The aim of the present study was to accurately evaluate the association of Sox2 expression with the survival of patients with digestive tract cancers. Relevant literatures were identified by comprehensively searching databases including the Pubmed, Embase, CBMdisc, and Wanfang (up to October 2014). A meta-analysis was performed to clarify the association between Sox2 expression and overall survival or clinicopathological parameters of patients with digestive tract cancers (esophageal, gastric, and colorectal cancers). The results showed a significant association between high Sox2 expression and poor overall survival in patients with digestive tract carcinomas (HR=1.55, 95% CI=1.04-2.31), especially for patients with esophageal cancer (HR=2.04, 95%CI=1.30-3.22), colorectal cancer (HR=1.40, 95% CI=1.04-1.89), and digestive tract adenocarcinoma (HR=1.80, 95% CI=1.12-2.89), for Europeans (HR=1.98, 95% CI=1.44-2.71) or patients who did not receive neoadjuvant treatment (HR=1.73, 95% CI=1.10-2.72). Furthermore, Sox2 over-expression was highly correlated with vascular invasion (OR=1.86, 95% CI=1.25-2.77) and poor differentiation (OR=1.88, 95% CI=1.14-3.08), especially in esophageal and colorectal cancers. In conclusion, Sox2 expression may serve as a novel prognostic factor for patients with digestive tract cancers. Over-expression of Sox2 that is correlated with vascular invasion and poor differentiation suggests poor outcomes of patients with digestive tract cancers.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; metabolism ; pathology ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; methods ; Neoplasm Grading ; Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; secondary ; Prognosis ; SOXB1 Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Survival Analysis

Adenocarcinoma ; complications ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl ; metabolism ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive ; diagnosis ; etiology ; metabolism ; Male ; Organoplatinum Compounds ; therapeutic use ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism

Spontaneous gastric perforation is a rare complication of gastric lymphoma that is potentially life threatening since it can progress to sepsis and multi-organ failure. Morbidity also increases due to prolonged hospitalization and delay in initiating chemotherapy. Therefore prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment is critical to improve prognosis. A 64-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain. Chest X-ray showed free air below the right diaphragm. Abdominal CT scan also demonstrated free air in the peritoneal cavity with large wall defect in the lesser curvature of gastric lower body. Therefore, the patient underwent emergency operation and primary closure was done. Pathologic specimen obtained during surgery was compatible to diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Fifteen days after primary closure, the patient received subtotal gastrectomy and chemotherapy was initiated after recovery. Patient is currently being followed-up at outpatient department without any particular complications. Herein, we report a rare case of gastric lymphoma that initially presented as peritonitis because of spontaneous gastric perforation.
Abdominal Pain ; Antigens, CD20/metabolism ; Antigens, CD45/metabolism ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Intestinal Perforation/diagnostic imaging ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

No abstract available.
Adenocarcinoma/*diagnosis/radiography/secondary ; Adult ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Carrier Proteins/metabolism ; Doxorubicin/therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Female ; Glycoproteins/metabolism ; Humans ; Mastectomy, Modified Radical ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/radiography/secondary ; Taxoids/therapeutic use ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Spindle cell carcinoma (SpCC) is a rare tumor consisting of spindle cells which express cytokeratin. Despite recent advances in immunohistochemical and genetic studies, precise histogenesis of SpCC is still controversial and this tumor had been referred to with a wide range of names (in the past): carcinosarcoma, pseudosarcoma, sarcomatoid carcinoma, pseudosarcomatous carcinoma, and collision tumor. Recently, the authors experienced an extremely rare case of SpCC arising from the stomach. A 64-year-old male presented with unintended weight loss and hematochezia. Endoscopic examination revealed a fistulous tract between the stomach and the transverse colon which was made by direct invasion of SpCC of the stomach to the colon. Histologically, the tumor was positive for both vimentin and cytokeratin but negative for CD117, CD34, actin, and desmin. Herein, we report a case of SpCC arising from the stomach that formed a fistulous tract with the colon which was diagnosed during evaluation of hematochezia and weight loss.
Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use ; Brain Neoplasms/secondary ; Carcinoma/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Colon, Transverse ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Fistula/pathology ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/etiology ; Humans ; Keratins/metabolism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Weight Loss

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of multidrug resistance (MDR) gene-associated proteins (MRP) in gastric carcinoma, and their effects on the postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and the prognosis of patients.

METHODSThe expressions of ToPo II, MRP, GST-pi in 99 patients with gastric carcinoma were detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression and its relationship to the pathological data were analyzed. The positive expression of MRP and GST-pi, and the negative expression of ToPo II were considered as risk factors. Patients were divided into two groups: a high risk drug-resistant group (2-3 risk factors) and the low risk drug-resistant group (0-1 risk factors). Postoperative recurrence, survival rate, and efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy were compared between two groups.

RESULTSThe positive rate of ToPo II was 74.7%, and the expression was associated with types and differentiation of the tumor. The positive rate of GST-pi was 49.5%, and the expression was related to the gender and the differentiation. The positive rate of MRP was 40.4%, and there was no relationship between the MRP expression and the pathological finding. There were no significant differences in the recurrence, time to recurrence, and the 5-year survival rate between the positive and negative group of the three proteins (P>0.05). Recurrence was found in 25 cases(55.6%) in the high risk drug-resistant group and the mean time to recurrence was (15.2+/-8.1) months. The time to recurrence was shorter in the low risk drug-resistant group [(21.3+/-11.1) months, P<0.05] , but there was no significant difference in the recurrence rate between two groups (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rate of the high risk drug-resistant group and the low risk drug-resistant group was 44.4% and 55.6% (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rates of patients with or without chemotherapy in the high risk drug-resistant group were 45.8% and 42.9% (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rates of patients with or without chemotherapy in the low risk drug-resistant group were 70.4% and 40.7%. The survival rate of patients with chemotherapy was higher than that of the patients without chemotherapy (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe expression of ToPo II, MRP and GST-pi is associated with the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy appears to be more beneficial to patients with low risk drug-resistance.

ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 ; metabolism ; Adult ; Aged ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; DNA Topoisomerases, Type II ; metabolism ; Female ; Glutathione S-Transferase pi ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; Postoperative Period ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; metabolism

The purpose of our study was to determine the most accurate analytic method to define in vitro chemosensitivity, using clinical response as reference standard in prospective clinical trial, and to assess accuracy of adenosine triphosphate-based chemotherapy response assay (ATP-CRA). Forty-eight patients with chemo-naive, histologically confirmed, locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer were enrolled for the study and were treated with combination chemotherapy of paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 and cisplatin 75 mg/m2 for maximum of six cycles after obtaining specimen for ATP-CRA. We performed the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis using patient responses by WHO criteria and ATP-CRA results to define the method with the highest accuracy. Median progression free survival was 4.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.4-5.0) and median overall survival was 11.8 months (95% CI: 9.7-13.8) for all enrolled patients. Chemosensitivity index method yielded highest accuracy of 77.8% by ROC curve analysis, and the specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative predictive values were 95.7%, 46.2%, 85.7%, and 75.9%. In vitro chemosensitive group showed higher response rate (85.7% vs. 24.1%) (P=0.005) compared to chemoresistant group. ATP-CRA could predict clinical response to paclitaxel and cisplatin chemotherapy with high accuracy in advanced gastric cancer patients. Our study supports the use of ATP-CRA in further validation studies.
Adenosine Triphosphate/*analysis ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/administration & dosage ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/*administration & dosage ; Cisplatin/administration & dosage ; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor/*methods ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care)/methods ; Paclitaxel/administration & dosage ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/*drug therapy/metabolism ; Treatment Outcome