Castlemen disease is a lymphoproliferative disorder of unknown etiology, was first described as a distinct entity by Castlemen et al in 1956. The disease has two clinical (localized and multicentric) and two histopathological forms (hyalinevascular and plasma cell). This disease is usually, clinically misunderstood as lymphoma, carcinoma metastatic-lymph nodes, or tuberculosis. We, therefore, represent clinicopathological findings of 11 cases of Castlemen disease seen in Hanoi K Hospital. Results: Most patients are women (F:M=4.5:1), age ranges from 15-52 year old with average is 33. The affected nodes are often enlarged (3cm in 63.6%). Localized form is prominent with proportion of 63.6%. The treatment is still problematic, but complete surgical excision is the treatment of choice for localized form and is generally curative.
Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; diagnosis

Activity-guided separation of the methylene chloride-soluble fraction of the leaves of Zanthoxylum schinifolium, resulted in the isolation of four coumarinoids (1 - 4), two triterpenoids (5, 6) and three fatty acid derivatives (7 - 9) as active principles. Their chemical structures were identified as collinin (1), 8-methoxyanisocoumarin (2), 7-(6'R-hydroxy-3',7'-dimethylocta-2',7'-dienyloxy)-coumarin (3), (E)-4-methly-6-(coumarin-7'-yloxy) hex-4-enal (4), lupeol (5), epi-lupeol (6), phytol (7), hexadec-3-enoic acid (8) and palmitic acid (9), on the basis of spectroscopic (1D, 2D and MS) data analyses and comparing with the data published in the literatures. Compounds 1 and 7 showed potent cytotoxicity against Jurkat T cells with IC50 values of 45.58 and 47.51 microM, respectively. The others showed moderate activity with IC50 values ranging around 80.58 to 85.83 microM, while the positive control, auraptene, possessed an IC50 value of 55.36 microM.
Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Palmitic Acid ; Phytol ; Rutaceae ; Statistics as Topic ; T-Lymphocytes ; Zanthoxylum*

In our program to search for new AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activators from plants that exert potential anticancer property, we found that an EtOAc extract of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) activated AMPK enzyme in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Two major diarylbutane-type lignans, macelignan and meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid (MDGA), were isolated as active principles from this extract. Treatment of breast cancer cells with two compounds induced cellular apoptosis, evidenced by cleavage of poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and Ser 15 phosphorylation of p53. Moreover, macelignan and MDGA significantly inhibited the colony formation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells on soft agar. Intraperitoneal injection of macelignan and MDGA (20 mg/kg) suppressed the tumor growth of 4T1 mammary cancer cells. These results indicate that the chemopreventive effects of two major diarylbutane-type lignans from Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) may be associated with induction of apoptosis presumably through AMPK activation.
Agar ; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases* ; Apoptosis ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Lignans* ; MCF-7 Cells ; Myristica fragrans* ; Phosphorylation