Hiroto Nishioka

Immunohistochemical Detection of p53 Oncoprotein in Human Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas and Leukoplakias: Comparison with Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen Staining and Correlation with Clinicopathological Findings

Forty oral squamous cell carcinomas and 20 leukoplakias were examined for expression of p53 oncoprotein using an immunohistochemical technique with BP53-12 monoclonal antibody. Positive staining was found in 21/40 (52%) of the carcinomas and 2/20 (10%) of the leukoplakias. Furthermore, comparison of p53 expression with binding of PC10 monoclonal antibody to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and degree of histological malignancy in terms of invasion and histological differentiation of carcinomas demonstrated a positive correlation in both cases.

Immunohistochemical analysis of estrogen receptors in 313 paraffin section cases of human thyroid tissue

Three hundred and thirteen cases of human thyroid tissues, comprising 39 nodular goiters from 34 females and 5 males, 130 adenomas from 93 females and 37 males, and 144 carcinomas from 99 females and 45 males were used for the present immunohistochemical assessment of estrogen receptor (ER) expression. Thirty-three cases of follicular carcinoma, 115 cases of papillary carcinoma and 6 cases of anaplastic carcinoma were included in the malignant tumor group. Incidences of ER-positive cases were 23/39 (58.9%) for nodular goiter, 44/130 (33.8%) for adenoma and 26/144 (18.0%) for cancer. In the individual carcinoma categories, 7/23 (30.4%) follicular, 19/115 (16.5%) papillary and 0/6 (0%) anaplastic lesions were judged as positive cases. Thus, the incidence of ER-positive cases tended to decrease with the degree of malignancy; this trend being similar in both sexes. Moreover, the average ages of ER-positive cases were lower than those of ER-negative cases for all types of thyroid carcinoma except the follicular variety in males. It was thus suggested that ER expression may be related to prognosis and tumor growth at early stage. Since the incidence of ER does not significantly differ between females and males, the observed sex differences regarding thyroid tumor incidence may reflect the higher estrogen serum content in females.

Immunohistochemical Detection of Estrogen Receptors in Paraffin Sections of Human Thyroid Tissues

The optimal demonstration of estrogen receptor binding in thyroid tissues was made under conditions of 10% protease in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.6) for 10 min as the pretreatment digestion step, incubation of primary antibody (ER-ICA monoclonal kit; Abbott Laboratories) at 37 degrees C for 2 h and incubation of secondary antibody (ABC kit; Vector) at 37 degrees C for 40 min. Thyroid tissues used for assessing the reaction were 17 cases of goiter, 25 adenoma cases, 27 cases of papillary carcinoma, 14 cases of follicular carcinoma and 10 latent cancer cases. Incidences of positive estrogen receptor reaction were 22% (11/51) for all thyroid cancers, 20% (5/25) for the thyroid adenomas and 59% (10/17) for goiters. 15% (4/27) of papillary carcinomas, 21% (3/14) of follicular carcinomas and 40% (4/10) of latent cancers proved positive, the estrogen receptor reaction being limited to the nuclei of thyroid follicular/papillary type cells.