Retrospective study on stage B prostate cancer in the Hokuriku District, Japan

BACKGROUND: The present study was conducted to investigate how patients with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated in the Hokuriku District, Japan. METHODS: Medical records of 536 patients with stage B prostate cancer were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were diagnosed and treated at four university hospitals and 32 collaborating hospitals in the Hokuriku District. RESULTS: Because their medical records were incomplete and/or they not available for follow up, 79 cases were excluded from this study. Conservative treatment with hormone therapy was used for 248 cases. Radical prostatectomy was performed in 199 cases, only 27 of whom underwent surgical monotherapy. There was no significant difference in disease-specific survival rates between the hormone (69.0%) and surgery group (83.2%) after 110 months. Results of the analysis of disease-specific survival rates according to histologic grade showed that patients with poorly differentiated cancers treated with hormone therapy were the only subset with significant differences when compared against the other patients. CONCLUSION: The value of prostatectomy alone or added was marginal in terms of survival. Only patients with poorly differentiated cancer might benefit from prostatectomy.     

Signet-ring cell carcinoma of the prostate effectively treated with maximal androgen blockade

Primary signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of the prostate is very rare and has a poor prognosis, even when treated with aggressive therapy. We report herein a case of a 72-year-old man with prostatic SRCC. The patient had a tumor that extended directly to the rectum. Maximal androgen blockade was started and 20 months later, the patient was alive without evidence of recurrence. The present case of prostatic SRCC responded well to medical therapy, however, tumors can recur after a long period of time. Therefore, adjuvant therapy is recommended.     

Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of the component acellular pertussis vaccine produced by a combination of column purified pertussis toxin and filamentous haemagglutinin

This is the report on a prospective, single blind, comparative study of a component acellular pertussis vaccine produced by a combination of detoxified, column purified pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (DTcaP) and the traditional acellular pertussis vaccine produced with essentially the same method as described by Sato with DT (DTaP) of the same manufacturer. A total of 616 infants and children received DTcaP and a total of 289 received DTaP. In all age groups for both vaccines values of serum antibodies to PT and FHA after two doses of the vaccines were comparable to those of convalescent sera. Incidences of systemic and local reactions were, in general, not greatly different between DTcaP and DTaP recipients. In Japan the use of traditional acellular vaccines replaced whole cell vaccines in 1981. Protective antigens of Bordetella pertussis have now been specified and thus component vaccines have become theoretically possible. This is the first component vaccine which has been developed in Japan. Several other component vaccines are now under investigation in the world.     

Prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae in acute lower respiratory infection in the pediatric population in Japan

Chlamydia pneumoniae has been established as an important etiologic agent of acute respiratory tract infection in humans, especially in adults. However, there is little information available on C. pneumoniae infection in the pediatric age group. The microimmunofluorescence test and Chlamydia pneumoniae-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method were applied to reveal the role of C. pneumoniae as an etiologic agent of acute lower respiratory tract infection in children in Japan. Among 136 patients aged between 2 months and 15 years with acute lower respiratory tract infection, five patients with pneumonia were found to have recent C. pneumoniae infection by the microimmunofluorescence test. C. pneumoniae-specific PCR products were detected from specimens of four patients among these five. Neither C. trachomatis nor C. psittaci infection was found in this population. These results suggest that C. pneumoniae is an important causative agent of acute childhood pneumonia and may be the most prevalent pathogen among the genus Chlamydia that causes acute lower respiratory disease in this age group in Japan.     

Sucrose permeability as a meas of detecting diseases of the upper digestive tract

The healthy gastric epithelium will not allow easy permeation of a disaccharide-sized molecule such as sucrose. However, during gastric damage, intact sucrose can pass the gastric epithelium and ultimately appear in the urine. We examined the relationship between total urinary sucrose excretion and various diseases. We used 149 patients (105 had upper gastrointestinal disease, 12 had gastric cancer and 32 were normal). Subjects were given a solution containing 100g sucrose in 450 c.c. water. All urine was collected for 7.5 h. The urinary sucrose concentration was determined by anion exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. Total urinary sucrose excretion was significantly higher in patients with gastric ulcer and those with gastric cancer than in endoscopically normal controls. In the 34 patients with gastric ulcer, the total sucrose excretion was closely correlated with ulcer size. Ulcer location did not affect urinary sucrose excretion. A strong correlation was also observed between sucrose excretion and lesion size in the 12 patients with gastric cancer. The sucrose permeability test may be a relatively sensitive method to detect gastric disease.     

