Browsing by Author "Ajani, M. A."

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The expression status of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 in epithelial ovarian cancer in Ibadan, Nigeria
(2016) Ajani, M. A.; Salami, A.; Awolude, O. A.; Oluwasola, A. O.; Akang, E. E. U.
Background: It has been proposed that the overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu protooncogene) could be a possible therapeutic target in epithelial ovarian cancer, as has been the case in breast carcinomas. However, there is lack of knowledge on the status of the gene in neoplasms which occur in black women. The objective of this study was to determine HER2/neu expression status in EOC in black women. Method: Ninety cases of EOC were evaluated for HER2/neu protein expression using immunohistochemistry. Results: HER-2/neu expression was observed in 33 of the 90 cases (37%), of which 15 EOC cases (17%) were weakly or moderately positive, and 18 (20%) strongly positive. A significant association was not found between HER-2/neu expression and age, International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, grading and histological subtypes (p-values of 0.463, 0.360, 0.975 and 0.168, respectively). However, there were more cases of advanced-stage disease (III/IV) with HER-2 expression than early-stage EOC (I/II). In this study, 21%, 36% and 42% of HER2/neu-positive tumours were grades 1, 2 and 3, respectively. A higher proportion of serous carcinomas (as opposed to mucinous carcinomas) was also observed to be ER2/neu positive. Conclusion: HER2/neu expression was observed to increase with advanced stages of cancer, and was more commonly seen in serous, rather than in mucinous, carcinomas.
Hormone-receptor expression status of epithelial ovarian cancer in Ibadan, South-western Nigeria
(2017) Ajani, M. A.; Salami, A.; Awolude, O. A.; Oluwasola, A. O
Introduction: Epidemiological evidence strongly suggests that steroid hormones are implicated in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. Estrogen receptor (ER) and Progesterone receptor (PR) are prognostic indicators for a number of epithelial tumors and may play the same role in ovarian cancers. This study aims to evaluate the expression of ER and PR in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in an African population and compare it with other prognostic factors such as age, International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, grade and histological subtype. Methods: Ninety cases of histologically confirmed EOC were reviewed. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess their ER and PR expression status and was then compared with other demographic variables using statistical methods, with level of significance set at p < 0.05. Results: 30.2% and 8.3% of serous and mucinous carcinomas respectively were ER positive while 41.2% and 22.5% of both tumour types were PR positive. One of the two endometrioid carcinomas showed PR expression but neither were positive for ER. The only case of Brenner tumour in the series was ER positive but negative for PR. There was a significant association between ER and the histological subtypes (p = 0.042) while no significant association was found between PR expression and histological subtypes (p = 0.650). No significant association was found between hormone receptor status, age and stage of the EOC. Conclusion: The study showed a lower ER expression in serous carcinoma compared to large cohorts from developed countries. Future translational studies could be used to determine response of EOC to endocrine therapy.
Pattern of triple negative epithelial ovarian cancer in indigenous African women
(2016) Ajani, M. A.; Salami, A. A.; Awolude, O. A.; Oluwasola, A. O.
Background: Triple negative epithelial ovarian cancer (TNEOC) refers to ovarian carcinomas that do not express estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor- type 2 (HER-2/neu). The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of triple negative epithelial ovarian cancer in indigenous African women. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of ER, PR and HER-2/neu expression in 90 Nigerian patients with histologically diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer. Lack of expression of ER, PR and HER2/neu antigens was used to determine carcinomas that are among the TNEOC. We also compared the clinicopathological parameters (age, International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, grade and histological subtype) in patients with TNEOC and non- TNEOC . Results: Thirty-eight (42.2%) of the 90 tumours diagnosed as EOC were negative for ER, PR and HER2/neu expression. There was no significant association between TNEOC with other parameters such as age, FIGO stage and histological grade. Sixteen (66.7%) of the 24 mucinous carcinomas were triple negative, while only 21 (33.3%) of the 63 serous carcinomas were triple-negative and one (50%) of the two endometrioid carcinomas was triple negative. There was a significant association between triple-negative tumours and histological subtypes of EOC (p = 0.034). Conclusions: A subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer that is negative for ER, PR and HER-2/neu has been discovered in indigenous African women. TNEOC expression is high and is comparable to the triple negative breast cancer subtype seen in people of African ancestry. Future study of TNEOC in a large sample size should be considered.