Characterization of a newly established cell line (JR-St) derived from human gastric signet ring cell cancer, producing tumor markers.

Despite the importance of in vitro study of gastric cancer, there are very few established cell lines derived from human gastric carcinoma. We have recently established a new cell line derived from human gastric cancer which has the ability to produce tumor markers. This cell line has been designated JR-St. This cell line was derived from the cerebrospinal fluid of a 37-yr-old female patient who had metastatic brain tumor of signet ring cell gastric adenocarcinoma. This cell line has been maintained for more than 24 months through 80 passages with stable growth. PAS staining showed intracellular mucin granules. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy revealed cells with numerous microvilli and fine projections as well as intracellular granules, indicating mucin. This cell line had the ability to produce high concentrations of tumor markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9. Thus Thus this cell line should provide a very useful tool for the investigation of gastric cancer such as analysis of tumor markers as well as effects of anti-cancer drugs or growth factors.     

Spectrum of mucin-producing neoplastic conditions of the abdomen and pelvis: cross-sectional imaging evaluation

Various mucin-producing neoplasms originate in different abdominal and pelvic organs.Mucinous neoplasms differ from non-mucinous neoplasms because of the differences in clinical outcome and imaging appearance.Mucinous carcinoma,in which at least 50%of the tumor is composed of large pools of extracellular mucin and columns of malignant cells,is associated with a worse prognosis.Signet ring cell carcinoma is characterized by large intracytoplasmic mucin vacuoles that expand in the malignant cells with the nuc...     

Signet ring cell adenoma of the thyroid with mucin predominance.

A 22-year-old male presented with a 1-year history of a right anterior neck mass. He did not have gastrointestinal cancer. Laboratory examination revealed an elevated serum thyroglobulin level of 120 ng/mL. The neck lesion showed poor uptake on 99mTc scan, but enhanced uptake on 201T1 scan. The patient underwent a hemithyroidectomy; the cut surface of the 7 x 3.5 cm lesion was solid and tanned orange. Postoperatively the serum thyroglobulin level decreased to 26 ng/mL. Microscopy of the tumor showed signet ring cells and microfollides, both of which were positive for mucicarmin and alcian Blue. A small percentage of the follicles were positive for thyroglobulin and periodic acid-Schiff. Our literature search detected 18 patients with signet ring cell lesions positive for thyroglobulin, but none had characteristics similar to ours showing predominance of mucin and poor staining for thyroglobulin.     

肺转移性印戒细胞癌1例并文献复习

目的研究胃印戒细胞癌肺转移的临床特点。方法介绍1例对肺转移性印戒细胞癌的病例,并进行文献复习。结果以慢性咳嗽患者影像学上支气管周围斑片状阴影及多发纵隔淋巴结肿大并伴有外周血嗜酸粒细胞的增多,应考虑消化道肿瘤的可能。结论恶性度极高的黏液细胞型胃癌,可以跳跃转移到肺及纵膈。如果慢性咳嗽的患者,外周血嗜酸粒细胞的增多时,应尽早行肿瘤标记物及内窥镜的检查,以提高肿瘤的早期诊断率。     

肝脏神经内分泌肿瘤报道1例并文献回顾

背景肝脏可疑恶性肿瘤行手术切除后病理诊断肝脏神经内分泌肿瘤(hepatic neuroendocrin neoplasmas,HNENs)病例,此病例易与肝癌混淆,了解转移性和原发性HNENs的特性,对临床治疗手段有很好的指导意义.病例简介一名56岁男性患者体检发现肝脏占位性病变复查腹部增强CT提示肝脏转移性恶性肿瘤可能;胃部包块考虑良性.手术切除胃部包块并行术中冰冻病理检查提示梭形细胞肿瘤;完整切除肝脏包块术后石蜡病理检查结果提示NENs(G2),患者术后恢复佳.结论本文报道了一例HNENs,考虑转移性.术前诊断不能排除肝脏转移性恶性肿瘤可能.通过对患者病情的详细分析,最终行手术切除治疗并行病理检查确诊.同时我们对HNENs相关文献进行了分析,进一步了解原发和转移性HNENs的临床特征、治疗方案以及预后,以期对此类疾病有更深入的了解,对临床治疗方案决策做证据支撑作用.     

Adenocarcinoma of the colon with neuroendocrine features and secretory diarrhea

We report the case of a 63-yr-old man who had severe secretory diarrhea associated with colonic adenocarcinoma, with a prominent signet ring cell component and numerous endocrine cells as demonstrated by positive chromogranin-A staining. Improvement in the secretory diarrhea by the somatostatin analog Sandostatin suggested that the diarrhea was related to a functional neuroendocrine tumor within the colonic tumor, the first case to be reported in the literature.     

