There were 848 cases of malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract admitted to this hospital in the period from April 1955 to December 1964, and 1785 cases from January 1975 to December 1984. A significant elevation of the incidence of the malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract was observed in the second 10 years as compared with the number of the total hospital admission in the same period. Esophageal cancer took the leading inthe first 10-year period, then gastric cancer and hepatic cancer followed; while in the second 10-year period, hepatic cancer occupied the first position and was followed by gastric cancer and rectal cancer. The sex ratio was 7.34 :5.82 with a male predo-minauce especially in patients with primary hepatic and esophageal cancers. The age of the patients ranged between 40 and 60 with an average of 46.6 years in the first period and 50.02 in the second. It was interesting to mention that the patients with gastric and rectal cancers were mostly with group A blood.

Hydrogen level in the exhaling air after oral lactose or glucose loading was determined in normal subjects and patients after gastreetoaiy. Basal hydrogen was less than 30 ppm in all the 16 normal subjects. After lactose ingestion, 13 subjects out of the 16 (81.2%) showed an increass of hydrogen excretion of 20 ppm or more. The average peak time of hydrogen accretion was in the 3.25 hours after lactose ingestion. After glucose ingestion,the increase of hydrogen excretion was less than 20 ppm. In 7 patients with Billroth I gastrec- tomy and 14 patients with Billroth II gastrectomy, increase of hydrogen excretion after lactose ingestion occurred in 6 out of the 7 (85.7%) and 12 out of the 14 (85.7%) respectively, which is not significantly different from that of the control. After glucose intake, increase of hydrogen excretion occurred in 1 out of the 7 (14.2%) and 5 out of the 14 (35.7%). The elevation of hydrogen in the exhaling air indicates the overgrowth of bowel bacteria. Our findings suggest that hydrogen breathing test after lactose loading is insensitive to reveal this phenomenon in patients after gastrectomy, but after glucose loading, the test might carry out this function especilly in those with Billroth II operation.

To study if the immune response in vivo induced by dendritic cells (DC) pulsed with tumor extract can inhibit the growth of implanted tumor and reject the challenge of tumor cells in nudes, we isolated and purified DC from hepato-cellcular cancer(HCC) patient with combination of granulocyte /macrophage colony stimulating factor and interleukin 4; extracted tumor-associated antigen from human hepatocellcular cancer cell line HepG2 tumor cells; initiated the T lymphocyte with DC pulsed by the TAA to product cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL); implanted the CTL to inhibit the growth of implanted tumor in nudes and protected the nudes against the further challenge of HepG2 tumor cells, and further found that the CTL induced by DC pulsed with TAA from HepG2 tumor cells can inhibit the growth of implanted tumor in nudes and protect the nudes against the further challenge of HepG2 tumor cells. The results suggest, as a new concept anti-tumor vaccine, DC pulsed by TAA may play an important role in therapy and prevent against tumor.

The authors reported their experience in treatment of 17 patients with hepato-gastrointestinal neoplasms with lipiodol embolization chemotherapy via subcutaneous infusion port by a non-surgical method since March, 1994. According to the seldinger method implanted catherter was placed in the suitable target artery, and the Subcutaneous infusion port was linked to the implanted catheter through a subcutaneous tunnel. Antitumor chemotherapeutic drugs, biological response modifiers and lipiodol were injected through the port. These results suggest that the non-surgical implant method is simple, safe and effective for regional chemotherapy.

Objective This study was to investigate the relation of nitric oxide synthase with cell proliferation and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The expression and localization of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and PCNA in 21 patients with HCC were studied by immunohistochemistry. Apoptotic cell in tissue section was detected by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase [TdT] mediated desoxyuridinetriphosphate [dUTP] nick end labeling). Results The iNOS protein was markedly expressed in the liver tissue of hepatic cirrhosis or chronic liver hepatitis, which was close to tumor edge. Meanwhile it was weakly or undetectable in the liver tissue localized beyond 1.5 cm from the tumor edge. The iNOS protein was markedly expressed at the invasive tumor edge and HCC cells that invased into stroma, but it was weakly or undetectable at the most tumor core. The expression of iNOS was correlated with the proliferative activity of cells, and the number of apoptotic cells was correlated to the number of PCNA positive cells ( P

Objective To investigate the effects of percutaneous radio frequency ablation of liver cancer, and evaluate the indications, contraindications, and side effects. Methods One hundred and fifty four patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or metastases liver cancer, with the average diameter of the tumours 7.07 cm were treated with by radio frequency RF 2000TM instrument, the results were evaluated. Results Average theraputic time was 1.18 times, the theraputic point was 5.74. The symptoms were improved after therapy, and the average concentration of AFP was droped from 1 553.68 ng/ml to 883.70 ng/ml. The percentage of tumour reduction was 56.8%. There were no serious complications observed. Conclusion Percutaneous radio frequency ablation of liver cancer is a simple, safe and effective method. For larger liver cancer several times action will be needed, or other intervantion therapy is added to enhance effectiveness.

