Prospective study of hepatocellular carcinoma in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in comparison with hepatocellular carcinoma caused by chronic hepatitis C

Background  

This study was performed to clarify the outcomes and recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in comparison with the data for HCC caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.     

Inferring the meaning of a novel adjective by Japanese preschoolers

This study examined how Japanese preschoolers infer the meaning of a novel adjective and noun. The participants, 41 three-year-olds and 44 four-year-olds, were introduced to a novel adjective or a novel noun in association with a familiar object. They were then shown five test objects and asked to choose all the objects to which they could apply the novel word. The results indicated that although both three- and four-year-olds tried to extend adjectives using a different principle from nouns, only four-year-olds successfully extended a novel adjective based on the sameness of property. Three-year-olds seem to have trouble extracting a common property across objects especially when those objects belong to different basic-level categories.     

Heme oxygenase-1 mediates the anti-allergic actions of quercetin in rodent mast cells

Objective and design  

We investigated the involvement of heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in the anti-allergic action of quercetin against degranulation of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells, rat peritoneal mast cells, and mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells.     

Decitabine--bedside to bench

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: Epigenetic changes marked by DNA methylation are known to contribute to the malignant transformation of cells by silencing critical genes. Decitabine inhibits DNA methyltransferase and has shown therapeutic effects in patients with hematologic malignancies. However, the connection between the clinical activity of decitabine and its demethylating activity is not clear. Herein, we summarize the results of recent clinical trials of decitabine in hematologic malignancies, and review the translational research into decitabine's mechanism of clinical activity. RECENT FINDINGS: Low-dose decitabine has been studied recently in multiple clinical trials and has been shown to be effective for treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes. Correlative laboratory studies of clinical trials have shown that decitabine induces global hypomethylation as well as hypomethylation of gene-specific promoters and activation of gene expression. Past a given threshold, induction of higher degrees of hypomethylation is not directly associated with a better clinical outcome. Moreover, studies have suggested that patients with promoter hypermethylation of p15(INK4B) at baseline have paradoxically a lower chance of achieving response than those without hypermethylation. Furthermore, several other genes activated by decitabine were independent of hypomethylation in the promoter regions. CONCLUSION: While at least part of decitabine's activity is through induction of hypomethylation and reactivation of critical genes, mechanisms independent from hypomethylation are also important for decitabine's antitumor activity.     

A case of metastatic colon cancer in which repetition of standard treatment proved effective

In palliative chemotherapy, a focus on palliative treatment is recommended in cases that are unresponsive to multiple drugs. Careful judgment is needed, however, because when treatment is inadequate, cases that are considered to be unresponsive may include some in which chemotherapy would be effective. We treated a patient with metastatic colon cancer who was judged to be unresponsive to multiple drugs at another hospital, yet repetition of standard therapy proved effective. We report this case as an instructive example of the importance of maintaining dose intensity. The patient was a 60-year-old man. Lung metastasis appeared after he had undergone proctectomy and received adjuvant chemotherapy by his previous doctor. Low-dose intensity IFL therapy, FOLFOX4 therapy (once a month), and FOLFIRI therapy (once only) had been performed, but the patient's condition worsened and he was referred to our hospital. This case could not be considered unresponsive to multiple drugs because the treatment had been insufficient, and so we restarted FOLFIRI treatment with the international standard dose and obtained control of the disease. Treatment was then continued, and the patient died 2 years and 11 months after he was first examined at our hospital. Simple palliative treatment alone should not be given unthinkingly when patients are referred for outpatient palliative care. Full consideration of the dosing and schedule is needed.     

Precise comparison of protoporphyrin IX fluorescence spectra with pathological results for brain tumor tissue identification

Photodynamic diagnosis is used during glioma surgery. Although some studies have shown that the spectrum of fluorescence was efficient for precise tumor diagnosis, previous methods to characterize the spectrum have been problematic, which can lead to misdiagnosis. In this paper, we introduce a comparison technique to characterize spectrum from pathology and results of preliminary measurement using human brain tissues. We developed a spectrum scanning system that enables spectra measurement of raw tissues. Because tissue preparations retain the shape of the device holder, spectra can be compared precisely with pathological examination. As a preliminary analysis, we measured 13 sample tissues from five patients with brain tumors. The technique enabled us to measure spectra and compare them with pathological results. Some tissues exhibited a good relationship between spectra and pathological results. Although there were some false positive and false negative cases, false positive tissue had different spectra in which intensity of short-wavelength side was also high. The proposed technique provides an accurate comparison of quantitative fluorescence spectra with pathological results. We found that spectrum analysis may reduce false positive errors. These results will increase the accuracy of tumor tissue identification.     

Villin1, a diagnostic marker for endometrial adenocarcinoma with high grade nuclear atypia

Villin1 (VIL1) has a role in regulating actin dynamics, cell morphology, anti-apoptotic mechanisms, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Previously we reported VIL1 as a novel diagnostic marker for cervical adenocarcinoma (AC) with poor radioresponse. This study further investigated the diagnostic role of VIL1 in gynecological tumors especially endometrial AC. We recruited 107 patients with AC (41 tumors in the corpus and 66 tumors in cervix), most of whom treated by total abdominal hysterectomy. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed VIL1-positive tumors in 37% of cases; 10 of 41 corpus tumors and 30 of 66 tumors in the cervix. VIL1-positive tumors were further examined histologically and immunostained for epithelial cell surface marker, EpCAM, and mesenchymal stem cell marker, CD44. Most of these tumors were CD44 negative and EpCAM positive, and the cytoplasmic VIL1 immunoreactivity in endometrial AC was more selective than EpCAM in reflecting histological aggressiveness with high grade nuclear atypia. This study confirmed our previous finding of VIL1 as a diagnostic marker of cervical AC. In addition, VIL1 immunostaining was detected in 25% of endometrial AC cases. These results suggested the existence of an aggressive and VIL1-positive subtype of gynecological tumor.