Immunosuppressive therapy before and during pregnancy may improve obstetric outcomes in pregnancy complicated by dermatomyositis with anti-MDA-5 antibody positivity: A case report.

Dermatomyositis (DM) is one of the most common autoimmune rheumatic diseases affecting women of childbearing age. Pregnancy may lead to exacerbation of DM, especially of DM with anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene (MDA) 5 antibody positivity, leading to a poor obstetric outcome. Here, we report consecutive pregnancies complicated by DM with anti-MDA-5 antibodies.

Cancer/testis antigen, Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 and ABCD stratification for diagnosing gastric cancers.

Background: The ABCD stratification [(combination of serum pepsinogen (PG) levels and titers of antibody (immunoglobulin G, IgG) against ()] is effective for the classification of individuals at risk of developing gastric cancer (GC). The Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) is a Cancer/Testis antigen frequently expressed in GC.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of KK-LC-1 and ABCD stratification in the diagnosis of GC.

Lymph node metastasis and high serum CEA are important prognostic factors in hormone receptor positive and HER2 negative breast cancer.

In recent years, treatment options for breast cancer have increased, and prognosis has improved since the 1990s. The present study examined the prognosis for recurrence of breast cancer between 2006 and 2009, in comparison with the results of past treatments, and sought to guide future treatment strategies by elucidating present prognostic factors. A total of 662 patients with breast cancer stage 0-III who underwent surgery at Kitasato University Hospital between January 2006 and March 2009 were included.

Early gastric cancer frequently has high expression of KK-LC-1, a cancer-testis antigen.

Aim: To assess cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) expression in gastric cancer patients and examined their associations with clinicopathological factors.

Methods: Eighty-three gastric cancer patients were evaluated in this study. Gastric cancer specimens were evaluated for the gene expression of CTAs, Kitakyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1), melanoma antigen (MAGE)-A1, MAGE-A3 and New York esophageal cancer-1 (NY-ESO-1), by reverse transcription PCR.

Correlation Between Expression of the Cancer/Testis Antigen KK-LC-1 and Infection in Gastric Cancer.

Background/aim: Our previous study indicated that Kita-kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) is a cancer/testis antigen (CTA) expressed in 82% of gastric cancer cases. Here, we investigated the relationship between KK-LC-1 expression and Helicobacter pylori infection in Japanese patients with gastric cancer.

Patients And Methods: We examined CTA expression in 25 surgical gastric cancer specimens and anti-H.

BRCAness and Prognosis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

BRCAness is defined as the set of traits in which BRCA1 dysfunction, arising from gene mutation, methylation or deletion, results in DNA repair deficiency. In the present study, we addressed BRCAness, therapeutic efficacy, recurrence, and survival in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy at Kitasato University Hospital, Japan, between April 2006 and October 2012. BRCAness was determined by preoperative core needle biopsy (CNB) specimens and surgical specimens.

[A Case of Advanced Malignant Melanoma of the Esophagus with Distant Metastases].

A 65-year-old woman with dysphagia visited our outpatient clinic. Esophagogastric endoscopy revealed a number of black-brown, irregularly elevated lesions covering the mucosal layer of nearly the entire esophagus. Following a series of examinations including histological examinations of the biopsies and whole body FDG-PET/CT, the patient was diagnosed with malignant melanoma primarily of the esophagus with metastasis to the distant lymph nodes, duodenum, pancreas head, and left brachial bone [cT3N3M1, StageIVb].

Frequent High Expression of Kita-Kyushu Lung Cancer Antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) in Gastric Cancer.

Background: The tumor-associated antigen Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) has been reported as not being expressed in normal tissues, except for the testis, and in the setting of non-small cell lung cancer. The present study demonstrated that KK-LC-1 is expressed in gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the expression of KK-LC-1 and cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) in surgical specimens of 49 gastric carcinomas.