BACKGROUND: The rapidly growing knowledge regarding factors controlling tumour growth, with the new modalities of therapy acting on the biological activity of the tumours draw the attention of most cancer researches nowadays and represent a major focus for clinical oncology practice. For the detection of HER2/neu protein overexpression and gene amplification, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridisation (ISH) is the recommended techniques, respectively, with high concordance between the two techniques. The current United Kingdom recommendations for HER2/neu testing are either for a two-tier system using IHC with reflex ISH testing in equivocal positive cases, or a one-tier ISH strategy. AIM: To compare the results of HER2/neu gene status in patients with breast carcinoma obtained by chromogenic in situ hybridisation with those obtained by immunohistochemistry, and to compare these results with hormonal receptors expression by immunohistochemistry and with age of patients.METHODS: Immunohistochemistry technique was used for evaluation of status of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) and HER2/neu protein expression in 448 Iraqi patients with invasive breast carcinoma with different grades and histological types and then chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) technique was applied for all scores of HER2/neu to detect the gene status and compare the results in all negative, equivocal and positive cases by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The cases were referred from different centres, and IHC and CISH techniques were done in central public health laboratory in Baghdad over 28 months, from July 2013 to November 2015. A comparison of the results was made to find the relationship between HER2/neu and hormone receptors status and other clinical parameters like patients age. RESULTS: The mean age of the study cases was 49.08 years, ranging from 24 to 83 years. Of the 448 cases of breast carcinoma, 44 (9.8%) cases were of score 0 by IHC, none of them (0%) showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH. 71(15.8%) cases were of score 1 by IHC, 15 (21.12%) of them showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH, all were of low amplification. There were 306 (68.3%) cases of score 2 by IHC, of which 102 (33.33%) cases showed HER2/neu gene amplification by CISH, with 79 (25.81%) of them with low amplification and 23 (7.51%) cases with high amplification, while only one case (0.32%) remained in equivocal category. In score 3, all the 27 (6.0%) cases showed gene amplification with 12 (44.44%) cases with low amplification and 15 (55.55) cases with high amplification with overall percentage of gene amplification in score 3 of 100%. There was a significant inverse relationship between hormone receptors (ER and PR) status and HER2/neu gene amplification. No significant relationship was found between the patient’s age and HER2/neu gene amplification.CONCLUSION: Although immunohistochemistry is a widely used, less expensive and reliable test, we strongly advice performance of chromogenic in situ hybridization in assessment of HER2/neu gene status in all cases diagnosed with breast carcinoma as significant number of cases that were reported as negative by immunohistochemistry showed positive amplification by chromogenic in situ hybridization and can get benefit from anti-HER2 targeted treatments.
Background: Aortic valve stenosis results from minor to severe degrees of aortic valve maldevelopment. This stenosis causes mild to severe obstruction of the left ventricular outflow .
Objectives : to study the immediate and intermediate results of percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty in patients with congenital valvular aortic stenosis .
Type of the study: A prospective study.
Methods: The study was done on thirty five patients with congenital valvular aortic stenosis who had percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty in Ibn Al- Bitar Center for Cardiac Surgery from May 2009 to February 2011.
Results
... Show MoreAntioxidant status imbalance and inflammatory process are cooperative events involved in type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study aimed to investigate superoxide dismutase as a potential biomarkers of antioxidant imbalance, matrix-metaloprotinase-9, and interleukin -18 as biomarkers of inflammation in serum and to estimate the effects of other confounding factors gender, age and finally measuring the relation among the interested biomarkers.
This case - control study included 50 patients, and 45 of healthy subjects matched age –gender were also enrolled in this study as a control group. The focused  
... Show MoreThe invasion and spread of cancer cells are two of the most notable characteristics of malignant tumors. Recent studies suggest that the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been linked to this significant occurrence. It is linked to the absence of the epithelial brow and the presence of mesenchymal facial hair. The aims of the present study were to explore the immunohistochemical staining of vimentin and E-cadherin ex vivo as EMT markers and assess their potential as predictive biomarkers for transitional cell cancer (TCC). In this study, 55 paraffin-embedded biopsies from TCC patients and 10 autopsies that appeared to be normal were included. Immunohistochemistry was used to produce patterns of vimentin and E-cadherin expression. W
... Show MoreT-cell activation and alteration of cytokine levels are involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. However, the profile of circulating T-lymphocyte subsets and related cytokines during asthmatic attacks is still unclear. We compared the serum concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines Interleukine-18( IL-18) and Interleukine-12(IL-12), T-helper 2 (Th2) cytokine Interleukine-13(IL-13 ) and Immunoglobuline-E ( IgE) in 27 asthmatic children and 21 sex and age matched healthy control subjects. Serum cytokines and IgE concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum IL-13 , IL-18 and IgE concentrations were significantly higher in asthmatic patients than normal control subjects ( IL-13: median 9.73 versus 4.43 pg/ml, P&l
... Show MoreType-1 diabetes is defined as destruction of pancreatic beta cell, virus and bacteria are some environmental factor for this disease. The study included 25 patients with type-1 diabetes mellitus aged between 8 – 25 years from Baghdad hospital and 20 healthy persons as control group. Anti-rubella IgG and IgM, anti-Chlamydia pneumonia IgG and IgM were measured by ELISA technique while anti-CMV antibody were measured by immunofluorescence technique. The aim of current study was to know the trigger factor for type-1 diabetes. There were significant differences (P<0.05) between studied groups according to parameters and the results lead to suggest that Chlamydia pneumonia, CMV and rubella virus may trigger type-1 diabetes mellitus in Iraqi pat
... Show MoreTo determine the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and skin disorders, sixty six patients who suffering from skin diseases include chronic urticarial (CU) and atopic dermatitis (AD) who attended at Dermatological Clinic/ Al-Numan Teaching Hospital from the beginning of October 2015 to the end of January 2016 with age (6-62) have been investigated and compared to twenty two samples of apparently healthy individuals were studied as control group. All the studied groups were subjected to measurement of antiHelicobacter pylori IgG antibodies by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) and detection of 16S rRNA and CagA genes by using singleplex and multiplex PCR methods. The results of current study revealed that there was a
... Show MoreBackground: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory mucosal disease, presenting in various clinical forms WHO had regarded OLP as a precancerous conditions in 1978 because of its potential with cancer. Both antigen-specific and nonspecific mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of OLP. Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity representing more than 94% of oral cancer. It occurs in different sites and has many etiological factors. Cyclin Dl is a proto-oncogene which consider as the key protein in the regulation of cell proliferation and its overexpression led to the occurrence and progression of malignant tumors.NF-KB p65 is a member ofNF-kB family of transcription factors that
... Show MoreMigraine affects more than one billion individuals each year across the world, and is one of the most common neurologic disorders, with a high prevalence and morbidity, especially among young adults and females. Migraine is associated with a wide range of comorbidities, which range from stress and sleep disturbances to suicide. The complex and largely unclear mechanisms of migraine development have resulted in the proposal of various social and biological risk factors, such as hormonal imbalances, genetic and epigenetic influences, as well as cardiovascular, neurological, and autoimmune diseases. Experimental findings suggest an involvement of neuroinflammatory mechanisms in the pathophysiology of migraine. Specifically, preclinical
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