Combined hepatocellular carcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma with sarcomatous change of the liver after transarterial chemoembolization

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma is rare and its origin is not clearly understood. An admixture of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and neuroendocrine carcinoma is particularly rare. Here, we report a patient with an extremely rare combination of HCC and neuroendocrine carcinoma of the liver. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which the carcinoma showed sarcomatous change. The patient was a 76‐year‐old man who had received outpatient treatment for chronic hepatitis C. On abdominal computed tomography (CT), the hepatic tumor was enhanced in the arterial phase but its density was lower than that of normal liver in the portal phases. His serum α‐fetoprotein (AFP) level was very high. Therefore, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) was performed based on the diagnosis of HCC. Ten months after TACE, his serum AFP level had increased to the level measured before TACE. Partial hepatectomy was performed because CT revealed poor enhancement of the recurrent tumor. Histopathologically, the tumor consisted of two distinct components: moderately differentiated HCC was intermingled with a neuroendocrine carcinoma, which was accompanied by sarcomatous changes. Immunohistochemically, the neuroendocrine carcinoma cells were positive for CD56, chromogranin A and neuron‐specific enolase, and negative for AFP. The sarcomatous area was positive for AE1/3 and CD56, consistent with sarcomatous change of neuroendocrine carcinoma. The neuroendocrine carcinoma and/or sarcomatous change may have been due to phenotypic changes and/or dedifferentiation of HCC induced by TACE. Six months after surgery, the patient was diagnosed with metastasis of the neuroendocrine carcinoma to sacral bone. He died 7 months after surgery.     

A case of primary small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the liver]

Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma is a type of undifferentiated, malignant neuroendocrine tumor. Most of neuroendocrine tumors exhibit well-differentiated features and are classified as carcinoid tumors. However, carcinomas of the liver with anaplastic characters, which are classified as small-cell carcinomas are extremely rare and only few cases have been reported in the literature. We report an unusual case of primary small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the liver in a 67-year-old man. The patient was found to have a palpable mass on right upper quadrant of abdomen on physical examination. The diagnosis was made by immunohistochemical stains of biopsied specimen from the liver. Other possible primary site was excluded by radiologic and endoscopic evaluations. The tumor was composed of small monotonous and hyperchromatic poorly differentiated cells with higher nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio, and were positive for neuroendocrine tissue markers such as synaptophysin, c-kit, and CD56.     

A case of primary small cell carcinoma arising from the common bile duct]

Small cell carcinoma is usually seen in the lung, but rarely involves the gastrointestinal tract including biliary tract. A 65 year-old man was admitted because of obstructive jaundice. A smooth-surfaced round intraluminal mass with proximal bile duct dilatation was seen in the proximal common bile duct on endoscopic retrograde cholangiogram. Under the diagnosis of bile duct cancer, pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy was done. Pathology revealed a 2 cm sized small cell carcinoma in the proximal common bile duct and distal common hepatic duct. On immunohistochemical stain, the tumor cells were positive for neuroendocrine markers CD56 and synaptophysin. After surgery, the patient received 5 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with VIP (etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin) regimen. However, the patient died of liver metastasis 12 months after the diagnosis. We report a case of extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma arising from the common bile duct.     

Primary signet-ring cell carcinoma of the prostate

We report a rare case of primary signet-ring cell carcinoma of the prostate in an advanced stage. A 62-year-old man with serum level of prostate-specific antigen at 364.70 ng/ml was diagnosed as having cT4N1M1c prostatic signet-ring cell carcinoma of Gleason score 5 + 4 = 9. Immunohistochemical examination demonstrated cytoplasmic immunoreactivity to prostate-specific antigen in signet-ring cancer cells. The intracytoplasmic vacuoles in the signet-ring cells showed mucin production with a positive staining with periodic acid-Schiff. Although the patient received hormonal therapy, the disease progressed and lead to death 15 months after the diagnosis. The clinical and immunohistochemical characteristics of this malignancy are also reviewed.     

