PURPOSE: recent studies have reported that the expression of Drg-1 is up-regulated by androgen. It has been suggested that Drg-1 gene be used as a molecular marker for prostate cancer therapies like PSA. To de termine the role of Drg-1 gene as a molecular marker during intermittent androgen deprivation(IAD) therapy, we investigated the expression of Drg-1 and compared it with PSA expression in human prostate cancer cell lines treated with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) continuously or intermittently. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two prostate cancer cells having different status of androgen receptor [LNCaP (androgen dependent) and PC-3 (androgen independent)] were used in this study. To know the change in PSA and Drg-1 expression after DHT treatment the cells were cultured in steroid-free RPMI media for 24 hours. 10(-7) and 10(-8)M of DHT and 10(-7)M bicalutimide was added into the cells and then cultured for 72 hours. And we established in vitro IAD model using LNCaP cells. Northern analyses were performed to determine the expression level of both PSA and Drg-1genes. Also, western analyses were performed to determine the protein level of proliferating cellular nuclear antigen and androgen receptor. RESULTS: Transcripts of Drg-1 were detected in both LNCaP and PC-3 cells but PSA was not expressed in PC-3 cells. The expression of Drg-1gene in LNCaP cells was up-regulated by 10(-8)M of DHT like PSA gene and down-regulated by 10(-7)M bicalutamide. In the treatment of intermittent androgen deprivation, the expression pattern of Drg-1was similar to that of PSA. However, up-regulation of PSA was detected earlier than of Drg-1. CONCLUSIONS: Based on observation, Drg-1 was up-regulated by androgen and down-regulated by anti-androgen. This suggests that Drg-1gene is useful for determining the androgen independency of prostate cancer during IAD.
Cell Line ; Dihydrotestosterone ; Humans ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Receptors, Androgen ; Up-Regulation

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the response of hyperplastic endometrium to Medroxyprogesterone acetate according to the histologic types such as simple typical, complex typical and atypical hyperplasia. METHODS: A total of 79 patients with histologically proved endometrial hyperplasia were enrolled into this prospective study between March 1996 and May 1998. Patients without atypia were placed on a regimen of cyclic therapy with 10mg MPA orally, each day for 14days per month for 3 months. In the cases in which hyperplasia did not regress , MPA was increased to 20mg. Patients with atypical hyperplasia received continuous MPA therapy, 20mg orally each day for 3 month. All patients were followed up for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 1 year(mean 7 months). RESULTS: In patients with simple typical hyperplasia, 45 patients(80.4%) had regression, 11 patients(19.6%) had persistence and none had progression. In patients with complex typical hyperplasia, 10 patients(83.3%) had regression, 2 patients(16.7%) had persistence and none had progression. But, in patients with atypical hyperplasia 5 patients(45.4%) had regression, 4 patients(36.4%) had persistence and 2(18.2%) patients had well differentiated endometrial adenocarcinoma. There was no recurrence during the follow up. CONCLUSION: This data suggest that most women with typical hyperplasia respond to progestin therapy, but there is high failure rate of response to progestin therapy and risk of endometrial cancer in patients with atypical hyperplasia. If the young patient desires to preserve her fertility, then progestin therapy may be considered as primary treatment in patients with atypical hyperplasia. But older patients in whom fertility is not an issue, hysterectomy should be selected as treatment of choice for atypical lesion.
Adenocarcinoma ; Endometrial Hyperplasia* ; Endometrial Neoplasms ; Endometrium ; Female ; Fertility ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Hysterectomy ; Medroxyprogesterone Acetate ; Medroxyprogesterone* ; Prospective Studies ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the efficiency of tumor markers level for early diagnosis of ovarian malignancy and for differentiation between benign and malignant ovarian tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determined preoperative serum tumor markers level in patients who were going to have an operation due to ovarian tumor in OB & GY Dept. of Chonnam University Hospital from April 1993 to September 1999. RESULTS: 1) The average values of serum tumor markers in patients with malingnant ovarian tumors were statistically higher than those of benign ovarian tumors. among malignant ovarian tumors, positive rate of all serum tumor markers was highest in epithelial ovarian carcinoma group. and among ovarian tumor markers, and positive rate of CA 125 was highest in epithelial ovarian carcinoma. 2) Dermoid cyst and endometioma were correlated to CA 19-9, CA 125 levels respectively. for malignant tumors, mucinous ovarian adenocarcinoma and non-mucinous ovarian adenocarcinoma were CA 19-9, CA 125 levels respectively. 3) Among ovarian tumor markers, CA 125 was the most in sensitivity and CA 72-4 was the most in specificity and diagnostic efficiency. 4) For postmenopausal women with ovarian tumors, elevated levels of at least one of the 4 tumor markers were present in the serum in 85.7% of the women who developed cancer, 62.5% of women with borderline, 27.8% of women with benign ovarian tumors. Conclusion; It is suggested that determination of serum tumor markers in patient suspected of ovarian tumor may be helpful to clinician for early diagnosis, differentiation between malignant and benign ovarian tumors.
Adenocarcinoma ; Dermoid Cyst ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Mucins ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Biomarkers, Tumor*