Objective To explore the expression of glucose-regulated protein (Grp) 78 in ovarian cancer tissues and its clinical significance.Methods The expression of Grp78 in 60 cases of ovarian cancer tissue,15 cases of ovarian borderline tumor tissue,10 cases of normal ovarian tissue,10 cases of ovarian cyst tissue,was detected by immunohistochemistry,and analyzed the relationship between its expression and clinicopathological features of ovarian cancer.Results The expression of Grp78 in ovarian borderline tumor and ovarian cancer tissue was significantly higher than that in normal ovarian and ovarian cyst tissue[7/15 and 68.3％ (41/60) vs.1/10 and 1/10] (P ＜0.05).The expression of Grp78 was positively correlated with clinicopathological staging and lymphatic metastasis of ovarian cancer (P ＜ 0.05),negatively correlated with histological differentiation (P ＜ 0.05).No correlation with age and ascites (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The levels of Grp78 are elevated in ovarian cancer specimens; high expression of Grp78 maybe participate in the occurrence,development,and prognosis of ovarian cancer.Increased expression of Grp78 might be a useful marker for predicting the carcinogenesis and progression of ovarian cancer.

Objective: To strengthen the immunogenicity of hepatocarcinoma cells and activate immnological cells recognizing and killing the tumor cells.Methods:The murine MHC-I gene H-2Kb which can express immunologial rejection antigens was transfected into human hepatocarcinoma cells HepG2 by liposome DNA mediated gene gene transfer.The transfection of H-2Kb gene were detected by molecular hybridization techniues.The exogeous antigens expressed on the membrane of trans- fected tumor cells were detected with ABC immunohistochemical method and flow cytometer. [3H] release assays were used to detect the recognizing and killing effects of lymphocytes to HepG2 cells transferred with murine H-2Kb gene. The nude mice ex- periment was used to further verify CTL cells killing active.Results:Southern blot hybridization showed that the H-2Kb gene was integrated into the chromosome of HepG2 cells. The RNA dot blot hybridization showed that there was transcription of H-2Kb DNA in the transfected tumor cells.ABC immunohistochemical method and flow cytometer detection showed that the murine H-2Kb antigens were expressed on the membrane of HepG2 cells. [3H] release assays showed that the cytotoalcyty to HepG2 cells fected with H-2Kb gene was obviously higher than that to control cells.The results demonstrated that the growth of hepatocarcino- ma cells which were transferred with H-2Kb gene was obviously inhibited.Conclusion:The murine MHC-I gene H-2Kb could be transferred into the human hepatocinoma cells and expressed on the membrane of transferred cells.The HepG2 cells transferred with H-2Kb gene could induce human effective lymphocytes to recognize and kill these transferred tumor cells.

Objective To explore the feasibility of establishing mini-pig model of type 1 diabetes by single intrave-nous injection of high dose streptozotocin .Methods Eight male Zhonghua mini-pigs (22.6 ±1.8 kg) were administrated with high-dose streptozotocin (150 mg/kg) into the ear vein .Before and 10, 30, 90 minutes, 1, 3 and 7 days after adminis-tration of streptozotocin , blood samples were obtained respectively , and used to dynamically monitor the fasting blood-glucose. C peptide and insulin levels were evaluated by IVGTT test .Results Since 24 hours after STZ administration , the fasting blood-glucose level was increased significantly compared with that of pre-administration and maintained at 16.7-20.6 mmol/L, while the C peptide and insulin levels were decreased significantly .IVGTT results showed that blood sugar levels at 1 h af-ter intravenous injection of 50%glucose were much higher than 11.1 mmol/L and failed to restore to fasting glucose levels until 2 h, insulin and c-peptide did no response after injection of glucose , always kept at a trace level .Conclusion A sin-gle high-dose streptozotocin injection can be used to establish a mini-pig model of type 1 diabetes successfully .