We studied 24 cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and six cases of benign lymphoproliferative diseases of the skin (2 Jessner's lymphocytic infiltration, 2 pseudolymphoma, 2 lymphomatoid papulosis) for the presence of Epstein-Barr Virus(EBV) RNA, using the in situ hybridization(ISH) method. Among the 24 cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL), 18 cases including 12 cases of mycosis fungoides(MF) were primary CTCL, and the other 6 cases were secondary CTCL. The ISH study demonstrated a positive reaction for EBER probe in 6 out of the 24 cases(25%) of CTCL, and a negative reaction for BHLF nuclear RNA probe in all the cases studied. Double-labelling immunohistochemistry/ISH studies revealed that the EBV positive cells were CD45RO positive and CD20 negative. EBV genome was not demonstrated in any benign lymphoproliferative diseases of the skin. Among the EBER positive cases, none of the 12 cases of MF demonstrated EBER signals, and 6 out of the 12(50%) cases of CTCL were positive for EBER probe. In conclusion, latent infection of EBV may play a role in the development of non-mycosis fungoides T-cell lymphomas involving the skin.

Malignant schwannoma is a rare spindle cell tumor derived from schwann cells. There is no significant age or sex distribution. The typical clinical presentation is that of a painless slowly enlarging soft tissue mass, occasionally associated with a peripheral neuropathy. Tumors tend to recur lacally and eventually metastasize, commonly to the lung. We report a case of solitary malignant schwannoma with metastsis to the regional axillary lymph nodes. The patient is a 50-year-old male who had the recurred tumor on right upper arm and child fist sized palpable painless mass on right axilla, which were confirmed to be malignant schwannoma and. lymph node metastasis. But we could not find any evidence of pulmonary metastasis. Tumor and metastatic lymph nodes were widely excised and skin graft was performed.
Arm ; Axilla ; Child ; Humans ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Neurilemmoma* ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Schwann Cells ; Sex Distribution ; Skin ; Transplants

Dermatofibroma, a benigh tumor, invading eyelid is seldom reported. The authors experienced a case of tumor invading medial part of the left lower eyelid in a patient of eight day of age. The tumor was resected under general anesthesia and histopathological study revealed it to be dermatofibroma.
Anesthesia, General ; Eyelids ; Histiocytoma, Benign Fibrous* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Brain Abscess* ; Brain* ; Catheters*

Transitional cell carcinoma(TCC) of the urinary bladder shows marked heterogeneity in biological behaviors. Evidence has accumulated that biological markers may provide significant information to predict the potential aggressiveness of TCC. We have assessed the expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins in 56 cases of TCC to investigate the prognostic significance of differential expression of these oncoproteins using an immunohistochemical method. We analysed the expression patterns of these oncoproteins according to tumor stage and grade. And we assessed the probability of progression-free survival in stage T1 tumors according to their expressions. Positive rates of EGF-R (>+3 staining intensity), c-erbB-2 (intense membrane staining) and p53 proteins (>20% positive cells) were 73.2%, 37.5% and 42.9%, respectively. Invasive tumors had significantly higher positive rates of all three factors than did superficial tumors (p<0.005 for EGF-R and c-erbB-2, p<0.05 for p53). High grade tumors had significantly higher positive rates of c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins (p<0.005). In superficial tumors, T1 tumors had higher positive rate of p53 protein compared with Ta tumors (p<0.05). Twelve cases of superficial tumors (34.3%) were positive for EGF-R and negative for c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins. Nine cases of superficial tumors(25.7%) were negative for all three factors. In invasive tumors, however, 42.5% of the cases were positive for all three factors. The overexpression of p53 protein was the only useful marker to predict the rapid progression in stage T1 tumors (p<0.05, log-rank test). These results suggest that the differential overexpression of EGF-R, c-erbB-2 and p53 proteins could be useful to depict tumor aggressiveness of TCC of the urinary bladder. And, the overexpression of a p53 protein may be a useful marker to predict the possibility of rapid progression in stage T1 tumors.
Biomarkers ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Membranes ; Oncogene Proteins ; Population Characteristics ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Staphylococcal Protein A* ; Urinary Bladder*

A rare case of polyangiitis overlap syndrome is described. The patient was a 25-year-old man who had palpable purpura on his legs which showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis, and polyarteritis nodosa. Superior mesenteric arteriography showed microaneurysms in jejunal branches with focal segmental necrotizing arteritis of small and medium sized muscular arteries in the jejunum. Deposits of IgA and C3 in the superficial blood vessels of the lesional skin were consistent with the features of Henoch-Schonlein purpura. The patient died about two months after initial admission in spite of cytotoxic agent and steroid administration.
Adult ; Case Report ; Human ; Male ; Polyarteritis Nodosa/*complications/pathology ; Vasculitis, Hypersensitivity/*complications/pathology