No abstract available.
Meningitis*

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Plasma* ; Renal Veins* ; Renin* ; Veins*

Branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO) is the most frequent entity of retinal vascular abnormality following diabetic retinopathy; a review of diagnosis for all our new outpatients verifies this, Sudden loss of visual acuity occur in the vast majority of BRVO patients. Other complications are macular edema, capillary nonperfusion, neovascularization, vitreous hemorrhage and so on. We did a clinical analysis of 71 patients with BRVO(71 eyes), who were considered to be treated with laser photocoagulation to prevent vitreous hemorrhage. We confirmed the fact that laser photocoagulation could prevent vitreous hemorrhage to a significant degree, but we were unable to demonstrate any statistical correlation between the occurrence of vitreous hemorrhage and the time of laser photocoagulation.
Argon* ; Capillaries ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Light Coagulation* ; Macular Edema ; Outpatients ; Retinal Vein ; Retinaldehyde ; Visual Acuity ; Vitreous Hemorrhage*

No abstract available.
Hypertension, Renovascular*

There had been total 20 patients with early onset(4 months~2 years) primary nephrotic syndrome in the Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, during the period from March 1987 to February 1993. We analysed clinical courses, response to treatment, pathological findings and prognosis of the patients And the results were as follows; 1) The initial responders to steroid treatment were 10(50%), of whom 3 became late nonresponders. Of the 10 initial nonresponders, 8 revealed continuing nonresponsiveness. 2) Incidence of hypertension was significantly higher in the intial nonresponders than in the initial responders. 3) Renal biopsies were performed in 9 initial nonresponders and 2 late nonresponders. And the results were 6 with minimal change lesion, 4 with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and 1 with mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis. 4) Six continuing or late nonresponders received methylprednisolone pulse therapy or cyclophosphamide. And partial remission was induced in 4 of them. 5) The overall 3 year maintenance rate of normal renal function was 81%(100% in the initial responders and 64% in the initial nonresponders). In conclusion, the initial steroid responsiveness and prognosis were poorer in patients with early onset nephrotic syndrome than in patients with usual childhood nephrotic syndrome.
Biopsy ; Cyclophosphamide ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranoproliferative ; Glomerulosclerosis, Focal Segmental ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Methylprednisolone ; Nephrotic Syndrome* ; Pediatrics ; Prognosis ; Seoul

Traditionally, radical hysterectomy is the main surgical method for the treatment of early cervical carcinoma and always results in the loss of fertility. But, large numbers of young women are recently being diagnosed with cervical carcinoma and fertility preservation has become a concern. So, there has been a move towards more conservative approaches for the treatment of cervical carcinoma in recent years. Radical trachelectomy, which allows preservation of uterus but removes the cervix, parametrium and upper one third of the vagina, is a conservative but locally radical procedure. We performed radical abdominal trachelectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy for two cases of invasive cervical carcinomas, which may be the first report in korea. One patient was 37 years old single women who had stage Ib cervical cancer and was disease free for 17 months after treatment. The other patient was 19 years old student who was also single and had stage IIa cervical cancer and was disease free for 14 months after treatment. We report the first two cases and review the literature on radical trachelectomy.
Adult ; Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Fertility ; Fertility Preservation ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Korea ; Lymph Node Excision* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; Uterus ; Vagina ; Young Adult