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ABS TRACT A variety of carcinomas of the breast are characterized by production of abundant ex tracelluler and/or intracelluler mucin. Among these are mucinous (colloid) carcinoma, mucinous cystadenocarcinoma, columnar cell mucinous carcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma. This car cinoma is usually composed of tall, columnar cells with basally located nuclei and abundant intra cytoplasmic mucin and appears either cystic (mucinous cyst adenocarcinoma) or solid (columnar cell mucinous carcinoma). We report a case of progesteron receptor positive mucinous cystadenocarci noma of the breast in a 49-year-old women. Primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma is an extremely rare tumor of the breast. Only eight previous cases have been reported. All of them were hormon independent tumors.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in Turkish patients with epithelial ovarian cancer by using the highly sensitive technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify all the subtypes of this unique oncogenic virus. All patients were subjected to initial surgery and subsequently recruited for postoperative chemotherapy depending on the extent of the disease and their condition. HPV PCR screening was done from paraffin embedded samples. PCR amplifications were done using the MY09/11 primer set after digestion and phenol-chloroform extraction of the DNA. HPV PCR-positive samples were analyzed and genotyped using an OpenGene automated DNA sequencing system. Overall 94 patients were included in this study. The mean age was 52.7 years (range 21-76 years). As a histopathologic diagnosis the majority of the patients had serous papillary tumors (81%). HPV was found to be positive in eight patients (8.5%). All of the positive patients had serous papillary tumors (8/76 10.5%) and advanced stage disease. Six patients had HPV type 16 and the remaining two patients had HPV type 33. None of the patients had more than one type of HPV. HPV may have a role in the carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer. It is worth investigating this possible relation both in large case-control studies and in vitro models by using more sensitive techniques. (authors)

We aimed to investigate the correlation between quantitative CerbB-2 expressions with conventional prognostic factors, and distinct nodal involvement in patients with invasive breast carcinoma. One hundred fifty seven consecutive breast carcinoma patients were retrospectively analysed. Level I–II, Level III, and Rotter (Interpectoral) group lymph nodes were separately examined and recorded. For each patient estrogen receptor (ER), progesteron receptor (PR), CerbB-2, P53 status were defined using immunohistochemistry. Age, tumor localisation, menopausal status, grade and the presence of intraductal component were also recorded. CerbB-2 expression did not correlate with age, localisation and menopausal status. There was a reverse, but weak correlation with tumor size and CerbB-2 expression (p=0.034). In subgroup analysis of CerbB-2 positive cases, the magnitude of CerbB-2 positivity did not correlate with tumor size (p=0.551). In univariate analysis CerbB-2 expression did not correlate with nodal involvement in Level I-II, and Rotter. In subgroup analysis of patients with positive CerbB-2, positivity of CerbB-2 linearly increased with the number of positive lymph nodes in Level I-II, and this difference was significant (p=0,039). There was a significant correlation between CerbB-2 expression and Level III nodal metastases (p=0.005). But this correlation was not significant among CerbB-2 positive patients (p=0.82). P53, PR positivity and the presence of intraductal component did not differ according to oncogene expression. We detected a reverse correlation with ER positivity and CerbB-2 positivity (p=0.011). It is concluded that quantitative expression of CerbB2 positivity increases with nodal involvement in Level I–II axillary lymph nodes, and ER. Also, CerbB-2 positivity is more common among patients with Level III lymph node metastases.