Neutrophil extracellular traps promote liver micrometastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma via the activation of cancer‑associated fibroblasts.

Cancer‑associated fibroblasts (CAFs) promote the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) via tumor‑stromal interactions. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are extracellular DNA meshworks released from neutrophils together with proteolytic enzymes against foreign pathogens. Emerging studies suggest their contribution to liver metastasis in several types of cancer.

Usefulness of Oral Xa Inhibitor for Management of Ischemic Stroke Associated with Thrombosis in the Pulmonary Vein Stump after Lung Resection.

Objectives: Brain infarction is a critical complication after lung resection using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Recent reports have described its association with thrombosis in the pulmonary vein (PV) stump. However, the optimal management of this complication remains controversial.

Degree of desmoplasia in metastatic lymph node lesions is associated with lesion size and poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients.

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by increased hyperplasia of fibrotic tissue, termed desmoplasia, and lymph node metastasis is an independent prognostic factor in this disease. However, there are no reports focused on desmoplasia in pancreatic cancer lymph node metastases. The present study evaluated a range of factors and investigated their association with poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer cases with lymph node metastasis, including the degree of desmoplasia in lesions.

A 10-year experience of totally extraperitoneal endoscopic repair for adult inguinal hernia.

Purpose: Laparoscopic surgery is fast becoming the treatment of choice for inguinal hernia. By reviewing our 10-year experience of performing totally extraperitoneal repair (TEP), we sought to establish its clinical significance in the treatment of adult inguinal hernia.

Methods: We reviewed retrospectively the clinical records of patients who underwent TEP for adult inguinal hernia between January 2003 and December 2012.

[A case of gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the jejunum successfully treated by preoperative induction chemotherapy with imatinib mesylate administered through jejunostomy and subsequent surgical resection].

A 70 -year-old female patient with a palpable mass in the left upper abdomen suffered from abdominal pain and fever. Abdominal computed tomography showed a jejunal tumor 11 cm in diameter with ascites, suggesting rupture of the tumor. Histological diagnosis via endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration indicated c-kit-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Feasibility and safety of intracorporeal esophagojejunostomy after laparoscopic total gastrectomy: inverted T-shaped anastomosis using linear staplers.

Background: Although laparoscopic distal gastrectomy has been widely accepted in clinical practice, laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) is not yet familiar because of the difficulty in esophagojejunostomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate perioperative and short-term outcomes of our procedure of intracorporeal gastrojejunostomy using linear staplers after LTG.

Methods: Of 98 consecutive patients who underwent LTG for gastric cancer in our department between August 2002 and December 2010, 94 patients underwent esophagojejunostomy with a linear stapling device.

Feasibility of laparoscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer with positive peritoneal cytology.

Purpose: The role of gastrectomy for patients with positive peritoneal cytology, but a negative macroscopic peritoneal implant (P-/cy+), remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate laparoscopic gastrectomy for P-/cy+ patients.

Methods: This study reviewed a prospectively maintained gastric cancer database of gastric-cancer patients those underwent surgical resection.

The risk of lymph node metastasis in mucosal gastric carcinoma: especially for a mixture of differentiated and undifferentiated adenocarcinoma.

Background/aims: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is gaining wider acceptance for the treatment of early gastric carcinoma (EGC) and its indication has been extended to mucosal gastric carcinoma with undifferentiated component in some institutes. Our aims were to confirm the frequency of lymph node metastasis in such cases and clarify the demarcation in indications for ESD.

Methodology: We evaluated medical data of 287 patients with mucosal gastric carcinoma who underwent surgical resection between 1996 and 2008.

Japan Pancreatic Cancer Registry; 30th year anniversary: Japan Pancreas Society.

Objectives: Since 1981, the Japan Pancreas Society has been hosting a nationwide pancreatic cancer registry. To commemorate its 30th anniversary, we review its history and latest achievement.

Methods: During 3 decades, more than 350 leading institutions in Japan contributed voluntarily to register and periodic follow-up.

MicroRNA-10a is overexpressed in human pancreatic cancer and involved in its invasiveness partially via suppression of the HOXA1 gene.

Background: There is increasing evidence that microRNAs are differentially expressed in many types of cancers. Despite progress in analyses of microRNAs in several types of cancers, the functional contributions of microRNAs to pancreatic cancer remain unclear.

Methods: In the present study, the expression levels of specific microRNAs identified by microarray analyses were examined in a panel of 15 pancreatic cancer cell lines.

Single-incision laparoscopy-assisted surgery for bowel obstruction: report of three cases.

We applied single-incision laparoscopy-assisted surgery for several different types of bowel obstruction in selected patients. Before the operation, a long nasal tube was inserted for intestinal decompression and assessment of a stenotic lesion. A specially-designed instrument for single-incision laparoscopic surgery, the SILS Port, was introduced at the umbilicus or proposed ileostomy site.

