Human amniotic membrane isolated from the placenta contained basement membrane components such as type IV collagen, laminin, and 6 and 4 integrins, all of which remained detectable while preserved in glycerin for one week. One month after the n-heptanol removal of the total corneal epithelium and the limbal lamellar keratectomy, all rabbit eyes carried features of limbal deficiency, including conjunctival epithelial ingrowth, vascularization and chronic inflammation. Ten control eyes then received a total keratectomy, and 13 experimental eyes received an additional amniotic membrane transplantation. Three-month follow-ups revealed that all control corneas were revascularized to the center with granuloma and retained a conjunctival phenotype. In contrast, in the experimental groups, 5 corneas became clear with either minimal or no vascularization; the rest had either mild peripheral (5) or total (3) vascularization and more cloudy stroma. Using monoclonal antibodies for epithelial markers and matrix components, we concluded that the success correlated with the return of a cornea-like epithelial phenotype and the preservation of the amniotic membrane, whereas the failure maintained a conjunctival epithelial phenotype and the amniotic membrane was either partially degraded or covered by host fibrovascular stroma. Measures taken to facilitate the former might prove this procedure clinically useful for ocular surface reconstruction.
Amnion/chemistry/*transplantation ; Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Basement Membrane/chemistry/pathology ; Cornea/pathology/*surgery ; Corneal Neovascularization/pathology/*prevention & control/surgery ; Epithelium/pathology/surgery ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins/analysis ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Male ; Rabbits

About 5% of patients with SCLC have the ectopic production of ACTH. Ectopic ACTH production of SCLC is suspected when patients of SCLC have unexplained metabolic alkalosis and hypokalemia. Most patients lack the classic feature of Cushing's syndrome. According to the recent report, they have poor prognosis, which median survival is less than 4 months and associated with a high rate of complication during chemotherapy. Also a case of paraneoplastic CRH production with SCLC can mimic the ectopic ACTH syndrome hut it can be distinguished by immunohistochemistry or direct measurement of serum CRH level. We report here a case of small cell lung cancer associated with Cushing's syndrome of ectopic ACTH production. That is immunohistochemically provened by staining with ACTH.
ACTH Syndrome, Ectopic ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone* ; Alkalosis ; Cushing Syndrome* ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Hypokalemia ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Prognosis ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) causes chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, primary B-cell gastric lymphoma, and adenocarcinoma of the stomach. The eradication of H. pylori infection requires combination of antibiotics including proton pump inhibitors. However, development of antibiotic resistance is a major cause of treatment failure. To select an appropriate regimen, systemic information on the antibiotic resistance is mandatory. H. pylori acquires resistance essentially via point mutations, and this phenomenon is found with most antibacterials. The prevalence of primary antibiotic resistance in H. pylori strains isolated from Korean patients has been increasing along with the shift to high minimum inhibitory concentrations from 1987 to 2009. Moreover, MIC values of secondary isolates were higher than those of primary isolates. In addition, there is an increasing tendency for the emergence of strains with multi-drug resistance. Resistance rates of H. pylori to amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin have been reported up to 18.5%, 38.5%, 66.2%, 34.6%, 34.6%, 29.5%, and 23.2%, respectively. Especially, antibiotic resistance to metronidazole or clarithromycin affects undermining the efficacy of eradication treatment. Further nation-wide surveillance regarding the effect of antibiotic resistance on the eradication rate is necessary to establish the appropriate treatment for H. pylori infection.
Adenocarcinoma ; Amoxicillin ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Aza Compounds ; B-Lymphocytes ; Ciprofloxacin ; Clarithromycin ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Gastritis ; Helicobacter ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Metronidazole ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Ofloxacin ; Peptic Ulcer ; Point Mutation ; Prevalence ; Proton Pump Inhibitors ; Quinolines ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Tetracycline ; Treatment Failure

Clinically evident metastases of carcinomas to the thyroid gland are rare, particularly from a colorectal primary tumor. We present a case of colonic adenocarcinoma metastatic to the thyroid gland with histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings. A 68-year-old woman with a history of Dukes' stage B colon carcinoma presented a mass in the thyroid gland. The tumor was confirmed to be metastatic adenocarcinoma from the colon. The immunohistochemical findings demonstrated positive staining for cytokeratin 20, low-molecular-weight cytokeratin, villin and carcinoembryonic antigen, but stains were negative for cytokeratin 7 and thyroglobulin.
Adenocarcinoma/secondary* ; Adenocarcinoma/radiography ; Aged ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen/analysis ; Carrier Proteins/analysis ; Case Report ; Colonic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Female ; Human ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Intermediate Filament Proteins/analysis ; Keratin/analysis ; Microfilament Proteins/analysis ; Thyroid Neoplasms/secondary* ; Thyroid Neoplasms/radiography ; Thyroid Nodule/radiography ; Thyroid Nodule/chemistry ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tumor Markers, Biological

