No abstract available.
Adult ; Biomarkers/analysis ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Goiter/complications/diagnostic imaging/immunology/*surgery ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G/*analysis ; Pain/diagnosis/*etiology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Thyroid Gland/diagnostic imaging/immunology/pathology/*surgery ; *Thyroidectomy ; Thyroiditis/complications/diagnostic imaging/immunology/*surgery ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography

Most epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations are detected in lung adenocarcinomas. In contrast, these mutations have rarely been reported in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We herein report two cases of EGFR-mutant SCLC transformed from and combined with lung adenocarcinoma. In one case, SCLC appeared to be transformed from EGFR mutant 19-del adenocarcinoma when the patient became resistant to gefitinib. The other patient had combined EGFR-mutant 19-del SCLC and adenocarcinoma at the initial diagnosis, which was resistant to gefitinib at multiple sites. Further comparative molecular analyses of these histologically distinct tumors would provide useful information regarding the role of EGFR mutation in the pathogenesis of SCLC. In conclusion, despite the presence of the same EGFR mutation, gefitinib was not effective in treatment of SCLC. Therefore, confirmation of SCLC cell morphology may become an important means of predicting resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in addition to common secondary genetic alterations.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Resistance ; Humans ; Lung* ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma*

Gastric metastasis from breast cancer is rare and only six cases have been reported in Korea. Colon metastasis is more rare than gastric metastasis. We report a 63-year-old woman with gastric and colon metastases of invasive lobular carcinoma of breast. She was diagnosed as right breast cancer, received right modified radical mastectomy 10 years ago and has been treated with chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Investigating for melena and a small caliber of stool, we found gastric and colon metastases. The diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer was made through gross pathologic and immunohistochemistry staining. We report a case with gastric and colon metastases from breast cancer and a review of the associated six case reports in Korea.
Breast ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Carcinoma, Lobular ; Colon* ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Korea ; Mastectomy, Modified Radical ; Melena ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Stomach*

BACKGROUND: While qualitative analysis of methylation has been reviewed, the quantitative analysis of methylation has rarely been studied. We evaluated the methylation status of CDKN2A, RARbeta, and RASSF1A promoter regions in non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) by using pyrosequencing. Then, we evaluated the association between methylation at the promoter regions of these tumor suppressor genes and the clinicopathological parameters of the NSCLCs. METHODS: We collected tumor tissues from a total of 53 patients with NSCLCs and analyzed the methylation level of the CDKN2A, RARbeta, and RASSF1A promoter regions by using pyrosequencing. In addition, we investigated the correlation between the hypermethylation of CDKN2A and the loss of p16INK4A immunoexpression. RESULTS: Hypermethylation of CDKN2A, RARbeta, and RASSF1A promoter regions were 16 (30.2%), 22 (41.5%), and 21 tumors (39.6%), respectively. The incidence of hypermethylation at the CDKN2A promoter in the tumors was higher in undifferentiated large cell carcinomas than in other subtypes (p=0.002). Hyperrmethylation of CDKN2A was significantly associated with p16INK4A immunoexpression loss (p=0.045). With regard to the clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC, certain histopathological subtypes were found to be strongly associated with the loss of p16INK4A immunoexpression (p=0.016). Squamous cell carcinoma and undifferentiated large cell carcinoma showed p16INK4A immunoexpression loss more frequently. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis showed that methylation level and patient survival were barely related to one another. CONCLUSION: We quantitatively analyzed the promoter methylation status by using pyrosequencing. We showed a significant correlation between CDKN2A hypermethylation and p16INK4A immunoexpression loss.
Carcinoma, Large Cell ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; DNA Methylation ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Genes, p16 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Incidence ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Lung ; Methylation ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Receptors, Retinoic Acid ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins

PURPOSE: Even though adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have been spotlighted as a possible alternative for liver transplantation in an experimental setting, the mechanism by which ADSCs improve liver dysfunction remains poorly characterized. The objective of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic ability of undifferentiated ADSCs, and find a few clues on how ADSCs alleviate liver damage by comparing the transplantation routes. METHODS: In vitro generated human ADSCs were checked for surface markers and stage-specific genes for characterization. Afterwards, they were transplanted into C57BL/6 mice with CCl4-induced liver injury. The transplantations were made via tail vein, portal vein, and direct liver parenchymal injection. At 1 and 3 post-transplantation days, serum biochemical parameters and/or liver specimens were evaluated. RESULTS: We have shown here that ADSCs have the characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells, and belong to endodermal and/or early hepatic differentiation stage. After transplantation into the mice with acute liver failure, markers of liver injury, such as alanineaminotransferase, aspartateaminotransferase, as well as ammonia, decreased. Of these transplantation routes, transplantation via tail vein rendered the most prominent reduction in the biochemical parameters. CONCLUSION: Undifferentiated ADSCs have the ability to improve hepatic function in mice with acute liver injury. Moreover, our transplantation route study supports the theory that ADSCs in systemic circulation can exert endocrine or paracrine effects to ameliorate the injured liver.
Ammonia ; Animals ; Endoderm ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Failure ; Liver Failure, Acute ; Liver Transplantation ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Mice ; Portal Vein ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Stem Cells ; Transplants ; Veins

