Mohamed Ghareeb

Estrogen receptor-α (ESR1) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been related to breast cancer (BC) susceptibility. In this retrospective study we investigated ESR1 SNPs in association with survival and treatment response in BC patients. Seven ESR1 SNPs were genotyped using TaqMan probe assay in 100 formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks of Egyptian ER+BC patients. Log-binomial regression was used to assess the association of 5 ESR1 SNPs with relative risk of non-response to adjuvant-hormonal treatment. We compared the performance of five machine learning classification models for prediction of treatment response. Predictive models were developed using rs1801132, rs2228480, and rs9322354 that were significantly associated with increased risk for non-response along with the relevant clinical features. Survival analysis was performed to detect prognostic significance of ESR1 SNPs in ESR+BC patients. rs1801132 (C), rs2228480 (A), and rs9322354 (G) minor alleles significantly inc...

Background: NHL comprises 85% of all lymphomas and 3-4% of all cancers around the world. Angiogenesis is required for tumor growth and metastasis, as an important component in the control of cancer progression. Inflammation is an important factor in the cancer phenomenon with COX-2 playing an important role in malignant cell proliferation. Objective: To observe the expression level of the angiogenetic factor VEGF-A, the inflammatory mediator COX-2 in NHL patients and their prognostic relevance. Methods: The patients were recruited from the Medical Oncology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University over a period of 2 years. The methods we used were Immunohistochemical staining for VEGF-A and COX-2 in BMB samples of 40 adult patients with NHL stage IV. Results: The study revealed no significant difference between VEGF-A and COX2 markers expression (positive coexpression 10/40 (25%), negative coexpression 5/40 (12.5%) and single marker expression 25/40 (62.5%) (P=0.09). A...

The prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poor because of relapses occurring on conventional chemotherapy. The distinction between leukemic and normal stem cells relies on the expression of antigen combinations defining leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (LAIPs), which are absent or extremely infrequent in normal bone marrow. However, LAIPs are very different from patient to patient and are not necessarily stable over the course of the disease. Accordingly, we addressed the applicability of human myeloid inhibitory C-lectin (hMICL) by flow cytometry as a specific leukemic myeloid stem cell marker for the diagnosis of AML in CD34(+) and CD34(-) cases and evaluated the stability of hMICL during the course of the disease. hMICL expression was assessed in 78 bone marrow aspirate specimens obtained from AML patients at diagnosis (n = 40), complete remission (CR) (n = 28), and relapse (n = 10). AML patients at diagnosis were compared to 20 newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients and 20 healthy controls. hMICL was reevaluated in CR and relapse specimens. hMICL was expressed in 100% AML patients at diagnosis (mean ± standard deviation [SD], 60.3 ± 19.9%), both CD34(+) and CD34(-) , but not in ALL (mean ± SD, 3.3 ± 1.9%) or healthy controls (mean ± SD, 3.4 ± 2.6%) (P < .001). hMICL median fluorescence intensity ratio was higher in AML (mean ± SD, 15.9 ± 11.7) compared to ALL (mean ± SD, 4.5 ± 1.4) and healthy controls (mean ± SD, 4.4 ± 1.6) (P < .001). hMICL was expressed in all studied AML morphologic subtypes. Preserved stable expression of hMICL was found in CR and relapse specimens with no antigen loss. hMICL is a robust pan-AML-associated antigen with excellent diagnostic impact, extreme specificity to AML blasts, and stability throughout the course of the disease. hMICL could be incorporated into the routine flow cytometry setting within the initial diagnostic work-up and follow-up of AML.

Detection of chromosomal abnormalities in myeloproliferative disorders is important for proper diagnosis of these disorders. This study has investigated the presence of JAK2 mutation (V617F) in Egyptian patients with myeloproliferative disorders referred to National Cancer institute, Cairo University. The study involved 110 cases of Philadelphia negative Myeloproliferative diseases (MPDs), 70 cases with Polycythemia Vera (PV), 24 cases with Essential Thrombocytosis (ET) and 16 cases with Idiopathic Myelofibrosis (IMF) and 20 cases as a control group which represented as; (10 cases with secondary erythrocytosis, 1 case with reactive thrombocytosis, 4 cases as normal control and 5 as Philadelphia positive Chronic Myeloid Leukemia cases), they were collected from National Cancer Institute (NCI) over 3 years. We used ARMS technique for mutation detection. The frequency of the V617F JAK2 mutation was highest in patients with PV where 56 out of 70 cases (80%) carried the mutation, followe...