• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2003

Aggressive fibromatosis is a rare soft tissue tumor with locally invasive and infiltrative characteristics. The mechanism of this invasive nature was not reported until now. Mutations or reduction of PTEN, tumor suppressor gene, in cancer tissues, have been found to be associated with invasiveness and metastatic properties of cancer cells. To know the pattern of expression of PTEN in aggressive fibromatosis, we analysed the expression of PTEN with immunohistochemical stain and immunoblotting. PTEN was homogeneously expressed in the normal musculoaponeurotic tissues, but absent or very faint in tissues of patients with aggressive fibromatosis as evidenced by western blot analysis and immunohistochemical examinations. Although the meaning of decreased PTEN expression in aggressive fibromatosis is not certain, it might be involved in the growth of the aggressive fibromatosis, and associated with phenotype of aggressive fibromatosis.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2004

Objectives: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the most common head and neck malignant tumor. The molecular genetic changes involving both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes are known to be involved in head and neck squamous cell carcinogenesis, but the roles of the known tumor suppressor genes in carcinogenesis are not fully elucidated. The objectives of this study are to demonstrate the genetic alterations including the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) , amplification, and microsatellite instability of known tumor suppressor genes in HNSCC and to evaluate the relationship between genetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes and clinicopathologic features. Materials and Methods: Genetic alterations of 10 micro satellite markers of the 6 known tumor suppressor genes (APC, EXT1, DPC4, p16, FHIT, and PTEN) were analysed by DNA-PCR in paraffin-embedded histologically confirmed HNSCC specimens. Results: The genetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes were found frequently. Among the genetic alterations, LOH was most frequently found one. LOH was found frequently in APC (45.4%), EXT1 (36.4%), DPC4 (54.5%), and p16 (50%), but not found in FHIT. Also, the author found that abnormalities of APC gene was related to cervical lymph node metastasis and recurrence and that abnormalities of EXT1 gene were coexisted with those of APC gene or DPC4 gene. But these coexistences had no correlation with clinical features. Conclusion: These results suggested that APC, EXT1, p16, and DPC4 genes might play important roles and multiple tumor suppressor genes may participate dependently or independently in the carcinogenesis of HNSCC. These results also suggested that APC gene might relate to prognosis.