Ancient schwannoma is a rare variant of schwannoma and a slow growing benign tumor associated with degeneration that may be diagnosed as a malignant tumor, because it presents with a large size and an inhomogeneous signal intensity. The main differential diagnosis of plexiform soft tissue tumor includes plexiform neurofibroma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST). In this case, we describe the MRI findings in a case of ancient schwannoma involving left thigh of a 63-year-old woman mimicking a plexiform MPNST. The tumor appeared as an inhomogeneous signal intensity and multinodular appearance, causing misdiagnosis as a plexiform MPNST.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Sheath Neoplasms ; Neurilemmoma ; Neurofibroma, Plexiform ; Peripheral Nerves ; Thigh

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The BRAFV600E mutation has been regarded as the leading cause of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). However, the multi-step carcinogenic process induced by BRAFV600E has been remained to be elucidated in thyroid gland. In this study, to investigate staged development of papillary thyroid carcinoma, we observed the histo-pathological findings of thyroid gland from BRAFV600E transgenic mice with a period of 60 weeks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We histologically inspected 3, 9, 20, 27, 39, 44, 48 and 60 week old BRAFV600E transgenic mice derived from FVB/N background mice with a bovine thyroglobulin promoter which are providing thyroid specific BRAFV600E expression. RESULTS: Thyroid glands from 3 and 9 week old BRAFV600E transgenic mice were enlarged and showed abnormal histologic feature such as distorted follicular architectures. The 20 and 27 week old BRAFV600E transgenic mice showed irregularly enlarged thyroid gland sprouting out above the carotid arteries. Thyroid gland derived from 39 week old mice showed reduced formation of intact follicular structure and increased solid area. Thyroid glands were entirely replaced by firm tumor mass composed of poorly differentiated cell at 44 weeks. Interestingly, we could observe tracheal invasion, surrounding muscle invasion in thyroid gland from 48 week old mice and detect lung metastasis in 60 week old mice. CONCLUSION: Thyroid specific expression of BRAFV600E induced staged development of thyroid cancer. This finding may support that BRAFV600E have a role in entire carcinogenic process such as tumor initiation, development and progression.
Animals ; Carcinoma ; Carotid Arteries ; Lung ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Muscles ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; Thyroglobulin ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have reported that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha are up-regulated in BRAF(V600E)-positive papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We investigated whether papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMCs) also exhibited increased expression of VEGF and HIF-1alpha. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between BRAF(V600E) mutation and clinicopathological parameters, as well as HIF-1alpha expression in PTMC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively selected 225 patients with PTMC. Immunohistochemical staining for HIF-1alpha and VEGF was performed using paraffinembedded PTMC tissue microarrays. BRAF(V600E) mutation status was analyzed by dideoxy sequencing. RESULTS: PTMCs larger than 0.5 cm tend to be related to aggressive clinicopathological features such as thyroid capsular invasion (p=0.023) and bilaterality (p=0.047). Immunoreactivity to HIF-1alpha (20.7%) and VEGF (30.2%) was more prominent in PTMCs as compared to normal follicular cells. However, HIF-1alpha and VEGF expression was not correlated with clinicopathological features. BRAF(V600E) mutation was found in 70.7% (159/225) of the PTMC cases. PTMCs harboring the BRAF(V600E) mutation exhibited larger tumor sizes as compared to PTMCs without the BRAF(V600E) mutation (p=0.038). However, BRAF(V600E) mutation status did not correlate with the expression of HIF-1alpha (p=0.623) or VEGF (p=0.990). CONCLUSION: HIF-1alpha and VEGF were more frequently detected in PTMCs as compared to normal thyroid tissues. However, BRAF(V600E) mutation status was not correlated with the expression of HIF-1alpha or VEGF in PTMCs.
Carcinoma ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

Myolipoma is a rare benign tumor, composed of irregularly admixed adipose tissue and smooth muscle fibers. Few literature studies have described the radiologic appearance of myolipoma, especially in the soft tissue. No MRI findings in subcutaneous myolipoma of an extremity have been reported. Here, we report on the case of a 34-year-old woman with myolipoma in the subcutaneous tissue of the ankle and describe MRI features of the lesion.
Adult ; *Ankle ; Female ; Humans ; Lipoma/*diagnosis/pathology ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Muscle, Smooth/pathology ; Soft Tissue Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology ; Subcutaneous Fat/pathology