Vaginal yolk sac tumor resected by a novel laparo/endoscope-assisted posterior sagittal approach: a case report.

Background: Yolk sac tumor (YST) is a germ cell tumor that is generally associated with good prognosis in children. It has been recently reported that vaginal YSTs can be cured using chemotherapy alone. Thus, minimal invasiveness and function preservation are pre-requisites for surgical approaches.

Tandem high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell rescue for stage M high-risk neuroblastoma: Experience using melphalan/etoposide/carboplatin and busulfan/melphalan regimens.

The efficacy of tandem HDCT against high-risk neuroblastoma has been reported; however, an optimal regimen remains to be established. In this paper, we report our experience using tandem HDCT comprising the MEC and BuMel regimens in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. We retrospectively analyzed four patients with stage M high-risk neuroblastoma who received HDCT with MEC followed by BuMel combined with autologous stem cell rescue.

Structural insight of human DEAD-box protein rck/p54 into its substrate recognition with conformational changes.

Human rck/p54, a product of the gene cloned at the breakpoint of t(11; 14) (q23;q32) chromosomal translocation on 11q23 in B-cell lymphoma, is a member of the DEAD-box RNA helicase family. Here, the crystal structure of Nc-rck/p54, the N-terminal core domain of rck/p54, revealed that the P-loop in motif I formed a closed conformation, which was induced by Asn131, a residue unique to the RCK subfamily. It appears that ATP does not bind to the P-loop.

Crystallization and X-ray analysis of the N-terminal core domain of a tumour-associated human DEAD-box RNA helicase, rck/p54.

The RCK gene was cloned on the basis of the t(11;14)(q23;q32) chromosome translocation observed in human B-cell lymphoma cell line RC-K8. This gene was found to be overexpressed in various kinds of tumours. The gene product, rck/p54, consisting of 472 amino-acid residues with molecular weight 53.