Chronic encephalomyelitis virus exhibits cellular tropism and evades pDCs by binding to sialylated integrins as the cell surface receptors.

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) causes a chronic demyelinating disease similar to multiple sclerosis in mice. Although sialic acids have been shown to be essential for TMEV attachment to the host, the surface receptor has not been identified. While type I interferons play a pivotal role in the elimination of the chronic infectious Daniel (DA) strain, the role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) is controversial.

Analysis of prognosis in different subtypes of invasive lobular carcinoma using the Japanese National Cancer Database-Breast Cancer Registry.

Purpose: Many studies have shown that the prognosis of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is better than that of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). However, both disorders exhibit different prognoses according to molecular subtype, and the prognosis of ILC subtypes might depend on their hormone receptor positivity rate. This study clarified the prognosis of ILC and IDC in each subtype and examined the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) in luminal ILC.

[A Case of Anastomotic Recurrence 10 Years after Excision of Sigmoid Colon Cancer with Submucosal Invasion].

A 72-year-old woman underwent sigmoid colon resection plus D2 lymph node dissection in 2008, with additional resection after endoscopic mucosal resection(EMR). Histopathological examination revealed only atypical ducts in the EMR scar, with no invasion below the submucosa. No lymphatic, venous, or nerve invasions were confirmed, and oral and anal stumps and lymph node metastases were negative.

Phase I/II study of a 3-week cycle of irinotecan and S-1 in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

The combination of an oral fluoropyrimidine derivative, S-1, and irinotecan is expected to be a promising regimen for advanced colorectal cancer. This study was performed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and recommended dose (RD) of irinotecan combined with S-1 in a 3-week cycle regimen and to observe the safety and efficacy for patients with previously untreated advanced colorectal cancer. Eighty milligrams per m(2) of S-1 was given orally for 14 consecutive days and escalated doses of irinotecan were administered on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks in the phase I trial.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis with multifocal bone lesions: comparative clinical features between single and multi-systems.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) can be a single system or multi-system disease. Both disease types can be associated with multi-focal bone lesions, but their bone involvement patterns have not been compared systematically. Of the new pediatric LCH cases enrolled into the JLSG-02 study during 2002-2007, 67 cases of single system multifocal bone (SMFB) LCH and 97 cases of multi-system bone (MSB) LCH were analyzed to determine if the bone involvement patterns differ in these two types, and whether these differences correlate with outcome.

Improved outcome in the treatment of pediatric multifocal Langerhans cell histiocytosis: Results from the Japan Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis Study Group-96 protocol study.

Background: The treatment outcome of multifocal childhood Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has not been satisfactory and has resulted in poor therapeutic responses with high mortality and a high incidence of reactivation with late sequelae. To overcome these issues, the Japan LCH Study Group-96 (JLSG-96) protocol was conducted prospectively from 1996 to 2001 in Japan.

Methods: Newly diagnosed children with multifocal LCH were classified into 2 groups: a single-system multisite (SS-m) group and a multisystem (MS) group.

Features and outcome of neonatal leukemia in Japan: experience of the Japan infant leukemia study group.

Background: Neonatal leukemia characterized by early stem cell origin and extramedullary infiltration in the first 4 weeks of life is rare. We analyzed the features and outcome of neonatal leukemia in Japan to establish an appropriate treatment strategy for this rare disorder.

Procedure: Patients with infant leukemia registered and treated in the Japan Infant Leukemia Study between 1996 and 2001 were analyzed.

The association of death-associated protein kinase hypermethylation with early recurrence in superficial bladder cancers.

Mechanisms for bladder carcinogenesis and the development of recurrentbladder cancer remain unclear. Aberrant methylation of the 5' CpG island is thought to play an important role in the inactivation of the tumor suppressor genes in cancer. To study whether specific or bulk hypermethylation predicts intrabladder recurrence, we determined the frequency of aberrant promoter hypermethylation of seven genes, hMLH1, O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT), p16, Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL), death-associated protein kinase (DAP-kinase), glutathione S-transferase P1 (GST-P1) and E-cadherin in 55 superficial bladder cancers and 5 normal urothelial epithelia by methylation-specific PCR (MSP).

Serum hepatocyte growth factor combined with vascular endothelial growth factor as a predictive indicator for the occurrence of coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease.

Unlabelled: We investigated the possible use of serum hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels as a predictive indicator for the occurrence of coronary artery lesions (CAL) in Kawasaki disease (KD). Serum HGF and VEGF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 41 patients with KD and 25 afebrile controls. Serum HGF levels of patients in the acute phase of KD were significantly higher than those of afebrile controls (Pc < 0.

Background factors correlated with the psychological features of 254 outpatients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Japan.

Unlabelled: For the purpose of identifying the features of psychological troubles and their significance in Type 2 diabetes mellitus outpatients, we analyzed how psychological troubles were affected by various background factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The subjects all consisted of outpatients > or = 40 years of age at the Fukuoka Red Cross Hospital in December 1996. We used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to determine anxiety, the Self rating Depression Scale to determine depression.

Report of a patient with a high level of parathyroid hormone-related peptide associated with malignant lymphoma involving multiple bony lesions.

Hypercalcemia in malignant lymphoma is not common. Our case of malignant lymphoma with multiple bony lesions showed hypercalcemia (13 mg/dl) at the time of bone marrow relapse. The serum level of parathyroid hormone-related peptide increased to 142 pmol/l, which may be secreted by malignant lymphoma cells.

Requirement for etoposide in the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Purpose: We sought to identify the clinical variables most critical to successful treatment of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).

