[Long-term results of chemoradiation therapy for the patients with locally advanced (T4) esophageal cancer].

The prognosis of patients with advanced esophageal cancer is still poor. Recently, concurrent chemoradiation therapy for esophageal cancer is being utilized with increasing frequency. In this study, we reported concurrent chemoradiation for patients with T4 esophageal cancer.

[A case of recurrent gastric cancer effectively treated by combination chemotherapy of weekly paclitaxel and 5'- DFUR after showing resistance to weekly paclitaxel].

The patient was a 35-year-old woman with lung, bone and lymphnode metastases of gastric cancer after a total gastrectomy two years earlier. For the first-line treatment, we performed TS-1+CDDP therapy but it showed no effect. Then, weekly paclitaxel was administered as second-line, but again without effect.

[Two case reports on intra-tumor injection therapy of dendritic cells].

DC (dendritic cells) vaccine therapy against cancer has attracted attention in recent years. However, the existence of the immunosuppressive state in cancer individuals leads to anergy and failure in cytotoxic T cell (CTL) induction and DC migration to the target organ. It has been reported that injected intra-tumor DC is expected to work phagocytosis of the tumor as a localized effect, the consequent CTL induction in the tumor and the regional lymphnodes, resulting in a systemic effect.

ING2 regulates the onset of replicative senescence by induction of p300-dependent p53 acetylation.

ING2 is a candidate tumor suppressor gene that can activate p53 by enhancing its acetylation. Here, we demonstrate that ING2 is also involved in p53-mediated replicative senescence. ING2 protein expression increased in late-passage human primary cells, and it colocalizes with serine 15-phosphorylated p53.

[Verification of guideline for gastric cancer treatment based on a questionnaire].

We reported the results of a questionnaire survey of doctors and patients in relation to the guideline for gastric cancer treatment which was first published 3 years ago. The purpose of this questionnaire was to know whether the degree of recognition and availability of this guideline is satisfactory or not. The results were as follows.

p29ING4 and p28ING5 bind to p53 and p300, and enhance p53 activity.

We identified and characterized two new ING family genes, p29ING4 and p28ING5,coding for two proteins of 249 and 240 amino acids, respectively. Both p29ING4 and p28ING5 proteins have a plant homeodomain finger motif also found in other ING proteins, and which is common in proteins involved in chromatin remodeling. p29ING4 or p28ING5 overexpression resulted in a diminished colony-forming efficiency, a decreased cell population in S phase, and the induction of apoptosis in a p53-dependent manner.

New attempt of preoperative differential diagnosis of thyroid neoplasms by telomerase activity measurement.

Telomerase activity (TA) has been shown highly expressed in various solid malignant neoplasms, but only rarely in benign tumor or normal tissues. Most reports examined TA by the qualitative method, telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay. We examined TA in tissues of thyroid neoplasm by quantitative method to establish whether TA was a useful marker for preoperative differential diagnosis of thyroid tumors.