0000000000975857
AUTHOR
Laura Scolaro
BRCA1/2 variants of uncertain clinical significance in patients with famlial and hereditary breast/ovarian cancer
Leptin and Its Receptor are Overexpressed in Brain Tumors and Correlate with the Degree of Malignancy
Although leptin and its receptor (ObR) have emerged as important cancer biomarkers, the role of the leptin system in brain tumor development remains unknown. We screened 87 human brain tumor biopsies using immunohistochemistry and detected leptin and ObR in 55.2% and 60.9% cases, respectively. In contrast, leptin and ObR were absent in 14 samples of normal brain tissue. The presence of leptin correlated with ObR with overall concordance 80.5%. The leptin/ObR system was highly expressed in glioblastomas and anaplastic astrocytomas, while lower expression of both markers was noted in low-grade astrocytomas and gangliogliomas. The association between leptin/ObR and the degree of tumor malignan…
Analysis of TP53, Ki-Ras and P16INK4A promoter methylation as potential prognostic factors in patients with colorectal cancer
GENOTYPE ANALYSIS OF COLORECTAL CARCINOMAS THROUGH LASER PRESSURE CATAPULTING (LPC)
BRCA 1/2 GENES MUTATIONAL SCREENING IN SICILIAN BREAST AND/OR OVARIAN CANCER FAMILIES
BRCA 1/2 VARIANTS OF UNCERTAIN CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN PATIENTS WITH FAMILIAL AND HEREDITARY BREAST/OVARIAN CANCER
Aplotype analysis in four sicilian families with 5083del19bp-BRCA1.
Molecular analysis of TP53, Ki-Ras and P16 methylation status in tissue and plasma of subjects affected by gastrointestinal cancer
BRCA1/BRCA2 genes mutational screening in Sicilian breast and/or ovarian cancer families.
Genotype analysis of colorectal carcinomas through laser pressare catapulting (LPC)
Recently, new chemotherapy agents which target the non-structural components of mitosis have been developed. An important protein involved in several mitotic phases is the Aurora-A protein. By means of the phosphorylation of different substrates, Aurora-A regulates the correct development of the various phases of mitosis. The kinase activity of this protein makes Aurora-A an excellent candidate as an oncogene. The first data of Aurora-A involvement in cancer regarded the identification of Aurora-A overexpression in primary breast and colon tumour samples. With regard to the predictive role of Aurora-A, it has been shown that its overexpression disrupts the spindle checkpoint activated by pa…
Analysis of Ki-Ras mutations in stage I rectal carcinomas and respective regional lymph nodes.
In this work we show that the percentage of Ki-RAS mutations in codons 12 and 13 in rectal cancer are sensibly lower than in colon cancer, providing further evidence that these two kinds of tumors should be considered two different entities. Moreover, we show that the detection in regional lymph nodes of the same mutation of primary tumor might represent an indicator of lymph nodes metastasis in rectal carcinoma not detected in routine histologic examination.
Molecular analysis of TP53, Ki-Ras and P16 methylation status in tissue and plasma of subjects affected by gastrointestinal cancer (GIC)
BACKGROUND: Despite the improvement in detection and surgical therapy in the last years, the outcome of patients affected by colorectal carcinoma (CRC) remains limited by metastatic relapse. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of free tumor DNA in the plasma of CRC patients in order to understand its possible prognostic role. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ki-Ras, TP53 mutations and p16(INK4A) methylation status were prospectively evaluated in tumor tissues and plasma of 66 CRC patients. RESULTS: In 50 of the 66 primitive tumor cases (76%) at least one significant alteration was identified in Ki-Ras and/or TP53 and/or p16(INK4A) genes. Eighteen of the 50 patients presented the same…