Patients And Methods: Among the factors tested were age at diagnosis (< 2 years or > or = 2 years), time from diagnosis to initiation of treatment with or without etoposide-containing regimens, timing of cyclosporin A (CSA) administration during induction therapy, and the presence or absence of etoposide.

Results: By Kaplan-Meier analysis, the overall survival rate for the entire cohort of 47 patients, most of whom had moderately severe to severe disease, was 78.

MDR1 gene overexpression and altered degree of methylation at the promoter region in bladder cancer during chemotherapeutic treatment.

Overexpression of the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene is closely associated with the clinical outcome of hematopoietic malignancies, but the alteration of its expression during chemotherapeutic treatment and the precise mechanism underlying MDR1 gene overexpression in solid tumors remains unclear. We determined the expression and degree of methylation at the promoter of the MDR1 gene in bladder cancer. The mRNA levels of the MDR1 gene were found to be markedly enhanced, 3.

Management of severe neutropenia with cyclosporin during initial treatment of Epstein-Barr virus-related hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Severe neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count <500/gl) is probably due to the combined effects of dysregulated cytokine production and chemotherapeutic agents, and is one of the risk factors in the initial treatment of patients with Epstein-Barr virus-related hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH). We report here 9 cases of neutropenic HLH, of which 8 were treated with cyclosporin (CSA, 2-6 mg/kg/day; continuous infusion, or 6 mg/kg/day; per os, for periods ranging from 9 days to >8 weeks) in the initial neutropenic phase during induction treatment using corticosteroids and etoposide. Five of the 6 cases, in which CSA treatment was started early (before the second week of induction), survived the critical period with recovery of neutrophil counts within a week.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) in Japan.

There exists limited information about the usefulness of hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for the treatment of patients with refractory Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). We report here four Japanese pediatric patients with multisystem LCH disease who underwent HSCT between 1994 and 1997. Two of the four patients are doing well without any relapse.

Identification of persistent trophoblastic diseases based on a human chorionic gonadotropin regression curve by means of a stepwise piecewise linear regression analysis after the evacuation of uneventful moles.

Among the 191 patients with complete hydatidiform moles who were diagnosed and treated at Kyushu University Hospital from 1982 until 1996, 167 patients were diagnosed with uneventful moles retrospectively. The serial beta human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) values in the 167 patients with uneventful moles were analyzed by a stepwise piecewise linear regression analysis in order to establish a normal regression curve of a human chorionic gonadotropin after a molar pregnancy. This normal regression curve is considered to be excellent regarding sensitivity (24/24-100%) and to be equivalent to the identification based on a plateau or a rise regarding specificity (156/167-93.

Establishment of a new human megakaryoblastic cell line, CMY, with chromosome 17p abnormalities.

A new megakaryoblastic cell line CMY was established from a Down's syndrome patient suffering from acute megakaryoblastic leukemia. The karyotypes of CMY showed deletion of chromosome 17 or the translocation of 17p, whereas the blasts of the patient did not reveal these abnormalities of chromosome 17 by conventional karyotype analysis. Blasts of the patient failed to respond to chemotherapy and complete remission could not be attained.

[Necrotizing sarcoid granulomatosis diagnosed by video thoracoscopic lung biopsy].

A 28-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of chest pain. A chest roentgenogram and a chest computed tomogram revealed many nodular shadows on both sides. Examinations of specimens obtained by and by transbronchial lung biopsy during fiberoptic bronchoscopy were not diagnostic, and therefore video thoracoscopic lung biopsy was done.

Case of a child with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria diagnosed by flow cytometry.

A case of a child with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is characterized by an increased sensitivity of the erythrocyte to hemolytic action of complement. The widely used Ham test may not always be reliable. Recently, a panel of monoclonal antibodies has become available to detect various glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked proteins by flow cytometry (FCM) and the deficiency of GPI-anchored proteins on the various kinds of cell membranes is implicated as the pathogenesis of PNH.

Treatment for B-cell-type lymphoma in a girl associated with Bloom's syndrome.

A 12-year-old girl suffering from Bloom's syndrome developed B-cell-type lymphoma in the epipharynx. She was identified as having Bloom's syndrome at the age of 3. While the tumor was eradicated completely by induction chemotherapy, the bone marrow suppression was severe and persistent.

[Hyperkalemia in a cyclosporine A-treated allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipient].

A 9-year-old boy was admitted with the diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (FAB RAEB in T). The patient was treated with busulfan and cyclophosphamide and transplanted with bone marrow cells from an HLA identical sister. Cyclosporin A (CyA) and short term methotrexate (MTX) was given for prophylaxis against graft versus host disease (GvHD).

Epstein-Barr virus infection in Chediak-Higashi syndrome mimicking acute lymphocytic leukemia.

We have had the opportunity to study a case of Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) in the accelerated phase that was associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. The clinical course of a 12-year-old boy was characterized by fever, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and pancytopenia. However, in the terminal stage, the appearance of an atypical lymphoblastic leukocytosis was morphologically indistinguishable from acute lymphocytic leukemia, accompanied by benign histiocytosis with hemophagocytosis.

Beneficial effects of high-dose intravenous gammaglobulin on the accelerated phase of Chediak-Higashi syndrome.

The Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare, autosomal-recessively inherited disease characterized by giant cytoplasmic granules in neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes. It has been reported that a lymphoma-like illness develops in the accelerated phase of the syndrome and that early death ensues. Treatment of CHS has not been established, particularly when the accelerated phase develops.