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Purpose of Investigation: Recurrence rates in patients with early cervical cancer are generally low. So far, no biomarker has been found to be associated with the risk of recurrence. In other carcinomas, expression of cell cycle regulators and proliferation markers like ki67 corresponded with tumour stage. The expression of those markers were examined in relapsed early cervical cancer after radical vaginal trachelectomy (RVT) to verify if they are suitable for risk stratification. Materials and Methods:We examined the expression rates of p16, p21, pRb, and cyclin D1 and ki67. Between March 1995 and March 2013, 310 patients with early cervical cancer underwent RVT as fertility-sparing surgery for early cervical cancer. Until now, ten patients suffered from recurrence. The results of relapsing and non-relapsing tumours were compared. Results: p21 was expressed heterogeneously. Neither of the relapsed adenocarcinomas showed an expression of pRb, whereas two of the recurrent squamous cell carcinomas showed positivity of pRb. Adenocarcinomas who relapsed showed a significant lower level of nuclear cyclin D1-expression (p = 0.021) than squamous cell carcinomas. Ki67 showed an expression- spectrum from 15-95% but level of expression was not significantly associated to recurrence. Conclusion: Nuclear expression of cyclin D1 was found more often in adenocarcinomas in contrast to squamous cell carcinomas. Relapsing adenocarcinomas showed higher expression of cyclin D1. Neither the examination of cell cycle regulators nor ki67 can be transferred in a clinical setting yet. Further studies based on a greater number of relapsed tumours are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Anti-HER2/neu therapy is well-established in breast and gastric carcinoma. The increased understanding of this pathway led to the identification of new promising drugs in addition to trastuzumab, offering further perspectives. The role of HER2/neu in colorectal carcinoma is controversially discussed, as discrepant data has been reported.Methods:Here, we retrospectively assessed the prevalence of HER2/neu positivity in a large series of colorectal carcinoma, testing HER2/neu status according to current recommendations. We correlated the results to clinico-pathological data and patient survival.Results:Overall, in 1645 primary colorectal carcinoma cases, 1.6% of the cases were HER2/neu positive. HER2/neu positivity significantly correlated with higher UICC stages (P=0.017) and lymph node metastases (P=0.029). In the subgroup of sigmoideal and rectal carcinomas, positive HER2/neu status was associated with T-category (P=0.041) and higher UICC stages (P=0.022). Although statistically not significant, HER2/neu-positive colorectal carcinomas displayed a tendency to poorer overall survival.Conclusions:These results illustrate the importance of testing HER2/neu by approved diagnostic techniques and scoring systems. We assume that although the prevalence of HER2/neu positivity in colorectal carcinoma is low, HER2/neu testing in advanced, nodal-positive colorectal carcinoma is reasonable, offering a potential target in high risk colorectal carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]