PURPOSE: Nitric oxide (NO) and phosphodiesterases (PDEs) play key roles in mediating relaxation of corpus cavernosal smooth muscle by increasing intracellular cGMP level. Here, we investigated effects of NO-donor (sodium nitroprusside, SNP) and penile specific type-V PDE inhibitor (zaprinast) in human and rabbit corpus cavernosal cells and tissues in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cultured smooth muscle cells and tissues of human and rabbit corpus cavernosum were treated with increasing concentrations of SNP or zaprinast for 5 and 20 minutes, respectively, and intracellular cGMP levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Organ bath study was performed to measure the relaxation effects of drugs on precontracted corpus cavernosal muscle strips. RESULTS: Although both NO-donor and type-V PDE inhibitor effectively stimulated the accumulation of cGMP in a dose-dependent manner, magnitude of cGMP increase and specificity of drug were found to be species-dependent. In human corpus cavernosal tissues, cGMP was increased upto 10- and 5-folds by SNP and zaprinast, respectively. However, magnitude of increase was much less in cultured smooth muscle cells. In rabbit, SNP effect was most prominent in cultured cells and effects of SNP and zaprinast were modest in tissues. Both agents also resulted in effective relaxation of human and rabbit cavernosal tissue strips. Similar patterns of dose-response curves were shown between results from the organ bath studies and cGMP radioimmunoassay with cavernosal smooth muscle cells. CONCLUSIONS: Present results show that effects of SNP and zaprinast are not coincident in different species, suggesting possible species-specificities of these two agents. Measurement of cGMP changes in cultured cavernosal smooth muscles cells could be reflected to the relaxation effects of drugs on corpus cavernosal muscle strips.
Baths ; Cells, Cultured ; Cyclic GMP ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Humans* ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Negotiating ; Nitric Oxide ; Nitroprusside ; Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases ; Radioimmunoassay ; Relaxation* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Signal Transduction*

We investigated a correlation of serum prostate specific antigen(PSA) and preoperative prostatic volume measured by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) in 66 patients with pathologically con- firmed benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), as aids in the early detection of prostate cancer and in the improvement of specificity in BPH. The preoperative serum PSA value was also measured in 18 patients with pathologically confirmed prostate cancer and 15 men without prostatic disease as normal control using Tandem-R PSA radioimmunometric assay. There was a highly significant correlation between natural logarithm transformed PSA(In PSA) and non-transformed prostatic volume by linear regression analysis(r=0.6668, p<0.0001). Given above data, we determined a volume adjusted 95th percentile upper confidence limit for n PSA as an appropriate cutoff between normal and abnormal PSA value, according to prostatic volume in BPH. In the patients with BPH and prostate cancer, sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy and positive predictive value were 94%, 72%, 68% and 48%, respectively. A statistical results by the volume-adjusted cutoff for in PSA was similar to that at 10 ng/ml as cutoff for PSA value. Above 40ml in prostatic volume, however, a false positive rate was decreased in inverse proportion to prostatic volume in BPH. In summary, the prostatic volume must be considered in BPH patients with elevated serum PSA value, negative digital rectal examination and negative TRUS of prostate. And when the volume adjusted PSA cutoff is clinically applied to BPH patients for the early detection of prostate cancer, we thought that the false positive rate can be decreased in BPH patients.
Diagnosis* ; Digital Rectal Examination ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Male ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Diseases ; Prostatic Hyperplasia* ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography*

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor- alpha(TGF-alpha) may play important roles in carcinogenesis, tumor growth, and angiogenesis. Transforming growth factor-beta(TGF-beta) are known to be involved in cell-cycle control and regeneration. TGF-alpha positively acts on growth control of many epithelial cells in contrast to the negative role of TGF-beta. METHOD: To evaluate the possible role of TGF-alpha and TGF-beta in human primary lung cancers, the expression of TGF-alpha and TGF-beta were immmunohistochemically investigated in tissue sections from forty seven cases with lung cancers and ten cases with non-cancerous lung tissues. Recombinant cloned monoclonal antibody of TGF-alpha and neutralizing antibody of TGF-beta were employed as primary antibodies after dewaxing the formalin-fixed, paraffinized tissue sections. RESULTS: TGF-alpha was expressed in the cytoplasms of tumor cells in thirty five cases of forty seven(74.5%) primary lung cancers, whereas the control expressed in two of ten brochial epithelial cells. The expression of TGF-alpha was disclosed in four cases of eleven(36.4%) small cell carcinomas and thirty one cases of thirty six(86.1%) non-small cell carcinomas of the lung. Expressions of TGF-beta was discernible in bronchial epithelium in eight of ten non-cancerous lung tissues. The expression of TGF-beta was noted in the cytoplasms of tumor cells in eight cases of forty seven(17.0%) primary lung cancers. The expression of TGF-beta disclosed in two cases of eleven(18.2%) small cell carcinomas and six cases of thirty six(16.7%) non- small cell carcinomas of the lung. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that up-regulation of TGF-alpha and down-regulation of TGF-beta are involved during development and growth of primary lung cancers.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Neutralizing ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; Clone Cells ; Cytoplasm ; Down-Regulation ; Epithelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Growth and Development ; Humans* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Paraffin ; Regeneration ; Transforming Growth Factor alpha ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Up-Regulation

No abstract available.
Angiolipoma*