Publications by authors named "Harumi Saeki"

The standard treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in good general condition is curative surgery followed by endocrine therapy. However, for older patients, endocrine therapy alone is sometimes chosen instead of curative surgery due to health conditions or personal preference, though this is not yet a standard approach. It is crucial to develop elderly-specific treatment strategies, potentially establishing endocrine therapy alone as a standard option.

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We report a case of placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) with transient hyperthyroidism. A 29-year-old gravida 2 para 2 woman presented with abnormal genital bleeding 6 months after delivery. Endometrial histology suggested PSTT.

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Objective: Tragal pumping (TP) is a practice of pushing on the tragus to raise pressure within the external auditory canal and is a commonly recommended adjunctive maneuver believed to facilitate the introduction of ototopical medications into the middle ear cavity via a tympanostomy tube. To investigate the efficacy of TP in the penetration of eardrops into the middle ear cavity via tympanostomy tube, we established the novel tympanostomy tube-rat model. We investigated the histology of the middle ear to determine the efficacy in moving fluid into the middle ear.

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  • Red yeast rice, used in making drinks and food in East Asia, has recently caused kidney problems in people taking certain supplements in Japan.
  • A 58-year-old woman got sick after taking a supplement with red yeast rice, showing signs of kidney injury and high creatinine levels.
  • After she stopped using the supplement and started treatment, her kidney health got better, highlighting that even health supplements can be harmful.
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Glycosylation changes of cancer cells are known to be associated with malignant progression and metastases and potentially determine the organ-selective nature of metastasis as theorized by Paget (Lancet 1:571-573, 1889). Cellular glycans play a variety of roles in the processes of metastasis and may be unique to the cells that metastasize to different organs. We analyzed the glycosylation profiles of the primary tumor and tumors metastasized to lymph node, liver, lung, brain, bone, thyroid, kidney, adrenal, small intestine and pancreas in an autopsy case of breast cancer employing a lectin microarray with 45 lectins.

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Tamoxifen (TAM), a selective estrogen receptor modulator, is often used for long-term adjuvant endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. TAM is known to increase the risk of endometrial cancer (EC); however, the mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, molecular genetic analysis of EC following TAM administration (TAM-related EC) was conducted.

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Mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma is a rare neoplasm of the uterine corpus and ovary. Unlike prototypical mesonephric adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix, which is considered of Wolffian origin, recent evidence suggests that mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma is a Mullerian tumor associated with endometriosis. We report here on a 48-year-old woman with a mixed carcinoma of the ovary that consisted of mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma, clear cell carcinoma, and endometrioid carcinoma, arising from an endometriotic cyst.

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Lobular capillary hemangiomas (LCH), which usually originate in the skin and mucous membranes of the oral cavity, are uncommon from the posterior portion of the inferior turbinate. Although the exact cause of LCH in the nasal cavity has not been elucidated, trauma, caused by factors such as intranasal packing and habitual nose-picking, has been reported as one of the causes. In addition, 2 cases of LCH caused by submucosal resection with powered instrumentation to the inferior turbinate have been reported, suggesting that various types of traumas to the nasal mucosa can cause LCH.

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  • Fibroadenomas (FA) and benign phyllodes tumors (PT) of the breast can look similar on imaging, making it challenging to tell them apart without a biopsy.
  • Researchers analyzed 80 breast fibroepithelial lesions to identify reliable markers for differentiating these two tumors, focusing on immunohistochemical properties.
  • The study found that stromal Ki67 levels were significantly higher in benign PT than in FA, suggesting that measuring stromal Ki67 could be an effective method for distinguishing between the two tumors.
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Uterine cancers can be studied in mice due to the ease of handling and genetic manipulation in these models. However, these studies are often limited to assessing pathology post-mortem in animals euthanized at multiple time points in different cohorts, which increases the number of mice needed for a study. Imaging mice in longitudinal studies can track the progression of disease in individual animals, reducing the number of mice needed.

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  • Chronic inflammation is linked to cancer, but how this happens isn't well understood.
  • A protein called Gasdermin D (GSDMD) helps remove damaged cells in the intestines, and scientists studied its role in colorectal cancer (CRC).
  • They found that when GSDMD is missing, CRC develops faster, suggesting this protein helps protect against the disease in humans.
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Host-oriented antiviral therapeutics are promising treatment options to combat COVID-19 and its emerging variants. However, relatively little is known about the cellular proteins hijacked by SARS-CoV-2 for its replication. Here we show that SARS-CoV-2 induces expression and cytoplasmic translocation of the nucleolar protein, nucleolin (NCL).