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma with a cholangiocellular carcinoma component in one nodule

Primary neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) in the liver are very rare; however, several reports have described cases of a primary hepatic NEC combined with a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We present the first report of a primary hepatic NEC with a cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) component in one nodule in a patient with a metachronous liver HCC. A 73-year old man who had received partial hepatectomy surgery because of a primary HCC and a primary CCC two years prior was diagnosed with a primary hepatic NEC after surgical treatment. Histological analysis of the resected tumor revealed that the tumor consisted of a predominant NEC area with a partial CCC component in one nodule and that the NEC cells were negative for markers of pancreatic NEC. Neoplastic cells in both the NEC and CCC component focally expressed CD44, a representative marker for cancer-initiating cells, and the CD44-positive cells in the NEC component were seen in the vicinity of those in the CCC component of one nodule. This case report provides suggestive information for the origin of primary hepatic NECs.     

A case of primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of liver presenting with liver abscess]

Primary hepatic neuroendocrine cell carcinoma is a very rare tumor. We experienced a 75-year-old woman with primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma presenting with pyogenic liver abscess. Abdominal CT scan revealed a multiseptated liver abscess and an enlarged lymph node in portocaval portion. We performed percutaneous drainage of the liver abscess, but the amount of drained pus did not decrease after 20 days. The follow-up abdominal CT scan showed that the cystic portion of liver abscess had been replaced by the solid tumor. Microscopic examination of the tumor tissue showed nests of epithelial cells with uniform round hyperchromatic nuclei and high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio. Immunohistochemical staining was strongly positive for synaptophysin and chromogranin A.     

Combined choriocarcinoma, neuroendocrine cell carcinoma and tubular adenocarcinoma in the stomach

We described a patient with adenocarcinoma of the stomach combined with choriocarcinoma and neuroendocrine cell carcinoma. An 85-year-old man visited our hospital because of appetite loss. Gastric fiberscopy revealed a large tumor occupying the cardial region and anterior wall of the gastric body. The patient underwent total gastrectomy with lymphnode dissection and partial resection of the liver. Choriocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma and tubular adenocarcinoma existed in the gastric tumor. The choriocarcinomatous foci contained cells positive for beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin （B-hCG） and human placental lactogen mainly in syncytiotrophoblastic cells. The small cell carcinomatous loci contained cells positive for synaptophysin, neuron-specific enolase （NSE）, and chromogranin A. The prognosis for gastric adenocarcinoma with choriocarcinoma and neuroendocrine cell carcinoma is exceedingly poor. This patient died about 2 mo after the first complaint from hepatic failure. This is the first reported case of gastric cancer with these three pathological features.     

Accuracy of staging laparoscopy in detecting peritoneal dissemination in patients with gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma

Despite staging laparoscopy (SL) with peritoneal lavage is recommended in US Guidelines in patients with potentially resectable gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, this procedure is not systematically proposed in French Guidelines. Therefore, we decided to analyze the results of systematic SL in patients considered for preoperative chemotherapy. From 2005 to 2011, 116 consecutive patients with distal esophagus, esogastric junction, and gastric adenocarcinoma ≥T3 or N+ without detectable metastatic dissemination by computed tomography (CT) scan imaging underwent SL before neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Positive and negative SLs were compared according to tumor characteristics. SL was positive in 15 cases (12.9%) including 14 with peritoneal seeding (localized in five, diffuse in nine). SL was positive in 7 (24.1%) of 29 patients with poorly differentiated tumor, in 9 (32.1%) of 28 patients with signet ring cells, in 7 (50%) of 14 patients with gastric linitis tumor, and in 15 (16.3%) of 92 patients with T3 or T4 tumor. All the lesions of distal esophagus extending to the cardia had a negative SL. Among the 14 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis at SL, nine (65%) had signs of peritoneal seeding on initial CT scan. One (0.8%) patient had a small bowel perforation closed laparoscopically. If systematic SL before preoperative chemotherapy does not seem justified because of its low accuracy, it should be performed in patients with poorly differentiated tumor, signet ring cell, and gastric linitis plastica components on biopsy and when CT scan is suggestive of T4 tumor, ascites, or peritoneal nodule.     

Human bile duct carcinoma cell line producing abundant mucin in vitro

A human bile duct carcinoma cell line, designated OZ, was established from ascitic effusion of a patient who suffered from obstructive jaundice due to the clogging of the common bile duct with mucinous substances secreted by the cancer cells. OZ was found to be capable of producing mucin in vitro and pools of mucin were macroscopically identified on the monolayer of the cells. On the electron micrographs, cell coat type mucin and abundant intracytoplasmic desmosomes were observed. The OZ cells secreted carcinoembryonic antigen in culture and had high enzymatic activity of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. The tumor heterotransplanted into nude mice also showed mucin production.     