Sclerosing hemangioma of the lung is uncommon benign neoplasm of uncertain histogenesis, although their radiological appearance is relatively distinct and well-defined. Recently, we experienced 2 cases of sclerosing hemangiomas of the lungs in 61 and 39 years old women. The light microscopic findings of the tissues are similar to the features reported by Liebow and Hubbell(1956). The basic cellular response is thought to be type II pneumonocytes because of findings of multilamellar-like bodies within stromal cells with electron microscopy in case I in addition to other characteristics generally found in epithelial cells.
Female ; Humans ; Hemangioma

The current modalities for treating cancer employ not only single but multiple approaches involving surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the survival outcome is not promising even with these approaches. Alternative approaches for cancer therapy are now emerging. Immunotherapy is aiming at both increasing the power, and in redirecting the specificity of the patients' immune system to attack the tumor cells. Recently, many studies using tumor associated lymphocytes (TAL) isolated from malignant ascites cultured in a media containing interleukin-2 exhibit antitumor responses. IL-2 is a lymphokine produced by T-cells. It facilitates activation, sustained growth and rescue from apoptosis. Lately, newly developed IL-15 has also exhibited antitumor activity similar to IL-2. IL-15 is a newly described cytokine produced from monocytes-marcrophages and T-cells. It has a different molecular structure but it functions like IL-2 by binding to the IL-2R beta and gamma c chain. These antitumor responses are mediated by the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that recognize the antigen in the context of the MHC molecules using the T cell receptors. CD8+-CTL recognize the peptide epitopes that are processed from the cellular proteins in the context of the MHC class I molecules. These peptides have a restricted length of 8-11 amino acids. The folate binding protein (FBP) is overexpressed in over 90% of ovarian and 20-50% in breast cancers. The FBP is the source of the antigenic peptides that are recognized by a number of these CTL-TAL, and is antigenic to both ovarian and breast cancer in vivo. To define the antitumor response of IL-15 and its' FBP immunogenicity, a peptide defining epitope E39 and E75 were presented by the PMBC derived dendritic cells (DC) from healthy donors isolated by the CD14 method to ovarian and breast CTL-TAL. Stimulating both ovarian and breast CTL- TAL by E39 or E75 pulsed DC (DC-E39, DC-E75), in the presence of IL-15 and IL-2 can rapidly enhance or induce the E39 or E75 specific CTL activity. The antitumor activities were measured by a chromium release assay for the tumor specific lysis activity using the ovarian and breast cancer cell lines. The tumor specific lysis activity for the ovarian TALs for IL-15 vs IL-2 were 28.6+/-3.9% and 30.3+/-3.2%, respectively and in the breast TALs, they were 14.8+/-3.1% vs 13.5+/-2.9%, respectively. Using autologous tumor cells, a slightly higher tumor specific lysis activity was obtained for the ovarian TALs cultured in IL-15 compared to IL-2 (72.0+/-8.2% vs 68.5+/-3.6%). However, for the breast TALs, they were 39.5+/-4.2% vs 41.5+/-3.3%, respectively. IL-15 is a newly developed cytokine that shows promising antitumor activity similar to IL-2. However, it requires lower dosage and is less toxic. Therefore, IL-15 might be a potential anticancer immunotherapeutic agent.
Breast Neoplasms/*immunology/therapy ; Carrier Proteins/*physiology ; Cells, Cultured ; Comparative Study ; Dendritic Cells/drug effects/*immunology ; Female ; Human ; Interleukin-15/*pharmacology ; Interleukin-2/*pharmacology ; Middle Age ; Ovarian Neoplasms/*immunology/therapy ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/*immunology

OBJECTIVE: In an effort to develop a more effective therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer, we examined whether the restoration of the wild-type p53 gene can enhance the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy. METHODS: In this study, Ov-ca-2774 cells, which are known to have p53 point mutation and cisplatin-resistance, were selected and currently used chemotherapeutic agents including cisplatin, carboplatin, paclitaxel, etoposide, topotecan, and doxorubicin were added concurrently or sequentially with adenovirus-mediated p53 gene transfer (Ad5CMV-p53). RESULTS: Transfer of the wild-type p53 cDNA gene into Ov-ca-2774 cells showed 55% cell killing in vitro at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 40. Although the combination of carboplatin or paclitaxel followed by p53 gene transfer with an interval of 48 h manifested no enhanced cell killing compared with cells infected with Ad5CMV-p53 alone, the other combinations of chemotherapeutic agents and p53 gene transfer resulted in 15% to 37% further cell killing (P<0.05). Furthermore, p53 gene transfer followed by doxorubicin with an interval of 24 h and concurrent combination of etoposide with p53 gene transfer showed significant difference in cell killing in contrast to the other combination strategies in the respective chemotherapeutic agent exposure groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrated that combination of p53 gene transfer and chemotherapeutic agents had higher cell killing than either of these two modality alone.
Carboplatin ; Cisplatin ; DNA, Complementary ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy* ; Etoposide ; Genes, p53 ; Homicide ; Humans* ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Paclitaxel ; Point Mutation ; Topotecan