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Background: Rating lymphocytes (TILs) are a prognostic marker in breast cancer and high TIL infiltration correlates with better patient outcomes. Meanwhile, parameters involving immune cells in peripheral blood have also been established as prognostic markers. High platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios (PLRs) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLRs) are related to poor outcomes in breast cancer, but their mechanisms remain unknown.

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Glycosylation is one of the most important post-translational modifications of cell surface proteins involved in the proliferation, metastasis and treatment resistance of cancer cells. However, little is known about the role of glycosylation as the mechanism of breast cancer cell resistance to endocrine therapy. Herein, we aimed to identify the glycan profiles of tamoxifen-resistant human breast cancer cells, and their potential as predictive biomarkers for endocrine therapy.

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IL-26 is a Th17 cytokine, with its gene being absent in rodents. To characterize the in vivo immunological effects of IL-26 in chronic systemic inflammation, we used human IL26 transgenic (hIL-26Tg) mice and human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (hCBMC) in mouse allogeneic-graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and chronic xenogeneic-GVHD model, respectively. Transfer of bone marrow and spleen T cells from hIL-26Tg mice into B10.

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We herein present the case of a 33-year-old woman with no family history of metachronous bilateral breast cancer and osteosarcoma, diagnosed with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), which is a rare autosomal dominant hereditary cancer syndrome associated with a germline variant. She was diagnosed with left distal femoral osteosarcoma at the age of 16, and metachronous bilateral breast cancer at the ages of 29 and 33. When the third cancer was diagnosed, a hereditary tumor syndrome was suspected and the patient was referred to our genetic outpatient clinic.

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The expression of Renal Carcinoma (ERC)/mesothelin is enhanced in a variety of cancers. ERC/mesothelin contributes to cancer progression by modulating cell signals that regulate proliferation and apoptosis. Based on such biological insights, ERC/mesothelin has become a molecular target for the treatment of mesothelioma, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer.

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Children born to women who experience stress during pregnancy have an increased risk of atherosclerosis in later life, but few animal models have explored mechanisms. To study this phenomenon, timed-bred ApoE knockout mice were determined pregnant with ultrasound and randomly assigned on to either a control (no stress) or prenatal stress (PS) group using 2 h of restraint for five consecutive days. PS significantly increased plasma corticosterone levels in pregnant mice.

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TAFRO syndrome is a relatively new disease entity first reported in 2010. We report a case of TAFRO syndrome accommodated by abnormal exacerbation of moderately differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma. The pathophysiology of TAFRO syndrome is largely unknown, but because the disease often responds to immunosuppressive therapy and also because T follicular helper (Tfh) cells are reported to be drastically decreased in TAFRO syndrome, involvement of a dysregulated immune system can be speculated.

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  • CRYβB2 is found to be elevated in African American breast tumors and is linked to increased cancer stemness, growth, and metastasis.
  • It upregulates genes related to stress responses and DNA repair while down-regulating apoptosis-related genes, leading to aggressive tumor traits.
  • Additionally, higher levels of CRYβB2 and its interaction with nucleolin correlate with decreased survival rates in patients, highlighting its potential role in breast cancer disparities.
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  • A rare case was reported where a 76-year-old man had a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that spread to another part of his body.
  • He first went to a clinic for pain in his abdomen, and after some treatment, doctors found a mass that needed further investigation.
  • The man had surgery to remove the cancerous tumor from his abdominal wall, and then another treatment called radiofrequency ablation was done on the liver, allowing him to stay healthy and free of cancer for 6 years!
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The most recent advance in the treatment of osteosarcoma (OS) occurred in the 1980s when multi-agent chemotherapy was shown to improve overall survival compared to surgery alone. To address this problem, the aim of the study is to refine a lesser-known model of OS in rats with a comprehensive histologic, imaging, biologic, implantation, and amputation surgical approach that prolongs survival. We used an immunocompetent, outbred Sprague-Dawley (SD), syngeneic rat model with implanted UMR106 OS cell line (originating from a SD rat) with orthotopic tibial tumor implants into 3-week-old male and female rats to model pediatric OS.

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  • - Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer with limited treatment options, prompting a study on the expressions of PD-L1 and B7-H3 proteins for potential new therapies.
  • - A tissue analysis from 31 patients revealed that 41.9% were positive for PD-L1 and 90.3% for B7-H3, with notable co-expression in biphasic and sarcomatoid tumors.
  • - The research suggests that targeting both PD-L1 and B7-H3 could enhance treatment strategies, indicating the potential for combination therapies and development of specific agents against these proteins.
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Background: Multi-gene expression assays have been developed with the aim of predicting late recurrence in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. However, establishment of alternative markers based on immunohistochemistry is also important for achieving practical use. Based on our previous study, forkhead box A1 (FOXA1) protein was tested as a potentially useful predictive marker for late recurrence.

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