Inhibition of p600 expression suppresses both invasiveness and anoikis resistance of gastric cancer.

Background: Advanced gastric cancers often metastasize to distant organs and the peritoneum, leading to a poor prognosis. Both invasiveness and resistance to anchorage-independent cell death (anoikis) are important factors in the process of metastasis. p600 (600-kDa protein), recently identified from a cervical cancer cell line, plays a role in both anoikis resistance and cell migration.

hTERT-promoter-dependent oncolytic adenovirus enhances the transduction and therapeutic efficacy of replication-defective adenovirus vectors in pancreatic cancer cells.

Adenovirus-mediated gene therapy shows promise for cancer therapy, but transgene expression of replication-defective adenovirus may be low and transient in clinical settings. Recent reports have shown that the use of a conditionally replication-competent adenovirus (CRAd) enhanced the gene transduction of a replication-defective adenovirus vector. The control of tumor-stromal interactions has also been determined to be important in cancer therapy.

Up-regulation of integrin beta3 in radioresistant pancreatic cancer impairs adenovirus-mediated gene therapy.

Adenovirus-mediated gene therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. We previously reported that radiation enhanced adenovirus-mediated gene expression in pancreatic cancer, suggesting that adenoviral gene therapy might be more effective in radioresistant pancreatic cancer cells. In the present study, we compared the transduction efficiency of adenovirus-delivered genes in radiosensitive and radioresistant cells, and investigated the underlying mechanisms.

MicroRNA-21 modulates biological functions of pancreatic cancer cells including their proliferation, invasion, and chemoresistance.

Due to the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer, novel diagnostic modalities for early diagnosis and new therapeutic strategy are urgently needed. Recently, microRNA-21 (miR-21) was reported to be strongly overexpressed in pancreatic cancer as well as in other solid cancers. We investigated the functional roles of miR-21, which have not been fully elucidated in pancreatic cancer.

Chemotherapeutic agents potentiate adenoviral gene therapy for pancreatic cancer.

Adenovirus-mediated gene therapy combined with chemotherapeutic agents is expected to represent a new approach for treating pancreatic cancer. However, there have been no reports of definitive effects of chemotherapeutic agents on adenovirus-mediated gene therapies. In the present study, we investigated the effects of chemotherapeutic agents on the transduction efficiency of an adenovirus-based gene therapy.

Down-regulation of deoxycytidine kinase enhances acquired resistance to gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer.

Background: The functional roles of deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) in acquired resistance to gemcitabine remain unknown in pancreatic cancer. Here, the functional involvement of dCK in gemcitabine-resistance of pancreatic cancer was investigated.

Materials And Methods: The levels of the dCK gene as well as other gemcitabine-related genes (hENT1, RRM1 and RRM2) were analyzed in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells (GR cells) using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

Midkine mRNA is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: Midkine (MK) has been reported to be a possible molecular marker for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. We investigated the feasibility of quantitative analysis of MK mRNA by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) as a promising tool for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Results: We found that pancreatic cancer tissues expressed significantly higher levels of MK mRNA than intraductal pancreatic mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) and non-neoplastic pancreatic tissues (P < 0.

Radiation enhances adenoviral gene therapy in pancreatic cancer via activation of cytomegalovirus promoter and increased adenovirus uptake.

Purpose: Adenovirus-mediated gene therapy combined with radiation is expected to be a new approach to treat pancreatic cancer. However, there are no reports of definitive effects of radiation on adenovirus-mediated gene therapies. In the present study, we investigated the effect of radiation on the transduction efficiency of an adenovirus-based gene therapy.

Acute pancreatitis results in referred mechanical hypersensitivity and neuropeptide up-regulation that can be suppressed by the protein kinase inhibitor k252a.

Although pain is a cardinal feature of pancreatitis, its pathogenesis is poorly understood and treatment remains difficult. Nociceptive sensitization in several somatic pain models has been associated with activation of protein kinases including trkA, protein kinase C, and protein kinase A. We therefore tested the hypothesis that systemic treatment with a kinase inhibitor, k252a, known to inhibit all of these kinases would alleviate pain in an animal model of pancreatitis.

Characterization of the neurotrophic response to acute pancreatitis.

Introduction: Interesting preliminary data on changes in the neurotrophin system in various digestive diseases have recently begun to emerge.

Aims: To measure changes in messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of neurotrophins and to identify cell types expressing neurotrophins in the pancreas of rats with L-arginine-induced pancreatitis.

Methodology: Rats were killed at time points from 2 hours to 4 weeks after the induction of pancreatitis, and responses were measured by assay.