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Showing papers by "Bernhard Tribukait published in 1999"


Journal Article
TL;DR: It is concluded that the expression of cyclin A is a powerful prognostic factor in soft tissue sarcoma and determines the fraction of tumor cells in the S phase and the G2 phase, which are the most sensitive cell cycle phases for current modalities of cancer treatment.
Abstract: Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases regulate the cell cycle. Cyclin A has a dual role in cell proliferation. It is essential in the S phase for DNA replication, and it is also involved in G2-M-phase transition, signifying actively dividing cells. The expression of cyclin A was determined by immunohistochemistry in paraffin sections of 126 soft tissue sarcomas. The median cyclin A score was 10.8% (range, 1–54%). Cyclin A expression correlated with the S-phase fraction, Ki-67 score, G2-M phase, and grade. It did not correlate with the size of the tumor. A high cyclin A score predicted a poor metastasis-free survival (P

83 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that Ki-67 is a useful prognostic tool in the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma patients irrespective of the cut-point value, and S-phase fraction lost its prognostic power at higher cut- point values.
Abstract: Immunohistochemically determined Ki-67 scores and flow cytometrically determined S-phase fractions were successfully evaluated from the primary tumours of 123 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma. All patients had either limb or superficial trunk tumours. Ki-67 score correlated strongly with ploidy, S-phase fraction and grade. Ki-67 did not correlate with the size of the primary tumour. When analysed as a continuous variable, Ki-67 was a stronger predictor of both metastasis-free survival and disease-specific overall survival (P = 0.003 and 0.04 respectively) than was the S-phase fraction (P = 0.06 and 0.07 respectively). We tested the relevance of different cut-point values by dividing the whole material into two parts at every 10% (e.g. 10% of patients vs. the remaining 90%, 20% vs. 80%, etc.). We counted the relative risk and confidence interval at all these cut-off points. Ki-67 had good prognostic discriminating power irrespective of the cut-point value, but S-phase fraction lost its prognostic power at higher cut-point values. In conclusion, we found that Ki-67 is a useful prognostic tool in the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma patients irrespective of the cut-point value. S-phase fraction can be used at lower cut-point values.

40 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that a high cyclin A score predicts chemotherapy sensitivity, which is more sensitive to chemotherapy than non-proliferative cells.
Abstract: A small but not insignificant number of patients experience a prolonged survival after treatment of metastatic soft tissue sarcoma. This must be weighed against the majority of the patients who benefit little from the therapy, but nevertheless experience its side-effects. It would therefore be of utmost importance to be able to screen for those patients who respond to the treatment. Since proliferating cells are more sensitive to chemotherapy than non-proliferative cells, we measured the proliferation rate of the primary tumour of 55 soft tissue sarcoma patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease by determining the flow cytometric S phase fraction and immunohistochemical Ki-67 and cyclin A scores. S phase fraction or Ki-67 score did not predict chemotherapy response or progression-free survival. A high cyclin A score, however, correlated with a better chemotherapy response (P = 0.02) and longer progression-free survival time (P = 0.04). Our results suggest that a high cyclin A score predicts chemotherapy sensitivity.

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: To further elucidate the factors affecting the serum levels of this important tumor marker, PSA concentrations in serum and in aspiration biopsies from patients with prostatic disease were measured and the values correlated to tumor stage, cytological grade, and DNA ploidy.
Abstract: BACKGROUND. The mechanisms behind changes in serum PSA (S-PSA) levels in patients with prostatic carcinoma (CAP) are not completely known. To further elucidate the factors affecting the serum levels of this important tumor marker, we measured PSA concentrations in serum and in aspiration biopsies (tissue PSA; T-PSA) from patients with prostatic disease and correlated the values to tumor stage, cytological grade, and DNA ploidy. METHODS. T-PSA and S-PSA were measured in 91 metastasis-free patients with newly diagnosed, untreated CAP and 13 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and the values were related to tumor stage, cytological grade, and DNA ploidy. RESULTS. Significant negative correlations were found between T-PSA and S-PSA in the total clinical material and various subgroups of patients with CAP. T-PSA showed significant negative associations to T-stage and to cytological grading, and T-PSA concentrations were significantly lower in tetra-/aneuploid tumors than in diploid tumors. On the other hand, S-PSA showed corresponding positive associations and was significantly higher in tetra-/ aneuploid tumors than in diploid tumors. CONCLUSIONS. The negative association between S-PSA and T-PSA values indicates that S-PSA values in metastasis-free patients reflect the degree of leakage from the tumor tissue rather than the intracellular concentration of PSA. Factors such as tissue volume, condition of gland structure, and vascularization may thus be more important for S-PSA than the production of PSA in the prostatic tissue.

29 citations