RCC. Nevertheless, in spite of the small number of cases and of the short follow-up period of this study, detection of p53 positivity in tumors with either high grade and stage or high proliferative activity could suggest that p53 mutations lead to tumors of a more aggressive type.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1989

A new cell line (8701-BC) from primary ductal infiltrating carcinoma of human breast.

A cell line, designated 8701-BC, was established in culture from tissue fragments of primary ductal infiltrating carcinoma of human breast. The cell cultures after the sixth passage were devoid of contaminating fibroblasts as judged by the positive staining of all cells with the specific epithelial cell markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) and cytokeratin 8. The epithelial nature of these cells was confirmed by ultrastructural analyses which demonstrated the retention of specific structural properties characteristic of the original tumour. The cells possessed an abnormal karyotype with 55-60 chromosomes per cell with numerous rearrangements. They do not express HLA antigens and the c-myc gene was not amplified. The 8701-BC cells have a doubling time of approx. 29h and have been maintained in culture for more than 100 passages. These properties suggest the establishment of a human neoplastic cell line which, with its ability to produce homotrimer collagen in vitro, will provide a useful model system for the study of tumour cell:stromal matrix interactions.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1988

Histological and histochemical changes in the colon mucosa after ureterosigmoidostomy or colonic conduit.

A study was made of 22 patients previously subjected to urinary diversion, 12 with ureterosigmoidostomy and 10 with colon conduit. The histological and histochemical examination of biopsies of intestinal mucosa near to and far from the ureteral orifices showed transformations with considerable inflammatory infiltration, variations in the composition of the acid mucins with a prevalence of sialomucins, lengthening and branching of the glandular crypts, and sometimes dysplasias of the epithelium. These structural modifications are typical of transitional mucosa. Transitional mucosa might reflect an aspecific reaction of the intestinal mucosa or alternatively it might signify a precancerous condition. Its presence in intestinal diversions suggests the advisability of careful follow-up in all patients subjected to this operation.

Aged↗