Urachal adenocarcinoma is a rare tumor, and it has similarities with nonurachal adenocarcinoma; therefore, it is sometimes difficult to make a diagnosis. We present a typical case of urachal adenocarcinoma that had all the diagnostic criteria including the presence of an urachal remnant. A 65-year-old woman presented with complaints of a painless gross hematuria. Pelvic CT and cystoscopy showed an intraluminal protruding mass centered in the bladder wall. When diagnosed as adenocarcinoma with a signet ring cell component being noted by frozen biopsy, partial cystectomy with resection of the median umbilical ligament and peritoneum was carried out for a suspected urachal adenocarcinoma. The tumor morphology showed as typical mucinous adenocarcinoma. Characteristic tubular structures showing the typical histology of an urachal remnant was found in the perivesical fat. On immunohistochemical staining, the urachal adenocarcinoma showed a pattern similar to colonic adenocarcinoma, while the urachal remnant showed strong positivity for CK7 and Chromogranin A.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Cellular Structures ; Chromogranin A ; Colon ; Cystectomy ; Cystoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Ligaments ; Peritoneum ; Urachus ; Urinary Bladder

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common malignant soft tissue tumor in children. In adults, however, it is extremely rare, with only a few cases observed. We describe a case of an adolescent who presented with hematologic findings compatible with acute leukemia. A 35-year-old woman was transferred to the Dong-A University Hospital for further evaluation of thrombocytopenia, anemia, and ovarian mass lesions. The peripheral blood film showed a leukoerythroblastic picture with circulating blasts. The bone marrow was markedly hypercellular and 85.6 % of all nucleated cells were atypical tumor cells. Immunophenotyping with both myeloid and lymphoid markers was all negative. With cytogenetic analysis of bone marrow 8 of 11 metaphases were characterized by a translocation t(2;13)(q35;q14), strongly indicated a diagnosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using whole chromosome paints for chromosomes 2 and 13 confirmed the cytogenetic diagnosis.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Anemia ; Bone Marrow* ; Child ; Cytogenetic Analysis ; Cytogenetics* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; In Situ Hybridization ; Leukemia* ; Metaphase ; Paint ; Rhabdomyosarcoma* ; Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar ; Thrombocytopenia

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A worldwide increase in amoxicillin resistance in Helicobacter pylori is having an adverse effect on eradication therapy. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of the amoxicillin resistance of H. pylori in terms of amino acid substitutions in penicillin-binding protein 1 (PBP1). METHODS: In total, 150 H. pylori strains were isolated from 144 patients with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, or stomach cancer. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the strains were determined with a serial 2-fold agar dilution method. The resistance breakpoint for amoxicillin was defined as >0.5 microg/mL. RESULTS: Nine of 150 H. pylori strains showed amoxicillin resistance (6%). The MIC values of the resistant strains ranged from 1 to 4 microg/mL. A PBP1 sequence analysis of the resistant strains revealed multiple amino acid substitutions: Val16-->Ile, Val45-->Ile, Ser414-->Arg, Asn562-->Tyr, Thr593-->Ala, Gly595-->Ser, and Ala599-->Thr. The natural transformation of these mutated genes into amoxicillin-sensitive strains was performed in two separate pbp1 gene segments. A moderate increase in the amoxicillin MIC was observed in the segment that contained the penicillin-binding motif of the C-terminal portion, the transpeptidase domain. CONCLUSIONS: pbp1 mutation affects the amoxicillin resistance of H. pylori through the transfer of the penicillin-binding motif.
Adult ; Amino Acid Sequence ; *Amino Acid Substitution ; Amoxicillin/*pharmacology ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*pharmacology ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections/drug therapy ; Helicobacter pylori/*chemistry/*drug effects/genetics ; Humans ; Male ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Middle Aged ; *Penicillin Resistance/genetics ; Penicillin-Binding Proteins/*chemistry/genetics ; Republic of Korea ; Sequence Analysis, Protein ; Transformation, Genetic