Gastric cancer with metastasis to the gingiva

The present case report describes a gastric cancer which showed unusual metastasis in the oral region. A 56-year-old male patient underwent total gastrectomy and splenectomy due to advanced gastric cancer in the upper third of the stomach. Fifteen months later, he presented with anorexia and gingival swelling of durations of approximately 3 and 1 month, respectively. The gastric tumor was histologically a signet ring cell and a poorly differentiated cancer with a moderate degree of vascular invasion. Biopsy specimens from the gingival tumor revealed a signet ring cell cancer. Other metastatic sites were the brain, limb bones and abdominal lymph nodes. A bone scintigram revealed an abnormal uptake in the limb bones, while it did not exhibit any abnormality in the oral region. Correlation between the histology of the gingival tumor with that of the gastric cancer, as well as the absence of a gingival tumor at the time of prior gastrectomy, led to a diagnosis that the gingival tumor was a metastasis from gastric cancer. Gastric cancer metastasizing to the oral region, either the osseus or the oral soft tissue, is very rare. Although it cannot be proved without an autopsy, negative findings in the mandible by bone scanning in the present case suggest that direct gingival metastasis can be considered, rather than mandibular metastasis involving the gingiva. Hematogenous spread could be a mechanism of metastasis for this unusual tumor.     

Metastatic signet ring gastric adenocarcinoma presenting with microangiopathic hemolytic anemia.

Metastatic adenocarcinoma presenting as microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) and leukoerythroblastic blood picture is rare. We report three patients who presented with MAHA as the initial symptom of metastatic signet ring cell gastric adenocarcinoma. One patient had past history of gastric ulcer. In all these patients the initial diagnosis was based on peripheral blood smear followed by bone marrow biopsy; upper GI endoscopy showed presence of gastric ulcers with focally scattered neo-plastic signet ring cells on histopathology. All patients died within a week of diagnosis.     

Highly malignant carcinoma in chronic ulcerative colitis without preceding dysplasia or DNA aneuploidy

A 41-year-old female with a history of total ulcerative colitis for 15 years is presented. After eight years, she was enrolled in a colonoscopic surveillance program with regular examinations every second year and with biopsy sampling for histologic assessment of dysplasia as well as for flow cytometric analysis. Neither dysplasia nor DNA aneupoloidy developed during the course of the follow-up, but, after seven years, the patient developed a rapidly growing malignant stricture in the lower rectum. At the time of diagnosis, a local gluteal metastasis was found. Following preoperative radiation therapy, laparotomy disclosed a rectal cancer with local growth in the pelvis. Despite an attempt to perform curative surgery, the patient deteriorated and died within four months after the diagnosis. The carcinoma was of a poorly differentiated, mucinous, signet ring cell type, and DNA analyses of both the tumor and its metastases were diploid. Retrospective analyses of mucin content in colonoscopic biopsies showed a gradual shift from sulfated mucin to sialomucin. This case underlines the fact that even rigorous follow-ups offer no absolute guarantee against incurable malignancy in surveillance programs for ulcerative colitis despite the inclusion of DNA analyses.     

直肠腺癌合并原发性肝脏神经内分泌癌一例

原发性肝脏神经内分泌癌较为少见,临床表现和影像学不具有特异性,病理诊断为金标准。该病例中患者同时伴有直肠腺癌,在初诊时肝内病灶考虑肠癌转移。在肝脏病灶与直肠病灶评效不一致后,我们行肝脏病灶穿刺病理证实为原发性肝脏神经内分泌癌,但由于患者肝功异常及体力下降未再有治疗机会。该病例提示我们临床工作中需要警惕患者存在多重癌可能,并且获得病理诊断很重要。     

A case of adenomatoid mesothelioma of the pleura

A case of adenomatoid mesothelioma of the pleura was presented. The patient was a 69-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus. She was admitted to our hospital because of a chest roentgenographic abnormality, which was pointed out during her clinical course. Chest X-ray-film on admission revealed a semicircular lesion located in the left lower lung field. The physical examination and laboratory data showed no abnormalities. Left lower lobectomy was performed. The tumor was approximately, 3.0 x 3.0 x 3.0 cm, elastic soft, encapsulated, and originated from the pulmonary pleura. The histological findings of the tumor showed benign epithelial localized pleural mesothelioma. However histologically, the tumor tissue was not like the usual epithelial type. That is, most cells which had intracellular vacuoles, were similar to signet ring cell. The tumor was diagnosed as adenomatoid mesothelioma of the pleura.