Novel HER2 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, TAK-165, inhibits bladder, kidney and androgen-independent prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo

PURPOSE: TAK-165 is a new potent inhibitor of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinase. Several reports suggest HER2 expression in bladder cancer, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and androgen-independent prostate cancer. We therefore investigated the antitumor effect of TAK-165 on these urological cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Western blot analysis was performed to confirm HER2 expression in cell lines. To study in vitro efficacy, cells were treated with TAK-165 at various concentrations for 72 h and then counted using a hemocytometer. Then the IC50 value was calculated. In the xenograft model, after the tumor reached 200-300 mm3 in volume, mice were orally administered TAK-165 10 mg/kg per day or 20 mg/kg per day or saline for 14 consecutive days (n=6-8). RESULTS: HER2 expression was observed in HT1376, UMUC3, T24 (bladder), ACHN (kidney), DU145, LNCaP, LN-REC4 (prostate), although the expression level in these cells was weak compared with BT474 (a breast cancer cell line which expresses HER2 strongly). IC50 was varied from 0.09 to greater than 25 micromol/L in the bladder cancer cell line. ACHN cells were less sensitive in vitro. The prostate cancer cell lines studied were all sensitive (IC50 0.053-4.62 micromol/L). In the xenograft model, treatment with TAK-165 significantly inhibited growth of UMUC-3, ACHN, and LN-REC4. The antitumor effect (T/C [%]=growth of TAK-165 treated tumor/average growth of control tumorx100) after 14 days treatment were 22.9%, 26.0%, and 26.5% in UMUC3, ACHN and LN-REC4, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: TAK-165 may be a hopeful new agent for bladder, kidney and androgen-independent prostate cancer.     

A Preliminary Report on Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for the Treatment of Advanced Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Four patients with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of unfavorablehistology were treated with marrow-lethal doses of cyclophosphamide(CY) and total body irradiation (TB1) followed by the infusionof cryopreserved autologous marrow. All four patients showedengraftment after autologous bone marrow transplantation andachieved complete remission (CR). Three of them, however, developedrelapse in 1.7, 12.9 and 14.5 mo respectively after the transplantation.The other patient has survived in drug-free CR for more than16.6 mo. There was no treatment-related death although therewere some tolerable complications. These data suggest that theCY-TBI regimen may be effective in inducing CR in patients withadvanced non-Hodgkin's disease but it does not contribute topreventing relapse.     

Bisphosphonate induces apoptosis and inhibits pro-osteoclastic gene expression in prostate cancer cells

AIM: Bisphosphonates are well established for the management of cancer-induced skeletal complications. Recent studies suggest that bisphosphonates promote apoptosis of cancer cells as well as osteoclasts in bone metastatic sites. To determine the direct effects of bisphosphonate on prostate cancer, we examined the effects of minodronate on prostatic cancer cell growth and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and osteoclastogenic factors. METHODS: PC-3, DU145 and LNCaP cells were treated with amino-bisphosphonate minodronate. Then proliferation, apoptosis and expression of bcl-2, bax, poly (ADP)-ribose polymerase (PARP), caspase-3, receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL), osteoprotegerin (OPG), matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2), and parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) were assessed. RESULTS: The proliferation of prostatic cancer cells was inhibited by minodronate. DNA fragmentation and TUNEL-positive nuclei were observed in minodronate-treated PC-3 cells. Minodronate decreased bcl-2 expression and induced bax expression, caspase-3 activity and degradation of PARP in DU145 and PC-3 cells. Minodronate decreased expression of RANKL, PTHrP and MMP-2 in PC-3 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that bisphosphonate not only promotes apoptosis directly but also decreases pro-osteoclastic gene expression in prostate cancer cells.     

Traumatic rhabdomyolysis resulting from continuous compression in the exaggerated lithotomy position for radical perineal prostatectomy

This report demonstrates a case of rhabdomyolysis as a result of the exaggerated lithotomy position during radical perineal prostatectomy. The pathogenesis, diagnosis, management, and preventive measures of rhabdomyolysis are also reviewed.