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The study objective was to determine the presence of MMP-7 in cancer tissue in correlation with its serum level in patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). In 45 patients with CRC, MMP-7 expression was assessed immunohistochemically on FFPE slides in tumours (N = 37) and in the corresponding surgical margin sample. MMP-7 serum level was measured preoperatively. The expression of MMP-7 in cancer tissue was much stronger as compared to the normal intestinal mucosa. Also the level of MMP-7 in the serum of CRC patients was higher than in healthy subjects (N = 24) (p < 0.01). The tumour located in the colon showed higher expression of MMP-7 than CRCs located in the rectum (p < 0.05), whereas the higher MMP-7 serum level showed correlation with older age (p = 0.005), tumour size less than 5 cm (p < 0.05), higher Dukes' stage (p < 0.05) and distant metastases (p < 0.05). The increased serum level of MMP-7 in CRC patients may indicate the presence of distant metastases.

The aim of our study was to elucidate whether and in a what way applying two slightly different immunohistochemical procedures effects Bcl-2 protein detection as well as its relationship to colorectal cancer clinicopathological features. A series of 74 primary colorectal cancers was investigated for expression of the Bcl-2 protein. Two immunohistochemical procedures: first with antigen retrieval using a microwave (art-), second with antigen retrieval by use pressure pot (art+) pre-treatment, were applied in each cancer case. Formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues were treated with ant-Bcl-2 antibody (Dako No M 0887). Bcl-2 (art+) immunostaining was positive in 48 (64.9%) cases of colorectal cancers whereas Bcl-2 (art-) immunohistochemical reaction was positive only in 15 (20%) colorectal tumours. A significant, positive correlation was observed between Bcl-2 (art+) expression and localization of the tumour in the rectum (p = 0.007). At the same time a statistically significant positive correlation between tumour Bcl-2 (art-) expression and colon tumour pT stage (p = 0.007), rectum tumour differentiation grade (p = 0.04) and Bcl-2 (art-) protein immunostaining in lymph node metastases (p < 0.000001) was observed. This data suggest that the type of procedure for antigen retrieval to detection of Bcl-2 protein by immunohistochemical reaction, changes the study results and should be considered when comparing own results with the literature data.

AgNOR staining technique was tested in ovarian epithelial tumors to evaluate its diagnostic potential in distinguishing between borderline tumors and well-differentiated carcinomas. In our opinion, the AgNOR count appears useful for assessing differences only between borderline and well-differentiated serous ovarian tumors at stage I of FIGO clinical advancement.

The aim of the study was to evaluate angiogenesis as an independent prognostic factor and to determine the correlation between the angiogenic index (AI) and histologic grade of the neoplastic process in patients operated on for invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Angiogenesis was assessed with immunohistochemical technique using a monoclonal antibody against human factor VIII--(F8/86 M0616, DAKO, Denmark). A positive correlation was revealed between the intensification of angiogenesis and the incidence of lymph node involvement and survival rate.

Nonhistone proteins associated with the nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) can be visualized by a silver-staining technique on paraffin-embedded tissues. The number of black dots (AgNORs) appearing on the nuclei are thought to reflect cell differentiation and can be used as a measurement of cellular proliferative activity. In this study we tested AgNOR staining in ovarian epithelial tumors to evaluate its diagnostic potential in distinguishing between borderline tumors and carcinomas.

The proliferative activity of cervical carcinoma was examined using proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) staining. Labelling index (LI) have been counted in sections of routinely processed paraffin embedded tissue blocks. Significant variation in PCNA LI were observed between study groups (p < 0.0235). The results obtained indicate that the evaluation of proliferative activity of cells expressed by high PCNA LI is assessed with worse prognosis.